Second light with my 250px - Wild Duck Cluster!

[sneeka]

The cloud/rain finally subsided last night, so I had chance to get the scope out again.

Whilst the sun was going down I had a chance at viewing the moon with the scope for the first time (albeit through the patio window). It was pretty low, so the surface was bubbling away, but the views were still stunning - it's amazing how deep those craters are. I should have really got the Lunar 100 list out and ticked some items off, but I was too transfixed

Once it had raced behind the rooftops, I humped the scope out into the garden to cool down whilst the skies got darker. Since my first report I'd ordered a right-angle finder and a rigel quikfinder to help with lining the scope up. Boy, what a difference they make. At a pinch, I could probably make do with just the quikfinder, but having the right-angle finder there to 'fine tune' the line up makes things all the more easier.

At about 11:30pm I figured the skies were about as dark as they were going to get, so I started with Vega to make sure everything was lined up ok, and that the collimation was still fine. Then I scanned across to the double double again to see if I could split the second pair that defeated me last time. Still no discernible gap, but definite elongation - I guess I might need more magnification to split them both

Aquila was staring me in the face, so I got out the Pocket Sky Atlas to see if there was anything of interest in that area. Above the head I spied M27 next to Sagitta so I slewed across and had a peek. It wasn't really the shape I was expecting - it's more of a disc with the image of a bowtie/dumbbell lightly drawn on top, rather than just the dumbbell shape as is shown in 'Turn Left..'. Anyway, it was nice and bright so I sat and gazed at that for a while.

Scanning down I caught a glimpse of M71, which was very dim. Further down I switched to the finderscope and just flew down the Milky Way, down the length of Aquila. At the bottom of it's tail a faint haze caught my eye. I switched to the main eyepiece and WOW - M11! Very, very nice. Even better, imo, than M13. So many stars, it looked like someone had sprinkled glitter onto a patch of sky. I sat and just stared gormlessly at it for a good 15mins

Over to the west I saw the Plough hovering over the horizon, so I tried for M51. No show .. I guess it was too near the horizon. Damn that light pollution

I finished off with a revisit to M13, Albireo and a final gawp at M11.

Come on you darker skies

[Mark at Beaufort]

Well done Sneeka the 10in is a great sized scope. I always prefer seeking out DSOs with star maps rather than a goto system. M57 is a great view in my 10" and coming up will be M15 and M2 - good globs to look out for.

Mark

[QldLiz]

Well done Sneeka, some great objects seen and enjoyed.

Havent seen M11 for ages, so will add to my list, thank you.

[russ]

Nice report, enjoyed the read. I revisited M11 on Saturday night, forgot how stunning it is. Certainly one of the best clusters visible from the Northern skies.