Saturn at the Sugarloaf

Great, Paul.

Anyone else?

Aubrey.

Hi Aubrey,

A slight change of plans, It'll be 10 before I can get there.

Michael.

Let us make it 10 pm then Paul and Michael.

Perhaps by then we will know if the skies are going to be clear or not.
At the moment Dublin and Wicklow skies are completely overcast. I am checking out accuweather and Wunderground as we speak.

Aubrey.

Evening all.

Three of us met at the Sugarloaf Car Park on Friday night. There were Michael Murphy, Paul Byrne and myself.
Michael brought his 11" SCT Celestron and I had the 6.2" Williams Optics apo. The craic was very good with plenty of laughs.
We did not see Saturn, but we did see the Moon which was 8 days old. Rupes Recta (Straight Wall) was clearly visible even at 40X. Clavius was very close to the terminator and I could see 2 of its inner craters. Tycho was just north of Clavius, but it was unusual in that it had none of its brilliant bright rays -it was quite close to the terminator also.

After we sighted Arcturus, we split Izar at 140X and 167X. There was a lot of cloud about so we did not have a shot at 15 Bootis. There were some gaps developing though, and we had fun splitting Rasalgethi (Alpha Herculis) at 112X.

Paul pointed out the constellation Delphinus; so I pointed my scope at the famous double -double Gamma Delphini and Stf 2725. Even at 40X, the stars split easily for all 3 of us. They were stunning at 112X when both doubles still fit in the same field of view.

Of course, Albireo was on the menu in both our scopes. It still brings delight to our hearts and minds with its lovely colours.

Finally, Paul suggested we should have a look for a tough object in the constellation of Sagitta the arrow. Between the stars Delta and Gamma Sagittae, there is a faint Globular Star Cluster called M71. It is magnitude 9 and has a diameter of 6 minutes. It is rich -it must have over 100 stars visible at 112X. I was amazed to find it at 40X almost immediately. It has been many years since I last observed it. The 100 or so stars range from magnitude 11 down to 16. We could definitely see a lot of the brighter members. The cluster is thought to be about 30 light years wide. It really made my night. And I must thank Paul again for bringing this fine faint cluster to my attention. We did need to be at a dark site to see it.

We all left the Sugarloaf at half past midnight very satisfied.

My deep thanks to Michael and Paul for making the night very special for me personally. Maybe a few more might join us next time in the same place.

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

Glad you got to see something guys. I was at Dunsink on the other side of the city (and the mountains) at the same time for the Moon Cycle (Festival of Curiosity), and we managed to get some clear skies after 23:25hrs. We actually were looking for an Iridium Flare at 23:30hrs when the sky just all of a sudden cleared up for about 25 minutes, we got lucky.

I didn't manage Saturn, no one did, the clouds never left that part of the sky from our viewing point (nor did we see the Moon). I had my 12" Dob and managed to get M31 (Andromeda Galaxy), M57 (Ring Nebula), M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy), M27 (Dumbell Nebula) and The Coat Hanger for the visitors there. In all, around 60 people turned up for the event.

I had a Plan B to head over to you guys if the cycle was called off, or the weather was unfavourable. By the time I finished up at 01:00hrs, I was too tired to even think about going over there with a 70 minute car journey home ahead of me!

I'm glad we all got to see something (from our two locations) on the night.

Seanie.

Good man, Seanie.

I am glad somebody went to Dunsink on Friday night, and that you did see some excellent objects in the sky.
I am a big fan of M31, M27, M57 and the Coathanger asterism.
That is a great scope you have, Seanie. Do look after it -it will serve you for many years. Perhaps you might train it on that globular M71 some time.
Those Iridium flares seem to happening every night -splendid aren't they?
You sure did have a lot more visitors at Dunsink than we did at the Sugarloaf -well done!

I am thinking of going back to the Sugarloaf Car Park on Friday 6th August if the skies are clear. Perhaps you might like to join us then. I shall be inviting Michael and Paul closer to the time.

In the meantime
clear skies,

Aubrey.