8th November 2009 - Report

It has felt like such a long time since I was last out observing, all thanks to the appalling weather we've been having these past few weeks.
Sunday was a lovely day though, very sunny with no noticeable wind and only some light cloud. It was very cold though so I knew any clear skies I'd have would be hampered early in the night as the moisture levels in the air are very high from the week of rain.
I was able to get just over an hour of decent clear skies before the moisture turned into thick haze and then later into light fog.

I still enjoyed my session a lot, even though it was rather short, as most of the objects I was looking at were completely new to me and some of them were absolute crackers to look at, anyway...

Location = Parents back garden

Equipment = EQ6 Pro and Orion 10"

Seeing = 2
Trans = 2

Start Time = 18:50

My observations for the night are as follows:

NGC 891 = Averted vision allowed me to see the disk but no detail was apparent to me, which wasn't surprising considering the sky conditions.

NGC 1708 = A rather faint and very scattered open cluster. A nice fist see but certainly one for observing again under better skies.

NGC 1961 = Averted vision showed me a fain disk of the galaxy, which seemed to be almost, if not, a face on galaxy but again another one for a night with better skies.

IC 356 = Visible but just barely. The formation of the surrounding stars was quite lovely.

NGC 1502 = A new open cluster for me and quite a beautiful sight, with a delightful double star placed with in the centre of the cluster, with both stars having apparent similar sizes and colour. One to remember.

NGC 1501 - A very nice PN. Much bigger in the eye piece than I was expecting and the observing with the UHC-S filter really improved the view with extra detail and strong contrast . A very pleasing sight.

NGC 1444 = Not much to see here, just a hand full of faint stars but a very nice double star saves this view from being dull.

NGC 1528 = A beautiful open cluster that almost filled the FOV in my newly acquired 17mm Hyperion. Stars of  varying magnitude and distances really make this a lovely and memorable sight indeed.

NGC 1545 = Not much to see really, only a few stars with no discernible pattern.

Finish Time = 19:34

So all in all, a very short session but a very fun one and all spent in Camelopardalis for a nice change. A constellation that appears to have little to offer but is full of overlooked and hidden gems. I'll be coming back to get a better look at the objects in this very interesting constellation. One of the best short session I've had in a long time.