A Refreshing Binocular Blast !

From my observing journal: August 17, 2011
 Temp:75*  Wanning gibbous Moon phase 85% full.

Beautiful temperature out here, crickets are singing and the Moon is moving behind the neibors house. The moons light will not be interfering with my deep sky plans for a while. Feels good tonight to be out in the night air.

I begin my exploring by laying on my back on a blanket, eye where Cygnus is and put my knees to the air and feet on the ground. as I raise my binocs to Deneb I am excited to peruse the goodies. Last week I had a blast with my binocs through the Mirach to Mu Andromedae then too Andromeda galaxy pathway. A new favourite route I created.  I am a die hard telescope girl but I want to have more fun with my new toy 10x70's . Great the Moon is  now hidden, let's go!

I layed back down and move the binocs up to Deneb area and in pops a double star. Spectacular and wide, very well seen against the back drop of dim star filled sky. A nice pair! Now, I am so enjoying laying here exploring with my binocs just panning along back and forth. Pausing here and there using my averted vision to see what pops out. Lyra is so visually stunning to browse through tonight. Vega and Epsilon Lyrae stars are in the same view. I'm finding it awesome to have a wider field of view, better than a finderscope I find (I somehow pictured my binocs on my scope instead of a finder scope last night!). Every little celestial being is a pleasure in this field of view.

Wow, a low flying airplane went by in my binoculars field of view! flashing green light, bottom was lit up and I saw the numbers 28, the rest of the numbers was unseen. I jumped when it went by. I heard it's gears slow down to land at the airport across from our river over in the states. My eyes were in the binocs so I was not expecting that. Now that is a RARE moment of a lifetime!

11:40pm -  So I was busy starhopping between Sulafat of Lyra and Alberio looking for m56 and I hear this loud space like sound of an aircraft slowing down that echoed off my house. It was like some giant space or aircraft coming, wether towards us by ground or falling from the sky. it was a massive creepy space sound like in forbidden planet!  I sat up, looked west and another airplane  is unbeleivably LOW! Very very beyond belief low. I lift my binoculars and the whole ultra close airplane fits in my binocs field of view from tip to tail perfectly. I love watching airplanes go by in the scope, this is fun in the binocs also.  It actually reminded me of the creepy space noises in the beginning of Forbidden Planet, click here to check out the sounds. I have the Forbidden Planet ultimate collectors edition set!  The collectors tin.

After a long while spent  looking around Cygnus I realized having binocs is a real asset  to knowing the sky. You actually see every star that is on your starmaps and websites I visited in one field of view. I also saw everything I read about. I am seeing all of it in one area, all the stars and deep sky stuff. Now when I view deep sky pics on the web I already saw it and know what is there and where. I feel I'm at a new level of knowing what's out there to find. I see more than I see in the scope. This is a real learning experience, now I understand why people enjoy binocular exploring. Amazing experience. I am finding it easier to feel the objects escpecially  when hunting at the zenith point.

12:06am - Jupiter is 3 1/2 degrees high in northeast sky. I just realized when on my back holding binocs on wide end it is pretty stable and easy to use, not arm tiring at all. Jupiter's disc is quite large in my binocs. It is rising quite quickly.

12:30am - I walked around the yard stretching my legs and now just sitting here relaxing and enjoying the mild wind. Amazing how you forget Earth while exploring for along time with the binocs to the skies. I felt like I had just woken up from a great nap, refreshed feeling is amazing while sitting here on a few spread out blankets and Sophy is  chewing on a doggy bone happily, Spirit is in his happy spot, the pile of hay under the big tree. Nice to just sit here for a while.

As I am sitting here staring at the moon I cannot believe how it feels like I was physically out in space  for a while looking at all the single and double stars, dim and bright stars. SO REFRESHED!  After laying here on the patio with Sophy and a blanket staring up too Cygnus area  for yet another while I picked up my binocs and noticed that Cygnus is now is at true point and double stars are really popping out. Tomorrow night I am going to explore Jupiter and the Moon in my 12 inch scope, but, tonight I am having a great time just stargazing.

Wow, Delphinius fits into my whole field of view! so close. Holy cow, the pleiades. Amazing, wow so blue are it's stars. They are spectacular in the binocs. I was at my fence gazing at Jupiter and they popped into view. Truly a nice night out here under the Moon, Jupiter, Cygnus and company. I am so thankful I take personal nights on the web scouring the constellation sites. Really pays off  unimaginably. Using averted vision is a great if not the perfect tool with binocs. now I can see the top stars of Perseus rising over the house under Cassiopeia.

1:30am -  Wow, Sophy and I have been cuddled up together under a blanket just staring. This is my favourite moment tonight. Also the feeling of socks touching the ground on my feet instead of shoes! I love stargazing in my socks.


1:46am - Reflection time! This is the part where after I am in for the night, changed into my pajamas and grab my laptop and reflect in the nights observing.  Along with a nice cup of apple juice to replenish my fluids before I dive under my comfy bedding. Never under or over estimate how much you can browse the internet looking at what you can find and studying deep sky imaging of the area or areas you want to explore out in your backyard.

I looked at every possible site that came up and wrote down objects to find, then went to the sketching part of cloudy nights forum to see their notes on what the object appeared as in their eyepiece.  Go nuts looking, gives you more seeing power out there, meaning more objects no matter what your observing plans are. Whether its a few double stars, a few starhops to some galaxies  or tackling distant dim star clusters, you will have a whole sky studied, go extra nuts with thr photos. I print some for daytime study and save the good ones to use year after year.

Time for me to go to sleep, if your like me just getting in and writting what is on your mind or just stepping out with your maps, observing journal and equipment and looking up to the stars, have a great night!