John

Ahh - the Edmund Astroscan !

Hope you got the RKE eyepieces to go with it ?

1 hour ago, Kimboman said:

Hi Just been outside to see if the Moon was Visible as the night has been very cloudy <but low and behold there was the Moon looking splendid for 3 seconds ah well I did see it

Glad you saw it

The "strawberry" moon has given me a raspberry here - solid cloud 

Never mind - the next one is the "loganberry" moon, or possibly the "kumquat" 

13 minutes ago, bingevader said:

Aw, I was hoping this was going to be your second entry!

Splitting the double with Steve's bionic eye!

This raises an interesting question - what is the closest pair that can be separated with the naked eye (non-bionic) ?

I believe that Epsilon Lyrae is possible but pretty challenging - the two pairs of stars are separated by 3.5 arc minutes.

Well done Chris

I managed to get the split again with my 100mm refractor at 225x and 257x earlier this week as mentioned here:

As I said in that post, I've found that Antares from the UK, at it's low altitude can present a slightly misleading appearance due, I think, to atmospheric disperson. This "dual colour" primary star presentation can mask the real secondary which I think is more or less due west of the primary and actually appears quite faint.

I'm sure you got the "real deal" though, with your experience, scope and observing conditions

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

I did some eyepiece tests a few weeks ago and one thing that surprised me was how much brighter the image was in the orthos compared to more complex designs.

Some data here. A bit out of date now but it does include the Kasai Orthos which I believe are the same:

http://www.amateurastronomie.com/Astronomie/tips/tips3.htm

Pentax XW's have 96% light transmission I believe.

The difference in peak transmission between a Nagler Type 6 and a Zeiss ZAO ortho is around 2%. Surprisingly little.

Personally, I thought that the later HD type orthos (eg: Baader Genuine Orthos, Fujiyama Or's, Astro Hutech and Baader Classic orthos showed slightly brighter DSO images and a touch less light scatter around bright objects than the classic "volcano top" orthos when I compared them for the forum but that was quite a while back now. I assumed that this was due to more effective coatings on the later eyepieces. The "volcano tops" are still very good eyepieces though.

Back then I remember hoping back then that a "volcano top" range that contained HD ortho optics would be produced which would have been a great idea 

As I said, my comparisons were done a few years ago now so my memory might be playing tricks on me

2 hours ago, paulastro said:

Thanks Pete, alas cloudy here.

And here

That looks a cracking setup

48 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

At least that is what Stellarium tells me for Oxford, UK. The times will be slightly different elsewhere in the UK. The star should reappear around 00:50. Might be fun to watch. It's a full Moon night, so what else to watch anyway

Thanks

Full cloud covering the full moon here though I suspect

34 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

...I read that the system most likely has seven components!

So did I. Comparable with AR Cassiopeiae in this respect apparently. Very unusual.

The only Svbony item that I have used was a UHC filter. The cost was low but so, unfortunately was the performance - it had a hardly noticeable impact on the nebulae that I tried it on.

So that's one of the less effective items under their branding.

Great stuff @Stu !

Refractors often seem to "punch above their weight" a bit don't they ?

Stellarium and other software and apps will show you which moon is which on both Jupiter and Saturn.

Up to 4 moons are visible around Jupiter with amateur scopes, as many as 5 around Saturn with your scope but all apart from Titan are quite faint so will take practice to see. Their positions change night to night and even hour to hour with the Jovian ones.

The low position of these planets in the sky does not help with sharp views and seeing the best details I'm afraid.

What I'd suggest is to keep observing them and for as long as you can each time. With planetary observing, as in most other visual astronomy, "the more you look, the more you will see" is very true. Your eye will gradually tease out more details during the patches (often very short) of good seeing.

You will find that Jupiter looks better at slightly lower magnifications than Saturn. 120x - 150x with your scope for Jupiter and possibly up to 200x for Saturn. This will vary with the conditions though so be guided by those.

Hope that helps a bit !

Nice report Doug

I found the moon rather wobbly last night so I didn't spend too much time on it. It was nice to be out and observing again though after a rather dull cloudy patch of weather here.

1 hour ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

The brightness of the GRS varies quite a bit from year to year. Likewise of the equatorial belts. I have seen years where the SEB was almost absent, as shown in an early shot of Jupiter with a Philips TOUCAM

2010

A year later it had bounced back

2011

I well recall the fading of the SEB. That event left the GRS "in the open" as it were and it looked more prominent during that phase. When I first started observing Jupiter with decent scopes (late 1980's) the GRS was larger than it is now but much more of a grey colour. Over the last few years it has seemed smaller but it's salmon pink colour has been a lot stronger.

That's the great thing about Jupiter - always something going on there

It's too low down currently for me to observe it so I'll need to be patient.

First clear sky for a few days.

With the 100mm refractor at 37.5x I think it's dimmed a little since I last observed it. I'd estimate it tonight at around magnitude 7.3 or so ?

10 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I've never seen that one - sounds really good. I'm sure though it's below the level of my fence so a no go for me 

It's just gone behind a tree for me now. My observing "window" for Scorpius is not very long and between my neighbours house and a large chestnut tree. Not ideal but at least it's something.

I managed to get the split on Antares again with the 100mm. It's intermittent and the atmospheric diffraction effects on the primary star can be misleading but the true secondary star was gleaming dimly more or less due west of the primary during moments of better seeing.

Eplison Lyrae is the famous "double, double" star in Lyra of course and very nicely presented it is at this time

Tonight though, when observing the Moon, low down amongst the stars of Scorpius, I also took some time to have a look at the nearby background stars and came upon Nu Scorpii also known as Jabbah.

With my 100mm refractor at 225x this star proves to be rather special and actually a multiple system. At it's heart are a couple of close pairs of stars known as Mitchel 2 and Burnham 120.

The dimmer pair (Mitchel 2) are 2.3 arc seconds apart and the brighter Burnham 120 pair are a much more challenging 1.3 arc seconds - barely split with the low altitude of this group from here. The brighter pair do show pale blue and orange tints.

A nice "double, double" and not one I've observed for some time, if at all.

This sketch is from the Astronomical Society of South Africa website and shows the high power, refractor view:

From South Africa this one may indeed rival Epsilon Lyrae. From my vantage point in the UK though, it's low altitude means that it is quite a challenge to split all 4 principle components so I'll still give the nod to the foursome in Lyra

Nice quad in the Scopion though !

Note: I've edited this post to correct my attribution of the image. It was in fact an astronomer named Agnes Clerke in 1905 who proclaimed Nu Scorpii to be "“perhaps the most beautiful quadruple group in the heavens.”

The artist behind the sketch is probably David Blane of the ASSA.

12 minutes ago, popeye85 said:

My favourite target with my 8" was m81/82- I've recently upgraded to a 12" and some nice explore scientific eyepieces but not had a chance to get a look at these two yet🤣🤣🤣 roll on the dark nights!

M82 reveals some interesting knotted structure and a couple of nice dark lanes across it's surface with a bit of magnification. Something like 120x - 180x. Never tire of observing these with my 12 inch dob

Nice set !

I've owned a used a number of the 4mm's that did not have a sharp field stop. I've still got one of the Fujiyama HD "flat tops" with that issue. Otherwise it works pretty well though. Keeping the tiny eye lenses clean can be tricky.

I used to have a short set of the University Optics branded "volcano top" versions which were great. I find the eye relief and small AFoV rather hard work with my undriven scopes now though.

Back when we could still do this, I did regular outreach events with my astro society, both nighttime and daytime (solar observing). Many of the folks who came along to these events had never looked through a telescope before and it was a great experience sharing their reactions, one of my favourite astronomy activities

As well as discussion of what we were looking at, we often discussed history (ie: who first discovered the target), science of course, possible future scenarios. It is a very stimulating experience. I rarely came across anyone who was not intrigued by what lies "out there" and many seemed to welcome the chance to think and talk about things way outside their normal lives / experiences.

I really hope to be able to do this again and "share the skies" as soon as we can safely do so

Quote from John Dobson (inventor of the dobsonian mounted telescope):

"......the importance of a telescope is not how big it is, it's not how well made it is, it's how many people less fortunate than you got to look through it...."

I'm not sure that I would trust a stock 1.25 inch diagonal with a Baader zoom eyepiece to be honest with you. The stock diagonals are not the best quality optically or mechanically.

Well I'm glad I managed to see it once at least !

Would it be fair to say that this nova and the one in Cassiopeia represent two opposite extremes of novae life cycles ?

2 minutes ago, Starslayer said:

Yes, sorry, I edited last post but think you are right. Not sure why they would sell separately. Are people in he habit of losing them? 

The older versions (Mk II and early Mk III's I think) of the zoom did not come with a 2 inch barrel option.

2 minutes ago, Starslayer said:

I have the Celestron Starsense Explorer 6” SCT set up. 

I can see that would struggle with a lot of weight hung on the back end.

11 minutes ago, Starslayer said:

Thanks John, I think that is what I need to hear and confirm.  😉 I also take the point about stability but that also works the other way, and has done already with a need to slide the tube forward so that the manual gears work properly on the mount with the extra weight the diagonal also adds. Add in a nexyz mount plus phone and things get strained. 

What scope / mount are you using ?