After a month of constant rain, I couldn’t believe my luck - the day my new 10x60 binos arrived, the clouds parted. Both 7x50 & 10x60 binos were used, but my report is based upon my observations through the 10x60’s.. Some of the session was done with my daughter and her boyfriend.
First up, the gorgeous Pleides cluster (M45) in Taurus. At 440 ly away, these stars are babies at only 100 million years old. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why my daughters boyfriend could only see two stars (naked eye) I thought they were quite obvious naked eye. No matter how many times we got him to look (and apparently he has no problem with his eye sight).. A gorgeous sprinkling of diamonds in the sky is how best I like to describe this gem. I particularly love this cluster when it sits around 25 deg low in the sky and the turbulence of the atmospheres makes the whole cluster dance.
The Hyades Cluster (Mel25). In Taurus. This cluster sits nestled alongside the orange giant star Alderbran. Taurus is one of my favourite constellations- I love the shape and the gorgeous bright orange Alderbran sitting on it as if were a dazzling Topaz gem.. I can’t get over how huge this cluster is. It only just fits within the field of view of 10x60’s. A very large and loose scattering of stars.
On to Canis Major exploring around Sirius, and come across a small fuzzy patch. Don't know what this is so I will have to investigate further.
47 Tuc (NGC104). Globular Cluster. 1,600 l/y away. Just visible to the naked In my 7x50 binos, it showed up as a very small feint fuzzy ball. The 10x60 reveals a larger, brighter fuzzy ball, about one deg in diameter
The Orion Nebula (M42). Four of the bright stars within the nebula were very bright and clear nestled in fuzzy bright nebulosity.. One of these stars holds the Trapezium.
Eta Carina Nebula (NGC 3372). Shows up as a fairly bright elongated patch – quite distinctive.
Gamma Crux and NGC 4755 star Cluster. This red giant sits 88 ly away and is a beautiful deep yellow in binoculars. Exploring the region, I came across a beautiful star cluster about three degrees in diameter.
The Geminids Meteor Shower. Talk about being at the right place at the right time, I had no idea about this event, and my daughter and I got a treat of three meteors within 30 mins. The first two within 10 mins. Short trails and small, yet bright. My reaction was “wow it’s a busy night for meteors tonight”.
Took a moment to enjoy the wide field view of the busy and dusty milky way lane from orion heading south. My daughter and boyfriend were in awe of the heavily population of stars.
LMC & SMC. Not really much to see on this night. A few small knots of nebulosity was seen, and very feint. I was on my way to finding the Tarrantula Nebula when the clouds rolled in.
It was an enjoyable night, but my legs are now covered in dark purple itchy midge bites, the mosquitoes after the rain were out with a revenge, the next door neighbours dog would not shut up and barked at me the whole night, and the yard stunk of compost.
Thanks for reading.
EDIT:The following is the inclusion of M44 (as I got this wrong and edited report accordingly) & the investigation of the fuzzy patch mentioned in my report. I'm adding in IC2602 as well.
The Beehive Cluster (M44). To me, unimpressive in binos, I guess suburbia doesn’t do this justice (?). I could only make out seven bright stars, very hard to count the fainter ones. The shape resembled a right angled triangle. This cluster seen through a scope is indeed breathtaking, with lots of double stars looking like bees chasing each other.
The fuzzy patch I found near M41 in Canis Major. I got my scope on this, and the fuzzy patch turns out to indeed be M41. In binos, Sirius is to the left edge of the fov and M41 is on the right edge and up a bit (couldn't resolve any stars but you could tell it was a distant cluster). When I got my scope on it at 55 X mag., it revealed one of the most beautiful clusters I have seen so far, very tiny stars with an orange one in the middle.
The Southern Pleaides (IC2602). A very beautiful cluster in Carina. A small, condensed cluster, much smaller than M45 in the fov. When scanning the skies around this region, this cluster literally jumps out at you - you can't miss it. It sits only about 4 deg to the right of the famous Eta Carina Nebula.