[ngcles]

Hi Doug & All,

Another interesting read -- well put together. Keep trying on Sirius -- you never know (though I don't think you need further encouragement).

Interested in your impressions of NGC 3766 -- you saw 2 orange stars which is pretty much what I'd expect in the 4". With 8-10" there is third one. Two are close together on the NW side of the cluster and the third is just to the east of centre. All three are M0 Iab supergiants. The three are pretty easy to see in 10" and make the white stars look a bit "icy" by contrast. Must take a look next time to see if I can see the "W". This cluster truly is one of the rarely mentioned gems of the southern sky that if transplanted to say Cassiopeia, we'd never hear the end of ...

I see you rated the seeing in Melbourne as a 6, it was some of the best seeing in several months in Sydney last night. Transparency was about average though. I was working at the obs doing the practical component of a course I teach and we had a good assortment of ''scopes from 60mm refractor, 4.5" reflector, 10" S/C, 12" Dob and my 18". By 11pm, Saturn was breathtaking.

You could see that the outer edge of the "A" ring was slightly more diffuse than the sharper inner edge at Cassini, and the "A" rings' cold white colour contasted nicely with the more creamy "B" ring which (heading toward the disc of Saturn) faded into the dusky Crepe ring. We noted 7 moons in the 18" which were Titan, Rhea, Dione, Iapetus, Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas (very faint). The best view of Saturn I've had in some little time.

Re: NGC 3918, with my old 10" in excellent seeing, I have (quite some time ago) seen a couple of what looked like slightly dimmer fine lines across it at high power (didn't note the PA), but that doesnt seem to correspond to the images I've seen -- but that is the limit of what I could discern. I'm curious to know what the result of your intended high-magnification assault is §AB (and anyone else) (but make sure Uni comes first!!).

Best,


Les D