Report from Aruba

[Guest]

Now don't take advantage of the fact that I'm away to burgle my house. If you can get past my dog, my daughter's boyfriend is staying and he's bigger than me and plays rugby. Not that I have a great deal that is really worth nicking anyway and you know I only use freeware to edit my photos.

I'm lucky to be near the equator and see stars that you can't see from the UK but then even a "clear" night has much more thin cloud than you usually get in the UK, so photo opportunities have been limited. I've managed to snap Scorpius, Sagittarius (with the Southern Crown), Piscis Austrinus and Grus.

Here's my Photobucket: http://s197.photobucket.com/user/PhillipPugh/library/?sort=3&page=1

For full report, check here: http://sungazer127mak.blogspot.com/2013/08/september-2013.html

BTW, it is BUSINESS, not holiday.

[Doc]

You are so lucky, I never get any business trips, especially ones to Aruba.

 

Fantastic skies and if I was there I would be able to finish my Messier count with ease.

[BAZ]

Great report Phil. 

Iam surprised you have had any time for business with all that lot.

[Daz Type-R]

Yeah I know the skies at Aruba are fantastic, been there for 2 weeks a few years ago, also went to Bonaire and Curaçao, awesome skies, just wish I had some bins when I was there.

[Tweedledee]

You saw a lot of interesting stuff there Phil. Very nice read.

 

Nobody ever seems to mention Melotte 20, but you did.    I think it is one of the finest clusters that nobody knows about, because you can only see it in a very small telescope or binoculars where it looks superb. Naked eye if you have a really good sky! Check it out.

[Guest]

Don't be misled. The cloud here makes my suburban home look like a mountain retreat by comparison. For example, an attempt at Lyra with a 30 second exposure revealed nothing but Vega!

 

Tonight, I managed my first decent shot of the whole of Scorpius but I only managed one good frame before it clouded over.

 

http://s197.photobucket.com/user/PhillipPugh/media/ScorpiusY13SepD23_zps2c6780c9.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

 

I do a lot of business travel but it's mostly northern Europe and I rarely get to see much I can't see from England. I only have my DSLR and bins with me.

[Guest]

Great report Phil. 

Iam surprised you have had any time for business with all that lot.

I was here over a weekend and don't normally teach classes then.

[Guest]

Yeah I know the skies at Aruba are fantastic, been there for 2 weeks a few years ago, also went to Bonaire and Curaçao, awesome skies, just wish I had some bins when I was there.

Further to other posts, it's not too clear at the moment. It should be possible to capture more than Vega in a 30 second exposure.

[Guest]

You saw a lot of interesting stuff there Phil. Very nice read.

 

Nobody ever seems to mention Melotte 20, but you did.    I think it is one of the finest clusters that nobody knows about, because you can only see it in a very small telescope or binoculars where it looks superb. Naked eye if you have a really good sky! Check it out.

What I like about Melotte 20 is that it is visible under quite poor conditions. Now my all 3 of our family's compact digital cameras have all packed up, I need to wait until I have an adaptor for my DSLR to try it again. I don't have a driven mount or I could try it with the lens at 70mm.

[Guest]

You are so lucky, I never get any business trips, especially ones to Aruba.

 

Fantastic skies and if I was there I would be able to finish my Messier count with ease.

Which Messiers have you missed? I found the Little Dumbell the hardest. M6 and M7 are very low down from southern England where I live but look much better from here, Down Under and Chile. M41 is a real treat from Chile.