It's 2am, and it's Pimms time, daaahhhlings
And to go with that Pimms, some stargazing with my 10x50s.
The doldrums weather has passed over with the colder front that swept over town most photogenically at 8pm last night, a sheet of clear crystal blue pushing the clouds and the horrific clinging humidity away.
The sky was still clear, blue turned to black, in the deep of night, so I headed out, glass in hand. First thing I noticed was that even in my urban location, the milky way was clearly visible in Cygnus overhead, although not quite clearly enough for the rift to be apparent. This is such a rare occurrence these days, and sweeping North to South in my 10x50s was richly rewarding.
Who needs to know your Messier and NGC numbers, when sprinklings of stars everywhere are simply falling off the sky onto you. There were clusters and knots everywhere, and for once I didn't feel the need to know what they are.
Although to be a proper astronomer, I probably should.
Well if you want names and numbers, I had great views of Messier 39, Lacerta clusters, the coathanger, Messier 71, Messier 27 the dumbbell nebula, Kemble's Cascade, Mirfak cluster and its orange friend, the Perseus double cluster, and the autumn harbringers Messier 31, Messier 15 AND a glimpse of the Triangulum spiral galaxy Messier 33.
But cold numbers do not translate the wonder of it all, I'm afraid. You need to look for yourselves.
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