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Old 14-07-2011, 12:58 PM
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Suzy
Searching for Travolta...

Suzy is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brisbane, Australia.
Posts: 3,700
Terrific report Shell!
I missed reading your reports.

Boy or boy you are giving those new binos a great work out, so amazing the ton of goodies that can be seen through them!

That beautifully described cluster, NGC 6322 has got me intrigued so I've put in on my to do list for next time. I often visit NGC 6132 in the table of Scorpio and scan the surrounds - can't believe I missed that one being so close to it.

Regarding the Lagoon nebula, thru binos I was surprised by the length of it and how bright it actually was. Nearly blew me over. I loved your description of it. When I viewed it thru my binos, it was quite high (about 60 deg) and the sky was nice and clear. So keep trying on that one without the moon in the way, it will be worth it as it does get brighter and you'll make out the bright star cluster embedded in it. It's pure awesomeness. That actually reminds me of what LesD said to me once... he said after a while (of observing) everything is brighter . Blinking true. In 12 mths you'll come back and tell us M8 is so bright thru binos that you now have to wear sunglasses.

In my last session I viewed M13 for the first time in my 10", agreed the transparency of the sky was was bad and dew was starting to affect my image, and all I could was a very dim fuzzy patch of unresolvable stars (note- you may see this sentence repeated in my next obs report ) and I thought, crickey you & Jason saw that thru your binos, you guys are legends. Then I spared a thought for the poor North Americans/Europeans because that's actually their brightest globular cluster.. poor things.
I just looked up Wikki to check my information on that and it says
Quote:
However, due to its southerly declination, M22 never rises high in the sky and so appears less impressive than other summer sky globulars such as M13 and M5.
Regarding Omega Centauri - Shell, you're not far away from me- you can see it easily, it looks like a dim large star.

Have a go at the technique I use...
Starting from Hadar, I join up to the next bright star which is Epsillon.
I use Zeta & Epsillon to form a triangle using Omega Centauri; it forms an easily discernible triangle.
Omega Cent. is 4 deg. (that's nearly the width of three fingers out stretched closing one eye) from the mid point of Z & E Cent. to make the triangle with Omega.
Stare at the space for a tiny bit and it will pop out.

Even from my front yard between two street lamps I make it out so I know you will too. Tuc too is also visible naked eye on a nice night. I use Omega Cent. to judge the conditions of the sky before observing. If it's really faint, I know not to expect too see too much detail in anything.. as with what happened in my last session (re M-13 mentioned earlier).
P.S. Les will be proud of the correct genitive usage here.
Regarding what Les said...
Quote:
You are certainly right about IC 2602 -- it is one of the very best open clusters for binoculars. It is interesting that you noted Spica's colour but didn't see colour in any of the stars in IC 2602 -- which are about as blue as they can be to our vision. There are three stars in the cluster with B-V values that are "more blue" than -0.13 -- the same as Spica. Theta itself is -0.20 (which is exceptionally blue).
I am soooo going back there to find those three blue stars. I'm trying to decipher blue & white stars thru my scope at the moment, so thanks Les for the info. It helps when trying to learn types of star spectra, that someone points you to the really bright and blue ones to start the learning curve. For me, even the blue star in the Jewel box can sometimes be a challenge making out the blue depending on the conditions of the sky- some nights it's very apparent and some nights I've got to try really hard making it out from the white one next to it. Must be really easy to spot for people that have been deciphering them for a while. I seem to make out the yellow shades really well tho (I guess there easier). Aye, I have a long way to go, but it's so much fun. As you and I are learning spectra types together, we can help each other Shell!

Can't wait to see more reports from you through your binos.
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