45.7667 N
August 31,13
Forecast was for rain, but by 9.30pm the clouds had cleared
out.
Temperature was coolish but comfortable, throwing on a
fleece after dark.
Wasn’t sure what the clouds were going to do, so just
grabbed my 10X50 binoculars and sat in a chair. Listened to the crickets and the wind, and the remaining
opportunistic mosquitoes. Dewy.
Wanted to grab Scorpius before it set. Very pretty triangle of Antares, M4 and
Sigma Sco in the field of view. M4
(globular cluster) is not do-able from Toronto due to the light pollution and
sightlines, but from here – easy peasy.
Round smudge.
On to Nova Delph 2013 – dimmer than when I last saw it, a
bit dimmer than mag 6. Maybe
6.5? Will look again and
compare. Must get on to the AAVSO
reporting – will add it to my to-do list.
They have a binocular list of objects too.
Sagittarius – and “The Teapot”. The Milky Way “steam” comes out of the spout, and if you
just follow this with your binoculars upwards, you’ll start to see all sorts of
identifiable knots of stars and nebulae. So much there, that it’s easy to get lost. Got out my handy dandy Pocket Sky
Atlas.
M8 – The Lagoon Nebula. Extremely identifiable lateral amoeba shape with stars
imbedded in it.
M22 – globular cluster off the lid – one of my faves –
lovely round conglomerate.
M28 – smaller GC west of Kaus Borealis in Sag
M31 – the Great Andromeda Galaxy in binoculars is so
obviously a face on spiral galaxy with a dense central core – and easily
visible naked eye from here too – I’m always blown away when I look without
optical aid at M31 – a whole other galaxy with hundred of billions of stars,
which is over 2 million light years away from us and gradually closing.
M33 – Hop, skip and a jump from M31 down to Trangulum and
this smaller but still binocular galaxy.
Not naked eye for me though – at least not tonight.
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