paulastro

Well, according to spaceweather.com it might be. 

I was keeping an eye out for a view of the sun this morning from before 10am.  At about 11.45 there was a sign of thinning cloud approaching the sun and from 11.55 to 12.08 I managed some views of a lovely spotty sun through the Altair 80 ED-R and a few quick pics. The frame below was the only one I managed showing all five of the spot groups on display. Taken with Olympus E-M5 Mk11, 1/60 are 200asa.

With frosty conditions coming in the next few days, there should be the opportunity to follow developments.

Nothing like being positive is there 😁.

Really, if people take weekly forecasts seriously then  they can't have been active astronomers for very long.

Many astronomers moan about how inaccurate forecasts are, well they are quite right.  So how come  astronomers take a weeks forecast seriously?   I suppose if the weeks forecast was for clear skies the same people wouldn't believe it.

People who don't check out forecasts on a daily basis are going to miss out on an awful lot of good observing opportunities.

Excellent report Paul, I'm glad you had such a productive session.

  The alignment will only change if you manage to knock the phone holder out of position on the tube (unlikely I would have thought), or if you move the two knobs which you used in the alignment of the phone to the sky view - or the knobs come loose for some reason, though mine are fairly stiff.  The only other reason I can think of is if you do not properly seat the phone properly in the cradle. Also, if you have aligned it with the phone in a case, and then don't use a case this could make a difference.

Mine has never gone out of alignment for any reason,  and there's no reason why it should as all the above are unlikely to happen. There is no mechanical drive which can go wrong, no computer to go wrong and the app itself will work consistently well.  

Do feel free to ask if you have any other concerns, either on this forum or in  a pm and I'll help if I can.

Regards, Paul

wookie, last night Jupiter was around 15 degrees to the W of the Moon, and I had no problem using SS to switch between the two.  Previously, I recall finding  Mars when it was closer to a virtually full Moon.  I can honestly say, in the conditions I've observed in since buying the scope in early July, the Moon has never been a problem.  In fact, in moonlight, I tend to observe open clusters as they are less affected by moonlight than galaxies and nebula and its a lot easier than finding them than it would be with a finder  in the same conditions.  My experience is that I look at objects in moonlight I wouldn't previously have done without SS.

I can't say moonlight can never be a problem, but its certainly never been a problem fior me.

I was out last night, Dec 2nd,  trying to observe Mars.  I went out at 9.10pm when the Moon was barely visible through about 90% cloud cover.  For the first half hour or so I only had hazy views of Mars.  With my 8 inch StarSense Dob I had to user a finder as when I set up there were no stars visible. 

The Moon and Jupiter started to pop out occasionally, but it was really difficult and frustrating having to quickly move between the the three objects using the finder. I kept arriving just as the cloud enveloped the object I was after  Then, it all changed, I had a couple of mts when I could see see a narrow field of stars.

I quickly put my phone in its cradle on the tube and opened up the StarSense app.   Eureka.  I could then chase the gaps in the cloud whenever the Moon, Mars or Jupiter appeared.  It only took seconds to go from one location to another.   With the finder I would never have got the views I did.

For those concerned about how StarSense can cope with cloud, the answer is much better than any finder I've ever used.   It confirmed very well what I already knew.  You can use StarSense when a finder cant be used fast enough, when there is a lot of cloud and you need to move quickly between clear patches .  The only time I have to use a finder now, is if I'm observing a planet or the Moon when there are no stars visible for the entire session.

The cloud did thin, I had fine views of Mars with Syrtis Major just showing  round  the limb.  Jupiter, showed goid belt detail with the satellites all strung out to the west.  I was lucky to see Io disappearing behind the limb at 10.35. 

The Moon was the star of the show though.  Copernicus was on the terminator and the terraces on the inside of the E limb showed incredible detail as the sun rose, eventually the light creeping into the floor of the crater.  Clavius showed fine detail, and to the S the craters Wilhelm, Montana and Regiomontanus also showed truly spectacular detail.  The latter's walls adjoining the terminator were reminiscent of strands of reeds interwoven along the rim of a basket.

A very memorable session.

2 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

5.50pm Saturday.  Wife just photo'd Moon and Jupiter in a lovely clear sky for me.  

Will I go out in the cold soon to get some action?  Well, no.....I've got covid!!  😷

Doug.

It's nice your wife has done this for you Doug.  I hope you have less serious symptoms and you're back at the telescope soon. All the best, Paul

I wrote this review a little while ago, copying it to this forum.

1 hour ago, allworlds said:

Just a few minutes on the Moon with the binos, I feared the clouds might close in by the time I sorted a scope out. Copernicus (I think?) very prominent on the terminator and rugged terrain in the southern and northern highlands. I also like to see “the man in the Moon” as a footballer, fitting for the World Cup! Serenity, Tranquillity, Nectaris and Fecundity make up the figure and Crisium is the ball they’ve just kicked.

Yes, it was Copernicus, 🙂.

11 minutes ago, Astro_Dad said:

I was alerted to a new Coursera course option from the Department of Prof Chris Impey (University of Arizona), having completed their other offerings some time ago -

History and Philosophy of Astronomy.  

https://www.coursera.org/learn/knowing-the-universe

Duly enrolled as I contemplate starting a full time astronomy degree … wishful thinking!

Don't think about it - just do it if you want to 😊.

On 19/11/2022 at 17:41, cajen2 said:

Oh, now you've done it - every Tak owner on here will post pics and it'll become another "I've got a Tak" thread....😄

I really hope not, there are far too many of them 😱

Nov 27th, Mars and thwarted attempts to  pbserve Flamimg Star Neb surrounding variable AE Auriga, and Rosette Neb. Out from 11.40 - 12.40am.

Always around 70% cloud which prevented  any useful deep sky, but good minutes on Mars,  now m - 1.8, 17.2",  A rough sketch done at the telescope shown below, labels added after the event using Mars Mapper 2022. Cloud filled in at 12.40 am. beautiful colours on Mars as usual.

I was using the 8 inch StarSense Dob and I've also added a  screen grab to show the detail shown when I was attempting to see the Flaming Star Neb.  Alas the cloud came in a couple of seconds after I had pushed the scope to the target but before I could look through the eyepiece! The message at the top is because I touched the phone in order to take the screen grab.

2 minutes ago, Hans Joakim said:

Thanks Alan! And thanks to you and Stu for the excellent test reports. It is safe to say that you had no small part in my decision to go for the AZ75!

No pressure on Alan and Stu then, 😆

For me, in case people don't know already, the 8 inch StarSense Dob is my  favourite telescope purchase - and this stretches back to the early 70s.

I've got to know it very well since it's purchase in July, and I really don't think there's any quicker, easier or more enjoyable way of finding objects in the night sky - and without a finder!

One of its features inparticularly, that has become one of my favourites, is finding a new object that I wasn't even looking for.

1 minute ago, geoflewis said:

Thanks Paul, that's brilliant. I had it for the last apparition in 2020 and possibly 2018, but I couldn't recall where I got it and thought maybe it wasn't available this time.

You're welcome Geof.

1 hour ago, geoflewis said:

@paulastro I see that you posted a screenshot of the Mars Mapper 2022 app, so where can I get that please? All I can find is it windowed in a page of Astronomy Now, but not how to download the app itself.

Here it is below.  Ade sends me a link for it before every opposition.  I think he puts it on his web site,  there's a link to his web site at the top of the Mars Mapper.

http://www.nightskies.net/skyguide/mars/mars.html

Best regards  Paul

PS as you can see, you have the choice of maps and if the features are named on it.

9 hours ago, Astro_Dad said:

I’m still buzzing from the views I had of Mars this week - Tuesday night (22nd) provided my best ever view. Until now I’ve seen just blurry albedo features and “hints of “, but after several years trying I finally saw what I might call a “photorealistic” or textbook view of Syrtis Major at 150x. Amazing. 😀

That's fabulous a land mark observation for you Andrew, a great moment.  I can remember how thrilled I was the first time it happened to me, back in 1971, my first Mars opposition - with a telescope at least. 

It just happened to be a very favourable opposition, attaining a diameter of 24.9", and the best since 1924.  Talk about luck!  I was observing with a six inch f8 Fullerscopes Newtonian with a Ramsden one inch eyepiece and a barlow of dubious origin.  I still have the sketch I made at the time.

I'm sure you'll have many more oppositions to enjoy in the future Andrew.

I caught this on u-tube last night, wow, it's the nearest thing you will ever get to actually orbiting the Moon in a spacecraft.  It was a continuous feed with the Moon rotating downwards as seen in this pic.  The time is bottom right, we are five hours ahead of this in the UK.

It was so good I wondered if it was real, really awesome footage, I think the Moon was 80 miles away at closest during this flyby, there was no commentary, just some music which surprisingly seemed very appropriate to me.  Abdolutely stunning. I took some pics on the  phone, some fabulous detail which was even better on the T V.

NOV 22Th  MARS AND JUPITER

I rushed outside just before 10pm and set up the 8inch StarSense Dob. I wanted to observe Mars and Jupiter (where the four satellites were strung out to one side of the planet in order of distance from it).

A good job I was quick, as almost as soon as I was outside fog started to rise up the surrounding hills - we are at an altitude of over 800 feet. In total I only had half an hour before I was completely engulfed

I first looked at Jupiter (it was closer to the encroaching fog).  The satellites strung out in a line in order of actual distance looked fabulous.  Also had some nice views of Mars.  The two screen grabs are from SkySafari Pro and Mars Mapper - the latter showing just a tad more than I could see through the telescope 😅. Note, it doesn't show the N Polar Hood.

Many thanks Stu.  I'm pleased you had some decent views of Mars - that's a great scope you have for the planets 😊

3 hours ago, josefk said:

i appreciated this heads up and reminder @paulastro. I've been struggling with Mars in recent weeks and had kind of given up till December when i hope to have a new refractor to try again. However your post here yesterday afternoon spurred me to try again last night and "try harder" as it were and in the end i had a great observation and feel like i've got one in the bank now for this opposition. Thanks.

That's great josefk, I'm  delighted you managed a good view of Mars.  It does take some effort, it's not the easiest planet to observe.  Well done for sticking with it.  🙂.

I had a good session last night.  Clear and cold as forecast, seeing not as good as I've had but still could see good detail on Mars.  

Out from 10.10 to 12.30 am.  Seeing didn't really improve but between views of Mars I visited some deep sky destinations including NGC 1664, NGC 225 Carolines Rose,  Cave Neb, M52 and Bubble Neb, Orion Neb, M36, 37 and 38. M35, M1, and M44 

The 8 inch StarSense Dob was putting objects in the bullseye of the target at x300 using my binoviwer.  Looked at the Orion Neb at this power and it was a mass of billowing clouds of nebulosity. Very impressive.

9 minutes ago, Telescope40 said:

Hhmm. I’m under the “E” in Manchester. 😂😂

Not wanting to tempt fate for you, but I think you'll get at least some clear patches 🙂.  Good luck!

Posted this earlier as a' head up'.  

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/402907-tonight-nov-20th-mars-favourable-weather-for-many-syrtis-major-well-placed/

11 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Clouds and rain here all week and the forecast is the same for the week coming. May get Friday but that will probably change before then

Not great Wookie!  I've resorted to having the scope out even if it's 60% cloud plus, and taking advantage of the brief clear gaps. Mind you, I've had to get it back into the garage quickly when the rain comes down.