Marvin Jenkins

I don’t know if you get like this, but I thought I would try to interest non astronomers to our past time by talking to a few friends.

I managed to persuade my friend John that this was going to be epic. He has never started gazed, but has an open mind.

4:30am he text me to say he was up dressed and ready to go outside at his location 25k away, I am impressed. He says he is in thick fog so I am expecting the next text to say he going back to the warm inviting embrace of the duvet, but no...

John is going to walk a kilometre out of the village in the dark, three deg above freezing to get away from street lights to the water tower on high ground above the fog!!!
 

He gets there to find that the Orion portion of the sky is clouded out. He didn’t even moan about it, I have had no abuse. Perhaps he should be the next astronomer royal, John you are a gem.

Marv

5 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

First of all I still offer my thanks for the heads up on this shower! 👍

I've been quite, well I'll go ahead and admit the truth, lazy, with my observing the heavens.

A quick example, just night before last I took the camera out for widefield being the sky was beautiful.

There in the west was an amazing conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Took a couple shots, then turned to the East which is my better view. As I'm getting the camera ready, I glance overhead to find the ISS passing directly over. 

If I had only taken the time to stay up on things, i could have imaged it right there with those planets!!

Back to the meteor shower. I set up again just at sunset. This time in for the duration. Starting as soon as it was dark enough to image Cassiopeia, I let the camera work while I wrapped up in a sleeping bag in a comfortable lounge chair. 

All together, even with a couple naps, I stayed there laid back looking up from 6:30 till 1am.

Perseverance gave me three very good early sporadic meteors, one I imaged.

Right on time at 11:40 I began to see meteors from the shower. All together I must have seen 20 or even a few more that I could say came from the radiant point. They varied in color and intensity. 

Much later, after I had called it a night, I imaged another very faint meteor.

Out of 2800 10sec images, I scored twice! Many nights it's a total washout, so being I managed 2, I can say Quapla! (Sucess in Klingon!)

As badly as I wish to witness a storm, seeing any meteor makes the effort well worth it. And I saw many more than 1 last night

 

 

I had the camera running as well and as far as I can tell I got zip. I have to down load them and look on a decent screen. Hopefully next time it will be the big one.

12 hours ago, Stu said:

Fair play to you for getting up Marvin! Our forecast looked so bad I stayed in bed. I guess with all these showers the ZHR forecasts are just that, forecasts. It just needs them to be out a little way in terms of when the earth hits the debris trail to be the difference between a meteor storm or a damp squib!

I did go back over the original report on Sky and Telescope I believe and they do say debris field is very small I guess earth just skimmed it, not ran right through it.

As for getting out I am motivated, I have not seen a thing due to weather since October 9th.

I put a heads up on this site about this one as it was going to special..... I feel like I persuaded people to get of bed at dark o’clock in the morning for next to nothing.

I was up and out 4:30, set up the camera, text a few friends to gauge interest. For the first time in over a month I have a clear sky, can’t believe it.

shower peak 5:50 my time and I saw a grand total of six meteors! The expected zhr was 400, what happened? Did anyone else get a better show?

Marvin

I have now returned to the warmth of the house after seeing the shower. I will post in observing.

Marvin

First night out since October 9th, weather has been terrible with the exception of three clear nights bang on the full moon! So didn’t bother.

20th November, 20:00hrs no clouds, no rain, no fog or all at the same time which has become normal. It’s dark, I can see constellations, and a light milky way.

After observing for thirty minutes I am finding it more difficult not less. I have no moon at present and the sun set two hours ago. I know it is far from ideal time but I work, so going out at 2am is reserved for days off.

I step away from the scope and just take stock. The whole of the sky from horizon to horizon and to the zenith has an equal opaqueness. Like a reduced full moon effect, but with total uniformity. I can look at stars and can see Andromeda and a few open clusters in Cassiopeia. I can only guess the cause is a full thin high overcast reflecting light pollution.

My issue is I have no light pollution to the north of my position but the sky was equal all round. Anyone else had this phenomenon?

Marvin

Seb-B 

John that just posted on this thread is someone you should follow. He is one of the people on here is mainly visual based and nothing but sense comes from his posts.

Another is Stu.

Marv

What have you got coming?

Rudd is spot on. Stellarium is free and a great portable planetarium software which I use.

Welcome to this fascinating, quite often frustrating pastime. My main bit of advice is to try and not miss any opportunities to star gaze. The night you miss is the night you regret.

Dont get bogged down with equipment issues, there is an answer countering every answer. Just get viewing and keep a diary.

I am only two years in and I am 80 of the 110 M list but I have not done them justice. Rushed a bit too much, this is for the rest of our lives, take it all in.... and post on here what you see. Don’t think as a beginner your imput won’t be valid. I found other beginners imput at the beginning easier to understand.

clear skies Seb-B

Marvin Just to hold you to it, I have ticked the follow box for you.

Couldn’t agree with domstar more. You have just stepped through the door into a pastime/passion/obsession that is truly mind blowing.

Look around, learn a bit, keep a diary of what you see. Don’t fret the details of equipment at the beginning, it’s all about seeing those first clusters, Andromeda, a planet or two. You will quickly learn what you can see, but I will say if you are brave enough, visit somewhere dark see how much you can get out of your first scope.

M

Good luck to all of you. I don’t hold out hope for myself, but I sometimes think of this as a group effort, so if anyone anywhere gets some shots I would love to see them on here.

As we all know Thursday is a long way away, so the weather may flip and bring us all crystal clear skies, fingers crossed.

Marvin

Would love to say I could take part but the weather has been awful since October 9th. Saw on the news earlier that 300,000 people in South East France are without power due to snow.

I have just posted a heads up about the Monocerotids November 21/22nd but I am not hopeful about seeing anything except rain.... or fog, in which case it is the same thing.

Marv

I am not hopeful as the weather is awful and I have a terrible track record with seeing meteor showers but this is coming up.

Monocerotids meteor shower. Obviously radiating from the constellation Monoceros. Peak activity is early morning 4:30 am  21/22nd November for observers in Western Europe. For those of you new to this Monoceros is the constellation to the left of Orion and the radiant is not far from the star Procyon in Canis Minor just above Monoceros.

I only flagged this up, as there is a possible ZHR of 400 or more. This shower in the past has reached storm proportions reaching 1000 an hour!!! Problem is the peak of the shower or storm hopefully, will last about thirty minutes there or there about’s.

For once this year, as an added bonus, the moon although around will not make a huge impact on viewing. If I have clear skies then I am setting up the DSLR for wide field, that’s for sure. I hope that many of you get clear skies for this one despite the bleary eyes of a three thirty alarm call. 
 

Marvin

credit where credit is due, only right. I saw this on Sky and Telescope website.

It would be good hear from some of the old timers (sorry) about how many nights clear observing they were able to undertake. 
I am going to try a working mans equation of how many nights in one year an ordinary joe, fixated with astronomy can actually observe the heavens.

Take out the twelve full moon weeks. Temper that with weather, touched on here already. The six or seven sessions missed due to work commitments, I am self employed so not really a problem. Two sessions missed due to sickness in one year. And.... I know you are not supposed to start a sentence with And, but missing the whole of August as it’s just rubbish.

I will be back in a bit, after crunching some numbers with a Casio.

Marv

Cheers dude, two years of saying “ how are people on here doing that”. My life is now complete thanks to Vlaiv. You the man.

Gottzi, they have the diaries to compare against current weather. I know where my bets would be placed. Weather is getting angry! I am a landscape gardener and I am having to change how and when i an doing things, it’s weather effected.

Marv

I know exactly what you mean Francis. I have waited two years through embarrassment to ask how members add that info about the kit they use and a witty one liner from the past. Feel free to put me out of my misery.

M

There must be members of this forum who have been ‘at it’ for decades. I have been lead to believe the old schoolers keep Astro diaries, I was prompted too.

What does this mine of info give Gottzi and myself aspiration for future viewing. Of course, Mr Gottzi, I do not speak for you, so if you feel differently to my post please feel free to say.

There must be an amazing diary based history of visual astronomy that could be compared to today’s night skies. Compare that, to what we have now!

Marv 

Hey Gottzi, I am more blue than you. As you can see I am am based in SW France and my last observational opportunity was October 9th !!!

I looked at my Astro diary for last year, my first year in this pursuit, and I will type it word for word. 
 

Feb 10th 2018, M 39 M 34 clusters, M 31 plus NGC 205, just 15 minutes until the clouds rolled in.

April 10th 2018, and I missed just two nights unexpected viewing, with bad seeing.

June 23rd 2018!!!!! I was new to this and champing at the bit. Didn’t miss an opportunity and I went from Feb 10 to June 23rd with two or three unexpected nights viewing.

Everyone is banging on about light pollution, I would say our biggest threat is cloud due to climate change. Light pollution is something we can do something about, but if your skies, like mine are covered in cloud, who cares about street lights.

Am I wrong? Many of you on here are lifers. My experience is just a couple of years, but I feel that if our skies are covered with cloud then it doesn’t matter if your neighbour has a security light.

Now I want to say, before criticism pours in. I am an astronomer, I have like most people a heart felt desire for darker skies, cleaner air, better environment, but I feel things are getting worse not better, sorry for the rant and if Gottzi disagrees then please post, I won’t object.

Marvin

Tripod ladder. All the fruit pickers use those around here, although not that big as it is just easier to prune the trees to a manageable height. Got to be uncomfortable after a short time.

For me I love your imput. I have always wanted to persue astronomy, and have kept an eye on the news, but not on astronomy for real. Now I know, and I am wishing for cosmic invaders invaders.

Marv

Makes me wonder what shots like these would like now in the digital era. I have two comets in two years 46P Wirtinenen and Africano. Both of which in my 130 newt were distant fuzzies.

Going to attach a couple more from the archive, couldn’t say how strongly this should be looked at, and all credit to the team that put it together.

Thanks Paul M 

When was the last time you saw a comet that size over your house? So many on the archive, are we in a comet glut?