paulastro

IMPORTANT I've just noticed that If you use the landing site guide ( on page 52 of the S@N magazine )you may get a little confused if you're not familiar with the Apollo 11 landing site. The photograph on the page is fine, but the little circle on the full disk of the Moon at the top of the page indicates the position of Apollo 17, not Apollo 11 !!!!!!!!!!!!! If you use the wall chart of all the landing sites which came with the magazine you will be fine. On the chart the blue circle indicating the position of the Apollo 11 site is correct, and the photograph is better as it includes Theophilus which is an and easily identified crater from which to start.

I was 14 years old, and every time I see a replay of any of the Apollo footage from any of the missions I have the same emotions as I had all that time ago. Everything from nervousness and joy, to tears at what befell the Apollo 1 astronauts. It made a lifelong impression on me.

Great Paul, you will have an hour and fifty six minutes before the actual moment Armstrong walked on the Moon. If all goes well with the weather I'll be hoping to take a picture exactly at this time. Wow, there's been an awful lot of water under the bridge since I saw this live on the TV!

maw lod qan, great stuff, it's nice to know others will be observing at the same time, it will make it more special some how.

It will be good to have your company Steve, also with the FC100 you'll have a top-notch view! I'll be using my SW 120ED and will also attempt to take a picture of the historic anniversary.

I only know about this as S@N highlight it in their August editorial. The site of this historic achievement will be almost perfectly placed for observing at the exact moment Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface - 02.56UT (03.56BST Sunday morning) fifty years ago. The Moon is very nearly at it's highest altitude due South at this time and 'the phase placed nicely to bathe the south western region of the Mare Tranquillitatis in dramatic shadows.' There is also a page with a detailed photograph of the area and description of all the salient features. The weather forecast is set reasonably well for most of us, and I for one will be at the telescope at the set time to observe the area and ponder the moment Armstrong stepped on the Moon as I saw it 'live' on the television exactly 50 years before. An amazing coincidence that the site should be so favourably placed for us to observe exactly 50 years after the event. Credit to Chris Bramley, the editor, for pointing this out.

I was wondering about the length of John's arms too!

Just finished checking through my pics. As I said in an earlier post, I was lucky it cleared just about at maximum eclipse. The conditions were not the best, but overall I'm pleased with what I got - it could have been nothing ! The pics in sequence from the top and left to right were taken at, 2237, 2252, 2258, 2316, 2324 and 2335. All taken with my SW 72ED with an Olympus EM5 Mk11.

An excellent description John. It was clear here everywhere but where the Moon was low in the SE and I thought I was going to dip out. Luckily it cleared virtually at the time of maximum eclipse around 10.30 pm and mostly stayed that way until the end. Cloudy for the first ISS pass near the Moon just after 10pm, but saw it on its' following circuit around 11.44pm just before I packed up. Off to bed now, but will post a few pics if I have time tomorrow morning.

Thanks Stu, I was wandering - it would probably have taken me a year or two to figure out how to measure quickly to multiple objects! 🥴 I think SkySafari is a great observing tool, I think perhaps I need to explore it to find out all the other useful functions I am probably missing out on .

Stu, just found it! 👍

Stu, there's nothing like a good little'n when you need to set up at a moments notice Glad you saw it I also realised that your setting on your phone was for 9.08pm while I didn't get my first look until nearly an hour this which accounts for the discrepancy in the distance between the two. Could you tell me where the distance indicator tool you used is on SF Stu?

Thanks Stu, I'll settle for that , Out at just past 10pm and had a few moments view with my 72ED and 17.5mm Morpheus, giving about 3.2 degree field and x25. Now in cloud but should have a few gaps I think. John, I was thinking the same thing, it is really nice to see them in the same field and ponder such things. Lovely.

Hi John, Many thanks. Not been outside yet but according to Sky Safari 6 pro it looks it's about two degrees separation, and probably at it's closest at the moment. ......just been out with binocs but some clouds over that way at them moment. Hoping to get a view at some time, the Aristarchus / Schroter Valley is well placed this evening. Thanks again. PS Yes, that is the time I have for the time of the shadow transit start.

Stu, thanks again, just got in from observing with my 120ED, binoviewer with 16.8 Orthos giving x215. Out from 10.08 pm to 11.23 pm. Seeing rather tremulous and some cloud coming across but did have some nice views at times ,in better moments. Best earlier on, but I just managed to see the GRS coming on the other side to the shadow before I came on. At times of bad seeing the shadow wasn't visible, but it was there much of the time. As John said, it's always nice to see a shadow transit, it does make the view so much more 3-D looking. Also did see some nice detail, if the seeing had cooperated more it would have been very good indeed. No hedgehog for me, tonight though I did get some midges and a couple of bats flying around. Thanks again Stu, but very sorry you didn't get a decent view yourself. Hopefully we can provide you with a useful heads-up at some time that you can make good use of.

Thanks for the heads-up Stu. I have some clear patches at the moment, so may have a chance. I'll go out as soon as I can pick it up in my binoculars.

A very refreshing post, it made me smile when I read it. When you often read some of the doom and globe posts about poor weather, people selling their scopes and things that frustrate them and go wrong - it makes you wonder if some people would be better partaking in other interests and hobbies The universe doesn't owe us anything, and as in most things you get out of it what you put into it. An excellent post!

Personally I wouldn't use any commercial zoom binoculars. Over the years any I have looked through have been terrible compared with fixed magnification binoculars. On the other hand using two zooms in a binoviewer on a telescope work very well for me, assuming the two zooms are of good quality. For ages I used two Baader MK111s in my binoviewer for all my Lunar and planetary viewing. I only stopped doing this because I wanted some lighter eyepieces, not because the MK111s were too heavy for the binoviewer but because when I bought the 72ED my dovetail wasn't long enough to balance the scope on my altaz mounts - though it was possible to use out of balance by tightening the tension on the axis of the mounts it wasn't ideal. Since then I've been using pairs of 30mm Ultimas, 24mm Orthos and 16.8 Orthos in all my scopes with the binoviewer. I am going to start using the zooms again on the 120ED though with which balance isn't a problem. Zooms in a binoviewer for higher powers on the Moon and planets are ideal because they can be adjusted constantly to get the best view in the often rapidly changing seeing conditions - the reason I started using the zooms in the first place!

That's an impressive looking eyepiece Doug, a bit cruel to use it on the end of my SW 72ED 😃

Top choice Agnes!

Chris. Yes, John is quite right. I looked at Jupiter last night with my 120ED refractor and struggled to get a good image at x120, and didn't bother even attempting to go any higher. The seeing was so bad at times it was like looking at Jupiter at the bottom of a fast moving stream. Alas this isn't unusual when the planets are low in the sky. So, take heart and don't be put off, when the seeing cooperates your telescope and eyepieces will give you wonderful views of the planets. Something to look forward to is Mars which is favourably placed, close to earth and higher in the sky than it's been for a while late next Autumn. I promise you, it will blow you away!

Ah well, if it wasn't difficult I wouldn't want to observe it 🤣

Good news Steve. I'm not the only one who wondered why this thread seemed to have hit a brick wall of silence .

I like your enthusiasm Paul, it's nice to hear someone with a positive outlook. Over the years I've found that as in most things, what you get out of astronomy is proportional to what you put into it. You're enthusiasm and tenacity will be justly rewarded in the long term .

Thanks Stu, I was very lucky .