Since my last post 5 of the last 7 nights have been cloudy with the moon hindering even the clear nights. As i’m trying to get through Serviss’ book, i’ve noticed a great many of his suggested observations are based in a southerly direction. This is causing me problems both moonwise and with surrounding houses and light pollution. Still unable to bag M4 and M80 in Scorpius so darker nights will be the next time i have another go at this constellation. In the mean time i focused on other summer stars from the book and have managed to tick M29 and M39 from my list. Observing in the Cygnus,Lyra,Hercules area running Northeast-East from my location has been really good.
Armed with my 8×40’s some of the views around Cygnus have been spectacular. i found a new website which gives observing suggestions for UK astronomers, nice small close up maps of the constellations with clearly marked objects of interest and tips on best time to see etc. here’s a link. SkyGuide
I found the site useful as it gives nightsky views similar to my location, the horizon is roughly the same hight etc. For US observers you will be able to see much lower than the horizon shown on the site, but never the less his constellation guides are good for beginners like myself.
This week i bought a focal reducer, only a 0.5 so i can use my slow focal length refractors a little easier when navigating. trying to locate feint objects at 45x is a little frustrating so a reducer seemed like a good idea.. now to see if i have enough in-focus with it in place. update to follow
smallscopefocus 