Something a little different this time. We had our monthly get-together tonight at the Porepunkah airstrip, but this time I was still knocked about a bit with the effects of a lingering cold and decided not to stay long.
Hence I only took my battered old 12x50 Hanimex
binoculars along. Observing was between 9pm and 10:15pm, with excellent transparency but poor seeing. Cruised all around the skies, and some of the brighter objects observed included:
M31 Andromeda Galaxy ideally suited to binoculars, and once again it did not disappoint. Nucleus bright, with faint extensions visible for some distance each side. Easy naked-eye on the night.
NGC 253 in Sculptor Quite a large bright elliptical haze. Near the zenith, and quite difficult to view with comfort (ow, my neck!).
NGC55 Pretty much
at the zenith. This galaxy is in Sculptor, but not that far from Ankaa in Phoenix. A little fainter than NGC 253, but easily visible in binoculars. Roughly cigar-shaped, but lack of symmetry just noticeable with sustained viewing (& acute neck pain - too much dew to lie on my back
).
M22 Bright globular in Sagittarius, and a great binocular object! Relatively large, and showed central condensation.
NGC104 (47Tuc) its all been said before, magnificent! Very noticeable central condensation.
NGC2070, Tarantula Nebula in LMC not spectacular in binoculars, but easily visible as a small bright blob. The LMC & SMC themselves look fantastic through binoculars, because of the nice wide FOV!
M8, Lagoon Nebula small with faintest nebulosity visible, but nothing like a low-power eyepiece view in a telescope!
M7, open cluster in Scorpius another great binocular target, large and crammed with bright stars.
M45, The Pleiades just rising above the hills to the north-east as I was preparing to go home, so had to have a look. Binoculars is the only way to view this marvel, IMO. Just so bright and large!
M42, Great Nebula in Orion sorry folks, was on my way home before this one rose above the hills!
Cheers -