The Striking example of this to me is the open cluster, Stock 2.
For about 2 hours last night's sky carried the highest transparency I have witnessed in over 12 months. The seeing was supposed to be retched. And although the seeing was very bad it, in fact, was not as horrendous as I had been lead to believe.
The spur of agitation and the desire for catharsis moved me to gather my tripod, my chairs, my Oberwerk 25X100 binoculars, and my sorry behind and load everything into my Sienna.
At my local dark site the sky was black velvet, strewn with a million sequins of starlight. I did not notice the twinkling untill I had them under the glass.
Relaxation in the darkness was my goal. The 50°night air was still. I was comfortable in my light down jacket. And as my eyes settled into the darkness the ringing in my ears that never ceases seemed to change pitch and dampen a bit.
I mounted the binos on the tripod, but this was not comfortable. I stretched the ZG recliner beside the road and leaned back with the big glass, now dismounted, in my hands with the objectives resting on my folded knees.
The seven sisters beckoned. For about 10 minutes I lay back and enjoyed their beauty. Progressively the nebulosities involved themselves in my view.
Auriga lay East by Northeast and I took in the Starfish and Pinwheel clusters as well as M37.
Stretching out further in the recliner a passed through the myriad star fields of Cassiopeia and eventually came to rest on the double clusters, NGC869 and NGC884. The 2.4° field of my binoculars compassed them perfectly.
The clusters were brimming over into each other, but there remained many unresolved stars in the denser cores that gave a visual sense of mild nebulosity.
And then a slid west about 4° or so to center on Stock 2. It had been a while since I had viewed Stock 2... that first time, in 2017, remains a benchmark for me.
Stock 2 is a large and well populated open cluster. In this population, under certain sky conditions, the
I have spoken with many observers who do not see it as I see it. They have never "seen" the muscle man. But I assure you "he" is there.
You just have to see it!
After I dwelt here for some time, sliding back and forth from the double clusters to stock 2 the sky began to cloud over.
I knew from the prognostication tools I use that I was sitting under a thin swath of high transparency so I was expecting the cloud intrusion and was not disappointed.
I had taken the medicine I needed.
This morning the thick cloud cover reminds me if snow.
Peace and clear skies to you all.