Littleguy80

I was happy to have a couple of hours of clear skies to try a new eyepiece. It was my first time observing in the snow too

Excellent report, Gerry. I finally got some clear skies tonight. I couldn’t help but think of you as I sat outside observing in the snow. The Docter/Noblex with VIP showed/gave me the finger I really felt like I was seeing M42 at a new level. I think that was more down to attention I was paying to it as opposed to the equipment I was using, although that helped of course. Kudos to @ollypenrice for the superb image.

I must have missed that or you would have most likely have heard from me! I spent a lot of time last year talking myself in and out of buying one.

Two Docters!! I considered EBaying one of the kids to buy just one of those. Great setup and case!

Just enjoyed some nice views of Mercury through my 10x50 bins and then my 80mm frac. I was able to see the phase of the planet with the frac. Lovely start to the weekend.

I believe I saw it with my 10” dob last night. Based on the images I was expecting something more like a double star with the core and SN. It seemed to me to be more a bright core with a single bright point source within it. The point source was roughly the same magnitude as the two stars circled which are 12.2 (top) and 12.4 (bottom). Transparency was good and I was observing at 240x (Pentax XW 5mm). Will be interested to hear how it appeared to others.

I’ve tracked down a few visually. SkySafari has a list of the brightest ones which updates regularly as the increase/decrease in magnitude. Below is my list of observed asteroids.

Boo! This is the only clear night I have forecast for my two weeks off work so I understand your feelings.

If you’re out then the Moon is due to occult the mag 5 star HR 1471 in Taurus in the next 20 mins.

Excellent report and session, Paul. Great when it all comes together.

Had a lovely session observing and taking some pictures of the conjunction yesterday evening. Amazing to see them both in the same FOV at 240x! Here’s the best of the pics through my dob.

Makes sense. There’s always the option of something like the Heritage 150 for a bit more aperture but in a more manageable package.

Thanks Paul. Interestingly I find planetary nebula hold up pretty well from home or even when the moon is quite bright. The challenge is normally spotting them due to their size. Are you tempted to get another 8” or similar?

Another nice planetary for you, Mark. IC289 which is also on the RASC NGC finest despite not being in the NGC! It’s a 13 mag PN in Cassiopeia. I found it this evening using a UHC filter and averted vision. Good challenge to find this one.

Thank you. It was really something to see them both together like that!

Thank you, Paul. Glad you enjoyed

Thanks Iain. Yeah, really pleased with it. It’s had a good reception from my local astro society too which is nice. We have quite a few non observers who simply have an interest so it’s lovely to be able to share these events with them. Really pleased to hear you got some good views with the binoculars.

Despite the forecast not looking promising, I set up with the 10" dob and camera in hopes of seeing this. The Moon was bright through the drifting cloud. After 15 mins or so of looking through any gap of the cloud, I finally spotted a point of light through the cloud. Through the 9x50 RACI finder, I could see both of the gas giants. With my 10mm Delos they both fit into the field of view with ease at 120x mag. This was true even in my 9mm BGO which gave a slightly improved view over the Delos. The equatorial belts on Jupiter could just be seen. As the sky darkened and the clouds cleared the Galilean moons became more apparent. A star gave the appearance of there being a fifth moon which was quite odd. I spent some time grabbing some pictures. I tried the Pentax XW 5mm at 240x and could still fit both planets in the same FOV. The quality of the views weren't the best but the novelty of seeing them together at high magnification made that seem unimportant. With a poor weather forecast I feared I would miss this event so really chuffed to have seen it. A final look at Mars, after Jupiter and Saturn had disappeared beneath the roofline, rounded off an excellent early evening planetary session.

Thanks Mark. It's great that you've got the Heritage scopes to take advantage of the clear spells. NGC 1535 is well worth a visit. I was surprised it hadn't made it onto an observing list before now after I saw it.

Thanks, Iain. Yes, the dob is only out in the garage for the festive period. The Delos has been a great buy. I've sold on the Lunt XWA 9mm now. I wasn't missing the extra FOV and the improved optics of the Delos have made it a favourite.

December is traditionally a bad month for observing for me. Christmas preparations don't leave much free and this December the clouds have seldom cleared. It was a little before 11pm last night when I noticed the skies were clear. I felt a bit uninspired as to what to observe as I fancied finding some new targets. A quick scan of SkySafari's 'Tonight's Best' landed me on the planetary nebula NGC1535 in Eridanus. Planetary nebula are among my favourite objects to observe so I headed outside. My dob is being stored in the garage as it's normal place in the house is now occupied by a Christmas Tree. The dob and I were both happy to see each other and I held it a little tighter than normal as I carried it out to show some affection. I decided to start with a more familiar target to reacquaint myself with the dob. A few weeks back, I observed Hind's Crimson Star. At that point it was brighter than I'd seen it previously and showing more orange as is classically seen with carbon stars. It has dimmed noticeably since and taken on a deeper red colour. Not the traffic light red I've seen in the past but quite striking. I'm not sure on how quickly it transitions from maximum to minimum brightness so it was a pleasant surprise to see a noticeable change. I star hopped my way onto NGC 1535 using the RACI finder scope. At lower power (60x), the planetary nebula was noticeably non steller. It's central star could also be resolved fairly easily. Not unlike the Eskimo nebula. At 120x and 240x, some finer detail can be seen too. A really lovely target. Now I was back to my problem of what to observe. It occurred to me that NGC 1535 may be on the RASC NGC finest list and, sure enough, it was. I have a SkySafari list of this list. Looking through the targets on that list, I noticed quite a few galaxies in Ursa Major that I hadn't seen. The dob was repositioned to observe Ursa Major. As a tester, I went after Mirach's Ghost, NGC 404, to see how well the galaxies were showing. At 60x, under my suburban skies, it was an easy spot and gave me the confidence to push forward with the galaxy hunt. NGC 3184 was the first target and a very tricky customer. The 10mm Delos left me with a perhaps. The 9mm BGO, a faithful servant for finding those harder to spot targets, was more suggestive but not definitive. I returned to the Delos and this time it seemed clearer. I made a note to try this galaxy at my local dark site. NGC 3877 is an edge on galaxy near the star Al Kaphrah. Keeping Al Kaphrah outside of the field of view made this galaxy much easier to observe. NGC 3941 is more face on and compact and was found comparatively easily. The 10mm Delos was now a permanent fixture in the focuser and proving the ideal choice for galaxy spotting. A brief pit stop at M109 on my way to NGC 4157. This was another edge on galaxy which showed up really well. NGC 4088 was nearby and is a really interesting galaxy, having an unusual shape. Averted vision really helped with exploring this. This was the most memorable of the galaxies seen. NGC 4605 rounded off the tour of NGC finest galaxies in Ursa Major. I returned to the tricky NGC 3184 and found my eye was more attuned and observing this was a little easier now. I had a crack at splitting Sirius without success. The pup star remains elusive. All in all it was a really nice session and a reminder that, despite a few years of observing behind me, there are still plenty of fresh targets to be observed.

Thanks Paul. Sorry your sessions haven't worked out. Even when it doesn't all come together it still beats watching TV though

Thanks John. I suspect you're right. It may incline you more to experiment or spend more time on individual targets. I always feel like I have so much I want to cram into a session. If you're getting regular clear nights then the pressure is off and you can do one thing or another with the knowledge that another clear night is just around the corner.

It goes in spells I find. You can get a bad run and then suddenly a few nights on the trot with clear skies. I always end up overtired after that. Determined to make the most of every clear night I always keep an eye out the window, just in case. If you have a grab and go setup, there are often opportunities for a quick 20 or 30 minutes when a break in the clouds appears.

Thanks Stu Agreed, much the same here. I think the recent lack of astronomy contributed to making those two nights particularly enjoyable.