Ciaran Meier

I see that two Moderators here on SGL Have seen fit to "like" a post in which the OP has directly defamed another individual. Surely this is inappropriate. Remember folks, this is a public facing forum, in which all content is in the Public Domain.

Mr Musk certainly has an odd way of expressing himself and his "Tesla in Space" PR stunt maybe not to all tastes. However, credit where credit is due. On 17th May SpaceX will be launching two astronauts to the ISS. This will be the first US crewed spaceflight in nearly a decade. He may be many things, and not appeal to all, but I do not believe that he is an "idiot".

Lovely. Here's my obs report on it a few nights ago.... "Galaxy: NGC2903 at 9.0 mag. Very difficult to spot, just a slight signal from the background noise." I think I prefer your result .

Thanks for the effort putting this together, a "mini TED". No luck yet spotting it yet in my 8 inch newt but will persevere.

Thanks John, great article. A submission in the comments below the piece (currently the last comment) suggestions that the most favourable conditions are to be had just after sunset and just before sunrise. I suppose this reduces the background contrast somewhat similar when Observing Venus.

I've plugged in the numbers and come up with WDS 03289+3115 in Perseus. Aa Ba 0.0m / 0.0m at 1.5" sep. (2005) So, 1.5" is over twice the seperation achievable at zero delta m for an 8 inch scope. Will be an interesting experiment for next session. Feel free to correct the numbers if necessary .

Eddie's in the Space Time Continuum... Good call on 3C-273, will have to get my eye onto it. Have this one on me .

Hi Mark Just want to check with you what was split here. Was it the A B pair at 1.1" sep. I've an 8 inch OOUK newt and I reckon 4" is about the best I'm getting with good collimation. Doubles folk on here seem to go for the frac for this job. What secret magic are you using to get down to 1" with the 150P . Ciaran.

Had a bit of a "binge" last night, got into the flow and couldn't quit. Two scopes on the go, both un-driven, 8 inch/F6 OOUK Newt and a 102mm/F10 frac: 6mm. 12mm and 25mm Vixen EP's The frac on Venus as soon a visible in twilight. Lovely, lovely, lovely in the 12mm EP. All further observations with the Newt. Auriga: Double: Capella. A F 0.1m/10.2m @ 106" sep. Faint companion following along. Seeing blue in the secondary. Double: Epsilon Aur (7 Aur). A E 3.0m/9.6m @ 206 sep. AF 3.0m/11.0m @ 221". Nice arrangement in the 6mm EP. Double: Beta Aur (34 Aur). Menkalinan. AB 1.9m/10.9m @ 187" sep. Pi Aur. (35 Aur) Caught my eye in the finder, nice punchy red. Checked out some data and discovered a very interesting fact regarding Theta, Beta and Delta Aur also. Pi Aur is in alignment along the "solstitial colure" along with Theta, Beta and Delta Aur. I'll need to read up on this later. Double: STF653 (14 Aur). A B 5.0m/10.9m @ 10.1" sep. Seeing a hint of blue in the secondary. Double: STF698. A B 6.7m/8.3m @ 31" sep. Lovely colours in this pair. Double: STF872. A B 6.9m/7.4m @ 11.8" sep. Really pretty matched colours, kind of an "orangey" yellow. Open Cluster: NGC1893, (COL63, MEL33). Tick. Open Cluster: NGC2281, (COLL116, MEL51). A nice sparse spattering of stars. Best in the 12mm. In 6mm can see two sets of doubles at approx 5" sep mag 10/11. Better sight than M38 earlier this evening. Leo: Galaxy: NGC2903 at 9.0 mag. Very difficult to spot, just a slight signal from the background noise. Galaxy: M94 at 8.0 mag. Best in the 12mm. Bright central smudge with some outer smudging swimming in and out of view. Canes Venatici: Double: Cor Caroli (12 CVn). 2.9m 5.5m @ 19.2" sep. First time seeing this. Yep, lives up to the hype. Two white diamonds, this is what it's about. Double. 15/17 Cvn. Wide double. A B 6.0m/6.3m @ 275". Third unassociated 8 mag star forms nice triange. Galaxy. M63 at 9.0 mag. No detail, no apparent brightening. Just a homogenous smudge. Galaxy. M106 at 8.2 mag. Smudge. Galaxy. M51 at 8.5 mag. Two faint smudges with barely discernible central concentrations. Bootes: Double. Theta Boo (23 Boo). 4.1m/11.5m @ 70" sep. Double. Iota Boo (21 Boo). A B 4.8m/7.4m @ 32" sep. Nice one. Double. Kappa Boo (17 Boo). A B 4.5m/6.6m @ 13.5" sep. Another lovely double. Iota and Kappa can be seen as together in the 25mm EP, very nice indeed. Coma Berenices: Globular Cluster. M53 at 7.7mag. Just a fuzzy, no break down to stars. Galaxy: M64 at 8.4 mag. Fuzzy smudge. Hercules: Globular Cluster: M13 at 5.8 mag. Finish on high note. Called it quits at 4:30am. Had a lot of fun and satisfaction manually tracking these down from my Bortle 7/8 sky. I know a lot of observers are using GOTO these days but for me a lot of the enjoyment is working with the 15x70 bins in tandem with the finder to track these down. It can get a bit frustrating when almost on target then lose bearings and back to the last known reference point. All good fun in the end however,. Keep safe and enjoy this run of clear skies. Ciaran

Was in and around same area last night splitting doubles. The narrowest gap you've logged, 1.5" on A567 would probably be beyond the optics in the 8" OOUK, F6 newt I was using. I think four to five seconds is the limit on this scope. What setup were you using on this list ? Ciaran.

Hehe, I've just come in from an unintended "all nighter", 4:30' ish AM. Had the 8 inch newt and 102 frac on the go. Glad I'm not the only mad one on here . Hope you enjoyed that breakfast. !! Ciaran.

Had the 102 frac on Venus at the same time, yep, was gorgeous. Called the wife out to take a look and was glad to hear some appreciation Nice report. Ciaran.

Out with the Stellar II 15x70's. Absolutely love these bins, great optics and nicely balanced in the hand(s) if need be. Used them tonight with my DIY monopod, which I would humbly say does the job perfectly. Anyway, enough boasting and down to porridge. Mainly on the doubles as suits best in Bortle 8'ish sky. Gemini WDS 07510+3137. 6.8/7.7m Sep 77" Very distinct in a barren patch of stars. There's a lovely chain of five stars above this double running across the FOV. Left most HR3040 to 70 Gem. Second from left, 80 Gem is a nice 5.1mag red supergiant. There"s also a really nice starfield lying between 69 Gem and 60 Gem, like they're herding them up. 69 Gem is a lovely red. WDS 07096+2544 (STTA83) A C, 7.2m/7.8m Sep 122" There's an 8.1mag star at 5.5' (minutes) which forms a pleasing triangle asterism. 43 gem. A C, 4.1m/7.7m Sep 101" WDS 06341+2207. 7.2m / 7.4m Sep 53.3" nice evenly matched colours. Puting Alhena, 24 Gem to the right of the FOV forms a lovely circle of stars around the circumference of the FOV, nice effect. Cancer Over to the Beehive, say no more !! then a brief appraisal of M67 OC. Just a faint smudge with no stars resolved. Up a wee bit above the Beehive to doubles 48 Cnc and 53 Cnc. Both in the same FOV. Ursa Major Dubhe. Double, a real cracker in the bins. A lovely warm primary with the faint blue companion. Last double, STF1831. A C, 7.2m/6.7m Sep 109" M101 would be in the same FOV but no luck tonight. Quick look at Mizar, Alcor and friend. Some of these doubles maybe weren't the prettiest but half the fun is tracking them down. All done !! Ciaran.

That's a great list of doubles, it's a pity about the dew cutting short your session. I was out last night too with the 102mm frac but a high hazy cloud came in and closed down the session. Tonight is looking good however. Fingers crossed. Ciaran.

Yup, know what you mean , been there and done that. Next time you need to collimate it'll be a lot quicker and less stressful now that you've been through the process already.