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Fireball etc 9/2/15


Tweedledee

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Had a lovely session in the back garden tonight between about 11 till 12pm. The sky was the best I'd seen in a while and none of the neighbours were causing any light pollution.


 


Used the 10x50 bins and just had a lovely relaxing scan of all the bigger stuff and thoroughly enjoyed it without getting too cold.


 


At just before 11.30, I was lucky enough to be looking northwards and saw a magnitude -3 fireball (substantially brighter than Jupiter). It took about 4 seconds to pass almost horizontally east to west from the tail of Ursa Major to Cassiopiea (nearly 60 degrees) leaving a prominent and quite wide trail for most of that distance that lingered for several seconds. Best one I've seen for a year or two.


 


Enjoyed the following smaller clusters (smaller in the 10x50s)...


Double cluster Perseus


Stock 23 Pazmino's cluster Camelopardalis


NGC 1528 Perseus


M35 Gemini


M37, 36 and 38 in Auriga


NGC 2244 and 2232 in Monoceros


Upgren 1 asterism in Canes Venatici


 


These really big clusters showed many stars and made lovely sights in the 7 degree field of the bins...


M44 Beehive in Cancer


Alpha Perseus cluster Melotte 20


Pleiades


Hyades


Davis's Dog asterism Taurus


Collinder 65 Orions Arrow asterism


Collinder 70 Orions Belt cluster


Collinder 69 Meissa asterism in Orion


Persson I asterism in Orion


Collinder 89 in Gemini


Melotte 31 Leaping Minnow cluster in Auriga


Harrington 6 Sailboat asterism in Leo Minor


 


Another large object I saw for the first time was a beautiful 2 degree long string cascade of fourteen 6th to 8th mag stars in a slight arc in Cancer. This is very reminiscent of Kembles Cascade and stands out from the background very well. The cascade stretched out 2 degrees SE from the 6th magnitude star omega Cancri roughly 4 degrees SE of Pollux. This is well worth seeking out.


 


I find these larger clusters just as interesting as many of the Messier clusters. If you frame them right, ie: with a large field of view, most of them are spectacular sights to see and very rich in stars. Because they are so large they often get neglected.


 


Was having such a nice time I simply forgot to have a look at comet Lovejoy.


Edited by Tweedledee
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Great report and fantastic read Pete the Harrington  6 Sailboat is a new one on me, unless I know it by another name, I'll look at that one in my bins next time.


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Nice one Pete, also great start for your sketching.

Yes, because they are easier, fewer stars but nice patterns generally :)

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Nice report Pete, the dob is currently in bits again pending a further upgrade, so typically, its been clear.


 


Glad to see somebody is seeing something.


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I was remote imaging with the Canon 1100d on tripod trying out a new timer. I havent looked at the images in detail or checked the time. I will check but I think it may have been later than that fireball.

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Cheers Darren, what is your upgrade?

 

Nothing exciting but hopefully all will be revealed in the next day or two.

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