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Hayduke27

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Everything posted by Hayduke27

  1. I am lucky enough to not only live in a place with very dark skies, but to have grown up here and have moved back for my adult life. I wasn't ever introduced to astronomy until I was in my 30's, but I grew up knowing many stars and how bright the Milky Way is, and being in disbelief that there were so many people who haven't even seen it. Being older and more experienced now, I understand the difficulty the majority of people have in getting a chance to see truly dark skies. I can tell you as a person who has frequent access to them that for one, anybody who has any interest in looking into space should absolutely make it to a dark sky site when they can! I have also lived in light pollution, and it's amazing how much can be seen by just eliminating that. Also, it's so easy to get wrapped up in the romantic telescopic views (and I get it, so many DSO's and dim objects become available for viewing), but when you have a dark sky location and the moon is right, you don't need all the fancy optics. Naked eye viewing is incredible, and stepping it up to even just binoculars can blow most peoples' minds. Yes, if you have a target list then the ability too see specific object's is absolutely there, but eh amount of sky you can cover with less magnification often leads to so many more amazing discoveries. Congratulations @Epick Crom for having discovered this, and I hope you find more of those dark skies!
  2. I got a pair of these and was disappointed. They showed up way out of collimation, and there is no way to collimate them yourself. I read some reviews and people said this was their #1 complaint: you can't collimate them yourself, and about 5/6 times they show up brand new and out of collimation. The general thought was that if you are willing to return them a few times and try to get a set that shows up collimated, they are a lot of binocular for the price. However, if they ever get out of collimation there is no way to fix them without sending them to a specialist. Long story short, I sent mine back and got something better. Good luck!
  3. We got an unexpected break in the clouds before an oncoming snowstorm, and seeing as the skies are so dark I took advantage and stepped out with the binos for a little while. I enjoyed some nice views of Vega, M57, Albireo, the Pleiades and Hyades, Caroline's Rose, and Mirfak and surrounding area. To get to the point of this post, as I was scanning around looking for Caroline's Rose I stumbled across Delta Cephei and was stunned. This little double looks so much like Albireo I couldn't believe it! What a beautiful little gem hidden up by Cassiopeia! It's yet another thing making this little section of sky one of my favorites! Has anybody else noticed this similarity?
  4. Times have been busy, and I hadn't made it out to look for Comet C/2021 Leonard until the morning of 12/2. The moon is dark and there are no clouds, which is seemingly impossible, so even though I have work I decide it's time to get myself out of bed for a go at it. I head out with the big binos at about 05:00, and start at Arcturus. It doesn't take me long to find M3, then the comet. Beautiful sight! I have Class 2 Bortle skies from my yard, and the tail of the comet was long and easily observed. As has been a recent observation with the binoculars, I was surprised by the amount of satellites I saw pass through my EP. 12/3- I got myself out into the cold before work again. I had actually brought all of the components of my Celestron C8 down into a cold entry on the house, and had been ready to set up the big scope for a go at the comet as it passed by M3. However, as I got myself out of bed and dressed I realized I would have more observing time if I just went straight out with the binoculars again, and so I went. The comet was a little further from M3 than I had expected. This was 12:00 GMT in the western USA, so I had missed the closest conjunction, not to mention it would have been below my horizon anyway. All the same, a beautiful sight that I took in for about 15 minutes before my gaze got distracted. I headed west to Auriga and quickly found M36 and M38. Both look like starfish to me. I took a look for the Flaming Star Nebula and could pick out the stars but no nebulosity. From here I swung over to the north and took a look at Mizar and was able to see the view of both Alcor as well as the Mizar double. I didn't have to travel far from there to pick out M51. I could clearly see both galactic centers, and with averted vision I could just barely make out spiral lanes. I then swung over to M101. It didn't take me long to find, and the center stood out, but the galaxy was much more diffuse, and though I could make out some of it with averted vision it wasn't as interesting as M51. Having taken in the sights on the top of my mind, I stood back and just admired the sky without magnification, facing west as the eastern sky was just starting to get slightly milky with early morning light. As I looked up I saw 2 very obvious naked-eye satellites, one headed north and the other south, almost crossing paths. Had I seen either one on a random night without reference, I would have thought it was the ISS. However, upon consulting SkySafari neither was the ISS, and I don't know what they were other than bright satellites. This is combined with the fact that just seconds after they crossed paths, almost directly center-sky, a meteor crossed right between them, perpendicular to their paths. I am not one to love the increased presence of satellites in our night skies, but it made for quite the momentary light show! At this point I was getting cold and headed back inside, but once again it was well worth the early rise from bed and enduring the cold for an early morning treat!
  5. I did indeed make it out again for some great views of the comet and a few galaxies. Toward the end of my session I took the time to just look up to the west, away from the brightening eastern sky, and right around Auriga I saw 2 very bright satellites cross, one headed north and the other south (both so bright that had I not checked to confirm, I would have though one could have been the space station! I don't know what they were.) As I watched these two satellites cross the sky, a very bright meteor went directly between the two, headed perpendicular to their directions of travel. Such a cool moment to witness and a reminder to sometimes step away from the eyepiece and look up with your eyeballs for a little while!
  6. I was up this morning for my first look at comet Leonard. I am observing in Class 2 Bortle skies and could clearly see a nice tail with my binoculars. Just close enough to get M3 and the comet in the eyepieces. Tomorrow morning M3 and Leonard are supposed to be right next to each other, I am going to try to get out with the 8" scope and have a nice view of the conjunction. Good times! Cheers!
  7. A great report and a pleasure to read! I just love Caroline's Rose. Thanks for sharing!
  8. I've been getting some solar viewing recently as well, it's nice to have a little activity on the sun for a change. Nice sketch!
  9. It depends on your skies, as the stars are relatively faint. That being said, I'm looking at it with 82mm binoculars and it's easily observable, so I'd bet it's within your reach. Try to find the 2 bright stars to either side that sort of frame it. I usually start at Caph in Cassiopeia and then head north looking for those 4 bright stars, 2 on each side of the rose. They are relatively easy to spot compared to the Rose.
  10. We have 3 days of snow in the forecast, and no clear skies for the rest of the week, so I stepped out to take advantage of the clear dark skies one more time last night. I was observing using my Oberwerk binoculars. I started out with the moon and Venus. I love seeing Venus' phase, as it really makes it stand out as a sphere. The moon, being such a small crescent, was showing lots of shadow detail. I got out the moon atlas and happily observed all up and down the terminator seeing how many features I could definitively pick out. I saw many, but the one that stuck with me is the little Picard crater within the much larger Mare Crisium. Didn't know there was a Picard crater, but so it is, and so I say live long and prosper! Next I decided to find Neptune. I quickly made my way there with a little star hopping and confirmed I was looking at Neptune using the nearby stars, but it was little more than a slightly blue little point of light. Still, always cool to steal a few of those photons for my eyes! Next I swung up to Pegasus, giving a nice view of Almach, with the contrasting stars, M32 with companions and of course, my old friend M33. The skies were dark and all were quite clear and satisfying. I jumped around in Cassiopeia for a while, looking at the many bright stars throughout. I made my way up to Caroline's Rose and M52. I found the Pacman Nebula as well, but with averted vision could only make out a very feint nebulosity. Next I visited Perseus, again just appreciating the main stars in the constellation and taking my time to try to tease out the different colors in the stars. This, of course, ended up in me being drawn into the double cluster. This is always such a beautiful sight, and it was well appreciated once again. I finished my night by putting away all of my toys and just staring up at the sky with unaided eye. The milky way shown bright overhead, Cygnus, Lyra and Altair stood out very bright. Hercules was still on the western horizon. Delphinus was very clear and actually mildly resembling its namesake! Cassiopeia and Perseus were very prominent. It reminded me that I need to keep working on my constellation IDs. After a couple hours, that was all I had in me and I retired to bed for a little warmth, still seeing the stars behind my eyelids.
  11. I have been observing the double cluster nearly every night I get out as of recent. Such a wonderful target, it never disappoints me. This was actually one target that inspired me to show star-gazing guests the sky using a little different method: Instead of just setting up my scope and telling them to look through at what I centered, I start with having them stand outside and naked-eye observe with me for a few minutes, letting eyes get adjusted and allowing me to point out the overall layout of the night's sky. From there I pick out a naked-eye object (here you can make out the double cluster as a fuzzy blur between Cassiopeia and Perseus), and I have them observe that with no magnification, just take it in as you can see it and remember where it is in the sky. Next I hand them the binoculars and have them find it in there. Once they locate the double cluster, there is always a moment of satisfaction as they can clearly see the double cluster shape and can then also tell that the blur they can see with their naked eye is actually 2 large clumps of stars. It's after this that I then have them look through the scope and really take in the object with all that magnification. This seems to lead to more understanding and satisfaction on their part, and really leads to them spending more time at the eyepiece as they can appreciate what they are seeing a bit more. Anyway, I thank the double cluster for this idea!
  12. I have seen a lot of interesting things on the sun lately, but the solar prominence I saw today as the sun was setting was one of my best yet. I'm very excited for a more active cycle of the sun. A couple of small sun spots too, and interesting all around, but this one prominence was the highlight. Here is my picture: And finally a creepy Halloween picture of the sun passing through the mountain pines:
  13. It's been a while since I have posted a report, mainly because I have had little to report. Work is busy, which is good on many levels, but I have had a minimum amount of time to spend looking at the sky. That being said, I broke the ice a little over September and October with my solar telescope. Having owned it for just about 2 years now, there has not been a lot to see, as the sun has been so quiet. However, these recent months have kicked up the solar activity levels a notch. I have seen my first sun spots, seen my biggest and most abundant prominences yet, and being able to pop outside during the day for 20-30 minutes was far more conducive to doing around my work schedule. As I use my solar scope more, I keep learning how to finagle the adjustable filters and focus to tease out the different features. I then compare what I'm seeing to online solar telescope live images, and to my delight I am able to make out pretty much all of the major features I see. It's been a delight, and kept me writing in my stargazing journal. It also makes me very jealous of all the people who are getting to enjoy the auroras right now! Talk about a bucket list item, I have to see the northern lights someday! OH! And as I P.S. to this part, I observed a satellite transit the sun one day, could clearly see it's little robot shape. It was quite a cool surprise! So having already griped about my lack of time to get out under the night sky, I will say the upside has been that the paychecks have allowed me to treat myself, and I just bought myself a nice Oberwerk Binocular Telescope. I just had the bug, started out by trying a cheap pair of big Celestron binos that came uncollimated and no good, and after returning them I decided to just treat myself. My Oberwerks arrived on Tuesday, which of course was cloudy and raining into the night (until the snow started). Wednesday and Thursday, however, were both nice and clear, and I made it out for some excellent viewing As most of you know, it is amazing to pull out a big light bucket of a telescope and really get some good resolution of some far away objects. However, as many of you also know, sitting back with a small set of binoculars, reclined in a chair, and just casually sweeping around the sky is so easy and casual that it can be preferred to setting up all of the telescope kit on certain nights. I almost always end my telescope sessions with a little casual sky-surfing with the binoculars, and it is just plain fun. Having experienced this so many times, I decided to pull the trigger on the big Oberwerks to sort of combine the increased resolution and magnification of the telescope with the ease of binoculars. Long story short, I haven't been disappointed. Though it's been chilly (-8*C, cue the ice!), I have some highlights from the evenings of 11/3 and 11/4: My first note using the new binoculars was that it took me a minute to be able to see a single image clearly through them! I don't know if it was the binocular adjustments or my brain getting used to it, probably both, but I spend a frustrating 15-20 minutes looking at 2 Jupiters and not knowing what to do about it. I finally decided to turn away from the giant planet and just look around casually, swinging the binos around on the tripod and taking in the dimmer objects in the sky. It took me no time to find Andromeda, and BOOM! Just like that I was seeing a clear single image. I think my brain finally clicked. I had no more problems with double vision, including a return to Jupiter later that evening. I found M33 with ease and enjoyed the view, scoped out Albireo, always a favorite, and jumped over to the Ring Nebula. Though small, it was easily recognizable and really gave me joy being able to just star hop to it on my own. I was able to pick out the Eastern Veil Nebula, and maybe saw the Western part too but it was far harder. Jumped back through Jupiter and Saturn and then ended the night in the Double Cluster in Perseus. A great first light with the new binoculars. Night 2 brought more goodness. I had a small observing list this night, but even so as I got set up I couldn't help but begin with Venus. I could immediately see the phase of Venus, with the left side shaded, which brought great satisfaction. I watched it set over the mountains, then moved through the southern nebulas including M17, the Omega, M8, the Lagoon, M20, the Trifid, and M16, the Eagle. M17 showed the most nebulosity, M8 is always pleasing because of the cluster of stars in there. The others I found readily but were not as notable. I jumped around through the globular clusters M22, M28, M2, M15, and M13. All were clear and easy to find, but I couldn't resolve any stars. They were just blurry spots, but I was happy to find my way across them! I have read a lot of talk about Almach lately, and to memory didn't know that I had seen it. I swung the binoculars that direction and was able to spilt the stars, enjoy the contrasting colors. It very much struck me as a smaller, tighter Albireo. From here I had it on my list to just surf around in Cassiopeia, which I did. So many sights to see there, but the most notable was when I happened across Caroline's Rose. It wasn't on my list, and I wasn't even looking for it or aware I was in that piece of the sky, but as soon as I saw it I knew what it was. It's always been a favorite, and though I couldn't make out the little veins in the stars that the scope gives me, the shape was there and I could see a rose! A lovely sight! I finished in Perseus, enjoying the main constellation, the Double Cluster, and finishing with the small but bright galaxy NGC 1023. With frost on the binoculars, I retired. My take-aways from my binocular observing so far: big binoculars are a really fun way to explore the night sky. I'm glad I have a telescope too, for when I really want to focus in on something, but for star hopping and exploring I love the binos. The amount of satellites I see with the binos is staggering. It's like the magnification is just right for being able to pick up the smaller satellites, but also gives me a wide enough FOV that they commonly cross my view. Plus, with the binos I am easily able to track them and see what they are up to (usually just spinning and zipping along). I'm sure I saw a satellite at least once every 5 minutes, and at one point I had 2 satellites going different directions cross in my FOV. What are the chances? Probably pretty good these days, ugh. So many satellites. So there it all is. I have been wanting to post a report, and I've done it. Thanks to everyone who made it through to the end of my long winded narrative, and I hope to be a regular again soon!
  14. It's certainly the spread out luminosity. When I was first looking for it, being that it is so proximate to Andromeda, I thought I was looking for a medium sized, equally bright galaxy. Once you find it and if skies allow you can see how big it is, but it is far more faint than Andromeda. I use Triangulum, Mirach and Andromeda as my navigation starting points. Good luck!
  15. Great report. Almach has been one of my favorites this autumn as well, and I always love looking at the Perseus Double. M33 was one of the first DSO's that really eluded me for a while. I finally found it, and since then we have become good friends and I can spot it pretty readily. However, in those early days I just couldn't find it to save my life. I know the pain!
  16. I'm adding some of these to my observation list, thanks Nik!
  17. I think I'll have a go at the 70 cluster on my next evening out! Thanks for sharing!
  18. I saw this in the other thread, and it is just amazing. I can't love it enough.
  19. I took my scope over to the park to have a nice wide open space for viewing. The transit had already begun by the time the sun rose here, and at sunrise we had a cloud bank to the east. However, by about 8:30am the clouds broke and it was mostly clear skies for the remaining 2.5 hours of the transit. I got some wonderful views, including a really bright flare. A great time was had, and a couple of people stopped by to share the view with me. I took a few photos with my phone that are not of the highest quality, but they are representative of my views. What a cool event! Hope a lot of you got to catch your own views too!
  20. Haha, yes indeed it was chilly. I was bully bundled up with a lot of layers, but it still left me not wanting to take my gloves off to mess around with changing EPs. It gets far colder here as the winter goes on. Soon I'll be having to head out into the night when it is -32C and colder. I have some very serious cold weather gear, and I always take along plenty of hot tea or cocoa. It makes it quite easy to imagine you are adrift in the freezing vacuum of space while staring through the scope. It becomes quite the interactive experience, ha!
  21. Thanks for sharing Nick! The Intergalactic Wanderer has fascinated me since I first managed to find it. What a cool target!
  22. That was a brain fart on my part! I absolutely understand that it is the fusing of elements into heavier elements that makes the stars burn, I just obviously mis-typed that one out! Thanks for keeping me on the right track Observing the sun has in many ways been just as eye opening and amazing as when I discovered all that there was to discover through my night-scope. The observable things going on right there over all of our heads is just so amazing. I can't believe I was so oblivious to it all for so long!! I feel like I have catching up to do in both my observing and my learning! I have been reading through the forums and learning a lot, and I have been looking at solar images and watching web-broadcast live solar images along with time lapses. I think I'm starting to get a bit of a feel for what my expectations should be for observing sessions. I'm excited for the Mercury transit on Monday, and I am also very excited for the chance to observe the sun when it has more activity in the future!
  23. Absolutely awesome. That winning image has so much detail, just incredible. #2 is the kind of feature I am really keeping my eyes open for as an observer new to the solar arena. That sketch for #3 is just beautiful, amazing job. These are great!!
  24. Love to see some sketches. It sounds like a very satisfying night. Thanks for sharing!
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