...or so the hypnosis track is telling me. I'm stopping smoking. Easilty the toughest thing I've had to stop doing and it's been over 2 days and while I'm not snapping at everyone and generally being a real stress-pot, it's certainly no walk in the park. So, for the last three nights before I hit the hay, I've been playing some self-hypnosis CD... Breath if life, you are at calm and peace etc etc. It might work but my sleeping has gone to the dogs and I've had little sleep since I stopped and that doesn't help....

Fortunately, the skies cleared last night and so instead of sitting around the house grinding my teeth and frantically chewing gum, I thought it'd be nice to do it in the garden instead. What's surprised me is how well my 8" newtonian holds it's collimation. The last time I had to adjust it was quite some time ago, I keep checking it and it's still pretty much on point, nothing like my old 10" dob. You only had to go near it and it went AWOL...

So all set up and aligned and I thought it'd be nice to re-observe some objects I tried a while back but clearly weren't great for various reasons. So the first target was M27, the Dumbell Nebula.  Much, much better than the last time I tried it. After trying various combinations of EP's and filters, it turns out that my Meade 4000 12.4mm (x80) with my UHC filter gave the best view. Plenty of structure and shape to make out. I was beginning to wonder if any of the filter I bought would make any difference to viewing, but I can say without hesitation a UHC filter does help a lot with nebulas!

I thought I'd give M3 another go and I found it to be quite disappointing the last time. Hm, it's not my favourite glob but it's not without it's charms. Plenty of stars to resolve and it's pretty bright. I still prefer M92 and M13 to be honest...

M51, the Pinwheel Galaxy is another one of those elusive litle things that I've missed on several occasions. In comparison to M31 it's small and faint (most things are though!), but I did see it this time but I think I just don't have enough aparture to see anything of note.

Unlike M31! I was so tired from not sleeping properly, I thought I'd make this my last object and as it's slightly higher up in the sky now, and the nights are getting longer, I might be able to see some more of it. Not really TBH but just the scale and brightness of it makes it a very worthwhile object to observe.

And that was it really, tea, bed and another day nicotine free. Fingers crossed it stays like it.

Clear skies all!

Tony..