John

Great stuff all round Doug

Hello and welcome to the forum.

There are a number of threads on this event. Lots of observing going on over the days leading up to it

Miraculous cloud and rain clearance here leading to excellent views of the pair with my Tak FC100-DL and barlowed zoom. Crisp and bright at 100x, not so crisp and bright but still both planets in the field of view at 281x. I thought it would be a washout this evening so pleased to have made the effort. Just got to wipe the Tak tube down - still lots of rain drops coming off the trees, none near the optics though.

The pair were very nice with the 11x70 binoculars and even with the 6x30 finder.

Even if I don't get a view tomorrow (closest approach) I feel I've observed this great conjunction quite well now

Excellent to read the other reports coming in as too - thanks for posting them

I was hoping to get a glimpse of them tonight at 9 arc minutes separation. The scope and mount are ready but the sky is currently heavy with dark clouds and rain is falling

I'm all ready to leap into action if things clear in the next 45 minutes or so though (ever the optimist !)

12 hours ago, VNA said:

Hello:  On a different forum I saw a beautiful image of the Horse Head using a 5".

Hi - I believe that it is not a particularly difficult target to image. Seeing it visually seems to be quite a different matter

The Baader Classic ortho 10mm (mentioned by heliumstar above) is an excellent eyepiece for lunar, planetary and deep sky observing 

Currently I often use the 10mm, 7mm and 5mm Pentax XW's and they are superb although 5x the price of the Baader Classic.

1 hour ago, maw lod qan said:

They were spectacular as the Sun set yesterday. It was so clear I feel guilty reading your reports of clouds!🙄

No matter what I tried, with the two giants so low, the best I could manage in my single images was a single equatorial band on Jupiter.

The past week SWMBO stayed at my youngest daughters to baby sit, being they were in school.

This week they are out, and staying with us. Both got to view the planets and the moon with me before the mosquitos ran them in.

My oldest, who is ten immediately said, I can see the four moons!

Nice report !

While seeing them together is great, this is not a good time to see fine detail on either planet is it ?

Young eyes do seem to do well though - sometimes seeing stuff that our older eyes and brains overlook or don't register 

Mosquitos is a problem that we don't seem to have here - unless @paulastro ran into some hardy Yorkshire ones to add to his other challenges last night !

7 minutes ago, 883 said:

Hi john, is necessary a counterweight on the other side of the mount even when you are using a relatively light refractor like the DL? I should need one with a 90 mm?

Thanks

The mount works fine without a counter weight but I have found that adding a small one (that is a 1.8kg weight) gives a smoother azimuth motion.

2 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Went up to Penistone Hill again and thought I'd go up to the triangulation point (1030 feet above sea level) rather than lower down the hill, so as to extend the brief window of visibility for us northern dwellers before the planets set.

In hindsight, certainly not the best call I've ever made!  It had been sunny most of the day, up to leaving home at 3pm.  Arrived at 3.10pm and there were some ominous clouds around. Carried my gear up the hill to the top - clouds even more ominous, and the wind was very strong. Then it started to rain, just as I had set the SW 72ED on the AZ5.  Put a cover on to protect it.

Then a very strong gust blew the whole thing over.  The finder foot snapped of the scope still attached to the bracket - the finder flew out the bracket.  I just about recovered my composure when I was attacked by three large dogs who wanted to play with me and my equipment.  Luckily the owner appeared and managed,  with some difficulty,  The rain became heavier.

I grabbed my gear together and sort sanctuary further down the hill close to where my car was parked.  Sat in the car in heavy rain and winds that rocked the car at times - for nearly two hours.

At just gone 5, still raining but lighter, a small patch of thinner cloud developed, heading toward where the planets should be.  Out the car and a few mts later picked up Jupiter only a few degrees above my horizon, no Saturn visible, in my 10×50 binocs. Rushed to set the scope, now light rain.  Luckily ( as I had broken the finder off the scope) Jupiter was very low down and close to a telephone pole, so centred it easily in the 72ED by off setting from the telephone pole.

EUREKA, my day had just got a whole lot better as there was Jupiter and Saturn nicely framed at about x50 in my Baader zoom. Fabulous, could see three of Jupiters satellites and  Saturn and its rings above and to the right.  Viewed them for about 5 minutes before Jupitet set leaving two of its satellites pointing the way to Saturn above it at just under 15' distant.  I think I'd earned the view I had!

Just a typical observing session, and I'll be back tomorrow to do it all over again 🙂. 

Screen grab using SkySafari using my phone just before Jupiter set.

 

 

You worked hard for those views by the sound of it Paul. Really glad that you were rewarded

The things we astronomers to see some blobs of light a long, long way away 

Some more great reports - thanks for posting them

The planets actually looked quite attractive through my little 30mm RACI finder as well. Even when they dipped behind the branches of the chestnut tree and I was playing hide and seek with them.

We had a reasonably clear evening up until about 40 minutes ago. I can still see some stars out there but they are competing with a patchy cloud layer now so I've bought the scope in.

How many of us will get another shot at this pairing tomorrow and beyond that I wonder ?. Hopefully, lots 

I use either a Giro Ercole or a Skytee II mount with my refractors from 100mm to 120mm in aperture.

The Giro Ercole is the lighter of the two (3.8kg for the mount head) but does not have slow motion controls. It easily carries my ED120 F/7.5 refractor so should cope with a 90mm without any problem.

Here is a review of the Ercole by an SGL member:

http://alpha-lyrae.co.uk/2015/05/03/tele-optic-giro-ercole-alt-az-mount-review/

The scope on the mount in the photo below is my Takahashi 100mm F/9:

Thanks for all the reports folks

My other half did come and have a peek at the pair and a little later also enjoyed the colour double star Gamma Andromedae. She won't be taking up the hobby anytime soon I suppose but she did make all the right noises about the views

Edit: I should have added "transparency" to my description of the skies above. Dark and transparent skies are vital. I spent ages getting and staying dark adapted when I managed to see the Horsehead as well. I kept away from any light source whatsoever for about 2 hours. Even turned the reticule of my Rigel Quikfinder off.

Of course the whole thing might be somewhat easier and more of a sight at a truly rural site with skies - say bortle 2/3.

3 minutes ago, Whistlin Bob said:

As a lover of Dobsonians I've not had much cause to get involved with this thread. However, I've often enjoyed views through other people's refractors at my local club and after discovering the joys of looking at multiple stars over the summer, all I needed was an extra bit of temptation. It duly arrived yesterday in the form of an ad from @johninderby. 24 hours later and I've even had a cheeky first light with some nice lunar views and a good bit of detail on a receding Mars.

Not sure I'm tempted to lick it though...

Very nice - proper "big frac" experience and a not too big price tag

The darkness of the skies and getting the exit pupil right are almost more important than the aperture of the scope I think.

I've managed it a couple of times with my 12 inch dob using a H-Beta filter but it is probably the least distinct target that I have ever observed. 

I use this Jeremy Perez quote often with regard to this target but it is a good one:

"Really, it's like trying to see a little bit of nothing with a little bit of less than nothing resting over it."

6 minutes ago, John said:

..The moon looks lovely though

Messier and Messier A and a little further north, the Rupes Cauchy are looking superb just now

Saturn & Jupiter are now hidden by tree branches so that's my little window of time with them over for tonight.

The moon looks lovely though

Just managed to catch these two with my Vixen ED102 refactor at 141x. Easily (and delightfully) contained within the field of view of an 82 degree 4.7mm eyepiece. The pair are 15 arc minutes or a quarter of a degree apart now

Crazily variable weather so it's nip and tuck on whether glimpses are got at all and I have to be ready to haul the setup in at a moments notice

The best views of the planets that I have had were when they were much higher in the sky. Mars was quite good at times this opposition (higher than the last one) but otherwise Jupiter and Saturn have not been as good as I have seen them in the past by some margin. This is regardless of the eyepieces being used.

I think it is tempting to switch around eyepieces quite a bit searching for the best views and it is fun (I've done it a lot in the past ) but in reality they are quite low down in Suiters "Wobbly Stack" of factors that impact image quality:

Perhaps I would have been better to save my £'s for a holiday home somewhat further south

2 hours ago, Radman40 said:

I tried to buy a set of pans the other day and had the same problem.  Everywhere out of stock.  Roll on the vaccine. This is our only way out of this. 

Panoptics or cooking equipment ?

I have cleaned a couple of objectives which were in a similar state. It is a delicate business though. Doublets are not too awkward although a lot of care is still required to keep the rotation of the lens elements correctly positioned and, if they are used, the foil spacers correctly spaced. I would be very hesitant to do a triplet lens though. The optical centering of the elements is even more critical with those. A job for a specialist really.

The only William Optics scope that I've owned was a Megrez 90 doublet (bigger brother to yours really) which was quite a nice scope. I bought that new though so the objective was pristine when it arrived. And when I sold it for that matter.

I hope yours gets sorted in due course. It does look as if it needs a clean as well as the UV treatment.

It has been a really rotten day here, weather-wise. Rain practically all day and heavier this afternoon and evening. No chance of seeing a glimpse of anything.

Tomorrow looks a little better so there maybe a possibility of a glimpse of the pair.

You could probably just get to that 1st step on the red line, stay there, and enjoy the hobby just as much !

12mm / 13mm is a very useful focal length for eyepieces and in a wide range of scope specs as well. It was no accident that 13mm was the first focal length that Al Nagler produced his Nagler in and also the 1st focal length that the Ethos came in.

This is how the sponsor of this forum sees the situation:

I think this applies to all suppliers in the UK, Europe and quite possibly worldwide.