Observing session May 14th-15th 2012, from back garden, Rogerstone, Newport, South Wales.
Clear sky for most part, occasional groups of clouds came over head but were moving fast so cleared quickly.*
Got scope out at 20:30 to cool, fine adjustment to collimation and then aligned finder scope.*
I used Sky Atlas 2000.0 as my guide, so all chart and star numbers are in respect of that. I would take pics on my phone of the specific parts I require and use that as my guide.
First off was Venus as it was about to set behind my neighbors house so quickly got onto it. Beautiful crescent phase from the 25mm ep. In with the x2 Barlow and 10mm to see a close up of the thin slither crescent, can’t wait for June!
With Venus now below the neighbors roof I aimed at Mars. Great view of the red planet picking up on a little greyness in the center.
Chart 13
First I located Chertan in Leo. Hopped to star No.73 then too M65 and M66. Wasn’t able to get a visual on NGC3628.
Back to Chertan then down to the right following a path of 6 stars of 7-7.5th magnitude that form a sickle shape then over too star No.52. From there it’s down too M105, M95 and M96. All three in the same FOV.*
Leo was getting low now so I fancied a go at*markarian’s chain. From Vindemiatrix in Virgo I went across to star No.33, 30 and 27. Got lost here, but was starting to get a bit cold at this point so I popped inside for a warm up, I’ll probably start off with this next time.
Chart 7
From Alkaid in Ursa Major it’s easy to spot star No.24. Then down to M51.*
Back to Alkaid, across to star No.13 then up to No.21 and No.17. There’s a couple of 7-8th magnitude stars that lead to M101. Although looking back at my charts it looks easier to hop from the Mizar and Alcor system.*
By now Saturn was clear of the neighbours house so I swung the scope over to it. Great view at x200 magnification.
Chart 2
From Merak I hopped down through a couple of 7-8th magnitude stars to a small triangle of the same magnitude stars where I found M97. Back up towards Merak and M108 comes into view.
Still in Ursa Major I started at Dubhe. Hopped up to No.38 then up to VY variable star. Up above those are a triangle of 5-6th magnitude stars pointing to M81 and M82. Great view at low power in same FOV.*
It was approaching 4am by this point and the first signs of light were appearing. But I couldn’t resist going for one more faint fuzzy. So still in Ursa Major I hopped from Phad down to the left following 4 6-7th magnitude stars that curve towards No.5 then down to No.3 and then down further to a 5 star cross made up of 7-8.5 magnitude stars where M106 is located.*
So all in all a great night, although the faint fuzzies are true to their name it just blows my mind as to what im actually seeing. First session using my sky atlas 2000.0 and what a resource it is. As it is a bit big when the charts are unfolded by taking pics on my phone and zooming in was a good way of using it. Total haul of 12 messiers, 11 galaxies and one planetary nebula and 3 planets.
NurseRoberts 