Unplanned Binocular Observing with my 20x80's

[StarBru]

Tuesday night after a 10 hour work day and watching TV until after midnight with my wife, I dragged my tired butt off the couch when my wife asked me if I was coming to bed. Apparently I had been falling in and out of sleep while she left to get ready for bed. I said "Yeah, I will be there after I take out the trash, start the dishwasher, check all the doors and locks, and let Juno out (our 11 year old Dalmatian / Shepherd Mix).

I always walk outside with her and look up to the sky. Usually the sky is just okay, but this time I could see the Milky Way, or is that a cloud? I hurriedly rushed to the Telescope Room - Yes, I have one of those! - and grabbed my 20x80 Celestron binoculars. I quietly ran outside, grabbed a patio chair, sunk down deep with my head on top of the back of the chair, and randomly scanned the sky above me!

So...Many...Stars! Stars filled my field of vision like brightly shining diamonds against a background of black velvet. Wow! I hadn't seen so many stars since my last trip to Sedona's dark skies a few years ago. Actually Sedona was better, but this wasn't too shabby for urban skies! I scanned the skies until my arms hurt. Galaxies, any galaxies. I looked for the Andromeda galaxy, but it was too low and hidden by my neighbor's house. I then turned toward Ursa Major and Canes Venatici for M51, M81, M82.....nope! I took a small breather in the chair and then began to search for a few objects.

Date for all these observations: June 02, 2021 in the wee hours!

Time: 0100 hours
Messier 40 AKA Winnecke 4: Optical Binary in Ursa Major.
Apparent Magnitude: 8.4
I'm pretty sure this is what I saw. I kept running into it while scanning Ursa Major for galaxies. It looks brighter than I thought it would. They looked white to me and of equal brightness.

Time: 0107 hours
Mizar/Alcor: Sometimes known as the Horse and Rider. A binary pair in Ursa Major.
Mizar is AKA Zeta Ursae Majoris. Alcor is AKA 80 Ursae Majoris. Apparent Magnitudes are 2.27 and 3.99 respectively.
I could not split Mizar, but of course I could easily see the star a little offset between Mizar and Alcor known as Sidium (Sidus?) Ludovicianum, or Ludwig's Star, named in honor of Ludwig V of Hesse Darmstadt. (1577 - 1626)

I then turned my chair around toward the Southern sky and some of my favorite DSO's.

Time: 0112 hours
Messier 4 in Scorpious
Apparent Magnitude: 5.9
Easy to find in the same field of view next to Antares. With averted vision, I wasn't sure I could barely resolve a few individual stars, but mostly just a gray imperfect circle. M4 is one of the closest globular clusters to the Earth and Sun. The closest is NGC-6397.

Time: 0120 hours
Messier 7 (NGC 6475) AKA the Ptolemy Cluster in Scorpious
Apparent Magnitude 3.3
This open cluster is large and filled the field of view! It is the Southernmost Messier object. Just beautiful.

Time: 0139 hours
Messier 6 (NGC 6405) AKA the Butterfly Cluster in Scorpious
Apparent Magnitude 4.2
This open cluster is more compact and had a shimmery quality to it. I've always had a hard time seeing a butterfly design, though.

Time: 0148 hours
Messier 22 (NGC 6656) AKA the Sagittarius Cluster
Apparent Magnitude 5.1
This elliptical globular cluster in Sagittarius presented as a light gray circle. I could not distinguish separate stars, but this could be because of its position over neighbors rooftop.

It's now 2:00 AM and time to wrap it up, too tired to continue. My wife must have fallen asleep because she never yelled at me to come in!

I had a good time looking through these binoculars. I will need to buy a nice mount for it so I can observe with them more often!

[Makuser]

Hi Bruce. Your "night shift" sounds a lot like mine. An excellent report from you with the 20x80 binoculars, and I enjoyed your detailed information. I tell new astronomy members who start with binoculars and are now looking to buy a telescope to hang on to those binoculars because they still come in quite handy. Thanks for your fun read report Bruce, and keep looking up.

[Bigzmey]

Don't you love those impromptu bino sessions! I find them very liberating. A few months ago I would be jealous of your telescope room, but now I got one to.

[Greenman]

Nice report, I don’t use my 15 by 70’s enough. Great read, and very familiar with the fear of my wife waking, and realising I’m not next to her. Now I have my imaging more automated I should have time to scour the skies, thanks for reminding me of the delight of sitting and observing.

[Lady Fraktor]

A very nice unplanned session Bruce!
Some nice targets, good that you got the opportunity.

[MistrBadgr]

Thanks, Bruce, for the nice impromptu outing! I had my 8X40 binoculars out a while back to help me locate a few things for my six inch reflector. I had a good time and thought I needed to get out the 15X70s. I think your experience is going to push me in that direction a little harder.

[StarBru]

I thank you all for your kind responses. That was probably the best observing session I've ever had with those binoculars. I usually have a hard time getting a good focus on those 20x80's and I have long suspected they are just slightly out of collimation, but then again it could just be these old tired eyes! I believe a nice mount would help a lot, though.

When I was in my 30's, I had a look through a pair of Fujinon 15x70's and I was amazed how clear and precise and in focus they were! Of course, those binoculars are in a different class than my Celestron 20x80's.

[John Baars]

Excellent report!
Binoculars are great observing instruments.
Remembers me of the time I went out on a dark location with telescope and binoculars. Two hours later I still had not touched my telescope.....

[pakarinen]

Nice. M4 is very difficult for me at home, even with my ST120.
And now I’m trying to visualize a spotted Shepherd...

[helicon]

Great report Bruce and congrats on winning the TSS Visual Report of the day!

app.php/article/6-4-2021-tss-visual-report-of-the-day

[Gordon]

Congratulations on the TSS VROD!!!

[turboscrew]

Nice adventure - or that's what your report brought to my mind.
And congratulations on the VROD!

[John Baars]

Yess, the VROD!
Just as I thought it ought to be!
Congratulations!

[StarBru]

Nice. M4 is very difficult for me at home, even with my ST120.
And now I’m trying to visualize a spotted Shepherd...

Here she is! Probably not what you were visualizing. Her whitish areas with the tan "spots" or splotches on her legs and her blaze from underneath her neck running to her front legs is mostly white with tan splotches, which you really can't see in this photo. Looking at her, and if I didn't know any better, I wouldn't think she was part Dalmatian. But she is. I guess that's where the white comes in!

[StarBru]

Thank you for awarding me the VROD! I am honored, to say the least.

[kt4hx]

Very nice report indeed Bruce and congrats on the VROD. You hit a lot of fine objects, well with the exception of M40. It is one of those things that you observe to check off a list then quickly move on, forgetting about it! Interestingly Messier discovered this optical double in 1764 while he was searching for a nebula reported by Johannes Hevelius in 1660. Not finding any nebula in the vicinity, he did notice the pair of stars and since he had calculated its position, and presumably so that others who might also unknowingly be looking for this nebula would be aware that it was non-existent, he included it in his published list.

Agree, get a tripod to mount your binoculars as this will give you steadier views and allow you to see more detail. It is also less fatiguing as well. Well done!