John

Given that my scope tonight was smallish, I did attempt a sketch of the Jupiter show. I've added it to the one I did a few days ago with the same scope. I'm developing a bad habit here I reckon 🙄

What's this ??? Two sketches from me during a Jupiter observing season !!! 😲 Well the giant planet has really been putting on a show over the last couple of months and since it has actually stopped raining for a while I've even been able to observe it a few times and I've been inspired to put pencil to paper 😁 I do these quite quickly because I've found it the best way not to get bogged down in transitory details. I've tried to sketch what was obviously there rather than what I thought might be 🙄 Both done while observing with my 100mm refractor but not quite at the scope because the pencil and paper were on the dining room table a couple of meters from the scope, and where it is warmer ! The first was on the 6th January (I posted it somewhere on SGL back then) and the second sketch was tonight at around 19:00 hrs. Europa and Io were just about to go behind the planet and were just off the western limb, so I included them labelled "E" and "I" respectively. I enjoyed doing these so I might do some more, if the clear nights continue 🙂 And I do think the process helps you to see more as well 👍

Yep - the GRS is on the visible disk now. The useful thin high cloud is thickening here soon to become annoying and detracting, rather than adding to the jovian views. So I'm making the most of it, while it lasts 🙂

My trusty Takahashi FC100-DL eyeing Jupiter this evening. I seem to be using this setup for the vast majority of my observing lately probably because it's so simple and quick to setup and that it performs so well straight out of the house 🙂

Very thin cloud bands passing over here currently but the moon and Jupiter look very nice with the 100mm refractor. At this phase one of my favourite lunar sights are the twin craters of Messier and Messier A, with the long rays extending from Messier A. Not my photo but this is how it looks tonight: Their formation has been the subject of many theories over the years. Here is one impression by the artist Justinas Vitkus:

Dealing with the weight and bulk of a 12 inch aperture optical tube is one thing, but there is a degree of stress caused by the knowledge that bumping it will mean re-collimating and may even dent the tube or, in the case of a bad bump, damage the optics. Moving a dob mount around has much less stress associated with it although they can still be awkward. Of course the first few times you do it, you are fuelled with anticipation and excitement of a new, bigger scope. As time goes by, the lighter, smaller setups seem to become more attractive though 🙄 The further that the scope needs to be carried and the more obstacles that need to be overcome, before reaching the setup place, the more the chance of an accident. My Orion Optics 12 inch weighed around the same as a chinese 10 inch but even so I rarely carried it more than a few metres on my own.

If someone asked me, and was reasonably local, I would suggest that they come along to one of the Bristol Astro Societies public observing evenings or, if they were really local, I would offer them a look through one of my telescopes. I'm a huge fan of visual observing and believe that everybody should have the experience of seeing the moon, Saturn, Jupiter and a few other sights though a scope, with their own eyes but that does not necessarily mean that everybody needs to own a scope.

I had a Meade Lightbridge 12 and found it too heavy for me at 36kg in total. I later moved to a pre-owned Orion Orion optics 12 inch and found that much easier to set up and move about - it weighed around 10kg less than the Meade LB 12 ! 12 inch optics are a noticeable step up from an 8 inch in performance though, whatever "flavour" you go for 🙂

I think it was the other way round a few days back @Stu 🙂

Clearish skies here currently and the Great Red Spot is on the jovian disk 🙂 The seeing is not too bad either.

If you can keep them a little warmer than the outside temperature, you should never need to suck them 🙂

This is very sad news. Some of my most memorable astronomical views came around a decade ago using a 20 inch David Lukehurst dobsonian that was bought to one of the SGL star parties. It's owner asked me what I would like to see and I choose Messier 51 and Messier 13. Those views will be with me as long as I live. I have often visited David's website to have a look at the photo gallary of the wonderful scopes that he had created, including a very large refractor. The astronomy community have lost a valued member. My thoughts are with David's family as well as they come to terms with their loss. R.I.P David Lukehurst.

Cloudy tonight in North Somerset.

I have to say that this variable performance is what has put me off H-Alpha in the past. The Lunt 50 (single stack) that I had was a so-so performer as was the PST that I owned for a while. We have 2 PST's in my society one of which is not bad but the other rather unimpressive. I have read a lot of reports of poor Quark performance. I realise that what such equipment is doing is pretty complex and that there are more satisfied owners out there than unsatisfied ones but it is still difficult for someone who is a little ambivalent about solar observing to feel motivated to spend several hundred £'s on what seems to be a sort of performance "lottery" 🤔 @Stu's approach with "the beast" makes a lot of sense though - have it put together and sorted by somebody who knows what they are doing and knows good H-Alpha performance when they see it 🙂

I'm glad that their eyepieces are better than their surveys ! 😁

I have looked through a number of H-Alpha scopes (up to 100mm) and even owned a couple but, somehow, the interest didn't hold with me. But, those experiences were during the "quiet" part of the solar cycle so perhaps H-Alpha activity was quiet as well. I do white light observing (herschel wedge) from time to time, mostly at society outreach events. The Sun is a very interesting target because a) we depend on it, b) it changes all the time, and in real time and c) because it can be a nice, comfortable experience observing it 😁 So, speaking for myself, I would not rule out taking more interest in solar observing and I will be following @Stu's experiences with "The Beast" with interest 🙂

The seeing here is still poor so that plus the blustery wind and the chill have persuaded me to pack the scope in. No point in doing it if it's not enjoyable 🙄 It's good to see that some folks are having better conditions and some good observing though 🙂

Here is a link to that section of the forum: For Sale / Swap (UK) - Stargazers Lounge

I've caught the end of Io's shadow transit. Rather poor seeing here though and very blustery despite the clear sky. Funny how it varies around the country. Wind chill a real factor this evening. I'll leave the scope out but might not feel that tempted to join it for long 😬

The whole field is around 12 arc minutes in diameter (1/5th of a degree approx) and the red circles are around 15-20 arc seconds in diameter I would estimate. The current separation between Sirius A (the centre of that mass of light) and Sirius B is around 11 arc seconds. These are rough figures of course !

You do need a night of pretty good and steady seeing. I tried it a few nights back with my ED120. I've seen it quite a few times with that scope but it was not quite possible on that occasion. There are two faint stars in particular that I find need to be visible for a sighting of Sirius B to be possible. I have circled them in red in this refractor view sketch. They are around mag 11 or so I reckon but hard to see because of the brightness of Sirius A. I could barely see one of them a few nights back so I was not surprised when the Pup star did not show itself.

That is quite light for a 6 inch F/10. My Istar 6 inch F/12 weighed around 17kg I seem to recall. Such things are challenging to mount in a way that allows the full capability to be realised. I'm sure you will find a way though - it's got to be worth a little effort 👍

Wow !!! Things are really moving on now, aren't they 😲

Glad it's clear in South Somerset. It's rather cloudy here in North Somerset with only one or two stars peeking through from time to time. A bit disappointing after last night 🤨 Glad you are having a good one though, Ian 🙂

I'm waiting for Orion Optics customer feedback survey 😁