M6 and M7

[Mariner (Frank)]

I hope that others further south can see this tonight... At 1 degree north of the equator (at sea) the butterfly cluster and M7 are both clearly visible to the naked eye with plenty of detail - they look wonderful, even through a nasty pair of 7x50s.

The tail of the scorpion is truly beautiful......

[Suzy]

Are you on a ship or a boat, Frank
I'm envious of your view, what a gorgeous site it must be.
Aye, it's stinger is loaded with plenty of "kapow!" What weaponary.. mesmorises us like stunned mullets keeping us frozen right in our tracks.

[Mariner (Frank)]

Hi Suzy,
Yeah on a ship - heading for Dampier from Singapore. The stars are really awesome. I don't know why I have never paid that much attention to it in the past???? Tested the compass errors with Antares more times than I care to remember.

Hey by the way, loved your questions about the eyepieces - really got me thinking which ones I will get too (12" f/5). They are so much money and you want to make the right choice. Hope you like the ones you got.

[pgc hunter]

Yeah very nice area of the sky. Must be awesome form out in the middle of the ocean! I was sweeping the sting and nearby regions with the 120st and 32mm eyepiece last night. Very, very nice

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

Hi Frank,

When I was at sea (RFWE only last April!) I used to try and bag as many northern hemisphere objects with binoculars as I could.
If you are on the 4-8 or 8-12 you could try M51 as it is near the meridian around 7pm local time. You can see this with 7x50 if sky is transparent enough,(which as you will be aware is always a problem in the tropics.) M100 took me 15x80 to see and had to steady them on the bridge dodger.

Best and clearest skies I ever saw was on the run from NZ to Cape Horn. The LMC appeared to cover twice its normal area - never again seen the sky so transparent.

I appreciate the veiws form another seafarer!

[Mariner (Frank)]

Hi John,
Up here the transparency isn't quite as good around the equator. My watch is a 2 man watch (big new FPSO) 12noon to midnight - pretty unconventional watch but plenty of good rest periods which is good. I am going to have some astronomy nights for as many crew who wish to attend in the wee hours once we hit the indian ocean.

I agree, best skys I have ever seen are south in the southern ocean or tasman towards the bottom of the south island of nz (haven't been around the horn myself yet).

If yourself or anyone else has some ideas of what we should be looking at - some easy stuff to look through 7x50s then by all means let me know.

regards, Frank.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by Mariner

Hi Suzy,
Hey by the way, loved your questions about the eyepieces - really got me thinking which ones I will get too (12" f/5). They are so much money and you want to make the right choice. Hope you like the ones you got.

I'm glad they were helpful to you, Frank.
Yes, I absolutely love my eyepieces. Money wisely and well spent. I was very fortunate that I had the best help from highly experience observers and people in the know. I really should get back to those threads and give my thoughts (I'd forgotten!)
TerryL (CometGuy) has got a 12" dob same as yourself, and he got his Denkenmeir 14mm the same time as myself and he said it's become his favourite eye piece.

I hope this list of bino targets will be of help to you.
www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/sskybino/ssbinoc2.html

[Mariner (Frank)]

Hi Suzy,
The list is excellent, I was only just looking at the coal sack tonight - seeing if my x-ray vision and the Bushnell 7x50s could pierce through and see what was on the other side...???? Didn't work unfortunately, maybe next time, but great viewing none the less.

There is a lot more there around the good old southern cross to be seen through binos than I thought. Thanks again.
Regards, F.