My passion....nay...My obsession

[Ally8446]

I dont often get the chance to take my gear out these days due to work commitments, but it turned out I had a free night which coincided with clear skies. Left the house at around 9pm last night. Its 15 minutes to my dark site which is has pretty reasonable dark skies. Problem.....tractor driver in adjacent field is working late shift with what can only be described as 'electric sunshine' attached to afore mentioned vehicle. Im a rabbit of negative euphoria....NOT A HAPPY BUNNY.

I start off with Jupiter which never fails to make me smile (still no sign of GRS), then onto Mars. Managed to see a little detail for the first time in my astro career from the red planet. Very difficult to see anything really with you know who blazing a trail up and down the field.

An hour has passed and it appears Mr Farmer has finished....he did come over and apologise for spoiling my evening...bless him.

So onto greater things. The sky is looking fantastic and the moon isnt due to rise for another hour and a half.

Had my first look at M44 Beehive. Visible as a misty patch to the naked eye but once I put my 200 dob on it....good grief what a sight. Its remarkable all the different colours and sizes that are visible. I may be paying more attention to open clusters from here on in.

M3 & M94 globular clusters were exquisite. I was able to resolve a great deal in both. Never can resist a quick look at M13, its simply breathtaking. 

The Leo triplet was, to be honest, a little disappointing. Not sure if it was due to a little LP in that direction or what but they were barely discernable.

M63 Sunflower galaxy in Canes Venatici was quite dim, better with averted vision, but still a wonderful sight. Think I could see a little structure towards the end with direct vision although I could be wrong.

I finished on something I've never seen through my 8" dob...looked at it last winter/spring through my old 5" Astromaster and it blew my mind. O......M......G   Saturn is jaw dropping through my dob. Plenty of detail and I could even see the Cassini division. I'll say this quietly so nobody hears me ssshhhhh....I cried a little. 

My passion...nay...My obsession is growing.

Clear skies one and all

Ally

[WaveSoarer]

Wow, what a great report. The farmer sounds like a very nice type for coming over to apologise. The Leo triplet is tricky and the edge on member of the trio can be difficult. Sometimes playing with the magnification can help to improve the contrast as a higher magnification can darken the background and help detail emerge. I've yet to go on a trip with my telescope and Saturn is just too low for me to see at the moment due to trees and houses. Still, Mars is quite something just now. I find the my 10 mm EP and 3x Barlow give decent views with some detail coming in to view as the seeing comes and goes. It was quite steady here last night. It looks like it will be clear again tonight so I'm going to set up later.

[Floater]

Enjoy, WaveSoarer.

It looks like it's going to be rubbish here again so I'll avoid disappointment and NOT set up later ...

Prolly just read even more about what I'm missing ...

Harrumph.

[Astro Imp]

Ally, thanks for posting a great report, always nice to hear how others are getting along.

I have been watching Mars the last few nights and have seen more detail than ever before, I'm getting quite a fan of the red planet.

[WaveSoarer]

Sorry to hear that Gordon. It's clear here now and the camera has been clattering away for the last couple fo hours. I expect that batteries are getting low so I'll be stopping soon. The satellite shows cloud on the way soon anyway.

Dave

[Charic]

Ally8446......see the difference a dark sky can make. It just blows you away. I sat tonight, hoping the vegetation on the trees would grow quicker,making my garden slightly darker from the street lights. I cant believe how much light pollution I had tonight, just amazing.

My best tonight on Jupiter was with the 12mm and the barlow lens screwed onto the eyepiece, without the extension  tube.  Mars still in an awkward position for me due to tree line and buildings. image affected from heat from the buildings? and  Saturn too low, but cant wait to see it for real.

But spent the last 45 minutes chasing satelites with the 32mm fitted. Just randomly scouring the skies to my NE and tracking anything that moved. Warp factor!

I didnt see the GRS either, but dont think it was visible to me anyway, was on the dark side! The GRS is'nt so distinct, as it melds in with the bands. My eye sight is getting worse as I`m getting older, so that might be a problem for me. I could double my aperture, that would help, but its not  an immediate plan.

Clear skies.

[swamp thing]

Nice report. What a pleasant chap that farmer sounded.

Some good objects in that list.

[WaveSoarer]

I had a good night last night and Mars was extremely steady and the best I've seen it. The polar cap is now just a tuny white dot and it was clearly visible along with the huge bank of cloud over the Hellas Bason and dark features such as Syrtis Major clearly visible. The telescpoe had been outside for almost three hours byt the time I got round to viewing Mars and it had reached a decent temperature equilibrum. The clouds just started to roll in by the time I packed up at about 1 am.

[TrixieLoyalist]

Good stuff sounds like you had fun, hopefully we all have some good clear nights coming up.