Smithysteve Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Sorry this is a bit late, a report from Monday night (mostly) ?... just sharing the joy! After a few false starts over the last few days the clouds were finally absent along with the moon! So I opened up the dome at 11.00pm. My intentions were to knock off a few more outstanding Messier objects, mostly globs, have a good look at the fireworks galaxy NGC 6946, then have a look at a few favourites... Went to Jupiter first and tried a few eyepieces on same to see how much I could push the magnification aspect, then, due to viewing constraints... or windows of opportunity (caused namely by time, trees and houses), I moved on to some outstanding Messiers. These were all very low, and south (ish), but doable. M4, glob M9, glob M19, glob M62, glob, tried for same, but it was too low and behind a house at first, so I had to wait until 01.15am before it fell between houses, but I nabbed it in the end albeit through the foliage of a tree! So 4 down, 9 more M's to go...? Moved on to the flavour of the month, a supernova in NGC 6946, the fireworks galaxy, I studied this for ages but could not discern the right pattern of features in which to look! I conceded I was not prepared enough. To have a chance, I needed a printed vertical flip view of same, and not view it on the iPad, with just the left eye and then using my right eye to view!!! ?! I will be ready next time. M27, Dumbbell neb, Vulpecula , mag +7.6, big, bright, this looked amazing! M57, Ring neb, Lyra, mag +9.3, These were my first views of both this year, WOW! both of these were so bright and fabulous to gaze upon. To me they appeared the best I can remember! Saturn was next, it was very low, lying around 12 degrees above the horizon, so it was boiling a tiny fraction, still, a lovely sight and again the first time through the scope this year. Could not even see the Cassini division but hey ho! The Milky Way way evident when looking at Cygnus so I went outside the dome to have a gander through my Vixen 2.1 bins. I swear the Milky Way seemed to resolve itself into millions of stars. I worked my way across the sky studying the rich background, the coat hanger asterism jumped out, the American neb, M39, all good stuff! That's it, a long awaited decent session! Things are looking up! ps also managed a session last night too! Unreal! picked off another messier, M102, an interesting galaxy to see, M49, M3, M53, M56, M71 and the ISS twice! Thanks for reading, ? Bottletopburly, Tweedledee, Daz Type-R and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Great report Steve. Nice bit of joy to spread. Those Vixen binoculars really very different and quite breathtaking on a good night. The supernova is gradually fading, but I'm sure you'll get it. Maybe tonight. Smithysteve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted May 24, 2017 Share Posted May 24, 2017 Love reading your reports Steve. You are beating me by 3 Messiers, I must try harder . I wonder which ones you have got that I need. Smithysteve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 28, 2017 Share Posted May 28, 2017 Sounds like you had a great night. I had my first bin scanning session for ages on Friday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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