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A Look at the Spring Sky

LOCATION: Yarnshall Hill

INSTRUMENT: 127mm f/8.03 OG

MAGNIFICATION: mostly x41

SEEING: ANT III Transparency Good

DATE/TIME: 08 04. 20:30 23:05.

NLM +5.1

Members present.

Kevin and Norman, Colin, PaulC, Nick and Richard Bullock.


At the request of Kevin Thurston and also the forecast of a clear sky, myself and members of the society ventured out to one of our observing sites. Yarnshall Hill nr Shuttlings Low is a good site and offers shelter if windy. The sky was lovely and clear but not quite as dark as we had hoped nlm+5.1. I was using my 127mm f/8.03 Konus refractor and I was able to pick out a good selection of DSO's despite the telescopes small aperture.


M65 & M66. Both galaxies were very bright and I could see in the same field NGC 3628 which was just visible as a faint haze.


M84 & M86. Visible as two patches of bright stellar light with a couple of other faint galaxies visible in the same area.


M3. I was Just able to resolve M3 and through my LV zoom set to 8mm x125 M3 is a bright granular ball.


M51 NGC 5195. Both galaxies were visible and were very bright. I was only using the 24 Pan (what an eyepiece). And you could see the connecting gas between M51 and NGC 5195. M51 has a bright nucleus with faint spiral arms just visible with averted vision.


M94. Another galaxy this time in near by Canes. It's bright and looks rather like a round unresolved globular cluster.


Jupiter. Plenty of detail visible at x125. With both the NEB and SEB clearly visible as were other belts and zones.


I then returned to the centre of the Virgo Cluster and just spent a while hopping from one galaxy to the other.


Although my 127mm 4.75" Konus is small, it doesn't half pack a punch.


by Paul


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