Post by mikeyp on Oct 27, 2017 20:09:35 GMT
The forecast was promising so the Dob. went out this afternoon as did the 25x100 binoculars.
Around 6.30 p.m. the Moon was beckoning and though the apple tree was in the way we had good views of the Alpine Valley through the 8" Dobsonian.
Some handsome craters were nearby including Cassini the impact crater, (interestingly there is a Cassini crater on Mars also) and the 3 A's - Archimedes, Aristillus and Autolycus.
Mt. Piton looked impressive - very white and with a huge shadow. The 1st quarter Moon has some sights that we never tire of.
We hoped to see planet Uranus but though it was in the east, somewhere, from our vantage point it was not visible.
We did see some old favourites - the Perseus Double Cluster and M31 the Andromeda galaxy that were best seen in 8x30 binoculars.
M15 aka the Great Pegasus Cluster was easily found in the big binoculars. At magnitude 6.2 it is only marginally fainter and smaller than M13 which hold the accolade of the number 1 globular in the N Hemisphere.
The Wild Duck cluster in Scutum (M11) is a nice open cluster to the south and west of Aquila the Eagle. One source I read commented "one look at its dazzling stars set against an inky dark sky and you will have no doubt that life is worth living".
Susan was very pleased with herself when she found M57, the Ring Nebula, in Lyra. Some objects are almost vertical in the sky so a real challenge to find. This looked, as it should, at x 80 in the Dob.
After 1 and 1/2 hours we were sufficiently numbed to bring the kit back inside. A pleasant session even if a few target objects were not seen.
Around 6.30 p.m. the Moon was beckoning and though the apple tree was in the way we had good views of the Alpine Valley through the 8" Dobsonian.
Some handsome craters were nearby including Cassini the impact crater, (interestingly there is a Cassini crater on Mars also) and the 3 A's - Archimedes, Aristillus and Autolycus.
Mt. Piton looked impressive - very white and with a huge shadow. The 1st quarter Moon has some sights that we never tire of.
We hoped to see planet Uranus but though it was in the east, somewhere, from our vantage point it was not visible.
We did see some old favourites - the Perseus Double Cluster and M31 the Andromeda galaxy that were best seen in 8x30 binoculars.
M15 aka the Great Pegasus Cluster was easily found in the big binoculars. At magnitude 6.2 it is only marginally fainter and smaller than M13 which hold the accolade of the number 1 globular in the N Hemisphere.
The Wild Duck cluster in Scutum (M11) is a nice open cluster to the south and west of Aquila the Eagle. One source I read commented "one look at its dazzling stars set against an inky dark sky and you will have no doubt that life is worth living".
Susan was very pleased with herself when she found M57, the Ring Nebula, in Lyra. Some objects are almost vertical in the sky so a real challenge to find. This looked, as it should, at x 80 in the Dob.
After 1 and 1/2 hours we were sufficiently numbed to bring the kit back inside. A pleasant session even if a few target objects were not seen.