Obs 1st & 2nd Feb

[AndyC]

So after 3 weeks of grabbing only short sessions mostly looking at doubles a couple of nights of clear weather meant it was back to

so serious cluster hunting.The night of the 2nd being especially clear and disturbed less by light but more by the wind and the

sounds of neighbours 'canoodling':o coming through their open bathroom window.

In passing I've had my best views of the Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy ( but the latter still not that impressive) ever

over these evenings. Visited some 'old friends' with a new scope and found some new ones.

Using the 10" Dob and using almost exclusively the 32mm TV Plossl for wide fields and 10mm TV Radian for closeups.

1st Feb

Cassiopeia Clusters

11 in total including the best M103** ( bit of a struggle to see the fainter stars ), NGC 663* and NGC 752** but also

NGCs 654, 637, 225, 129 worth a look.

Taurus

NGC 1647** and 1746** the best and NGC 1807 & 1817 since they're in the same wide FoV.

After a couple of sessions trying to spot M1 I finally managed it in the 10". I did get a really good view of it one night last year with

the 6" refractor but have struggled with it this year

Orion

NGC 2169 and 2186 both worth a look; nice 11th Mag double in 2186.

Monoceros

NGC 2244** the cluster in the Rosette Nebula is worth a look in its own right. Tried with a UHC filter in and I got the impression that

maybe there was some brightening of the sky around the cluster that extended beyond the FoV of the 32mm that was different to

just normal sky. Not convinced though... thoughts anyone?

NGC 2259** associated with the Cone Nebula again worth a look in its own right contains a number of nice double/multiple stars.

Four or five others nearby of which NGC 2251 is the best small and easily missable though

2nd Feb - really the best views of a lot of things for a year

Started with the Orion Nebula and the best views ever , Trapezium E & F visible and clearly seeing even quite subtle differences in the structure

of the nebula... do I try my hand at a sketch next perhaps!

M78 looks like 2 stars peeking out of a round misty blob found it tricky not to concentrate on the stars.

M35*** Always a nice cluster but tonights aim was its neighbour NGC 2158 struggled to make out much: the odd star and perhaps

the hint of more in the background.

M41*** Down by Sirius had to shift the Dob to see over the fence. LP quite bad that way over Dudley and Brum but still a really good sight.

NGC 2360** Really quite faint but actually a good sight given that, it's altitude and its direction reasonably compact about 20 stars

brighter than 12th mag and only a quarter of those of 10th or better.

M46*** An old friend really nice

M47*** Another old friend richer but a lot fainter. Really struggled last year to see anything of it. Now with the Dob OK its faintish but

no problems in seeing it. There's also a planetary nebula in it NGC 2428 which would be a real challenge.

Popped the UHC in and there very very faint often with averted vision was a round glow amongst the stars.

Nice double I 'discovered' last year is nearby 2 Pup and one of the members being an eclipsing binary (PV Pup) 2 2/3 days period nice

to see the differences in magnitude between the pair change over a few days.

There's a few other clusters nearby

NGC 2324* Comparible with M47 for brightnes but 2/3 the size and less rich.

Also worth a look at aree NGC's 2414, 2396, 2353, 2343 and 2335 on the way up to M50 all comprising of only a handful to 15 stars

each and mostly quite faint. NGC 2396 has a nice mini-big-dipper sort of shape.

M50*** Really great fairly compact but also LOTS (50+) of stars visible.

Change of direction to my Favourites in Auriga M36,7 & 8 really stunning views of these best ever. At other times I've thought that

one or other

of these have seemed more sparse than they should have been but not tonight, all of them jam-packed.

Another change of direction later and less LP with Ursa Major climbing higher an opportunity to seek out Bodes Galaxies M81 & 2.

Always wanted to but with them obstructed when lower down and in a direction with more general LP never have tried them. Now with the Dob

it's real easy to look that high. Wasn't sure what to expect... trouble seeing anything with the 32mm in I thought. Star-hopped OK

to the region with the 32mm in and lo! there they were WOW both in the same FoV both really clear, an oval smudge and an elongated

spindle no problem at all. The 10mm didn't really do that much for M81 except make it a larger oval smudge! With M82 it clearly helped

distinguish between the galaxy and nearby 10th mag star. Looking back now the star was fainter than I think its should have been

if it were in another direction, a sign of the LP in that direction perhaps. So I'm really impressed by the view even if the SBr are stated as 13.2 & 12.5!

Flushed with success tried M108 but no real luck probably glimpsed it with averted vision only its SBr's down as 13.1 so why Bode's

so clear and not M108? Whilst where tried the Owl Nebula M97 thinking 'no chance' but again surprised to just and only just make it out

with the 10mm and UHC in. A really really really faint round glow usually only when using averted vision.

Tried one last one M109 but its SBr 13.6 and LP defeated me totally. Now really tired eyes beginning to strain...

Don't know what the relatively new neighbours thought ... they must have seen me when the wide open bathroom window was closed

sometime during the session (silently I may add as I wasn't disturbed) Hmmm quiet amusement

FAB night just glad I'm not in work today:p looks like cloud tonight though:(

[Ender Of Days]

A really good night there,

Ive been studying Auriga and Taurus in detail when the clouds permit,but Ive only the 1 eye piece at the moment (73x) and some of the clusters are a little too big for me,

This last week M36/37/38 were amazing through the scope,better than Ive ever seen them,

Your story reminds me of when I was younger (around 18) at a friends house watching the Orionid shower,some "noises" started from his neighbours house,Eventually it got really embarrassing (my friends sister was with us) so we abandoned for the time being,as we went inside giggling like kids I knocked a brush over and it clattered down the steps .. the noises stopped,

for the next 2 hours or so they kept looking out of the window to see who was there and we kept jumping behind the rose bush each time,

Silly behaviour from a group of young "adults",but I do remember it with a smile

JJ..