Dark sky site observing

Last night was the first time I took my telescope to a dark sky site. It was an event organized by the local astronomical society. Unfortunately, the site chosen at Zurrieq on the island's South coast was not as dark as I expected and the air was hazy due to the extreme heat. However, the Southern sky was reasonably clear with the Milky Way very evident through Sagittarius and Aquila.

I set up the scope and did the usual Sagittarius and Scorpius objects, M8, M22, M20, M21, M25, M7 and M4. I had a chance to share these sights with some members of the public. I also showed them the M11, M57, M13 and Jupiter. The star clusters and the "star that exploded a few thousand years ago" are always a hit.

My main target for the night was Neptune which I had never seen and which I found in Capricornus (I had prepared sky-charts of the area before). I also viewed the M72 globular for the first time.

The night was also interesting for me as I saw collegues setting up their more sophisticated computerized scopes and using astro imaging equipment.