josefk

Well that's a weight off - good old https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5048

thanks both @N3ptune and @Sunshine - it's a completely new side of the hobby for me to be interested in the moon. Till this year I've always positioned myself with my back to it cursing it's illumination! Hah!

Hi @markse68 Nik's directions above (sp. the bracketing stars) got me there Friday night and to double down on confidence in the ID i found this chart useful the next day (to compare to a field sketch):

It was time to make up for lost time last night and put some hours in on the spring sky. What a session it was and a great way to kick off the Bank Holiday weekend. The main targets were: Venus (daylight), Luna (twilight transition), the supernova SN-2023ixf, and then whatever else the sky would support till the early hours. In the end the session was fabulous - seeing became awesome in the late early hours and i ended up observing blue sky to blue sky - starting with Venus last night and finishing with Saturn this morning. Everything that follows is via a 5" refractor and various TV wide angles and Tak ortho EPs and observed from a nice quiet semi-rural location (a not very dark SQM 20.7 last night though). Venus was lovely at 54% phase. The terminator was soft and uneven but it was impossible to pin down exactly where and how uneven. Nothing clear to bring into a sketch. It didn't help that i'd forgotten my filters and its a great shame because seeing seamed to be very steady (supporting x303 even while x200 was sharper) and Venus presented as a perfectly sharp icy (hah - probably not actually icy) white ball. Damn. Next up the moon. I wanted to pick some small detail out on the terminator to sketch with more magnification than usual; result posted here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/410111-joes-luna-scribbles/#comment-4383227. Unfortunately the forgetfulness had continued as i hadn't taken an atlas out and now i can't identify what i sketched! The big refractor was awesome though - presenting a rock steady sharp view of tinier details than i could ever get down on paper. With it now dark it was time for the main event. - SN-2023ixf. This is my first supernova and i don't know the sky well at this micro level so i was a bit concerned about achieving a good ID that didn't need an asterix next to it in the logbook (I hate asterix). I planned to follow directions kindly posted on here in other threads and i had put the stars TYC-3852-0274-1 and HD 122601 in a sky safari pro list bookending NGC 5461. SN-2023ixf is on top of NGC 5461 but that doesn't help if you can't see it so the two stars work great as a track to move along. Well it took me an hour and four sketches to be confident i had it securely - my first two sketches being in slightly the wrong place so... ahem. I was also sketching while kneeling on the floor because had hadn't put my tripod up high enough for viewing at Zenith. Doh! Here's my record of the event. My 3rd and 4th sketches offer up quite well to the star chart published by AAVSO if i hold them back to front against a computer screen (for the effect of the star diagonal) so i'm super happy - secure ID, no asterix! I tried a few faint fuzzies after this as the moon was getting pretty low but stuff was either a no show or a poor version of itself (even showcases like M57, M56, M27, M82 and M81). M82 and M81 were both grey and very subdued even versus how i had seen this back in February with a little grab n go scope so there's no shortcutting the sky conditions. Bizarrely I could see the Eastern part of the Veil Nebula though and i saw it much larger than i did in the Cassegrain last year (my only other observation of it). A 31mm EP with UHC at ~4mm exit pupil and even better a 24mm EP with O-III at ~ 3mm exit pupil were both very effective. The 24mm EP is a Panoptic and i could see the eastern veil crescent as long or longer than half the width of the EP (so about 45...50' in extent) and following a curve roughly equal to the 24 Pan field stop. While faint - the outline was raggedy not smudgy and i was over the moon. Strangely i couldn't see anything of the western veil though nor any other nebula in this area. While occupied high up it was becoming apparent that seeing had really become terrific. Tiny tiny pin prick stars and, as the smudgy stuff other than NGC 6992 wasn't really happening even though by now the moon was fully set, i moved over to a list of "tight" double stars i have. A double star aficionado would laugh at the description tight but basically these are doubles on the Astro League programme that i suspect i can't split in my GnG scope or i have already tried and failed to do so in it (my GnG being my main tool for this programme). I haven't written my notes up but basically these are pairs or systems in the 2"...5" range and all presented absolutely beautifully. I was using a 12mm Delos at 83x for its wider field of view to get on target (and some targets split very aesthetically at this magnification) but i was swapping out to 200x or 300x anyway for the joy of perfect spots and sharp steady diffraction rings (with some nice blue and bronze colour too). Doubles include TW Dra, Mu1/Mu2 Bootis, Delta Bootis, Sigma Coronae Borealis, Alpha Herc, Zeta Aqr, and others. Brilliant. It was basically light now and my last double was Zeta1 Aquarii. This wasn't far above Saturn so i thought i would take a quick look while accompanied by the dawn chorus. I had a x200 Tak 5mm ortho in as i did swing onto it and i couldn't believe what i saw. Etched sharp (no hint of atmospheric wobble), a prominent Jupiter like ruddy belt on the planet in the northern hemisphere more distinct than anything i've seen on Saturn before and best of all - a distinct black shadow of Saturn on its own rings to the west - i didn't even look for it it - it was sharp and obvious. I love Saturn and didn't expect this treat so early in the year. So blue sky to blue sky - what a treat.

hahaha. The floppy hat is a patented iPad dew shield (so the touch screen doesn't go wonky) and usefully also works as a light screen 👍.

Thanks @robin_astro for the initial head's up on here and thanks @Nik271 for your "sat nav" directions in the aperture thread - they were perfect and went a long way to securing this observation for me last night - i'm absolutely delighted because it's my first!

I'm attempting to get into some detail here - the breakout detail is at x303 and about 5' wide. It's only my second Luna sketch at decent magnification and through a diagonal though and i found the diagonal quite disorientating. I also forgot to take an atlas out last night and this morning i can't for the life of me pin the breakout region down - i thought i knew roughly where this is but on flat light lunar pics i can't find anything likely. It was eye-catching at the scope - i must have a vivid imagination but this feature put me in mind of a deers head and the next feature to it's right put me in mind of a fox looking the other way. If anyone recognises it (hahaha) i would be very happy to be enlightened.

A spring all nighter with the TOA for company last night. I’m fully dialled in on this OTA now. I love it. Here getting set for Venus early evening: and here frozen to the bone >8hrs later finishing with an unexpected and bonus observation of Saturn (and not a rubbish wobbly one either even at this low altitude) in the crisp morning air:

My first all nighter of the year last night. Damn cold for late May. I started on Venus in the lovely evening light and finished on Saturn well after dawn and after a smorgasbord of clusters, doubles, and PNe. Saturn!!! I only swung down to it for larks after my last double and it was remarkable. The shadow of the planet across its rings was striking at first glance while the body of the planet looked like a weakly belted washed out Jupiter with a rust coloured belt above the rings. Picture perfect in a blue sky. I’m chuffed to bits. The long version over here now after a nap and a few coffees 😴https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/410225-a-spring-catch-up-venus-luna-sn-2023ixf-familiar-pne-and-fabulous-seeing/#comment-4383394

I loved the extra motivation to sketch in order to post in this challenge with others and I too really enjoyed the sense of community from doing so and exchanging comments between posts. Definitely looking forward to the next one! i would add a wish for dry pastels to @Moon monkey sharp pencils and clear skies.

Thank you @maw lod qan. I would like to transition from impressionistic scribbling to somehow accurate recording but TBH it's not easy and probably not even possible for my skill level - the moonscape changes too fast when trying to capture all of it. I'm actually quite shocked at just how fast it changes - especially at this twilight transition.

Yes the full solar disk - it has a little lot of everything to enjoy 👍

i love the 5th picture in particular - dramatic!

Very nice @MalcolmM - i'm having a quick look on here while taking lunch then will be back in the (home) office. Would happily swap afternoons with you!

Shame it was a week day night last night - seeing and transparency looked terrific even in the evening twilight. The moon and venus both looked fantastic in my little GnG. Sketch here FWIW: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/410111-joes-luna-scribbles/#comment-4382657

Great stuff - i love observing on holiday with a little scope! The very definition of relaxing.

This is a ~25% illuminated 4.8 days old crescent moon sketched sitting in the lovely Burghley House deer park. Sketched between 21:00 and 21:45 in a bit of a race as lovely soft twilight details hardened into high contrast black and white details as darkness came. Fracastorius with Fracastorius D sitting on its nightside rim looked fantastic (if i've identified it properly). A great pity it was a "school night" as it looked like seeing was going to be fantastic. Even bright Venus looked sharp and clear in my little bird spotting scope; ultra clear phase and only a little bit of glare and prismatic colour.

I particularly enjoy setting up while its still light and then sitting back to enjoy the twilight transition. Here set up and ready for a second evening hunting smudgy galaxies... A new RACI finder I have fitted here works a treat ergonomically underslung on the OTA like this. Didn't help me out much when push came to shove in the sparse star field around the stuff i was trying to see though!

@Stu transparency hasn’t matched the darkness here either I’m afraid. I’ve started on M13 both nights just easing in as it were and it’s been pretty enough but no glitter or sparkle. the TOA is exactly what I hoped and expected it would be - It has been unreal so far on Jupiter before it was gone, Mars briefly and now Venus. I compared the cassegrain on Venus these past two nights and there is no comparison (though tbh for my tastes in view it was never going to be a fair fight). good luck for clear skies with the FS-128

What a treat - two nights running and with no moon! I took the 186mm f13 Cassegrain out last night to go over much the same ground i'd been in with the 130mm f7.7 Refractor the night before. There should be about 0.7 of a Magnitude difference in reach between these two scopes all things considered though i've never scientifically checked that calculation using them side by side in the field. No two nights are the same and on this second night humidity was much lower and the sky commensurately clearer than experienced in the report above so i'm still not any nearer making a solid comparison between the two except on planetary objects were there really is no contest. I can tell already the refractor is by no means embarrassed by the larger aperture Cassegrain even on DSO. My observations last night (after a couple of warm up (actually waiting for it to get darker) doubles in Lyra and Draco) were galaxies with a visual magnitude between 7.8 and 10.3 (so at the brighter end of things really): NGC 4631 (the Whale Galaxy), NGC 4565 (the Needle Galaxy), NGC 4559, NGC 4459, & NGC 4552 (M89). The Whale Galaxy was a repeat observation of the night before but this time at x102 (exit pupil 1.8mm) and x141 (exit pupil 1.3mm). It was an interesting comparison to the much lower x58 magnification of yesterday. At the larger scale the galaxy really was large and lumpy in outline - more or less half the width of my ~30' Delos 17.3mm eyepiece - but still quite faint and "flat" in grayscale (i.e no core or even brightness variation that i could see). I couldn't detect the nearby NGC 4627 but i also wouldn't have described the sky in that area as an even flat black so maybe my was detecting something there. I drew the Needle Galaxy (NGC 4565) and i'm glad i did because while i couldn't see any structure when i look at online images today i can see which parts of it i was really seeing (i saw it flat and elongated but not as elongated as it really is) so i was seeing the bulging core and shoulders with elongation longer in one direction than the other. the next two - NGC 4559 and 4459 are new Herschel 400 targets for me (yay!). My observing note for NGC 4552 (M89) is a one word "dim". The Cassegrain didn't bring me a real gain over the night before; the note for the night before said "Hazy smudge. No shape". It's really a pity this area of the sky is where it is in this season and damn the cloud earlier this spring when these constellations were at least a little higher! One thing i need to brush up on is my route finding in this region - i get totally lost in this area when it comes to that final definitive ID - i can see little smudges or ghosts here or there when using the slo-mo to move from one target to the next but a dearth of field stars means i have really struggled to be precisely sure of which faint smudge i've just flown over... This goes especially for the Markerian's Chain set - i know i'm not seeing some of these but because i don't see them i've lost my "audit trail" between one secure ID and another if that makes sense... Here's hoping we've turned a bit of a corner on the spring cloud and we all get further attempts at them. Cheers

Felt great to get about 8 1/2 hours observing galaxies in the Virgo, Coma Berenices and Canes Venatici regions these past two nights. A lot of humidity as each night drew on but fabulous to be out, a pleasure setting up in the evening light and appreciating the turn to relative darkness and seeing actual stars in it once again. Two nights of reports over here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/409934-venus-virgo-coma-berenices-two-nights-running/#comment-4381725 Cheers

Nice @RobertI - you're getting further up the chain with both your scopes than i've managed with mine these past two nights - i keep falling off the tight rope after 4435/4438 and haven't attempted to come in from the other end yet. Can you achieve nice contrast in your skies there? I'm in semi-rural - SQM 20.8 to 21.1 ish on a moonless night.

Thanks @Stu - i'm about 5 months the proud owner of a TOA-130. Its sort of your fault because last year you counselled i needed a bigger exit pupil to benefit from using a UHC filter on the North America Nebula! Only joking i was already deep into simmering the idea by then. 🙂

After what seems like an age i was back out last night with clear skies in the forecast. Actually they were clearer than the forecast in NE Northamptonshire and very nice to the naked eye if not quite as nice through the scope. I had two aims - 1) another daylight/early twilight Venus observation, 2) a wide field scan up Markarian's chain and galaxies in that general area. It was lovely to see Venus in a blue sky again. I've posted a sketch over in the sketching forum - in short last night didn't deliver any darker cloud features or features encroaching from the terminator (that i could detect) but bright poles were clear (northern pole being larger) and were visible through several filters so i'm sure they were not an illusion. The phase at 58% was really picturesque. An #82A light blue filter was helpful to steady the otherwise slightly wobbly seeing. Seeing wasn't quite supporting the x200 magnification i was using but nether was this magnification over the top. I couldn't find Venus in the very pale blue sky till it was visible naked eye so i may have missed the best viewing earlier in the evening. After waiting for it to go relatively dark (not true dark unfortunately) i turned to the second set of objectives. I had a spring galaxy target list in Virgo and Coma Berenices and i wanted to try and observe these at very low magnification (x32) and wide 2.4 degree FOV. i had a second "grand plan" to try and sketch several eyepieces worth of ground moving up the area step by step like a mosaic. It was quickly apparent this wasn't going to work - the sky was SQM 20.8 and the wide field eyepiece was giving me a 4mm exit pupil. I don't think the sky through the EP was even as dark as mid-grey. My next step down in EPs with this scope (the TOA) is x58, 1.2 degrees and 2.25 mm exit pupil. While still not really a dark or contrasted view it was better and this EP stayed in the diagonal the rest of the night as the best balance of exit pupil, contrast and FOV. The observations in Virgo and Coma Berenices were the usual brighter spring suspects for many i suspect: NGC 4486 (M87 Virgo A), NGC 4478, NGC 4501 (M88), NGC 4552 (M89), NGC 4374 (M84 Markarian's Chain), NGC 4406 (M86 Markarian's Chain), NGC 4435 (The Eyes Galaxies with NGC 4438), NGC 4429, NGC 4254 (M99 Pinwheel Galaxy), NGC 4192 (M98), NGC 4631 (the Whale Galaxy), NGC 4490 (the Cocoon Galaxy), NGC 5457 (M101), and NGC 4382 (M85). There were five new for me Herschel 400 objects in that haul. 🙂 The visual magnitudes for these galaxies ranged Mag-7.8 to Mag-11.3 (so in theory and in the main relatively bright). Well if these really are at the easy end i need to move to a darker site or get a bigger scope (though I think it was quite a bit less transparent than a quick glance at the stars in the handle of UMi suggested) . All except the Cocoon Galaxy and M85 (and less so the Whale Galaxy) had to be wrestled from the spring grey sky with prolonged study and careful field ID, though with a good wrestle and a bit of averted vision quite a few of the observed targets did then grow in stature and characteristics and i could detect elongation and correct orientation for most of the spiral galaxies for example. M101 was by no means pretty but i could see flocculence in the large faint patch. The Whale Galaxy was interesting though - i had a strange "flicker" in averted vision where it showed itself as relatively bright and quite striated in brightness variation along its long dimension. i could repeat the trick but never as strongly as the first time. By 2am every was running with water - goodness knows what the relative humidity was. wet i think is the technical description. The forecast is good for a repeat run tonight and i have a few "did not find" on my list now from last night to try again with a slightly larger aperture. All the observations above are with a 5" refractor. Tonight i'll take a 7" Cassegrain for a bit more magnification at a useful exit pupil. Clear skies all.

Thanks at @RobertI Actually you've pulled my up on an an error of description there that i systematically make in my notes - ADC is Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector. What i really mean is the actual atmospheric dispersion itself (red and blue on Venus) which is the prismatic splitting of red and blue in our atmosphere.