John

Here are some other experiences with this binary: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/532543-zeta-bootis-tough-rascal/ https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/704580-zeta-bootis-separation/ https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/464791-last-night-zeta-bootes/

Awesome Stu. My favourite "window" for observing the Veil Nebula though

Great stuff ! As Paul says, the Veil Nebula views on a dark night will really convince you that the filter is "earning it's keep" I could probably get by quite well with the O-III as being my only deep sky filter. I did in fact, for a few years. With planetary nebulae I do find that it's well worth observing both with the filter and without because the filter, while bringing out contrast in the target can also hide things like dim central stars and nearby non-O-III responsive objects such as the galaxy M108 which lies in the same low power field as M97, the Owl Nebula. I guess a really low profile filter slide / wheel might be helpful, one which takes up little or no optical length if there is such a thing

I've tried a couple of times with my 12 inch scope but with no joy at all so far There is no harm in trying though

If you are getting bored of splitting Sirius night after night, you might find Alpha Canis Minoris, better known as Procyon, of interest. It's higher in the sky than Sirius but the separation between the two component stars is less than half that of Sirius A and B at 4.7 arc seconds. That would be a relatively simple split for most scopes of course but, as with Sirius, there is a major difference in brightness between Procyon A and Procyon B which adds very substantially to the challenge - Procyon A has an apparent magnitude of .38 whereas Procyon B shines dimly at around magnitude 10.8. So this is a very, very, very difficult double to split. But, hey, we like a challenge Here are excellent images of Sirius A & B and Procyon A & B taken around a month ago by Tiziano Olivetti based in Tailand using a superb quality 20 inch scope (told you it was difficult !!!):

I've not tried this one as yet. The Stella Doppie database has it at .25 of an arc second so I think getting any sign of elongation would be a result with any of my scopes which go up to 12 inches in aperture. The max resolution that the 12 inch can manage is, in theory, .38 of an arc second but in practice it's almost certainly less than that. I will have a peek at some point though.

Sounds like you had a very good session Nice dark night out there here as well

Part 2 of this session was under more transparent skies and was (mostly) in Virgo / Coma Berenices. I got a bit lost as I usually do in this region - there are so many galaxies to see ! The Markarian's Chain ones are easy to ID so I know that I got Messier 84 and 86 plus NGC's 4388, 4387, 4438, 4435, 4461, 4473, 4477 and 4459. I spotted at least another dozen besides that in the "bowl" of Virgo and another handful in Coma B itself. I ended up pointing the scope more or less straight up and had a look at Messier 51 and NGC 5194 in Canes Venatici and Messier 101. Got a bit cold so packed away with the sky still dark and glistening with stars and deep sky treasures. Must have seen around 50 galaxies in total tonight, all just using the 21mm eyepiece apart from one short foray with the 8mm to pick out a fainter one when back in Leo earlier. Very enjoyable indeed

I started out this evening with a 100mm refractor intending to try and split Sirius, observe some other binary stars and to have another look at the nova in Cassiopeia. After getting engrossed in an old film with my other half after supper, I found that Sirius had got rather low to be worth observing so I had a quick look at Zeta Cancri (Tegmine) and then Nova v1405 Cas (which seems slightly dimmer but still around magnitude 8 ) and then had a look at the galaxies Messier 81 and 82. These seemed quite bright and well defined so I decided to put the 12 inch dob out, have a cuppa, and then to switch my interest to Leo / Virgo galaxy hunting with the bigger aperture, with the moon not due above the horizon until the early hours. So that's what I've been enjoying for the past 90 minutes or so. I hope the refractor is not too offended ! Some thin cloud has drifted across half the sky just now, which I hope will clear away soon. So far I've spotted 20 galaxies within Leo: Messiers: 95, 96, 105, 65 and 66 NGC's 3193, 3190, 3226, 3227, 3384, 3412, 3377, 3367, 3489, 3596, 3628, 3626, 3608, 3607 and 3605. The last 4 form a sub-group of the Leo II galaxy group with NGC 3607 and 3608 forming a striking pair in the eyepiece at 75x and the application of more magnification bringing out the fainter NGC 3605 close to 3607. NGC 3626 is a little outside the field but still part of the same subgroup which lies at around 70 million light years from us. Looks like the cloud has shifted so I'm off out again

I've just had a look at the nova with my 100mm refractor. It has dimmed a little but is still mag 8.5 or so I reckon.

There isn't a 32mm 68 degree Explore Scientific eyepiece as far as I know. Above 24mm the range becomes 2 inch format and runs 28mm, 34mm and 40mm. Edit: looking at the photo with the advert, I think that is a 62 degree ES. There is a 32mm in that range.

Wire wool and Dettol - can't beat it (from a very rude Billy Connolly joke )

This would be worth a punt if it is still available: https://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=172878 I used to own one and found it excellent even in quite fast scopes. Very, very close to the performance of the best of them. I have no connection at all with the seller or advert.

Good targets ! Moonrise is 2:28 am though so it will be the early hours until it's high enough to be worth a look. Some nice triple stars would include Beta Monocerotis and Iota Cassiopeia. Sigma Orionis (just below the belt) is a quadruple with a mag 9 faintest member so a nice challenge. Messier 35 in Gemini is a great low power open cluster. Have fun !

Another crack at Sirius B with the Tak FC100 tonight I hope. Determined to get the Pup with my smallest aperture scope

Very nice setup ! Do you have any specific 1st light targets in mind ?

Exactly my reasoning

Clear night forecast here tonight so I'll take a peek

The zoom exceptions to me have always been the Nagler zooms which certainly do perform as well as very good fixed focal length eyepieces, have constant AFoV and eye relief across their focal length range and near par-focality across their FL range. If the APM zoom proves to have similar characteristics, I may well be very interested in one

"Clangers Re-United"

I've owned both an Evostar 120 and a Besser AR127L although both were quite a few years ago. Both were decent scopes. The 127L is somewhat longer and a bit heavier but does give the feeling of using a "big refractor" more than the Evostar 120 did. The level of CA in the F/9.4 127L is a bit lower than in the F/8.3 Evostar 120. I had the 127L on an EQ5 mount for a while and it was steady enough for visual observing. I was using a strong steel legged tripod with the mount which made a lot of difference to stability. The EQ3-2 mount would not really be suitable for either scope in my opinion.

Here are a few of the Shuttle Atlantis and the Saturn V. You get right up close to the shuttle but that makes it harder to photograph the whole thing !. The Saturn V is just immense. We did see a Space X launch when we were there in 2017 - difficult to photograph though because we were about 3 miles away and the Space X launches are quite sedate compared to the Saturn V and shuttle launches. The one we saw was not a heavy lifter though. We also did the launch pad bus tour which went right out and around the active pads this time including the one that was being prepped for the manned launch last year. We were lucky with the timing of the trip last year. We got back on the 6th March just as the Covid thing started to get serious. I could spend a whole week in and around KSC to be honest with you. Not sure my other half would be too happy about that itinerary though !

Same here. I've had several nights like that recently. A scope went out for a couple of hours each time "just in case" but never got used Hopefully better prospects over the coming few days. Each time I get a frustrating night or a shortened session I'm reminded of why I've ended up with scope setups that are as quick and easy to deploy and tear down as possible. If I had complex setups requiring power, alignment etc, etc and extensive carrying to and from an observing site, they simply would not get used French windows, a patio and grab-and-go telescopes have kept me in the practical side of Astronomy I reckon !

Great report ! I've observed Theta Aurigae the last few times that I've been out. It's a nice one ! Sirius must be a little more challenging for you further north because of it's lower altitude ?

This website covers the CG-5 so might be of some help: http://www.astronomyboy.com/cg5/