*FRIDAY NIGHT*
What a fantastic 2 nights for observing and astrophotography. After the cold front went through Friday evening the skies became crystal clear. I wasn’t able to join the gang in Binbrook so I had to do my observing from the driveway. Since Glenn and Gail live a very short distance away, they opted to keep me company rather than make the long trek out to Binbrook. While my telescope, camera and computer were doing all the work of imaging, I was enjoying the views of many deep sky objects through their 6in dob, and both my 15×70 and their 10×50 binoculars.
Viewed objects: (list provided by Glenn)
-31 Cygni – small blue and gold double stars
-NGC 6940 – open cluster in Cygnus
-M27 – Dumbbell Nebula
-M71 – open cluster in Sagitta
-NGC 6934 – small globular in Delphinus
-NGC 7789 – the Magnificent Cluster – open cluster in Cassiopeia
-M13 & M92 – glob’s in Hercules
-NGC 6210 – planetary in Hercules
-Albireo – blue and gold double stars
-NGC 6543 – “Cat’s Eye” planetary in Draco
-tons of satellites
*SATURDAY NIGHT*
Another great night. I’m surprised that I’m not burned out yet. Anyway while hubby was doing some radio dxing I decided to set up again on the driveway. Another beautiful night!!!! I had problems with my images from Friday night so I decided to try my targets again. M51 and M71. In between exposures I was viewing many targets in my 15×70 Celestron Skymasters.
Viewed Objects in 15x70s:
-m27 dumbell nebula
-m71 glob cluster, in hazy air I was barely able to see this in the my 6in
-m81/82 a very nice pair to look at in binoculars
-m31 Andromeda Galaxy still pretty low in the sky
-m51 surprised I could see this
-m101 – again another surprise to find in binoculars
-various clusters and nebulas above Sagittarius
-various open clusters and doubles in Cygnus, Casseopia, and Lyra
Both nights I was able to make out mag 6 with averted vision at zenith.
M51 By KerryLH
13×3-5min exposures @ iso 800
Canon 300D, 6in SCT on the CG5-GT
autoguided with DSI and PHD Guiding
diffraction spike – copper wire
