[ZeroID (Brent)]

Brilliant night last night in Auckland. Light southerly cleared the air of clouds and thermals and put seeing at 2, nearly 1. Transparency about 5 or slightly better. I could see the Milky Way glow from home. Stayed outside till 11 pm in just a T-shirt and light trousers and only had to slap off a few mozzies. Put Skeletope out on the driveway early to stabilise. Target for the evening was the Eta Carina region which I've had trouble getting my mind around. Now it's high enough in the SSE sky in the later evening to clear most suburbia glow. Working in from Southern Pleiades as my marker. 10'"f5 using 20mm and 15mm GSO Superview EPs for 90% of the time.

Eta Carina : now I understand 'huge'. Even in the 20mm I could only cover about half the area. As the night progressed and it rose and darkened I could see dark lanes between the more visible dust clouds with colours on the stars quite distinct. Must have stared at that over the night for at least 20 minutes just taking it in. Stunning!

In that region, NGC 3532, (Wishing Well), 3766, 3572, 3372, 3496, 3293, 3324, 3114. All high clarity and stable even at 7.5mm (2 x Barlowed 15mm GSO SV).

Had to look at Orion Neb just to see what it was doing. Absiolutely stunning. Dust easily visible in great sweeping arcs over the stars. Most visible I have ever seen. Almost an eagle wing effect with faint pink colour at the edges.

Swung back and up to LMC to look at Tarantula. Another stunner with dust clouds and dark lanes if you looked carefully and moved the eyes around for averted vision. Checked the local region around Tarantula and spotted many small clusters and groups. I'll have to go back and check Paddys LMC charts to identify the plethora of targets in there but can list NGC 2070, 2069, 2081, 2074, 2044, 2042, 2060, the group with 2077 and 2079, 2048, 2100, HS397(A). All clearly identifiable.
Around that same region, NGC 1970 and it's associated 1965, 1962, 1966. NGC 2122, 2018 then further afeild to 1858, 1850.

I must have swept across heaps more but I'll be back to add to the collection. It should have been a photo night but I wasn't prepared, not expecting such a glorious evening but I had the best viewing night ever so far. Fingers crossed for a similar night tonight.

On another note a good friend of mine has just bought a 5" Mak SC GoTo and gotten hooked. I've recommended he joins up here to gain the benefit of the collective knowledge available.

Clear skies to you all, hope Yasi doesn't affect any of you too much.