South Carolina skies with bins

[Spectre486]

So here I am currently on Christmas holidays in Bradley, South Carolina, USA. I've been rather excited at the prospect of coming here due to the fact that my in-laws live in the middle of nowhere. So of course, it's great to see my in-laws, but it's also REALLY DARK here!

I couldn't help but pack my binoculars in the hope of some clear skies while here.

Latitude 34 N

Longitude 82 W

Binoculars : Praktica W10x50P

First few days were cloudy, then snow - typical.

Tonight though - finally, not a cloud in the sky! So out I go armed with my iPhone Starwalk app, and Turn Left at Orion, which I got for Christmas. You'll have to forgive me if I seem rather excited - my experience in astronomy so far is viewing M42 with the nice warm glow of Southampton docks tickling it's feet. But anyway - let's cut to the chase.

I have two annoying street lights nearby, but I managed to minimize their impact by hiding behind the house. After waiting for about 10 mins, my nightvision starts to kick in - and wow!

I am looking east at around 19:30 EST. Orion is rising majestically over the trees almost beckoning me to take a peak. M42 looks wonderful! Lots of nebulosity, the trapezium was very obvious to me. I could have called it a night there and been happy! What struck me though was the vast amount of fainter stars which I could make out in the background.

I move up to the Hyadaes and on M45 for some more moral boosting joy - just in case it all goes wrong later when I look for things I've not seen before. I'll not use the traditional cliche of jewels in a box - I'll just say that I was crying because I suddenly became aware I hadn't blinked for about 2 mins! I was looking for some nebulosity, but hand on heart, I couldn't see any - probably need a scope for that I guess.

Last moral booster before I head into the unknown - M31. Pegasus was right overhead so I began cracking my neck ready for what was to come. This was probably my 5th time trying to find M31, my previous attempts taking about a minute. This time - Bang! I nailed it immediately yay!

Normally in Southampton - She's a smudge. Here the smudge transformed into a bright central bulge with long longitudinal projections. Much longer than I had seen previously. In fact, it looked more like how I'd seen it through a 12 inch Dob a few weeks back (shapewise - not contrast of course!). I think I'm finally understanding what "good skies" and "not so good" skies are.

On a real high - I turn my attentions to Auriga. Haven't managed to see M36, M37 and M38 before. I quickly found Nath and swung across towards the north and there they were! How could I have not seen them before? According to my book, M36 was easier to see, however I found M38 easier. Probably because it is bigger. Can't wait to see these through a scope, as they were merely faint smudges through the bins.

The Double cluster was next on my list. I had tried to find this on my own at home and failed. I guess because I hadn't seen many starclusters and wasn't sure what it should look like. At a recent SCAG (South Coast Astronomy Group) session, I was lucky enough to view the double cluster through a 12 inch Dob. So armed with my new knowledge of what I should see, I went about trying to find it as fast as Russ did at the SCAG session /flex

So ok, I wasn't quite as fast as Russ - but with the help of the book I was able to locate eta Perseii quite quickly and followed the line towards Ruchba in Cassiopeia. Hello - there it is yay!

It looked somewhat less magnified than the Dob obviously, but the shape was there. The whole area seemed to have loads of faint stars in. There seemed to be a bright loop of stars off to the left of the cluster closest to Cassiopeia, which I hadn't seen before. It was breathtaking quite frankly. The book claimed that NGC 884 had more red stars than the other, however i couldnt tell to be honest. Tears streaming down my cheeks - I remember I have to blink again

Oddly enough - Starwalk doesn't have the double cluster listed or marked on the map. Why ever not?! It's godly!

I move along to Ruchba in Cassiopeia where I'm reliably informed M103 is situated - and so it is, nestled close to NGC663. I found NGC663 easier to see than M103. The smudge was larger and brighter in averted vision than the comparatively smaller M103.

At this point I noticed things getting a bit smudgy in general. Closing each eye, my left eyepiece seemed obscured. So I went back inside and noticed a greasy mark on my eyepiece. I guess in my zeal, my left eyelid must have touched the eyepiece. So after carefully cleaning it with my lens cloth, I called "halftime" after noticing my fingers had a blue hue to them from the cold lol.

Thoroughly happy with my new discoveries I sit down to write this and now as I end - I'm about to go out again to look for the Beehive.

Looking at the forecast - it's clear here for another 2 nights. So, hopefully I can get some sleep in and get up in time to see Saturn and Venus early tomorrow morning!

To be continued.......

Frazer.

[Nexus 6]

Excellent Frazer, been using my bins over here due to the snow. Its good to find all this stuff using them, in my case having go-to at my disposal may be frowned upon by some but it has led to me understanding where things were , now I can now find some of them without any electronics.

No chance of any clear skies over here for the next few days, hope you enjoy yours:rolleyes:

Alan

[Spectre486]

Thx Alan. Managed to see M44 before I went to bed. Then fell out of bed at 6:00am to catch my first glimpse of Saturn and Venus through binoculars.

Wasn't expecting much from Saturn - but I could make out what looked like a dark line across it's disk. Not sure if that was real or just my mind telling me to expect something across the middle

Venus was very bright. I couldn't clearly make out it's phase, probably because it was close to "full Venus".

All in all though - very happy with my discoveries. Can't wait to view Saturn through a scope!

Frazer.

[Spectre486]

My only disappointment was that I couldn't see Canopus. It was supposed to pop it's head up over the southern horizon for a couple of hours - but I had trees in the way

Ah well