bish

Seen it with a 10" (not my 250px), from a dark site with H beta and excellent transparency. It was on the limit for my eyes. Slight difference in contrast. I have seen the flame fairly easily with a UHC from a different site (not so dark) with my scope, but HH not a hint.

Really impressive. Well done.

I bought dew strips and a hair dryer after making the mistake of turning up to a star party without dew control.

1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

Open it, use it - it contains a lifetime's supply of variety, delights, and challenges!  😉

Doug.

Sounds like good advice!

I"ve been a bit lazy since the conjunction. Perhaps doubles should be my new targets. Even got a double star atlas  (hardly used!).

Wow. I saw the aurora when I was in Finland a couple of years ago. It wasn"t a strong display, but still worth standing on  frozen lake at -20 for!

Thanks for the heads up. Unfortunately I need to travel to get to a dark sky, so it's a no go.  Back to lunar observing for me for a while!

Great detail. I had a look at mars on Monday but the seeing was hopeless.

Must admit I have never tried to split them. I rarely get excellent seeing so never attempt it. Good tip about Rigel and I will have to check out Beta Monoceritis.

Welcome to SGL.

My aim was to catch it so I could both in my 8mm ep. That is what I got on Sunday  with a clear sky and good seeing, so I wasn't too worried about Monday. Got to take what you can.

Great sketch. Far better than mine.

Great image. 

I got a message about my clock being wrong.

33 minutes ago, John said:

That is what Cartes du Ciel indicated as well.

My zoom at 7.2mm plus the 2.25x barlow was giving 281x in my Tak 100mm F/9 and I reckon the AfoV of the zoom plus barlow at that focal length is around 55 degrees and the true field of about .20 degree. Result: both planets easily fitted in the field of view 

That sort of power was not doing either planet, and especially Jupiter, any favours though, with them being just on the tree line here so throttling back to 150x -180x gave crisper views and enabled a little Jovian and Saturnian detail to be picked up.

It was seeing both these fabulous worlds and some of their moons in the same high power view that was the fascination though

Looking at the forecasts, the next 3 days look pretty hopeless but Christmas Eve looks hopeful with the planets still just 20 arc minutes apart, If I can get a "pass" from the boss that is !

 

 

Yes it was a sight seeing both together. I was surprised to get such a good view at x187 considering how low they were. The next few nights are a no go for me, regardless of weather. Christmas Eve will be OK if the weather is good, and I get my chores done!

My 8mm ep is around .32 degree fov. The planets separation was roughly half this (or a little over). I make it about 9 arc min separation last night.

I wont be able to look tomorrow due to work, so it was a result for the sky to be clear for the whole time. It was total cloud an hour before setting up. Seeing was good too and had a nice view of the moon to for a warm up.

Seeing not bad. Rings quite sharp. Belts and moons of Jupiter clear. 

Nice naked eye view of mars, the moon and jupiter/saturn lined on a diagonal.

Seeing not bad. Rings quite sharp. Belts and moons of Jupiter clear. 

Scope set up. Clear at the moment.  Nice view of both at x187 in the mak, from 16:30. Still clear too

Working today and Monday. Pinning my hopes on to tomorrow. Will need to set up the mak in a public place,  but will be able to hide behind the van (assuming its clear!)

Great stuff. The closer they get together the worse the weather gets here. Clear in the day and as soon ad I leave work at 5pm clouded out.  Clouded out for the geminids  too. A bit like waiting all year for comet ISON.

Nice to.hear somebody is getting some observing in.

On 08/12/2020 at 13:24, F15Rules said:

I've just this morning taken delivery of this beautiful little Carton Japan 60mm F11.8 refractor 😊.

Like many of us, I grew up with 60mm class scopes as a first "proper" telescope. I was 14 or 15 when I had my first scope, a 60mm Prinz F15 from Dixon's camera store.

Nowadays most of us have much bigger scopes, but as the recent flurry of activity (and sales) of Zeiss Telementors demonstrates, there is still an affection and demand for these little instruments. I myself owned a Telementor until about a year ago, and had some wonderful views through it.

All this made me think how nice it would be to see some other "mini scopes" and hear what people have seen through them and how they use them.

I suppose I should define what I consider a "mini" or "small" scope, so let's say scopes up to 70mm aperture, of any type, any focal length, on any mount.

I will post up my thoughts on this new little Carton once the wretched clouds clear, but I'll start a new thread for that..

For this thread, please show us yours, if necessary get up in the loft, in the shed or garage, or show us your brand new 60mm Tak - all are welcome!😊🤘.

Thanks 

Dave

I had a Prinz 60mm in the 80's. It was a varipower,  that magnified by x15, x30 and x75 if I remember correctly. Wish I had kept it now.

Found an observing spot.  Not private, but not by the side of the road. Will need to keep my kit in the van and go straight from work to just catch them before they sink behind houses. Don"t know why I am worrying about a plan when it will be cloudy!