Hi all, last night I set about observing the southern milkyway from here on holiday in Portugal. I was lucky to have very transparent clear skies and took advantage using a pair of APM 20x80mm ED binoculars with a 3.3degree field of view from my hotel balcony from 10pm until 1am. Below are just quickly put together notes from each of the many objects I observed. I have to say it was one of the best nights I have ever been observing, it’s a pity we don’t get to see most of what’s here below we’ll from Ireland. The milkyway centre was so clear, even the dust clouds were clearly visible with both the binoculars and naked eye:
Ngc6388 clearly visible, wonderful sharp globular giving a deep sense of its distance at over 30,000 light years away
M4fantastically big clear view with many sharp stars, a wonderful sightNgc6144 was not visibleAntares was a super bright orange starNgc6139 - barely visible Ngc6124 - a star cluster similar to M23, mainly faint but with many distant starsNgc6231 star cluster, the ‘jewel of Scorpius’ a magnificent sight but the atmosphere was unstable at the time, a tight and bright cluster with 5 bright dominant starsCr316 - a beautiful mix of faint dispersed stars, with a slight brightening of the nebula IC4628 to the northeastNgc6242 - a beautiful smaller cluster giving the impression of distance, dominated by a 7.3 mag star, averted vision shows many faint stars in the background Ngc6268 fainter and smaller Ngc6281 - a large cluster extending north south with a beautifully faint starry field in the backgroundNgc6322 - very faint surrounded by a bright triangle of starsTr29 - almost not visible, difficult to see against the background Cr338 - very faint surrounded by a 1 degree size ring of starsNgc6400 very faint using averted visionNgc6357 was not visiblePismis24 star cluster very small but was slightly visibleCats paw nebula ever so slightly visibleNgc6441 - a beautiful bright small globular with star 3.2 mag HR6630 orange in colour, a beautiful sightM7 star cluster just superb filling most of 2 degree field full of glistening bright starsM6 looks just like a butterfly, slightly smaller to M7 with much less brighter stars, a beautiful orange dominant star to the northeastNgc6355 not visibleM9 and Ngc6356 were easily visibleNgc6342 not visibleNgc6522 visible near gamma2 sgrNgc6528 is not visible Dustfield northwest of star HR6693 astounding against a magnificent star field, superb 3D appearance Tom Thumb cluster Ngc6451 faint cluster surrounded by darknessNgc6520 beautiful small bright cluster set against magnificent milkyway background among countless stars blended to together deep sense of wonder, a lovely 6.7 mag orange star to its west, dark nebula barnard 86 not seenNgc6544 clearly visible southeast of M8 M8 is a wonderful bright nebulous sight stretching east westNgc6530 has a curved 3d appearanceM20 has bright neblosity from the southern most star extending northwards into the centreM21 is small and brightNgc6568 is large but very faintM24 is large and has a very bright background M18 and M17 are both clearly bright, M17 is a bright east west streak of light with a faint cluster of stars to its northM16 is quite bright at it northern side with a familiar ‘S’ shape cluster of stars M28 is clearly visible, cometary in appearance Ngc6638 is much smaller and fainter than M28M22 is huge, bright and 3d in appearance
Keith..
