Davesellars

Hi Franklin. No filter used. It wasn't necessary with the 4mm eyepiece as it was sufficiently dimmed not to be painful. Having said that though.. I may have to invest in one as in normal conditions I wouldn't be abe to use that power.

Clear yet again! (what is going on???) I'm giving it a rest tonight though... it does look the moment (if Clearoutside is anything to be believed) like quite a lot of this week there may be good opporunity for more sessions so i'll save my energy a bit since it's full moon tonight.

Session 13th Jan Scope: 12" Dob Session 5 for this year was moon observing! I'm a complete noob at observing the Moon Therefore I spent a bit of time on google and found a good page listing 12 targets: https://astronomy.com/news/observing/2020/01/explore-12-great-lunar-targets I popped these targets in to Sky Safari and added a couple of others for good measure... prepared, it was time to start around 9pm. For this part I started with the Pentax XW 5mm but quickly switched to a 4mm TMB Optical Planetary II giving 300x Clavius - Not too far away from the terminator this was showing really clearly. Craterlets J,N,Y,C,D,T,X and K all very clear. I enjoyed the "route" walking down from this towards Tycho via Maginus. Plato - Perhaps not the best (too much illumination?) for attempting to see the small craterlets however I could just about make out some pock-marks in the extremely flat featureless crater. Archimedes - Nice visual on this spotting a couple of the craterlets. The nearby Montes Spitzbergen highlighted especially well. Thor's hammer - Not the offical name (as it doesn't see to have one). However it a feature just to the south (normal way up) of Mons Piton that looks unmistakenly like a mallet. Not too difficult to see but it rather an impression on the surface that needs the sharpness and reasonable power to make out the shape well. Back down to Plato it's a short stroll to... Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows) - OK, this feature blew me away. I think it may have been ideally situated(?) with the close terminator - following the length of the bay a great amount of features embedded into it particularly from Bianchini crater to Laplace D. One of the most awesome features of this bay was Promontorium Laplace - on the bay side of this cape starts looks to be a meandering valley which is of reasonable length. To the west of this (dob view) some "footprints" left in the otherwise flawless bay. Copernicus - Obviously two central craterlets and ridges on the edge of the main crater. Montes Carpatus nicely detailed below this (dob view). As I strolled then towards the terminator from Copernicus I was intrigued by Montes Riphaeus which stood out beautifully illuminated although it does not appear to be a particularly prominent mountain range. Rimae Gassendi - This one was spectacular - the closeness to the terminator really highlighted the depth of this feature and the central mountains inside the crater which there seemded to be 4 individual mountains although clumped together - The 3D effect was really quite outstanding. Rimae Hadley - One of my extras as it was the site of the Apollo 15 landing site and I was particularly after seeing the "stream" that runs through that area. I'd got the area in view however the clarity was disappearing fast... I looked to see where the problem was and sure enough my secondary mirror had succumbed to dew. In fact, the air was so damp that everything was soaked with water. This feature will have to wait until next time!

Session Date: 16th Jan, 2022 Time: 10pm - 12 Scope: 120ST So, 99% moon but it was beautifully clear and thankfully the extreme humidity seemed to have gone that had plagued previous sessions - it was, in fact, nice and dry and just above above 0C. Of course, having recently got back into this this I couldn't resist the 4th session of the week to finish off the Sunday. I didn't feel quite like lugging out the dob though so I quickly setup the 120ST with a plan to just to see what Messier objects and to what level could still be observed and also of course , the Moon. First off, I could at least see that the transparency was pretty good. Seeing was so-so (nowhere near as good as the previous session) where the stars were rock solid steady. I would estimate that the sky was approx bortle 7 bordering on 8, whereas usually it's 5. Naked eye I could still see Orion's sword and M42. Uranus - Quite a bright very small disc with the 4mm (150x), with the BCO 10mm could not discern any real colour. While this is still reasonably positioned on a darker night I want to see if I can observe any its moons - should be a reasonable challenge! M42 - Well, the nebula was still quite obvious with the 10mm BCO - but only the brighter central region and any real structure was lost only seeing a very faint amount with concentration. M31/ M32 - With the 32mm BCO, only a the very brightest part of the core could be seen. This improved massively with the 10mm BCO which darkens the background considerably and with the extra boost in contrast I could see more of the core region again, but nothing more - I would say that it was 10-20% of what I can normally see without the moon presence. M32 never seems to change much anyway as it's very small and bright! M45 Plieades - OK, the 120ST F/5 refractor was built for this type of cluster. Even with the 32mm BCO giving quite a bright sky background, the view is outstanding. M35 - Nothing except the brightest 7/8 stars visible with the 32mm BCO. The 10mm however gave the boost in contrast required to view this in a half-decent form but still needing some averted vision. M36 Pinwheel Cluster - With the 10mm BCO this is still quite bright despite the moon - The pinwheel shape still quite distinct and some minor stars giving a good appearance to the cluster. M37 - While this is normally a magnificent cluster to view with some power and darkness. the lower magnitude of the stars that really make the cluster shine were pretty much obliterated by the brightness of the sky. While the cluster was visible direct vision, averted vision needed really to get much of anything out of this with the 10mm BCO. M67 Open Cluster - Most difficult target of the night! Only a few stars were initially visible and needing some extra dark adaption and work with averted vision for the cluster to finally appear like a wisp in the eyepiece. M44 Behive - Like M45, this still showed marvellously in the 120ST with the 10mm BCO giving extra contrast. Sirius - Something I've not tried before (or can't remember doing it) - I had a very very optimistic go at splitting the pup however, I think the 120ST is definitely not the scope to do this with... Sirius looked like it was on fire. Later i had the idea to stop down the aperture which did control the CA at least to make the star less violent however there was still no sign of the pup (probably no-where near enough aperture to do this then after this). Moon - There was a considerable difference in brightness from a few nights ago! Anything but the 4mm at 150x was unbearably bright. Fortunately, the seeing was just about good enough for this to be used but it a little wavy. I went over most of the features from my previous observation with the 12" dob - but most were very indistinct now with the extra brightness seemingly obliterating the detail. The terminator at least had some interesting features around Grimaldi and also Pythagoras really nicely partly illuminated with deep shadows. To the south, the Schickard craters were nicely pronounced with a series of smaller craters seperating it from Phocylides. It has reached midnight already - 2 hours had done by in a shot! An added bonus was getting out and returning without sopping wet scopes and accessories! It had been an interesting "experiment" in how light pollution really affected these DSOs although I was pleasantly surprised by still being able to see them despite 99% moon affected skies.

Really clear here. 4th session this week! Just come in after almost 2 hours with a refractor observing the Moon and some brighter DSOs. At least the massive humidity appears to have mostly gone - everything stayed pretty dry!

Easy 300x with the 12" dob observing the moon. I've never really bothered it much before but I had a great time! Ridiculously damp out though and my secondary mirror dewed up after an hour and a half.

Yep, looking forward to a session dedicated to some moon features and perhaps a few double stars with the dob

Had 15 minutes on Jupiter with the 12" dob before it dropped behind the rooftop. (fortunately, that house is not occupied most of the time and doesn't produce much disturbance) At 150x the colour of the bands really stood out with excellent clarity. At 214x with the Pentax XW 7mm it was still pretty rock solid steady but the colour was now somewhat diminished although still the brown bands showing well with a reasonable amount detail in the lower (dob view) band. Came back in for dinner. Once we've got the kids sorted out for bed it's looking good for a session viewing the moon later!

Session Report for 12th Jan. Following last night's astronimical marathon of 7 hours observing I was a little tired but the dob was already out from that session and it's difficult to pass up a clear night! However, at 8pm I could barely make out the constellations with the moon and transparency being awful. So I spent some time attempting to fix the 80ED focuser (can't seem to fix it this time round) which had slipped loose yet again and then typing up session 3 and planning some brighter objects to observe while waiting for the conditions to hopefully improve. 11pm and I was out - the moon was starting to lower a bit and would soon disappear behind rooftop. The transparency was much better but far from brilliant. 7 Iris - Asteriod in Gemini - apparently mag 7.6 it was in slightly tricky place to locate but with the help of the 60mm finder I honed in on a closeby group of mag 9 - 11 stars in the dob using the 17.3mm Delos and pin-pointed the location exactly. However, I can't say that I managed to see this. The location of the asteriod I'd expect to be accurate in Sky Safari but if the asterioid was indeed mag 7.6 I wasn't sure why I couldn't see it as I'd expect the surface brightness not to be much of a factor. I used the Delos 17.3 and 10mm however after about 30 mins I gave up on this. I'll have to give it another go perhaps when the moon is not such a factor. NGC 2392 Eskimo nebula (Planetary) - Very bright and good relative size using the 10mm Delos the core showed very well with some surrounding nebulosity in perfect circle. NGC 1857 Open cluster in Auriga - sparse cluster with 4 bright stars within lots of very low magnitude starts just visible with the 10mm Delos. NGC 1907 Open cluster in Auriga - On the edge direct visibility for the most part but with averted vision able to make out individual mag 11 to 12 stars in the group. M38 - Open cluster in Auriga - With the 10mm Delos showing an impressive amount of stars with the brighter ones making a cross like structure - can see why it's called the Starfish cluster! IC 2149 - Planetary nebula in Auriga (mag 10.6) - Very small almost stellar like appearance. Using the 5mm Delos showed not much improvement however its size is only 0.2 arcmins. I had a quick scan around Leo. The moon-light was too strong tonight to even see the M65 and M66. As it was already now 1:45am I decided to wrap up the session.

Thanks Bob. The session was from the previous night (11th). Last night I waited to start until 11ish - while it was damp it was not quite as bad as this session had been initially.

This session is from the 11th Jan - split up into 3 parts. 5 - 6pm Scope: SW 80ED Moon - With the 10mm BCO the Moon was an amazing sight! Most of the planet in the view at the same time the detail at the terminator / south area around Tycho really stood out With a 4mm eyepiece the power was just about managed by the seeing conditions Great sharp view it's been a long time since I last used this scope and made me remember why I love the 80ED... more to come later... Jupiter - With the 10mm BCO provided an excecptionally sharp view with two central bands showing strongly with brown/red colour. Other banding / was observed but not distinct. With a 4mm eyepiece the view was reasonably steady at times allowing a better view of the within the bands with a hint of detail within them. All 4 of Jupiter's moons were to one side spaced evenly. 19P/Borelly - Comet in Cetus - This was just above the house rooftop and so I couldn't see nearby Deneb for the closest starhop from a bright star. So a rather longer start from Gamma Pegasus.. uff. I managed to find my way down fine to Cetus and finally got to its position only to have the focuser give way and slip (a typical issue with the Skywatcher 80ED!) I had to manually shove it back in to position focusing finely by hand while locking up the focuser so it wouldn't move. The conditions were hardly ideal however with the 10mm BCO (best darn fuzz finding eyepiece in my arsenal for this scope) I managed to eek out numerous times with averted vision a small patch of fuzz which was evidently at an angle. 6pm it was time to take my daughter to a class for an hour or so, so I brought the 80ED with its cr*p focuser back in... The 12" dob was already out and getting cold for the later session... 8pm - 12pm Scope: 12" Dob Not in any particular order for the 12" dob observations... The transparency was kicking my ass with really high humidity for the first hour or so and having to fight rapidly dropping temperatures affecting the optics. It did improve quite a bit from 10pm though. My targets for the night were two other comets and making some observations in the Herschel 400 list (mainly open clusters because of the moon...). A few other random objects get thrown in for good measure of course! 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko - Comet in Cancer - Found relatively easily and needing a touch of averted vision to get a bit more from it with the 10mm Delos. Reasonable size with a slight extension to it. C/2019 L3 (Atlas) - Comet in Gemini - Uff! Was really difficult to find in such a low mag star field needing numerous attempts. Think I would have failed if it were not for using a 60mm finder. Once i'd got its position this was actually a surpising direct vision object that resembled more of a very faint indistinct globular cluster than a comet. NGC 381 - Very faint open cluster with no definition to it NGC 654 - Fine small open cluster barely discerbable - used the 7mm Pentax XW to really see this. nearby NGC 663 - Nice collection a various mag stars in this in this open cluster. really nice with the 10mm Delos. Iota Cancri Double Star - Stood out as I was actually star-hopping for a DSO! Really cool yellow and faint blueish double! M44 Beehive- Not quite the scope to observe this with! However, a good field of bright stars - went to it as it was close by after another observation and I haven't observed this in quite a few years! NGC 2372 - Planetary nebula in Gemini - The faintest of faint murmurs of something small extending from a stellar (not clear) centre. I'll have to come back to this another day when the transparency is better (and no moon!) NGC 2264 Christmas Tree Cluster - I actually went to this twice (first with the dob but at this point my secondary was fighting dew and later with the 120ST) First time was quite unspectacular however the 120ST picked up this cluster magnificently! Getting the whole thing in with the 17.3mm Delos I wasn't able to (unsurprisingly) see any nebulosity - tried a UHC though, however this is still on my list for coming back to again without the moon and better transparency to see if I can see the nebulosity. NGC 2304 - Barely visible open cluster - individual stars not able to be resolved as they are so low mag. NGC 2395 - Sparse open cluster of very low mag stars just above visible. 12pm - 1:30am Scope: SW 120ST Just before midnight my 12" secondary mirror had given up completely to the dew it was hopeless to even attempt to warm the thing up since everything was sopping wet. The transpareny and darkness seemed to improving constantly though and with the Moon starting to get a little out of the way I opted to bring out the 120ST. M36 - Nice to see a bright open cluster after some of the Herschel 400 clusters earlier being so difficult at times! Really enjoy this one with the 10mm Delos showed it perfectly against the background starfield. NGC 884/869 - Double Cluster - Again the wide-vision of the 120ST just is perfect for these clusters. One of my favourite objects in the sky! M42 - It was starting to get a little low by the time I came to observe it and was quite unremarkable - amazing how much the light polluter (otherwise known as the moon) affects it after some visual treats to this last week M101 - My the time I'd got to this around 1:15am the transparency had gone up yet again and the Moon has gone down sufficiently not to be too bothersome for the other side of the sky. The galaxy core at least was quite evident direct vision with some averted vision required to see a little extension from the core. Leo Triplet - Both M65 and M66 appearing bright with the Delos 17.3mm. I could only make out a faint possibility of NGC 3628 with averted vision though. So at 1:30am, I brought the session to close - everything was fully iced or extremely damp! Needed the next half an hour just to reasonably dry stuff off apart from the dob which i covered over and left until the morning to then dry out in the sun. In all reasonably productive although frustrating earlier in the session constantly battling with the humidity!

All setup - it's completely clear but the transparency is absolutely terrible at the moment (even worse than last night). Waiting until a bit later hopefully it will improve like it did considerably last night after 10 / 11 pm...

Just come in from a decent although mixed (sometimes frustrating) session starting at 8pm using 3 scopes in the end. Managed to fit a lot in though almost 6 hours plus 1 hour from 5pm to 6pm for Jupiter before it got too low. Will write up a report tomorrow properly!

I'd suggest instead using a music stand to pop your iPad on so you can still use Sky Safari. I have both paper atlases and Sky Safari however outside at the scope I only use Sky Safari which functionally imho is streets ahead for finding objects.

Just before going to bed around 1:30am - I looked outside only to see a clear sky! After a long day and 2 long observing nights previously I was not in a condition to get the scope out though. I did get up at 5am and had a quick scan around by eye - it was partly cloudy but great to now see Leo, Vrigo Coma Berenices high up now signalling proper start of galaxy season! Looking forward to the next session and need to plan my Herschel 400 targets...

After Tuesday night with the 120ST, I was itching use the 12" dob again. I'd had a session late afternoon for an hour and a half with my Wife and kids to see the moon , Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury with a small scope we took on to on to the park at the side of our house where we have an outstanding view to the South and West. The kids really enjoyed the session and the seeing was very steady! Had some great views of Jupiter even with only 100mm Heritage dob that I have setup on a tripod. On returning from the planetary afternoon session I set up the 12" Dob around 6pm and let cool down fully to start the session at 8:30pm While it was fantastically clear, there was significant humidity in the air which seemed to be affecting the transparency a touch in comparison with the previous night. M42 with a 28mm Maxvision showed a good amount of colour - a even managed to get some pink / red as well as green. M43 - The running man showed good structure especially with the UHC filter Flame Nebula - After midnight, I was able to glimpse a small outline of the dark lane - but was extremely difficult! I expected a bit more, but the sky didn't seem to my eyes as dark as it can get. Proper dark adaption was near-on impossible earlier on with various lights from surrounding houses on which may have been a factor. Rosette Nebula - This really stood out well with the OIII on a Delos 17.3mm I was only able to view part of the nebula at a time but it good detail observed. M1 - nice and bright with some detail. M31 / M32 / M110 - M110 visible but very diffuse. M33 - Got this one tonight but very dim and needing a little help with averted vision at times. Have seen this much better which seemed to indicate the transparency was definitely not brilliant. M51 - A little low but easy enough to see both cores but could not see much of the connection between the two. M101 - Pfft. Could just about with averted vision make a very diffuse smudge. M97 - Owl nebula - Was exceptional with a Delos 14mm and OIII filter able to clearly see the eyes M108 - Quite obvious tonight with reasonable apparent size with the 14mm Delos with a touch of mottling around the core. M81 / M82 - Being quite high up these seemed to be escaping the lack of transparency elsewhere. M82 was exceptional with the Delos 10mm showing the dark lane and shape. M81 very bright core and some visible detail outside - could not distinguish outer arms though. Nearby NGC3077 obvious small core. M109 - Slightly tricky needing a bit of averted vision to keep it in sight - no detail apart form the core. Getting quite late 1am ish - on to leo as it was climbing M65 / M66 / NGC 3628 - Leo triplet. NGC 3628 very diffuse but obvious without averted vision being required despite Leo far from being in optimal position. M65 and M66 quite brilliant. Wrapped it up at approx 1:30am quite satisfied. Literally everything covered in ice... Enjoyed the session although earlier on was battling a bit with some lights coming from neighbours (which is why I prefer to observe after 11pm when most lights have switched off by then at least. Looking forward now to the next one and getting on with the Herschel 400 list observations which I need to plan for a bit...

Just had a very enjoyable 1.5 hours since 4.10pm with my Wife and kids (4, 6 and 8 years old) and a small scope (Skywatcher Heritage 100p) which I mount on a tripod. The moon was spectacular towards the end and Jupiter held up remarkably well in the small reflector with a 4mm eyepiece showing a couple of the dark bands my eldest could easily make out with the 4 moons. Saturn, while low down was pretty good with the same eyepiece with nicely defined rings. The kids loved it! We also spotted Mercury although extremely low down! Have the 12" dob out now cooling down ready for a decent session tonight!

You must have some really nice dark sky to see such good colour and with M43 as well! I've noticed it a couple of times in M42 and 8" scope I had before. I can normally get some colour with the 12" though. Really good report and a good read!

Great session! I must check out those comets...

Ooh, it's been a long time... I promised myself this year I'd find the time to take advantage of every clear night to get one of the scopes out. Targets for this year are making a good effort on the Herschel 400 however I need a couple of sessions to get back into it for findinig the fuzzies so I elected to start with the 120ST on an Alt/Az mount. Started at around 9pm, Orion was already in a good position. Great without any filter using a Delos 17.3mm and showing consider nebulous detail with the 10mm however using an Astronomik UHC showed almost a complete arc of the entirety of the nebula which was a good result for this aperture. The running man was also clearly visible. I spent an inordinate amount of time just soaking up the detail from M42 - a good start!!! Conditions being good and reasonable darkness I headed up the Flame Nebula which I have seen before but with much large aperture. Unfortunately, this proved to much - despite trying UHC, OIII and HBeta (although i'm suspecting the Explore Scientific Hbeta is far much more like a UHC than a Hbeta!). I also found it difficult with Alnitak being so bright thus probably the need for much larger aperture to concentrate on a much more limited view. M78 without any filter was reasonably easy with a hint of the nearby NGC2071 as well reminded me to search out much more reflection nebula this year using the 12" dob. M1 Crab Nebula was obvious with a small amount of detail but mainly wisp like. Will come back to this tonight with a bit of luck if the clear skies continue... M45 - just because it's so obvious... Nice sight with the wide view of the 120ST. No nebulosity observed however. Uranus - A tiny green / grey disc - it's been a few years since I last observed it! M76 (little dumbbell nebula) - Slight small smudge, no filter necessary. Not a bad result as I remember this one as being a lot more diffiicult. M31 / M32 / M110. M31 was a nice view with the Delos 17.3mm. M110 just about visible. I needed to get to this a little bit earlier on in the evening really to take advantage of it higher altitude. M33 - failed as not really high enough and I've only had a good view of this before with larger aperture (i'm on optimist though so gave it a go...) M97 Owl nebula easily visible without any filter although no detail and a slight hint of M108. M81/M82 clear and good detail especially on M82 with the dark lane cutting across it. Packed up around midnight - toes frozen (must remember to weat thick socks and boots next time!). I was happy with that to start the year and looking very much forward to getting out again with the larger aperture of the dob!

Been out of it for a while due to major time constraints... Still have major time constraints but i'm going to try to make most of any clear night! Tonight's looking good at the moment with perfectly clear skies at the moment...

Fully clouded out here... typical!

"For DSOs go with the largest aperture you can manage" - is the mantra given for a reason: 8" for me got me to view all the Messier objects at a darkish site however when I moved up to 12" the difference is vast in what I could actually see and giving to actually wow moments in visual observing. Training the eye and observing technique is also a big part of visual astronomy as well. 10" would serve you very well - the difference in light gathering from 8" is pretty large so you will benefit greatly. Don't worry that much about coma - when you build your eyepiece collection, add eyepieces types that at least correct some or don't make it worse + you can always purchase used to keep the price down...

I bought an SCT as my first scope as its compact size and weight was good for lugging to my darkish site on foot without sacrificing too much aperture. The EQ5 mount held it well. I did all of the Messier list with my C8 and a good start on the Herschel 400. The SCT design though is a real pain for any amount of dew and freezing conditions rendering them virtually useless without a shield and a heater. Cooling off the 8" size took an age although I didn't find that bothersome for DSOs it did give good planetary views when stable - stars though were never really brilliantly sharp especially when compared to my refractors. Once I'd got into the Herschel list though the aperture obviously wasn't sufficient and replaced it with a 12" Dob.

Uff... it's been so long since my last proper session (almost a year). My 3 year old daughter is finally sleeping through the night so I can get back my time! It was incredibly clear however brutally cold so setup my 120ST for a "quick" session at 11:30ish - I finished at just before 2am my feet had turned into blocks of ice... Most observations made with the 17.3 Delos. Started out with Leo - a little low down at the start but M65 and M66 easily visible - Couldn't get NGC3628 though it may just have been a little too low down for this... Across then to the M105 group then M95 and M96 - so far so good - no major failures M51 again a little low down a bit disappointing although with the 10mm Delos was able to resolve both parts and a smidge of the spiral. M101 was literally ghost like just a whiff flickering into the occasional view. Much better position was M108 and M97 both really clearly visible - M108 although not showing any real definition of detail although M97 I could see easily enough a dark area in the centre without any filter. M44 (Beehive) cluster was lovely with the 17.3mm Delos framing the entire cluster very well. Down to M67 which surprised me - quite delicate but bright cluster. To end the session I finished with the M3 globular cluster usng the 5mm Pentax XW - Determined it was too low down and needed more aperture to resolve this one properly. Looking forward now to galaxy season coming up with Coma Berenices and Virgo! Great to get back out again and observing!!! Really enjoyed it. Next night will get the 12" dob out to play...