Post by mikeyp on Sept 22, 2017 9:32:34 GMT
When I came in last night (from the rain) I checked Met Office and it showed a clear spell around 2.00-300 a.m.
The Pembrokeshire forecast is generally unreliable but, as it was, I woke around 1.00 a.m. and lo there was patchy cloud with a few stars peeping through.
The East was remarkably clear - I could see the Pleiades, M31 and the Double Cluster naked eye. I could just make out 3 stars in the Square of Pegasus so seeing was not too good.
The challenge for the night was around Cygnus. The cloud came and went so with patience things could be seen.
M29 is an open cluster with the name "the Cooling Tower". It's about 2 degrees S of Sadr the central star of the cross and hopefully visible in the screenshot from stellarium below.(Click on it - it gets bigger!) Some can make out seven or more stars but last night with the 25x100 binoculars the limit was just 5.
The double star Albireo was easily resolved in the big binoculars and the colour contrast was evident.
The final challenge (at that time in the morning isn't everything a challenge?) was M27 the Dumbbell nebula. It is said to be the easiest planetary nebula for binoculars and finding it posed no problem though they say it is in the constellation Vulpecula.
There is a lot to see in this area - the Milky Way was glorious last night - later in the year, at a more favourable time and elevation we will look for old friends M57, the Ring Nebula and 61 Cygni which every budding astronomer should be aware of - it being the 1st star to have its distance measured.
The Pembrokeshire forecast is generally unreliable but, as it was, I woke around 1.00 a.m. and lo there was patchy cloud with a few stars peeping through.
The East was remarkably clear - I could see the Pleiades, M31 and the Double Cluster naked eye. I could just make out 3 stars in the Square of Pegasus so seeing was not too good.
The challenge for the night was around Cygnus. The cloud came and went so with patience things could be seen.
M29 is an open cluster with the name "the Cooling Tower". It's about 2 degrees S of Sadr the central star of the cross and hopefully visible in the screenshot from stellarium below.(Click on it - it gets bigger!) Some can make out seven or more stars but last night with the 25x100 binoculars the limit was just 5.
The double star Albireo was easily resolved in the big binoculars and the colour contrast was evident.
The final challenge (at that time in the morning isn't everything a challenge?) was M27 the Dumbbell nebula. It is said to be the easiest planetary nebula for binoculars and finding it posed no problem though they say it is in the constellation Vulpecula.
There is a lot to see in this area - the Milky Way was glorious last night - later in the year, at a more favourable time and elevation we will look for old friends M57, the Ring Nebula and 61 Cygni which every budding astronomer should be aware of - it being the 1st star to have its distance measured.