John

2 hours ago, ED Splitter said:

Pardon my ignorance but how long will this be visible for? 

A few weeks maybe, depending on the speed it dims and how large your scope is.

It seems to have peaked at around magnitude 10.8 and the latest reports seem to put it around magnitude 11.5 ish. I'm planning on having another look this evening if the sky stays clear. Probably with my 120mm refractor.

I really ought to give binoviewing another try I think.

My 130mm LZOS is ideal for the purpose having an extension tube that can be pushed in so BV's come to focus without the need for a barlow / transfer lens or whatever they are called.

I might actually be able to see some cloud structure on Venus using 2 eyes ! 🙄

4 minutes ago, jjohnson3803 said:

I bought a 72ED last winter and have just started observing doubles with it.  It seems to be quite capable with very crisp views. 

However, I confess I have yet to resolve Epsilon Lyrae¹ and Epsilon Lyrae² with it.  Not sure if that's partly due to the horrible LP I live in, seeing, or if I just haven't cranked up the magnification enough - my shortest EP is a 4mm and the scope fl is about 430mm.

I have to say the 72ED blows away my ST80 achro for sharpness and color on other doubles.

 

I found Epsilon Lyrae quite a challenge with my 70mm ED refractor when I first tried the scope on it. I was being impatient though and found a couple of hours later, once the constellation had risen higher in the sky, that I could make the split of both pairs at around 150x magnification. So my tips are to allow the target to get higher in the sky and to use a bit more magnification if you can - a 3mm eyepiece or a barlow lens perhaps ?

The scope has a resolution capability of around 1.6 arc seconds under favourable conditions so that should be enough for both the Epsilon Lyrae pairs.

5 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Delivered today 3-8mm SVBONY from Ian (bosun21) thank you very much. 

I'm really quite tempted to try one of those 🙂

3 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Those items usually get changed on all reflectors. I don't know why manufacturers don't just fit them as standard.

Very much agree 👍

If we bought a new car and then were immediately advised that we would need to put replacement suspension springs on it for it to perform decently well, we would be a trifle miffed !

The British Astronomical Association includes double / multiple stars in the DSO heading however some other sources don't include them as such.

Nevertheless they are often good targets under light polluted skies 🙂

23 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

I witnessed a breathtaking lunar occultation of Porrima (Gamma Virginis) last night. The double star became a single star for a split second as the lunar limb covered it. 

The reappearance was equally spectacular, one star peeked out from behind the bright limb followed by its companion a split second later. This was by far the most beautiful lunar occultation I have seen so far 😍

That must have been a wonderful sight Joe 🙂

Porrima is a lovely star to observe at any time but when one of it's components is occulted by the moon it must make compelling viewing !

Thanks for the report 👍

3 hours ago, jetstream said:

.... LZOS 130 f 6 vs the 130 f9.2 - Id take the slower scope any day for my visual planetary/lunar observing, the latter a very well known top performer....

It sure is 🙂

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/385898-what-did-you-see-tonight/?do=findComment&comment=4384203

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

They were mentioned briefly in the 21 century Atlas on plate 23 under the caption discussing Kies Pi.

This morning I found this paper on them:

https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2011/pdf/1443.pdf

It says there are three domes of height only 100 meters. I saw at least two of them very clearly at about 10pm last night with x180 magnification.

The view was actualy better than this simulated view.

 

 

Thanks for that - I noticed those on the floor of the crater but I didn't know their names 🙂

I've just managed to see the SN with my 102mm ED Vixen. Not a particularly transparent sky. The SN was much easier to hold with direct vision at 47x than it was at 28x. I reckon it is still around magnitude 11.

M101 was just visible as a faint blur of light.

Shows how good the skies were when I was observing on Jersey a few nights back - the 102mm here tonight is making hard work of showing a similar view to that which the 70mm showed on Jersey. M101 was actually slightly better with the 70mm on the island.

Supernova spotting with my Vixen ED102SS

33 minutes ago, Franklin said:

If you lower the tripod legs so the eyepiece, straight through, is about a foot off the ground and then lay down beneath on a yoga mat to view, your back will thank you🤣.

Thanks for that useful tip !!! 

I've just switched to my 102mm Vixen ED F/6.5 frac to have a look at the SN. Eyepiece is at a decent height even when observing the zenith with that one 🙂

26 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thanks for those @John. My seeing is not great tonight unfortunately, x208 is plenty here in the 128mm, a bit frustrating, the central pit on Kies Pi is pretty vague I must say.

Hortensius domes are looking good though, plus the various Hortensius craters, worth a look if you haven’t already.

Thanks Stu - I'll take a look at those.

My seeing is good here - 600x on Zeta Herc and the best split I've ever had of it by far !

Very similar to this sketch by John Nanson from 2014:

Some thin cloud and blustery wind gusts though so I have to wait for the moments of calm to get the best out of the scope.

I'm hoping to have a look at the M101 SN but it's right overhead and the 130mm is a long scope so some crouching will be inevitable - must mind my back ! 😬

Another nice lunar feature spotted - the dome Kies Pi with it's pit on the top:

Tonight I have the 130mm F/9.2 refractor out. Super lunar viewing 🙂

This evening my 130mm refractor is giving lovely views of the moon at 400x and beyond 😁

I've been examining the Fra Mauro area and spotted the interesting crater pair of Fra Mauro H. These co-joined craters are around 5km in diameter and have a sharp narrow ridge separating them, which is well illuminated this evening. 

A great deal of other detail to be enjoyed as well 🙂

6 minutes ago, Gonariu said:

I'm sorry, I noticed it after sending the message.

No problem 🙂

8 hours ago, markse68 said:

Hi John, do you know what fov this sketch was? It looks quite different to this sketch also from CN. I’m struggling…

 

edit- I see both star patterns in the chart- the ep views are just very different fov- this last one is 150x. And was through a 14” newt. So the chart and all these sketches are newt view? Edit just noticed the compass markings on the chart so these are all refractor view 🤦‍♂️ no wonder i couldn’t match the stars. This is newt view 

Sorry I should have said - I'm refractor only currently 🙂

I was going to have a go at the SN with my 100mm last night but cloudy things spoiled that.

Maybe tonight 🤞

8 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Indeed. I have the complete set and I'm a lot poorer for it.

I feel rather lucky to have picked up a TOE 4mm pre-owned for somewhat less than the retail price.

Still waiting for it to "wow" me, but I'm sure it's time will come 🙂

45 minutes ago, SwiMatt said:

I can certainly not compete with many observations on here, but yesterday I went out with my binoculars in the not-quite-dark night and saw M13 for the first time. Considering that in my couple of months of observations so far I could only make out the "obvious" stuff like Beehive and Pleiades, this feels like a big step into something more!

I did not expect to see it, really, it wasn't even in the list of things I wanted to check out yesterday. But Hercules was high in the sky and I thought "why not?" and lo-and-behold, there it was. I made out the "spot" with direct vision, but used averted vision to confirm it was there, and it was absolutely an incredible feeling.

Sorry, I just wanted to share my noob excitement!!!

Nice report - thanks for sharing !

In my experience those "I did not expect to see it, really..." moments are some of the very best in visual observing and the ones that stick longest in the memory 👍

All lunar stuff so far this evening with my 100mm refractor at 225x and 257x.

Rima Birt below the Rupes Recta is showing nicely including it's elongated "tadpoles head" shaped basin at end of the rille and the pit at the other end (the Birt end)

The crater chain Catena Davy is also well defined crossing the Davy Y basin. The largest 3 craterlets in the chain (3km in diameter) are clear pits and the smaller ones show as a bright line joining those up.

I think, I'll have a look at the Hadley Rille next and see how much of it's length can be resolved.

Not a great photo of a nice moon showing off to the 100mm refractor. I won't try and capture what the Pentax XW 3.5mm is showing because I know that an image won't do it justice either. I'll stick to observing 🙂

1 hour ago, Gonariu said:

There is this table. For a acromatic 120/1000 wich has f/d = 8.3 CA have a filterable level.

Thanks - I posted that table earlier in the thread, about 3 hours ago:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/410266-refractor-or-reflector/?do=findComment&comment=4383771

This chart gives an idea of what the relative CA levels of achromat refractors are likely to be. From my experience it is reasonably accurate:

This sketch by a member of the CN forum might be useful. I saw a couple more stars than it shows with my 70mm refractor, but only just !