Tweedledee Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 We're on holiday for a week at a holiday cottage with the dogs, in the grounds of Walton Hall Hotel in the Cotswolds near Stratford on Avon. It is so peaceful here with a river running by the stately home/wedding venue surrounded by lovely countryside, and the weather is superb. There is a bit of light pollution from the hotel at night, but a short walk behind a group of trees shields off most of the stray light leaving excellent skies. The worst thing about this place is that wifi is only available when close to the restaurant and bar area. Elsewhere around the complex 3G is intermittent to non-existent making EMS take several minutes to fully load a new page when it's not saying unavailable. Had a very enjoyable binocular session last night, before and after the moon showed itself. Kept switching between the views in the 15x70's and 2.1x42's both dangling round my neck at the same time. As the night wore on the dew got heavier and the dampness in the atmosphere really started showing itself more as the moon illuminated it. Got some lovely views of the following fuzzies and star groups though... Started off with the stuff that was going down fast. M42 looked surprisingly large and bright for its low altitude with lots of stars in its flanking clusters. Up to Collinder 70 the belt cluster showing off the nice S shaped string running through it. The cluster in the Rosette Nebula looked good with various other fuzzies around it. Collinder 89 with M35 make a nice pair as does Persson 1 with NGC2169 the "37" cluster, though it only showed as a tiny fuzzy rectangle in the 15x70's. The Pleiades and Hyades with "Davis's Dog" asterism between them looked nice as usual. The Auriga clusters M36, 37 and 38 were just fuzzies but the "Flying Minnow" asterism and Collinder 62 are always nice to see resolved. NGC2281 is an easy to find fuzzy patch making the apex of an equilateral triangle with and to the east of Beta and Theta Auriga. M44 is nicely resolved in the bins and M67 just fuzzy patch. North of Cancer is superb chain of stars resembling Kembles Cascade in both size and brightness. Near Castor and Pollux there is a nice grouping of stars including 64 and 65 Gem that is worth a look. The Perseus/Cassiopiea region showed up the double cluster, Stock 2 and 23, Trumpler 2, Collinder 463, M103, M34, Kembles Cascade and Comet Lovejoy is remaining much brighter than I expected it to be and still so easy to find. Off to Canes Venatici high in the east, compact bright asterism Upgren 1 is always worth a look. M81, 82 and 51 were barely visible despite the rising moon. Polaris and its "Diamond Ring" asterism was also seen. Kemble 2, the "Little Cassiopiea" asterism in Draco was a little gem. Finally, how about some relatively unknown star clusters in Ursa Major. Well the first one is Collinder 285 which is too easy, the 7 bright stars that make up the Plough and are all moving together. Next is Latyshev 2. This comprises about 7 stars from 5th to 10th mag between Mizar and M101. These stars were only found to be associated after a study in 1977. A fainter one also near Mizar is Ferrero 6, a fuzz of half a dozen stars can be seen in the bins but it is much better through a scope. Numerous passing artificial satellites added transitory interest to the session. All these objects can be located with a little help from the Internet. I find it fascinating that there is something of interest to see in just about any part of the sky, no matter what equipment you use. I wished I had brought my ST120 to examine these objects in more detail, but the car was just jammed packed full without it. I had to sneak the bins in Smithysteve and Johnnyaardvark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Fantastic report and what a lovely location. I saw pretty much what you saw last night as well, except for M42 that had pretty much gone down. Never heard of Ferrero 6 though, that's a new one on me. We are considering a cottage in Northumberland this summer, but I'll be like you, I will have car load so can only bring the bins and maybe a spotting scope. Have fun Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithysteve Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Great report Pete. So I guess you didn't take the 14" dob? I can just imagine you trundling it down to your car, seeing the look on your better halfs face, then trundling it back!☺ï¸ðŸ˜€ Seriously, I am going to pore over your great report and seek out some of your objects, that I have never seen yet, (or even heard of before! 😄). So much to see and learn... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Great report Pete, sounds like you had an excellent session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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