Littleguy80

Couple more. I was intending to capture the ISS in the second one but was too slow. I still like it though.

Quick first look. Learnt the lessons from last night and have gone low power with the 40mm Aero.

Cheers Stu. As you know, I’ve puzzled over granulation for awhile now. Felt like a big step forwards to see it today. More than anything, I have an idea of what to look for. Thanks for all the advice along the way. I can’t promise there won’t be more questions though 😉

Quite an odd observing experience. I really struggled to find the spot. Seems much small than this morning. I couldn’t go very high magnification wise, 100-125x. However, I saw the granulation much clearer than I’ve ever seen it before. Absolutely amazing. Having the spot to focus on really helped me to focus on the granulation. Without other surface features I’ve really struggled to find the focus point with my eye to see granulation. Good seeing was, of course, a big help. When I went with high powers, the surface seemed more textured, more variation in contrast across the surface but it wasn’t the same thing as what I saw today. A good learning experience for sure.

You can catch the planets if you don’t mind getting up early. Between 5:30 and 6 Jupiter is high enough to be worth observing. Was good enough to see the GRS last week

Checked the forecast for the upcoming week. Never seen so many clear nights forecast. Would be nicer if it didn’t coincide with the full moon but a great tonic for the lockdown. Any observing suggestions for this week?

Was playing around with taking pictures of it this morning. Bit of false colour added for effect. Full disclosure with 9mm BGO and close up with Vixen HR 3.4mm

Little clear spell in Norwich too. Quick snap with Equinox 80 and APM HDC 13mm.

Thanks Stu. Here’s the face as I saw from your image above. .

I've had another look at the AR this morning. Stu's sunspot face has taken a sinister turn! There are 3 spots still. One large which is stretched below the other two forming a slightly down turned mouth. The spots above forming the eyes with the left eye being slightly larger. Looks like an evil face from Mario or something like that. The pore highlighted above is quite clear. Following up on my Nagler/Baader VIP Barlow experiment. I calculated the magnification factor at 1.77x. I can't be totally certain as I don't know where the field stop is on the Nagler zoom. If that calculation is correct then the 6mm setting should be the same magnification at Vixen HR 3.4mm. Field test showed it was similar but maybe a little less on the Nagler/VIP combo. There's a slight difference in TFOV between the two. Even allowing a little for error the 4mm and 3mm are both over 200x magnification. This was backed up by the view. The granulation was much clearer. The only issue was a bit of wobble from the breeze. Very happy to have glimpsed some proper granulation though.

Got a couple of looks in today but with a fair amount of cloud dodging. Saw the three spots quite nicely. Spent awhile getting my Nagler zoom to focus with my Baader VIP. It took a level of fiddling with adapters that would have made Stu proud. Not sure exactly how much mag I was getting but must have been over 200x. I was impressed that I could do that with an 80mm scope. There seemed to be a lot more going on in terms of granulation at the higher magnifications. I just wish the seeing had been a bit better. Tomorrow looks clear so will be able to test this setup some more.

Sorry to hear that. They'll all be rising a bit higher over the coming months so the WOW moment will come!

Great image @Laurin Dave. Very helpful. Thank you Good question. Worth an experiment I'd say! The guides on aperture on the newsletter are normally pretty good but do assume good dark skies e.g. 10" to see the Horsehead.

Each month I get a newsletter from the telescope manufacturer Orion. It contains highlights of objects to observe in the upcoming month including a deep sky challenge. April’s deep sky challenge is: ”This is a great challenge for experienced observers. It's been said that the jet of light, famous in photographs, emanating from the core of M87 can be observed visually in telescopes possibly as small as 10" from a dark sky location, on the clearest of nights. If you're up for the challenge, try to view M87 as high in the sky as possible, and use as much magnification as the conditions permit. Look for a short streak of light emanating from the core, slightly brighter than the surrounding haze. The key to this challenge is finding the right viewing condition. When trying on different nights, note the visibility of the stellar core — this is a good indicator of the quality of the night and the suitability of a particular eyepiece. With some patience and a dark, clear night, you may just find Virgo's hidden treasure. Good luck and clear skies!” Image below from Wikipedia shows the jet of light. Sharing the challenge here for our deep sky observers to take up! Has anyone already completed this challenge? If so what set up did you use and how dark where your skies?

Very nice report, John. It’s the endless variety that keeps us coming back for more. I didn’t really have a plan for this evening as I wasn’t expecting it to be clear. Had a little fun taking some time lapse pictures of the ISS passing over. Grabbed a look at Comet C/2019 Y1 which is low down in Cassiopeia but I was able to pick out fairly easily with the dob. After that it was a bit of a planetary nebula session. Ghost of Jupiter (NGC3242), Green Turtle Nebula (NGC6210) and White Eyed Pea Nebula (IC4593). Finished up with M13 before it all got a bit damp. Also saw the bright galaxy NGC3521 in Leo along the way. These unexpected sessions often end up being amongst the most enjoyable. What was the photo shoot with your refractor you mentioned at the start of your report?

Thanks Stu. I hadn’t considered that at all for the shifting position. Every day’s a school day! I’ll keep experimenting with eyepieces for the granulation. I do have some floaters so binoviewers may prove worthwhile investment further down the road.

I've had a couple more looks. It seems to have moved round quite a bit over the course of the day. I initially couldn't find it just now because I was looking closer to the limb. Seeing isn't great here. One large spot and one small spot still. I thought I was seeing a different region, for want of a better description, on the leading edge of the larger spot but it didn't appear separated from the main spot as far as I could tell. This may be a question for another thread, but do binoviewers make much difference to the detail you can see? Knowing you use binoviewers, I was wondering if seeing the "cell like" granulation would come more easily with binoviewers or if it's simply a question of aperture?

My first one seeing Jupiter was the thing that got me properly hooked on astronomy. The views I’ll be improve as it gets higher so stick with it. You don’t need dark adaptation for observing the planets in fact it’s better to not be dark adapted. Dusk and dawn with the lighter skies can often be the best times to see them, with the exception of Uranus and Neptune.

Jupiter was still visible at 6am so I'm sure you'll at least get that

No problem. These are bright planets so light pollution shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The main thing you’ll need is a clear horizon as they’re quite low. Jupiter is first to rise around 4 followed by Saturn and then Mars just before 4:30. The picture above was taken at 5:30 to give an idea of how high they’ll be when.

Screen shot below shows it as being almost bang on South East. Jupiter should be bright and obvious. Just go down and left from there. Picture in my post above shows all three planets.

I think you nailed it 🤣 I'll have a crack at splitting the larger spot. I'm up to 167x mag with the Nagler zoom so hopefully that'll do it. Still getting some breaks in the cloud here.

Managed to see it this morning. Just posted a small report on it

I must have been excited for this one as I woke up at 4:25 AM, a full 20 minutes before my alarm. I wrapped up and put my 10" dob outside. The skies were clear overhead but there was a big bank of cloud around the horizon. Not what I wanted to see. The post lady had delivered an SQM-L meter yesterday so I gave it a go. 19.77 near the zenith. During astro darkness on a good night, I guess I'm getting closer to 20. While I waited for the cloud to clear, and the planets to rise, I took another look at Comet C/2019 Y4. A distinct hazy glow in Ursa Major. As I sat frowning at the cloud, a small point of light caught my eye. I pointed the dob at it and there was Mars. A slight adjustment in position and Saturn joined the red planet in the FOV. The view was fleeting as the cloud soon covered the pair but I'd at least managed to see it. After a few minutes, Jupiter rose up above the cloud bank. The seeing was terrible and I couldn't even see the equatorial belts. I counted the 4 Galilean moons though. Io sat above Callisto in a nice pair with Europa and Ganymede further out. Breaks in the cloud started to appear and I was able to return to Mars and Saturn. I tried a few eyepieces and eventually settled on the ES82 30mm as framing the conjunction the best. This was giving 50x mag which still showed Saturn and it's rings nicely, Mars being a fine point. Both suffered at higher powers from the poor seeing. In the dawn sky, all three planets could be seen clearly naked eye now. As the sky lightened, I started to think about returning to bed. Before I went back to my warm bed, I went back for a final look at Jupiter. It had now risen a good bit and the benefits to the view was obvious. The equatorial belts were clear and I could even see the GRS. Moments of steadier seeing revealing some nice detail. The movement of Callisto from my earlier observation was quite noticeable with it sitting a bit further out from the gas giant now. I ended staying with Jupiter for quite a bit longer than intended. It left feeling quite excited for the rise of the planets over the coming months.

Thanks Stu. Well I'm convinced. I imagined you saying it in a Brian Cox style to add authenticity Just had a little peek. I could see two spots, one larger and one smaller and lots of faculae following the behind. Very neat