Star cluster heaven

[Tweedledee]

Just been on holiday at a cottage in the grounds of Walton Hall about 7 miles from Stratford. Took the dogs and had some great walks in the countryside around the hall. This is a good dark sky site according to all the light pollution maps. Every night had been overcast with just the odd star visible now and then through tiny gaps in the clouds, except for friday when I was lucky enough to get a good one and a half hour window before the clouds took over again.

I had my 15x70s and 2.1x42s, and my own secluded stargazing spot a few hundred yards from the hall. Some trees shielded me completely from any lights and it wasn't cold.

It wasn't long before the milky way showed itself probably more brightly than I had ever seen it from this country. The Cygnus rift and Northern Coal Sack were easily visible and the milky way varied its width and shape nearly to the horizon at both ends. The 2.1x42 bins just enhanced the view with whole constellation's being visible in the 25 degree FOV, and tiny fuzzy blobs popping up all over just like looking at a star map reaching down to about 7th mag. M31 showed itself with naked eye averted vision, but M33 only showed in the 15x70s as a faint oval patch, easily overlooked if you didn't know just where to find it. M81 and 82 were easier targets in the 15x70s. I was surprised how big and bright the globulars M10 and M12 in Ophiuchus looked and both were very similar in the same FOV. M13 and M92 in Hercules were similar and M15 in Pegasus. In Andromeda the Golf Putter asterism made a nice view with cluster NGC752 as the golf ball. Similarly Kembles Cascade pointed the way to the cluster NGC1502. The area around the magnificent Double Cluster and through Cassiopiea was just packed full of fuzzies making such enjoyable scanning as did the whole Cygnus area. Pazminos Cluster Stock 23 showed its signature trapezoid shape with a few other fainter stars. Stock 2 just above the double cluster always pleases me on a really clear night, showing uncountable faint stars over a couple of degrees. NGC957 makes a third tight cluster in the Double Clusters FOV. In the same view Trumpler 2 shows as a string of 4 stars of equal brightness with several fainter ones involved. Within the boundaries of Cassiopiea I counted at least 15 fuzzy star clusters. The best looking being M103, M52, The Owl Cluster, NGC663 and NGC7789 Caroline (Herschels) Haystack looking very nebulous. M27 The Dumbell stood out really nicely with an oblong shape. M71 and M11 looked more like globulars with no resolution. Three nice binocular clusters stood out well in Serpens. IC4665 was large and bright, and the double cluster NGC6633 and IC4756 Graff's Cluster showing nicely both in the same FOV of the 15x70s. I saw more meteors that night than at the time of the Perseids. About 8 in total ranging from about zero magnitude to about 3rd mag. Don't think there was a scheduled shower that night. I was too preoccupied trying new eyepieces in the ST120 on the Perseids night so probably missed a few then.

Friday night certainly made up for all the cloud the rest of the week

Edited September 6, 2015 by Tweedledee

[BAZ]

You had a great nights viewing Pete, a great read. The Owl cluster is one of my favourite clusters, with a low power eyepiece and the widest field I can get, ( 38mm Panaview), there is just masses of stars. The colours vary a lot within that one view as well.

 

They will look stunning in your Dob.

[Smithysteve]

As usual, an inspiring, interesting report... You packed in a lot of sights in a relatively small window of opportunity Pete!

Sounds like you had a satisfying couple of hours! ðŸ‘and a nice break too!

I hope the new eyepieces came up to expectations 😀

Cheers!

[Doc]

I agree as always a very enjoyable read packed full of interesting targets.

 

Glad you enjoyed your holiday Pete.

[+Bino-viewer]

Sounds like a great viewing spot Pete.

 

You have a great knowledge of the night sky too......Pazminos Cluster Stock 23 ?  Never even heard of that one before....! 

[Tweedledee]

Cheers everyone. There is just so much exciting stuff out there to look at especially if you have a really dark sky

 

Pazmino's Cluster is nice in binoculars or a scope. Some interesting info in these websites...

http://www.starobserver.eu/openclusters/stock23.html

http://www.nyskies.org/articles/pazmino/pazclus.htm

 

Look in the upper left corner of this map for St 23. You can zoom in a bit as well. Have a look for it next time you are out, it is only 6 or 7 degrees from the double cluster...

 

 

[Guest]

I use 15x70s from my suburban home but a lot of those objects just aren't visible. Like some of the fainter Messier objects, it might be easier to track them down in my 127mm Mak with a 0.5x focal reducer and 32mm eyepiece and a LPR filter.

[Doc]

How dark are your skies Phil at home?

 

We went to the darksite at Belper on the night of the eclipse and saw M1 through 10x50 bins so it's possible you just need dark skies.

[Guest]

How dark are your skies Phil at home?

 

We went to the darksite at Belper on the night of the eclipse and saw M1 through 10x50 bins so it's possible you just need dark skies.

Most cloudless nights I can usually see down to mag 4.5 but, on about 12 to 15 exceptional nights per year, I can get down to around 5.2. I don't observe from dark skies very often. I can usually see the summer Milky Way from home and, when I can, I will try photographing constellations or DSOs. I will quite often browse DSOs while taking 30 second exposures. On a good night I can see (depending on time of year) M65, M66, M26 and M33. I know if I can't see M65 and M66, there's no point in attempting the Virgo Supercluster.

 

I have managed to pot the entire Messier Catalogue but used a 127mm Maksutov with an LPR filter and focal reducer for the fainter objects.

 

Shame Belper isn't exactly walking distance from me.