Dave's post has reminded me of an outstanding experience I had after our local star party during one of the last dark nights here, on April 13. The party was very successful, I had looked in a 20" Obsession at many galaxies that took completely new appearance in it. I also had my 10x50 and 15x70 binoculars with me. At one point I checked NGC7000 in 15x70, it was rather low and the view was OK, but not much more.
The party was over around 2 a.m. I was among the last to leave, very tired and worried about one hour of driving in the dark I was facing. On my way to the car I looked at Milky Way in Cygnus and didn't find the familiar glow - instead, the sky was sown with small stars. I've never seen anything like this before, so I took my 10x50 bino from the back seat and checked the area. Indeed, there were many small stars there. I looked at NGC7000 - it was bright, it was like a photo! I put the bino back, started the car and drove away. Perhaps it was a big mistake of mine . . .
Recently I've found a citation in one of O'Meara's books where someone (I don't remember who) described how on one or two occasions Milky Way in Cygnus was transformed into miriads of small stars. I checked the magnitudes in Cartes du Ciel, and most of the stars there seem to have magnitude around 8.
What do you think? Have you experienced something like this? Or did I hallucinate?
Dmitri
The party was over around 2 a.m. I was among the last to leave, very tired and worried about one hour of driving in the dark I was facing. On my way to the car I looked at Milky Way in Cygnus and didn't find the familiar glow - instead, the sky was sown with small stars. I've never seen anything like this before, so I took my 10x50 bino from the back seat and checked the area. Indeed, there were many small stars there. I looked at NGC7000 - it was bright, it was like a photo! I put the bino back, started the car and drove away. Perhaps it was a big mistake of mine . . .
Recently I've found a citation in one of O'Meara's books where someone (I don't remember who) described how on one or two occasions Milky Way in Cygnus was transformed into miriads of small stars. I checked the magnitudes in Cartes du Ciel, and most of the stars there seem to have magnitude around 8.
What do you think? Have you experienced something like this? Or did I hallucinate?
Dmitri
