Bin session 30th August

[Tweedledee]

Had a nice bin session last night at Wychnor Park in Staffordshire. Went out after about 10.15pm for nearly 2 hours. Walked a short distance away into the countryside allowing a wood to shield me from any lights. As luck would have it I found an old discarded plastic garden chair. After checking it over with my torch and finding it a cleaner prospect than lying down in the field, I settled down comfortable and warm in the chair. After dark adaptation, I realised that the sky was very good, but not as good as I'd previously seen it from this site. The Milky Way was nicely visible above about 45 degrees above the horizon, and I had a lovely time switching between 15x70's and 8x42s 3D bins. Best 3D experience yet with the new bins, but of course the 15x70's were superior in light grasp and image scale but with a much smaller FOV.

 

Started scanning around Cygnus with the 3D bins. Clouds of dense Milky Way stars enhanced the 3D experience, which still seems new and exciting to me despite my logic reminding me that it is simply a fake optical trick. Maybe this 3D effect will wear off over time, but at the moment it just seems to get better and becomes more magical with clearer skies that show more stars.

 

In total I looked at 25 clusters, 4 globulars, 3 galaxies, 1 planetary nebula, 14 asterisms and happened to catch a couple of nice 1st magnitude meteors. The more interesting objects are as follows.

 

In Cygnus, the Little Orion asterism stood out as a slightly squashed hunter half degree from head to foot with 3 neat looking equally spaced belt stars. This is also known as Leiter 9. If you can find the Little Orion, you'll know precisely where to look for the North American Nebula, as "Betelgeux" is in Florida. Its main 4 stars are 7th mag and the belt stars 9th. NAN wasn't visible, though I have seen it on better nights with the 15x70's. 

 

Still in Cygnus, Vultus Irrisorie is another name for the pleasing smiley face or cheshire cat asterism with a 6 to 7th magnitude smile over a degree wide.

 

M39 always shows a surprising number of stars in 15x70's all framed in a little triangle.

 

M29 and NGC6910 near Sadr are tiny but noticable in a very rich region of stars. NGC6940 was a large barely visible glow.

 

The Dumbbell took on a bit of shape with bigger bins but could easily be missed in the 8x42's. Nearby the 20 Vulpecula cluster NGC6885 was just visible as a few 9th mag stars scattered around 6th mag 20.

 

The Coathanger is a lovely object in any size bins. M72 in Sagitta just showed as a small fuzzy star.

 

In Scutum, M11 the Wild Duck and M26 clusters are fuzz balls surrounded by lovely rich star fields. Moving west towards Ophiuchus, IC4756 Graffs cluster and the tighter NGC6633 are visible as a double cluster in the same field of the 15x70's, and over to Taurus Poniatovii and IC4665 the Summer Beehive is a busy area.

 

A quick look for some galaxies found M31 looking very large, and M81 and M82 were an unmistakable duo.

 

Another little known asterism was very pleasing to look at. Patchick 100 in Pegasus is called Delphinus Minor. It looks virtually identical to Delphinus but is just over 1 degree in size with 7th mag stars.

 

Off to the real Delphinus for a nice view of the Theta Delphinus group. This is a half degree group of 6th to 9th mag stars.

 

Melotte 20 in Perseus is a magnificent cluster filling the binocular field.

 

Cassiopiea is jam packed full of interesting objects for bins. Stock 2, 5 and 23, Double Cluster, NGC663, M103, The Owl Cluster, and M52 showed nicely. NGC7789 Carolines Rose looked like a large faint ghost.

 

M34 and the Pleiades were rising and looking great.

 

NGC752 in Andromeda is a fuzzy patch of a golf ball about to be hit by the L shaped golf putter asterism.

 

Last off, four easy to find globulars looked good in the bins. M13, M92, M15 and M71.

 

That certainly was an enjoyable binocular session and I'm still buzzing from it. 

[BAZ]

That was a good night there Pete. Some nice objects that I haven't seen yet, but I will be adding them to the list for a peek. 

I am pleased that your new bins work well, I'll bet you can loose track of time with those.

[jarvismp]

Sounds like a fabulous nights star gazing.


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[Guest]

Sounds like a good session. I saw the Ring (M57) as well as M27 recently.

 

Glad you mentioned Melotte 20 and M34. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only person who looks at or photographs them.

[Smithysteve]

You had a great time with that haul Pete, I hope you left the chair for the next astronomer that happens by!

This is an excellent inspiring report, and one that I need to pore over in more detail... I know what you mean with the busy Casseopiea area, Cygnus is also jam packed...!

a great read! ??

[Tweedledee]

2 hours ago, Smithysteve said:

You had a great time with that haul Pete, I hope you left the chair for the next astronomer that happens by!

This is an excellent inspiring report, and one that I need to pore over in more detail... I know what you mean with the busy Casseopiea area, Cygnus is also jam packed...!

a great read! ??

Thanks Steve. I hope it is inspiring, as binoculars are so underrated. From a good dark sky, I'm always amazed what can be seen if you know where to look. 

 

Yes, I left the chair. I'll be hoping to find that chair again next time I go there. 

[Tweedledee]

5 hours ago, Sunny Phil said:

Sounds like a good session. I saw the Ring (M57) as well as M27 recently.

 

Glad you mentioned Melotte 20 and M34. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only person who looks at or photographs them.

Cheers Phil. I agree, they are both neglected clusters.

 

With Mel 20, it is all a matter of scale. Look at it through a scope, a 1 degree FOV, and it just looks like a random background of stars, as you are only seeing a small portion of it. In binoculars at say a 7 degree FOV, it can look as spectacular

as many other clusters in a telescope.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, Tweedledee said:

Thanks Steve. I hope it is inspiring, as binoculars are so underrated. From a good dark sky, I'm always amazed what can be seen if you know where to look. 

 

Yes, I left the chair. I'll be hoping to find that chair again next time I go there. 

Sorry but I'm not sure bins are underrated. There's always a few about at star parties and you don't see many for sale 2nd hand.

 

I also find many bin targets good objects for DSLR photography.

[Tweedledee]

Good point Phil. 

 

I do get the impression that a lot of people dismiss binoculars too easily, thinking that they will only show a few bright, well known targets like the Pleiades etc. In reality there are still thousands of objects that can be seen with binoculars especially from a dark site. I am always surprised at how much can be seen, and what fun can be had with them for such convenience.