Beyond belief - how many stars can there be?

[george7378]

A good, early morning to you all, and, although I should be falling asleep on the floor at this time, I am alive as I've ever been, if not more.

I've just had the most fantastic, clear, choc-a-bloc, powerful observing night I have ever experienced - I talked about doing an all-nighter this weekend, and it couldn't have turned out any better.

I will start by adding the snippets of observing I did before it got dark. I aimed the scope at the low Moon to try and take some images with my new camera. I am pretty pleased at the results, considering they were afocal, and I have no idea of what I should do to edit planetary photos (plus it wasn't dark yet):

I then took a punt with Venus, which displayed a nice gibbous phase through the scope, and I think this photo may have picked up on that too:

It's always nice to do a little planetary work to warm up for the darker skies, and to get the scope ready for the big stuff. I couldn't ever have prepared for what I saw as the week's clouds blessed me by their absence.

The skies darkened to reveal a lovely starscape photography opportunity, with Ursa Major sitting atop the wall. I took a 15-second exposure to get this:

The evening closed in and when I finally got the opportunity to step outside, I really could not believe what I saw - I had stepped into an astro-photo; full of light, power and sheer beauty. The arms of the Milky Way just took my breath away as they embraced the entire night sky in a comforting and mystifying glow, which traversed the constellations in a way I had only previously thought possible in a photo. I walked out into the yard where I shut off the lights to gaze upon the heavenly structure. The detail was unbelievable - with a cloud-like stream of light passing from Cassiopeia to Cygnus, where it split into a fork where the dark deposits of the material of future solar systems, planets and people cut across the sky. It's this kind of experience that you can never appreciate while it's happening, and as I write, I can't get what I saw out of my head - to think that something as amazing as that is visible to a mere mortal like me, just sitting alone and staring up, really is humbling. Seeing the Milky Way makes me think of everything that has happened to give me the opportunity to look up from this yard, and makes me wonder what else life has in store, and just how many other countless lives are being lived out in the cosmos. It lets you know that no matter what happens, there is always a place to be alone with your thoughts.

I never really took my eyes off it, and the image which sticks in my mind most is seeing the oldest and most natural structure; the inside arms of a galaxy, stretch over my house - evidence of man's presence in nature. I can't really explain why that is so powerful - the scene just looked so peaceful, and it made me imagine what it would be like if the house was not there, and how solitary and wasted a scene it would be if no-one were there to see it, and just how lucky I was to have such an opportunity to glimpse it while most others were asleep.

The Milky Way's star fields stretched from horizon to horizon, with an immeasurable number of dots filling the dark night with what seemed to me like opportunity - a chance to think of just what's out there. Once again, seeing the house cut a shadow into the fields of dots, which seemed to be waiting for anyone who wanted to spend any time with them, was a very powerful image - it makes me wonder how many nights like these the land beneath my feet has existed through, and what I would see if I could look at the past, when no-one was around to appreciate the sky.

The telescopic sights for the evening included M57, which was nestled in its usual dense nest of young stars - a relic of times past among the next generation. I was able to spot the ring shape and contrasting brightnesses without even using averted vision, which really compared to the views I have previously seen, and made staying up late worth the reward.

I then flicked to M27, which was embedded among too many solar systems to be found on the first go. I pulled from star to star until I saw the fantastic apple-core shape of the large gas envelope. The scene was just so lively and rich that using averted vision to get the best out of the nebula revealed more clusters and stars to the side of it. I returned many a time to the nebula and couldn't get over the detail the scene held.

Moving on, I looked upon familiar M13, which was easy to find, and easy to get lost with. Seeing something so distant, and knowing where it is and what an amazing view of our galaxy the planets of the stars of the cluster must have really lets your imagination add to the out-of-place ball of light in the sky.

M31 was my last major DSO for the session, and I am very glad to be re-acquainting myself with this oldest of friends. Seeing the Milky Way with the naked-eye Andromeda Galaxy peeking through the stars - the tiniest and least significant point of light in the sky, allowed me to visualise just how amazingly large the space between us is, and just how tiny a blip my life will be in the billions of years it will take for the two galaxies to become one. I tried to imagine what we must look like from the massive star fields of M31, and just who would be looking at us, and what they are thinking. It is amazing how slowly time can pass - we are closing in at 130KM/S, but M31 has a permanent position on our star maps, and the Earth will no longer exist when they are even getting close to colliding.

With intermittent gazes at the Milky Way's arms, I watched Jupiter for the first time since early in the year. Watching it rise without its usual South Equatorial Belt brought home the knowledge that Earth is not the only planet in the solar system with weather systems and dynamic happenings and changes. I was also treated to a slow appearance of Io to join the other three moons as the night went on, and the calm and clear night showed me some of Jupiter's more subtle details. There's nothing like knowing how intricate and dynamic that little spot in the sky really is.

As I finally decided to re-enter the house, I took one last look up at the fleeting sight which would be replaced by reality the next morning, and I now know that it will last for a long time to come, and that the world would be a better place if we could all see how small we really are.

George Kristiansen.

Here are some more photos from tonight:

The star fields of Cygnus and Lyra:

The big and little dippers:

Jupiter rising:

Jupiter and three moons (just held up to eyepiece):

[JonH]

I've really enjoyed reading your report George, sounds like you had a fantastic night. Thanks for sharing.

[Mouse on the Moon]

Awesome post!

[ZOG]

What a good post. You have a way of describing the views that draws the reader in. I felt like I was alongside you to witness that experience.

[george7378]

Thanks everyone - I really like getting nice comments like that, and writing long reports!

[Doc]

Made a great read and I love your photo's