Across the Sky by Rum

And we are not talking Scottish islands here either!

Once again, 3am found me outside with a Rum and Coke and my 10x50s, and this time forarmed with a far better idea of where to look for things.

Sure enough, Messier 5 was found a little way at 4 o clock from Alpha Serpentiis, close to a brightish 5th mag star, and almost as prominent as Messier 13 if harder to find. Tick one off, give a little "whoop", take a drink! As I wrote on twitter yesterday, I then confirmed that it was the cluster IC4665 I found in Ophicuchus, surprised something as prominent and easy to find has no NGC number let alone a Messier one.

Really on a roll now, I then managed to find Messier 3, which kind of makes a roughly equilateral triangle with Arcturus and Rho Bootes. Last night I reckoned M5 looked more impressive, but other sources rate M3 the better cluster.

New targets are now Messier 10 and 12 in Ophiuchus, and Coma galaxies.

This morning had a run out to Willow Holt. Gorgeous day, ended up rather too hot really for an 8 mile run, and a chiff chaff - I think - was singing loudly by the Wyke Lane entrance. Further along the river saw Reed Buntings and another finchy looking bird with a black and white tail, and seeming red patch on it sforehead.

Now I'm out of the sun, which is hazing now, and recovering!