Binocular Views.
With the seeing pretty crappy, I ditched the scope and bought out the 10x50binos.
M31 was first. You don't realize how huge this galaxy is until you see it through binos. The FOV was almost filled with the outer arms much brighter than what you see through a scope.
Moving to the upper right, halfway between Pegasus's hind leg and Triangulum, I found M33, the Pinwheel. A very pretty Mag 7 face on spiral.
TUMOL lists it as a tough object to find with binos, but I had no difficulty. The structure of the arms was quite easy to work out.
M45, the Pleiades, Subaru, The Seven Sisters. Again this is an object that a telescope cannot do justice to. Binoculars are the way to go. To look at it naked eye, it seems so ordinary, once you zoom in, WOW!
Finally I spent quite a while cruising Orions star field. From Bellatrix through Orions belt, up his sword and finishing at Rigel, trying hard to ignore the brighter stars and objects. I realize now that I'd never actually studied the fainter stars in this area. Have you ever noticed how the stars arch and curve around Orion Epsilon? It looks remarkably like someones head and shoulders.
Scope
With Saturn now rising, I packed away the binos and uncovered the scope. Carina had by now cleared the trees and I went for my first proper view of the season. Then all of a sudden the whole atmosphere seems to change. The wind dropped and the stars took on a surreal look. I put the 12.5mm ep into the 2x barlow ( 200x ), bought the Eta Carina Nebula into view, and my jaw dropped.
NEVER had I seen it this clear. The seeing and transparency of the sky was at a guess 9/10.
The Homunculus nebula stood out clearly with some internal mottling visable. But it was the dark dust lanes and the brighter nebulosity that was gobsmacking. The stars were pinpoints.
All I could think of was , I wish I could capture this, I wish I wish I wish.
I spun the scope around then, got out the camcorder hoping to capture this special moment with a pristine image of Saturn, but alas, the seeing went soupy and it was all over.
But it was the best 5 minutes ever. I'll never forget it.
Cheers
Jeanette
