Last night there was a brief gap in cloud cover from 10:30 to 11:45 pm. It was obvious this wasn't a time to set up for
I wandered outside the skies were still a bit light, so just gazed around until my eyes adapted. The first object was the brightest one, focusing on Jupiter it resolved into a solid disc, no moons, but that would be pushing expectations at 15x in a partly light sky.
Swung around and noticed Cassiopeia’s familiar W, looked along it identified Shedar, Caph & ’Navi’. Swept a bit further - eyes well adapted now and noticed the myriad of stars that had twinked into view. Now, I realised Cassiopeia was in the band of the Milky Way, but the broad view low magnification emphasised the rich nature of that constellation. Back indoors I read about Cassiopeia and decided this was now a good target for my first project.
All in all, a very illuminating and worthwhile session, when the skies clear again (Sunday next week apparently) project Cassiopeia begins.
Binoculars are something I've sort of ignored, but no more - they open up the skies to exploration in a very accessible way.
A very happy Tony from the Green.