Waddensky

It suprises me that SkySafari hasn't adopted the IAU names. I never noticed it, but there are other stars too that have names different from the list of the Working Group on Star Names, even if more than one proper name is listed. Still, the star names represent a rich tradition from different cultures. Making one name 'official' has the risk of losing those traditions and that would be a shame, IMO.

On this website, a graph displays the estimated light curve of C/2019 Y4 based on recent observations from the COBS and the MPC. Seems like the expectations are getting a bit more realistic: the peak brightness of the comet is now estimated to be around mag 0.0, with forward scattering maybe adding half a magnitude.

What a wonderful sight! A brilliant Venus against a backdrop of a myriad of Pleiades stars. Really lovely.

Forecast looking good but some clouds rolling in... Fingers crossed!

Maybe you need to update the orbital elements. The procedure for Stellarium is described here. Good luck and clear skies!

GSO dobs are great scopes, and a 6" will show you much more than a 70 mm refractor. An 8" even more. Light pollution is not so much a problem for lunar or plantary observing, but you need steady air to see details. While you can experiment with imaging the brightest objects, a dob really isn't suitable for astrophotography, as other have said. But for visual use, a dob gives you the best bang for the buck. Good luck!

Not an expert, but (447) Valentine is in the neighbourhood according to Cartes du Ciel.

I think it's better to use ecliptic coordinates, not equatorial. The Moon is also not exactly on the ecliptic plane, but this will give you better results than using the celestial equator, which is inclined to the ecliptic by about 23 degrees

Another succesful observation of C/2019 Y4 last night, although this time some averted vision was required using my binos because of the increased interference of moonlight. The comet was now way past HR 3182, close to the mag 8.2 star HD 65871 (HIP 39616).

What a wonderful, deep picture and the annotated background information is incredibly interesting. Thanks for sharing!!

You can drive a lot of times to a dark spot with a small telescope for the price of a large telescope 🙂. But if you're restricted due to corona (don't know your country-specific regulations), then I guess aperture is the key. Or patience. Maybe EAA can be of some help, but my experience is virtually nil in that area.

That's a tough one. Light pollution will always interfere in your observations. A light pollution filter may help a very little bit, but not so much. For emission nebulae a good UHC or OIII filter will be of benefit. Try to switch eyepieces on the deep-sky objects you observe. Sometimes, a bit less or more magnification will improve contrast just enough to make an object visible or to see more detail. And although not everyone will agree: a larger telescope will show you more, even under heavy light pollution.

After the succesful observation on Friday, I had some difficulties to find the comet Saturday night. Last night however I was able to see the diffuse glow of C/2019 Y4 about 15' west of the star HR 3182 with my 10x50 binoculars, despite the moonlight. It's moving faster each day!

John above has some great advice. Your 10mm eyepiece will give you the largest magnification available with your current equipment (100x). A 5mm eyepiece will result in 200x magnification (just divide the focal length of your telescope - 1000mm according to the Celestron specs - by the focal length of the eyepiece to calculate the magnification). A 2x barlow will produce the same result with your 10mm eyepiece. Keep in mind that planets will always be small at any useful magnifications, and that the maximum available/usable magnification depends both on your telescope and the stability of the atmosphere. For planetary observing I rarely go over 150/200x.

Thanks! Sounds like your focus is spot on, Venus should look like a small dot in your telescope. What you're trying to do, is getting Venus closer by using the focus wheels. That's not possible. If you want to see Venus larger, you'll need to use another eyepiece with a shorter focal length, or perhaps a zoom eyepiece. What kind of eyepieces were delivered with this scope?

Can you post a screenshot? I'm not really sure what you're referring to.

Very nice pictures! I really enjoyed the Moon and Venus last night between the clouds.

A great report, thanks! That's not a bad result under these circumstances, the Leo galaxies can be quite challenging under light-polluted skies. Observing really is a mindful thing to do, I think

I understand that. I meant science in general, new datasets like GAIA will provide much more data on the structure and evolution of these dwarf galaxies, I assume.

If your focus on the Moon is sharp, you should easily be able to see craters on the terminator (the division between the illuminated and dark side of the Moon). Can you describe what you see when you focus on the Moon through your scope? As Ricochet said, the focus points for celestial objects are identical, you don't need to refocus once you're in focus.

Wow, that's a subtle one. The labeled image is very informative, thanks! Amazing to imagine how many more of these elusive dwarf galaxies are still to be discovered. I suppose analysis of GAIA data will reveal more members of UMa I?

Wonderful! Very atmospheric!

Great results given the circumstances, congratulations! Seeing detail in galaxies requires excellent conditions, but just the idea that these photons travelled such incredible distances makes detecting even the faintest smudge a wonderful experience, in my opinion.

That's a great sketch! You don't see that many naked-eye sketches around. Careful observation reveals a lot of nice details!

I noticed this too, but I also noticed the comet is a bit larger than M82. It's quite possible the surface brightness of C/2019 Y4 is lower because the total brightness is spread out over a larger area.