Stargazing Saturday evening, southwest of Swindon. Rather chilly, at minus 6C, snow covered ground!
Decided to take advantage of not only a clear Moonless night, but a weekend evening too - they don't come along very often! It was bitterly cold though.
I had decided before hand to explore Auriga, which this time of year is well placed, high up. In fact better to catch Auriga a bit earlier in the evening than I did - trying to view straight up near the zenith with an EQ mount can be awkward at times.
Auriga is full of deep sky objects, most of which are around magnitude 7.
I started with M36 and M37, both open clusters. I then tried for the Starfish cluster, or M38. Through a 2" 20mm eyepiece, these clusters hang like jewels in the sky. By then Auriga was getting too far overhead for me to train my scope onto with ease, so I then panned down to Orion and my favourite - M42. Really enjoy just staring at M42 through a 2" eyepiece, this time fitted with an OIII filter - which really boosts the detail.
Then tried for M78, just above and to the left of the belt stars. Never actually viewed this object before. It is a small nebular which closely neighbours a fainter nebular - NGC2067. Through the eyepiece the two merge together.
Heading lower in the sky still I aimed for M41 in Canis Major, another cluster.
With temperatures dipping to minus 6C, I quickly had a scan about Taurus and onto the Pleiades.
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