For the first time since I picked up binoculars a couple of months ago, I went to a dark sky site about 1.25 hours southwest of where I live. I arrived around 8pm and only got back to Bondi after 5am. The night was excellent, and the sheer number of stars visible to the naked eye was refreshingly impressive. We had some early cloud but after midnight things were mostly clear, and the light domes of Sydney and Wollongong had diminished to almost nothing by around 2am.
There were far too many objects to point the scopes at (there were 3 beginners there with their scopes, including me, and 2 old hands with 18" and 20" Obsession clones between them). We had an early treat shortly after 10pm when an Iridium flare blazed across a portion of the southeastern sky - my first such experience and very impressive indeed!
Some notes, in no particular order:
- Tarantula nebula was impressive, once again, and the 18" and 20" scopes showed wonderful detail
- Omega Centauri was spectacular as usual in my 10"; the 18" scope brightened it somewhat and showed more individual stars
- saw the Jewel Box for the first time through my 10" scope with a 25mm eyepiece; didn't even have time to switch up to the 10mm EP but enjoyed the colour and spectacle of it
- M42 was lovely before the sky had darkened; forgot to point my scope back at it later in the evening to compare with my light polluted home views (oops)
- Eta Carinae nebula, saw the homunculus in the 10", 12" and 18", with all three scopes showing detail in the lobes and the 18" scope showing quite a bit more in each of the lobes
- Saturn was excellent through all of the scopes; the rings were clearly visible over the planet disk in all three scopes, and 2 moons were clearly visible in the 10" and 12" scopes, while the 18" scope showed a slightly larger and significantly brighter image and clearly showed a third moon
- NGC 1365 was an early contender for galaxy of the evening (and my first confirmed galaxy sighting) in the 18"
- Saw the Leo Trio in the 18" and zoomed in on M66 to see details, confirming an earlier unconfirmed sighting of these objects a few weeks ago in my 10"
- Observed M83 in the 18" and my 10"; excellent in both (though not easy to locate and not as bright as I had expected for a Messier)
- Sombrero Galaxy - knocking socks off to the sound of Mike Oldfield's latest album (I suspect that next time I view M83 it would be appropriate to play some M83) - could make out the dust lane
- Saw the big football cluster somewhere near Eta Carinae (cannot for the life of me recall its name or catalogue designation)
- Observed the Pleiades and Southern Pleiades through my binos
- Alpha Centauri is a nice looking binary, as it happens
- Les pointed his 18" at a planetary nebula heretofore unobserved visually, and became the first human to see the object. My untrained eyes were unable to see what he was so excited about!
There were other objects, but as you can see it was a very productive evening. I can also report that:
- green laser pointers are awesome
- I definitely need a variable-height astro chair like Richard brought
- the GSO (also branded Bintel) 12" solid-tube Dob is well-constructed and a joy to use
- shooting stars and satellites still bring me great joy
- aperture fever may be cool but eyepiece lust is way more alluring right now
- it's worth bringing my laptop to my next session because fishing out star maps is slow and ruins your night vision!
- salt and vinegar chips taste excellent at 4am while driving on the Hume Highway; Arnotts Montes are great reward for arriving alive back in Bondi
Anyway the night was excellent, and thanks to Les in particular for everything. You're a champ!
Cheers and clear skies
- DSB
