Celestial lace...

My Takahashi FS-102 is back, and better than ever,
White stars are so white they've an ever so slight bluish
cast...the purest white, and the focus snaps as it should.
Why, it's almost as though the lenses were replaced...
maybe they were...and with the intra and extra-focal star
images being virtually identical; noticeably better than
before even. The faintest stars visible through my Parks
25mm Plossl were extremely sharp, distinct, and contrasty,
so much so that I'm finding it truly difficult to put it into
words...

The refractor and eyepiece are definite keepers.

Whilst scanning a portion of the Milky Way, roughly
25-30 degrees above the southern horizon, I spotted a
conspicuously-elongated fuzzy within the star cloud.
The immediate area was simply inundated with stars.
My immediate thought was, "I need more aperture."

What might that have been?

Alan

"Alan W. Craft" wrote in message
...

Whilst scanning a portion of the Milky Way, roughly
25-30 degrees above the southern horizon, I spotted a
conspicuously-elongated fuzzy within the star cloud.
The immediate area was simply inundated with stars.
My immediate thought was, "I need more aperture."

A star cloud, a nebula... What were the location, date, and time?

Could have been M17, M16, M8...

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 10:16:02 -0400, "Michael A. Covington" ...reflected:


"Alan W. Craft" wrote in message
.. .

Whilst scanning a portion of the Milky Way, roughly
25-30 degrees above the southern horizon, I spotted a
conspicuously-elongated fuzzy within the star cloud.
The immediate area was simply inundated with stars.
My immediate thought was, "I need more aperture."

A star cloud, a nebula... What were the location, date, and time?

Could have been M17, M16, M8...

It must've been one of the more conspicuous Messiers,
especially since I was only using a 4".

Admittedly, I am by no means an experienced observer.

Alan

If your magnification was rather low, it might have been the Sag Star Cloud.
Otherwise, I suspect M8 or thereabouts. It would have some nebulosity about
it, while a globular would have not had a really obvious nebulosity. Try
comparing the area to a chart and see what you come up with. The Milky Way has
lots of stars and DSO's, so you need to pin it down more than to "a portion of
the Milky Way".

Clear, Dark, Steady Skies!
(And considerate neighbors!!!)