Marvin Jenkins

Yes I said almost! I don't think I was aiming that high frankly. M

That's a sketch! I imagine my future Ha solar scope pics are going to look almost as good as that. Marv

Just a quick check, sorry it is late and the week has been mad so I don't have the energy to go investigating. Does M81 have a dwarf system similar to our own LMC or the satellite galaxies around the andromeda galaxy? Marvin

This has been on my radar for at least two years now. I am throwing a sleeping bag and mat in the work van. Two boxes containing cooking equipment and noodles, lots of. Some photo kit as yet undecided and finding a remote place in northern Spain to experience totality. Marv

Welcome to the forum Marv

That is a lovely display piece. I was given as a gift the first which includes Pluto. I insisted on the second which is an Einstein bobble head, probably my most treasured possession. Marv

Great write up in Burnhams Celestial Handbook. Obviously not right up to date but facinating none the less. Marv

So a five inch newt on an AZ5 was a bit optimistic. I noticed the potato shape from the Galileo pictures and immediately wondered if it is a captured asteroid like Mars moons? I can't find anymore information so I can only conclude that in the main stream we know next to nothing about it. Marv

A quick question regarding observing Jupiter and its moons. A few evenings back I managed a short observation due to clear skies at last. I was using my 5 inch newt grab and go with a half decent zoom. I was two hours too early for the GRS but the four main moons were showing well. No eclipses, transits or shadow transits so I looked up the moons on Stellarium for reference. Stellarium clearly showed a fifth point of light without a name, and to my surprise it was not a background star but a moon of Jupiter that was new to me, Amalthea. For love nor money I couldn't see it. I was surprised to find out it is the fifth largest moon and the fifth moon to be discovered. My question is. Have any of the observers on this site observed Amalthea? Furthermore, what is needed in conditions and equipment to see this moon? Marvin

Yes that's the one. Sorry I should have explained it better. M

Atrocious weather today with storms building in the west. A great big sunny break mid afternoon but you could clearly see what had been and what was going to come. After months of cloud and no proper chances of observing anything except by chance I saw the sky was still clear to the west. This mornings APOD had a photo of P12 P-B showing it in relation to M31 so I grabbed the 10x50s and to my astro starved amazement, there it was! Due to the heavy rain and strong winds the clarity was amazing, I have never seen the Andromeda Spiral look that good in binoculars. I spun round and looked at M42 just to test my eyes and that too was breathtaking. 12P core appeared quite large and bright and I swear I got some elongation with AV which I cannot say I have had with bins. A couple of surprising moments whilst observing the comet is the sky being lit up in a flash by an anvil building out in the distance. This has been one to remember not just because I have been astro starved, or getting into double comet numbers but it proves I have been getting lazy and I need to use those small windows. In the time it took to record this in my astro diary the clouds are in and the storm is on its way. Marv

Hi there, welcome.

Yes it is!

How about "The tears of clouded out astronomers" but I fear I would drown with how bad the weather has been. M

Nice, you got the Garland galaxy in there as well. Marv