Cygnus

What a fabulous constellation perched upon the milky way. I spent 2
hours with it last night. Alberio and Deneb. Funny how my 10 X 50
binocs bring out so much more than a closer look with the 25mm MA in
the vacinity of Deneb.

Cygnus is a WONDERFUL binocular constellation! Aside from the Cygnus
loop and some nice star clusters, the entire Milky Way is coarsely
studded with stars in that area. Cygnus lacks the finer "puffy" star
clouds of the Milky Way further south, but all those bright binocular
stars really make up for it.
One of the nice things about knowing the sky is how each area seems
to have it's own character...
Marty

"Mick" wrote in message
...
What a fabulous constellation perched upon the milky way. I spent 2
hours with it last night. Alberio and Deneb. Funny how my 10 X 50
binocs bring out so much more than a closer look with the 25mm MA in
the vacinity of Deneb.

My very first observing session -- in the fall of 1967, when I was 10 years
old -- consisted of looking at Cygnus through 7x35 binoculars at my
grandparents' country house. I didn't know any constellations but must have
been looking at the area of the North America Nebula and the very rich star
fields to the south and east of it. It remains one of my favorite parts of
the sky.

--
Clear skies,

Michael Covington -- www.covingtoninnovations.com
Author, Astrophotography for the Amateur
and (new) How to Use a Computerized Telescope

"Mick" wrote in message
...

What a fabulous constellation perched upon the milky way.

Mick--

so did you let your gaze wonder over to the nearby coathanger cluster (aka
Brocchi's cluster/cr399)? really nice binoc object.

http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/brocchi.html

clear, dark skies--

mark d.

On Sun, 05 Oct 2003 20:21:09 GMT, "mark d. doiron"
wrote:

"Mick" wrote in message
.. .

What a fabulous constellation perched upon the milky way.

Mick--

so did you let your gaze wonder over to the nearby coathanger cluster (aka
Brocchi's cluster/cr399)? really nice binoc object.

http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/brocchi.html

clear, dark skies--

You refer to a cluster that is near Sagitta in Vulpecula and some 8
degrees south of Alberio which places it in a position I would not
have considered. But I will now.

so did you let your gaze wonder over to the nearby coathanger cluster (aka
Brocchi's cluster/cr399)? really nice binoc object.

http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/brocchi.html

clear, dark skies--

You refer to a cluster that is near Sagitta in Vulpecula and some 8
degrees south of Alberio which places it in a position I would not
have considered. But I will now.

Actually I see that it's closer than what appears in the star book.
My 80mm at 36 X's shows 8 of the brightest stars. Neat how they line
up across the top with a few underneath. They must be pretty much the
same magnitudes.

I also got a glimpse of the ring nebula but the moon and seeing
conditions are mag 4 at best, maybe 3.5.

"Michael A. Covington" wrote in message ...

Edit

My very first observing session -- in the fall of 1967, when I was 10 years
old -- consisted of looking at Cygnus through 7x35 binoculars at my
grandparents' country house. I didn't know any constellations but must have
been looking at the area of the North America Nebula and the very rich star
fields to the south and east of it. It remains one of my favorite parts of
the sky.


Ditto.

Dave Mitsky