Captain Scarlet

Although it’s been four weeks since my last proper session and report, they have lately been at regular intervals - I don’t feel that I’ve somehow missed a season. There have been just enough breaks in the admittedly terrible (even the long-term locals admit it!) weather to get the odd full session in. Thankfully. Yesterday was a bonus: two sessions in a single day. Weeks ago, I agreed to take a Baader Herschel Wedge off @Stu’s hands. I have a couple of home-made Baader Solar Film end-pieces, but since I’ve started a local Astronomy Club here where I’m not always in 100% control of things, the very slim chance of someone else removing one whilst observing outweighs the risk in my reckoning. So when Stu’s wedge became available, I caved in pretty quickly. Those Solar-film appendages will do for my Maks when I’m on my own (Herschel Wedges are strictly non-recommended for Maks). The wedge, I believe, uses a glass prism to reflect most of the energy away to be radiated, and the remainder passes through an ND filter and a green 540nm Solar Continuum filter to the eyepiece. Initially I got Stu to post it normally, but for some reason Irish Customs rejected it, and after a lengthy period of “radio silence” it arrived back at Stu’s place! Grrrrrr. Ireland appears to be genuinely the worst place in the world for this sort of no-explanation postal rejection. So I asked him to post it instead to my sister-in-law in Northern Ireland, who delivered it to her mum, who handed it to her other daughter, who brought it to me yesterday! It took weeks. Once collected from sister-in-law, knock me over with a feather: it was a lovely sunny day! I quickly set up my LZOS 105 on EQM-35 to catch the last couple of hours of the sun. I started with the Nagler 31 for 21x and immediately was struck by the tiny almost cute filigree of the detail on the various sunspot groups, one of which was big and complicated (Question: do they have designations?). It was like looking at something _extremely_ intricate in high detail from a long distance away. It begged for more magnification so in went the Delos 10 for 65x, which started to show the boiling orange-peel in places (actually, lime-peel, because all this is in green 532nm light). Amazing, and far better views than I recall with my Solar film on my Intes 150mm Mak. Next clear day I get I’ll be doing a side-by-side comparison. Further increasing the magnification, it oddly seemed suddenly to not improve at all, disappointing. Initially I couldn’t fathom it, then I realized the problem. But I had to defocus the telescope to test the theory, as of course I couldn’t look directly at the Sun to check! The picture below shows why my views had deteriorated: That was that for my solar session. But the forecast was for it to remain clear and low-wind all night, so having de-camped the solar rig, I put out my Stellarvue 140. At 14kg for the OTA alone, only my AZ-EQ6 would do, so into the wheelbarrow and around to the other side of the house went two 5kg counterweights, the mount-head and the Planet tripod. All set up, I placed a large umbrella over the top to shield it from unobstructed exposure to the clear sky thereby avoiding early dew, and went inside to cook le diner. After dinner (fillet steak, yum) with the Moon and Jupiter well up, I took the scope outside and added it to the mount. All set. My intention tonight was almost exclusively Jupiter, with perhaps a side order of Moon and Uranus. I had the BBHS mirror diagonal, and had decided to control things with the Skywatcher handset rather than the Nexus DSC I more often use. Alignment was done on Polaris and Capella at 54x using the Delos 17.3. As evident from the pic, I was having to “dodge clouds”, but mostly they were thin enough to see through. Immediately on pointing to Jupiter, I discovered by complete accident that Io was in the midst of a Shadow Transit, and that Io and its shadow were also very close together. I guess Jupiter is getting close to Opposition. For at least an hour, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the eyepiece save for brief breaks to try to settle on the right magnification. I ended up with the Delite 3mm at 313x. I felt I could have gone even higher but my smaller/newer eyepieces live in a different case and I couldn’t be bothered to go inside. Jupiter was more detailed than I’ve ever observed it before, with multiple bands and changes of shade, and within the main Equatorial Bands swirls lanes and spots were all visible. By a huge margin it was the best I’ve seen the planet, and I’m sure there’s still better to come. But oddly, although SkySafari showed that the GRS was on show, I could not see it, despite the clarity of the rest of the disc. It must have been because bright white Io and its black spot were “out-contrasting” it, being as they were on top of or very close to the GRS by the time I got there, maybe even following it round? I watched Io all the way to the edge, the shadow disappearing first, then Io becoming a bulge, a nipple and finally separate and free. For the next few tens of minutes, the sight of Io and Ganymede both perfectly distinctly round discs off the main planet, and the planet with its detail, gave a properly three-dimensional impression. As I said in my brief “what did you see tonight” summary, Memorable. I took in Uranus and had a quick look for Titania, futile though at mag 13.7 with a Full Moon nearby. Uranus was as well-defined a disc at that magnification as I can recall. Finally on to the Moon. A few trips up and down the Terminator, closer inspection of Petavius which was spectacular and even the Rilles on the far side briefly froze into view. And then, just as I’d decided to pack up, all-encompassing thicker cloud rolled in and light rain started to descend. Perfect timing. Thanks for Reading, Magnus

back to normal today - I cannot see beyond the hedge!

Just in from a really good session with the SV140, almost exclusively on Jupiter and Io’s transit plus close-in shadow across the GRS, and Io emerging from the disc. Far and away the best views of Jupiter I’ve ever had, several bands, differently-shaded regions, details within the bands. And post-transit, Io and Ganymede clearly distinct discs lending a 3-D effect. Mostly with DeLite 3mm for 313x. Memorable. Magnus

Actually today is just such a day! Amazing views, far better than with solar film. Sun getting a bit low now but this is a whole new dimension.

After a very extended multi-leg boomerang journey through most of the British Isles, this finally arrived courtesy of @Stu (and NOT courtesy of An Post 🤬) Magnus

Why would you bother when for a mere €400,000 or so, you could get a Patek Philippe Grande Complication? 🤣

Here's my best picture, taken through my Canon 400mm f/2.8:

Yup clouds cleared for us too in good time. Hopefully got some good pics, will get them off the camera later

I wouldn’t be surprised it wasn’t white grease but worse - silicone. I acquired a used VX8 with multiple cubic centimetres of silicone gluing the mirror to the cell, and all the moving parts of the cell, completely destroying the whole point of the cell.

Curt @CentaurZ is your graze map a map of the locus-edge of where one can expect “just a touch” or a momentary full immersion? Magnus

Where I am, at 9.35 West and 51.485 North, it's touch-and-go whether Venus will be occulted at all. SkySafari suggests it will JUST dip below the Lunar disc. My own calculations suggest that it will _not quite_ touch it.* This will be my own version of the Einstein/Eddington moment 🤣🤣. Hopefully, if SS wins and I Iose, I won't be condemned to the same fate as the losers in a certain Chinese Astronomy Competition (see Ferdinand Verbiest )!!! I intend to set up a handful of scopes on the Pier in Baltimore Harbour and get those in my local astronomy group to be able to see it through a scope (so far most don't have one). I'm praying for no cloud. Magnus * the same difference as between the meanings of the word "amper" in Dutch and in Afrikaans, I've been led to believe. In one, "amper" means "nearly", in the other, "only just". Quite a difference when you apply it to the act of falling off a cliff.

Not to mention the rugby World Cup final too

Completing the BBHS Holy Trinity, an anniversary present. Obviously it’ll allow me to use my fracs for convenient daytime use, and will be very interesting to see how it performs at night. It appears there’s a Kryptonite crystal in there, no wonder it’s good! Magnus

You’ve got quite good at this Magnus

I think Carlsberg make a better one

I hear you. And when the clear and free night does appear, which scope to use? I’ve missed at least one recent clear night over indecision. M

Over here it’s Gorse burning, again seemingly a bi-annual ritual, just before the end of March and just after the start of September. But two recent such dates caused local outrage, such that the authorities finally decided to prosecute some local farmers, successfully. Thus the start of this latest September saw almost no fires as far as I could make out (I have an unparalleled view of the locale). That people think it’s OK to start fires like this in these times, especially after a long long dry spell such as was the case here, bemuses me. This was the fire that tipped the balance. It’s my own pic, making the local papers and I’ve even seen it lifted onto a couple of local-interest websites (they’re welcome). It’s from this March I think, Mount Gabriel on fire, taken at ten miles distance. The powersthatbe were within a whisker of shutting down the air-traffic control radar domes atop that hill, Europe’s western-most, one of which is silhouetted. Magnus

Great read, thanks. You’ve reminded me to put the NAN on my list, I’ve never actually looked for it despite it being mentioned to me many times. Pelican too. Magnus

No tool needed, it’s a rubber ring sitting in a shallow groove, there to provide a stop for outer-baffle-tube movement in case the focus-rod becomes detached, preventing the outer tube falling onto the corrector-plate. provide a stop for Just “roll” it out using your fingertips. I guess with age there’s a possibility that it will harden and perish at some stage, but shouldn’t be too difficult to replace at a hardware or plumbing shop. Cheers, Magnus

Just in from watching an Io shadow-transit through my Kowa 88mm spotting scope with Delos 3.5 inserted, giving me 146x. Amazing how that black spot just leaps out. Reasonable detail from Jupiter too. A clear night, I really wanted to go to bed but managed to summon just enough willpower for 20 minutes or so. Magnus

I think a sheet from the loo-roll’s former life will have wiped away the nebulosity 😉 Seriously though I too can see that haze around Merope in my binocs (also Leica) and have long accepted that it is indeed nebulosity and not light cloud or dew. Magnus

Rubber feet for me, even on grass. With my 8” Newt on a skytee2 atop Berlebach’s narrowest Uni tripod on sloping grass I’ve not had any problem. My Planet, AZ-EQ6 and 21kg 12” Newt plus counterweights are also fine. Which is a relief, as my utility room has a rather soft concrete floor and the spikes dig holes in it. Magnus

@Nicola Fletcher might be interested in this. It looks like a cost-effective way of discovering whether you get benefit from a CC without blowing £500 for a Paracorr2. Its specs look remarkably similar to the PC2 actually. Magnus

If I were you I’d keep the Mak 127 as it’s so portable and compact; and I’d keep the ST120 as a comparison from time to time to remind you of just how good the SM125 is.

Superb read. Did Saturn’s Moons look like this?