John

Excellent Mark - very well done

27 minutes ago, Anthony1979 said:

What does the pro mean because its on one but not on the other

I don't think it means anything. Marketing speak, that's all.

Takahashi FC100-DL + Skytee II in action on the outer planets earlier this evening:

Mars is looking pretty good again as Kerry says

I also had a look at Neptune then Uranus.

What I found interesting about the views of these distant worlds at high power (300x) is that Neptune resembles a tiny, pale blue ball, a little like a tiny marble which seems to have a distinct 3 dimensional look despite it's tiny apparent diameter, whereas Uranus is slightly larger but looks rather flat and disk-like. Uranus colour tonight I would say was a pale greenish-grey.

Why Neptune seems to have more "depth" to it I'm not sure but I have noticed this before. Probably something to do with the apparent diameters of these planets although both are very small targets - Neptune = 2.33 arc seconds, Uranus = 3.75 arc seconds and also maybe that Uranus is somewhat brighter.

I won't go on about Mars in this thread - it's getting plenty of attention in other threads

22 hours ago, IB20 said:

Hellas Planitia easily spotted tonight, despite a slight haziness from fireworks and occasional high cloud.

Perhaps I was looking for it and focusing on its location more after yesterday’s discussion? 🤷🏼‍♂️ 
Is it possible that knowing what you should be seeing can help show a feature? Is this a thing?

I'm observing with a Tak 100 this evening. Had a good look at the Hellas Basin region. It is a paler patch than the surrounding features but it's fringes seem less well defined than some of the simulations show.

I do recall seeing it as a more distinct and defined bright patch in previous oppositions and images from past oppositions often show it as a clearly defined bright circular feature, sometimes even frost filled.

Not this year though. 

I wonder what has caused this huge basin to become less well defined ?

I felt that I had neglected Jupiter and Saturn lately with Mars being so showy so I popped out my Takahashi 100mm refractor at around 4:30 this afternoon to have a look at them while there was plenty of light still in the sky.

It was nice to find the observing conditions quite steady. Jupiter's four Galilean moons were attractively arranged and while the Great Red Spot was not on show, nice belt and zone details were. There seem to be two substantial grey/blue festoons on the south edge of the North Equatorial Belt. The South Equatorial Belt and the North and South Temperate Belts were seen together with the darker "hoods" of the South and North Polar Regions. 130-150x seemed to be the optimum magnification for Jupiter this evening.

Then onto Saturn. More magnification could be employed on this planet and I found around 200-220x working very nicely. The ring system was very sharply defined with the Cassini Division separating the A and B rings. The shadow of the C ring could be seen arching around the planets disk south of the equatorial zone. The darker North Equatorial Belt was clear and there were suggestions of the North Temperate Belt as well. As with Jupiter, Saturn's north polar region was notably darker than the rest of the planets disk. The shadow of the northern hemisphere of the planet was sharply defined sooty blackness where it fell onto the ring system. As the sky gradually darkened, Saturn's brightest moon Titan glimmered into view nearby.

It was great to observe these two gas giants again and good to see them in relatively steady conditions. A good prelude to Neptune, Mars and Uranus later this evening, as long as it stays clear 

1 hour ago, TareqPhoto said:

I really hope so that because even with FPL-53 scopes even being a triplet people keep looking for issues to analyze to death until it is 10000000% perfect, so i don't know if people care about the results or stars or performance or FPL55 vs. FPL53 or what exactly, but sounds i have to stop thinking about that and i just do imaging, i am not good at DSO so i won't just try to think that i have a high end scope although i look for one actually.

I think you are right and this does get "analyzed to death" on forums. I would pay much more attention to feedback from owners on how specific scopes actually perform in the real world (which is far from perfect of course) in making your selection. Forums like this are very valuable for getting that feedback

51 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Is it possible that knowing what you should be seeing can help show a feature? Is this a thing?

It certainly is something that happens in all types of observing but it can be both positive and negative of course.

Once you have seen something once, it does get easier to see the next time you go looking for it or for something similar. Experience of what various types of target actually look like though the eyepiece is a great help.

On the negative side (well slightly anyway) there is a risk that you will "see" what you want and expect to be there, even if in reality it's not quite visible on that occasion. Just something to be aware of when observing and I guess it pays to be a little self critical at times.

Tonight I was looking for Phobos and Deimos with my 12 inch newtonian. I was observing at very high magnifications and trying really hard using all the techniques that I know to try and pull these faint specks of light out of the Martian light halo. A few times I thought that I had a candidate but when I looked again I could not see it and saw something somewhere else. After a while I concluded that I was simply trying too hard !

When I checked with Stellarium, the positions of these moons at the time I was observing put them really close to the planet so there was no way that I was going to see them this evening

Fun trying though

Update: might have just caught a couple of glimpses of the SN but then again, might not !

One way or another I've no doubt that SN 2020uxz is now fainter than the mag 13.5 that I estimated last time I observed it (26/10).

7 hours ago, Louis D said:

If you don't need the eye relief, you might want to check out the 20mm APM XWA HDC.  It will show a larger patch of the sky and probably be as sharp as that portion which overlaps the 22mm Nagler.

I was going to suggest just that eyepiece as well but I decided to stick with commenting on the two that @chrispancho had mentioned.

My personal choice would be the 20mm / 100 degree eyepiece because I love hyper-wide views. Not everybody does though.

Had a go tonight in a clear patch with the 12 inch dob. Transparency was average. I got the magnitude 13.3 star nearby and glimpses of the galaxy NGC 514 but the supernova itself has eluded me so far tonight. Looking at the latest reports on the Rochester Astronomy website seem to indicate that it's brightness is dropping now - figures of mag 14.6 and even 15.2 estimated for the 3-11-2020. If it's in the mid mag 14's then that's probably a wee bit faint for me to pick up tonight.

Cleared for a while but Mars not as "giving" as it was for the past couple of nights. The features are visible but much of the time the image lacks really good definition. Occasional glimpses of something better but overall a bit "so so" 

If you have to pick one then the 22mm Type 4 I think.

A yo-yo evening so far. Scope out - clear skies - clouded over - no breaks in sight - scope in - had supper - clear skies now - scope back out again and cooling, again

Glad the 12 inch dob is so easy to pop out and pop back in again. Hopefully I'll get some observing in due course.

8 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

Total cloud cover here in Hereford. I was really hoping to catch Mars tonight plus the SN but it looks highly unlikely. The next 7 days is showing cloud.

Not quite total cover here but not looking good at all. Scope is out but I suspect will be coming in soon

The forecast for this week was good a couple of days back but there is a lot of pink showing on "Clear Outside" now.

Ask the seller to measure the inside diameter of the focuser drawtube opening, where the eyepieces are fitted OR ask him / her to measure the diameter of the chrome barrels on the 2 eyepieces that come with it, according to the description.

(this scope is for sale on e.bay I think)

While the box / instructions might be in German I doubt that the scope was made there. It looks like one of the far eastern 114mm F/7.9 newtonians.

3 hours ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

@Stuthat is a great report. I have been using the S&T moon mapper but the one you have listed is so much better. I have now bookmarked this website and will use it tonight with the 12" Dob - if it stays clear!!! 

Yes, I thought I'd give my 12 inch dob a chance on Mars tonight as well. The forecast has become a bit more patchy of late though.

2 minutes ago, messier 111 said:

with which instrument did you see the horse's head and which eyepiece?

My 12 inch dobsonian and a 24mm Tele Vue Panoptic:

Having owned quite a few UHC's of varying quality I'm quite impressed with the Astronomik. I also have their O-III (in 1.25 inch) which is excellent, a Lumicon O-III (2 inch) also excellent, the Astronomik H-Beta (rarely used but it's shown me the Horsehead Neb) and an older Meade 4000 Nebular Filter (UHC equiv) which is surprisingly good. I'm covered for 2 inch and 1.25 inch deep sky filters now I think 

4 minutes ago, AdeKing said:

....Now inside warming up with a nice cup of tea

Good move - me too !

I owned both for a while then replaced the 22mm T4 with the 21mm Ethos.

I felt that the 31mm T5 Nagler and 22mm T4 Nagler are complimentary rather than an "either or" choice.

Both really excellent Naglers

Brrr, it's a cold one !

Just finished my session with a quick tour of Orion's double stars. Nice splits of all at 300x plus. 32 Orionis AND 52 Orionis split as well. That latter one can be tough at not much over 1 arc second separation.

What an excellent night

I hope others have had some fun as well.

I've just been using an Astronomik UHC filter to observe M42 with a 130mm refractor. The moon was not far away so the nebula looked rather washed out without the filter but the UHC made a noticeable difference. Under dark skies with no moonlight about, I would expect even more contrast enhancement.

In an ED120 M42 looks pretty nice without a filter as well of course, as long as the moon is out of the way

Orion just coming up now. E & F Trapezium seen for the first time this season. Moon is wonderful as well. What a lovely night, unless you are after faint DSO's of course !

Great report Stu !!!

These post opposition views are some of the very best I've seen of Mars. An absolute treat

I'm still out there but it's getting cold now.