Quick spontaneous session, 20th Oct

[KevUU]

This is why I love my ST80. It was forecast as cloudy all night, but I poked my nose out at half ten and saw about 50% cloud cover; by the time I got the blinds up (the living room overlooks the garden) and checked back it was clear, so I popped the scope out then got things together and put some more layers on. 10 mins after seeing the opportunity I was sat outside deciding what to look at first

So here goes:

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2245 - 0030. Unexpected cloud break :-) West washed out with moisture blowing up from river, SE seems very clear. Approx NELM 5.0 at zenith.

Started by looking for M15, but got distracted by Enif which has a nice collection of smaller stars nearby, with nice fainter mini-clusters coming out at x50. Eventually I got on with M15: easy to find but the sky not good enough in this direction to see it very well - could just as easily be a galaxy for its fuzziness, at all mags (x13 to x100).

Gave up and headed to the E: first up the Pleiades which are spectacular again, with all of the electric blue-white stars framed nicely in the EP at x13. Played with different powers (partly to rotate the EPs, swapping for the other one in my pocket as the one I was using dewed over...) but the widefield (3.75 degrees) is the clear winner. Another reason to love the ST80!

Then down the the Hyades. This has its points of interest, mainly the cluster around theta, but I'm not sure it's really a telescopic target; I prefer it naked-eye.

Just next door is NGC 1647, a wide oc. Easily found and reasonably bright, nonetheless I didn't get a good view due to dewing on the EP. Not really the best conditions for this sort of target anyway, but it was an unplanned session, and my first session in 3 weeks, so logic didn't come in to it...

Then across to Jupiter. I recently observed Jupiter for the first time through the telescope while in Keffalonia, but had wobbly seeing and lunar washout that day. Tonight though the view was rock steady. All four Galilean moons were in one line on one side of the planet, making a really nice scene - also my first sight of Ganymede. Jupiter itself was very clear, with the bands clearly visible. Stood up to x100 so I stared like that for a bit No GRS though!

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I'm sure I could have made more of the session, but I was tired and it came out of nowhere, so I just floated around wherever I felt like. Actually I'm happy with it anyway - I bought the scope to be deliberately widefield as I don't get on with binos and this was a binos sort of a session. I went to bed tired but chilled and contented

[m_j_lyons]

Any session is better than no session. Jupiter is going to start a long fall/winter run for observers...should be fun. Perhaps this will be my year to observe the GRS.

Happy hunting.

[Double Kick Drum]

Yes, I would settle for anything better than the perma-rain we've had for the last three days.

Nice group of objects there.

Clear skies!

[Astro Imp]

Good to get out and view considering the miserable time we are having at the moment and any session that ends with Jupiter has to be good.

[rory]

made good of a opportunity . nice one.

[KevUU]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm glad I spotted the gap in the clouds, it looks to be wall-to-wall miserable for a while longer here

Maybe we should start doing raindances backwards...

any session that ends with Jupiter has to be good.

Oh yes indeed Only my second time, and with good seeing and 'all' four moons lined up it was pretty spectacular.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice one. Little scopes are so useful when it comes to making the most of a short clear spell!

[swamp thing]

Sounds like a good session. M15 does indeed require pretty high mag before it gives up much in the way of detail.

Good to read you had a good look at big Jupe though

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I think i am going to have to go for the GRS soon, never actually seen it before, unless i didn't realise. Mercury should be getting better next month as well, so going to try and spot that.

Sounds like your scope is perfect for quick setting up, id of been about 20mins after seeing the oppertunity lugging the tube downstairs etc.Dew can be a real problem with the EPs. I went out tonight just with the bins and they were dewed over in minutes.

Good report.

[KevUU]

Well the clouds hadn't seen the clear forecast tonight.

I'm trying to wean off the iPad onto a borrowed PSA, but I wanted to look around Cygnus and it's just too busy in PSA - fine if you know what you're going for but too busy to plan from on the fly. So I made a rough sketch of what I wanted to go for and where it was, enough to be able to pick them out in PSA then use PSA to navigate with.

But, by the time I did that there were clouds rolling in, so session abandoned.

A while later I poked my head out and saw it had cleared. Too tired now for a session, but grabbed the scope and looked at Jupiter for a few minutes Not a great success of a night, but at least something to keep the sulking at bay