josefk

Sorry for two posts in a row - in my defence they were different nights 😁 - big guns out here for Mars the god of war. Lost the refractor to icing/dew about two hours after this pic so no doubt it will be festooned with dew heaters and cables next time 😒

My "Grab 'n' Go" wheel barrow. But i'm with you older Land Rovers are pretty photogenic/evocative - i can (and do) get carried away taking pics of it in cool locations. 🤣

i read your experience with horror and empathy @Alan White. In the cold dark and damp with foggy brain i check and check and double check every fastening i'm that paranoid. The good news is my refractor is pretty much directly connected to the mount via the Takahashi cradle (no dovetails or rails involved). It can't slip out of its own clamp due to OTA lumps and bumps. The Cassegrain IS is on a losmandy but i have a Baader counterweight fitted to this plate between clamping area and the end of the rail. i haven't stress tested it but i don't think it can slip through 🤞🏼

...Another great night last night - rather boringly from the point of view of posting on here i went back more or less to the same targets as the night before - i wanted to compare refractor and Cassegrain on extended DSO and also see what more i could pull out of them on a second attempt. An early start (something like 17:30) brought fantastic views of Jupiter at 200x in the refractor (still cooled from the night before). Probably equal or a close second best to what i have seen the whole past 6 months. Quite cool in tone, hard/icy, bright but in a good way, and strong multiple bands with clear (sharp) lumps and bumps in the edges of NEB/SEB. On the 16th i felt like i could see differences in magnitude of the moons but last night i couldn't see this. Next Mars - again awesome and probably again equal best or a close second to what i have seen this season. Smudgy southern hemisphere markings and partial northern (north west) hemisphere markings and "possible" northern polar cap. A clear bright limb leading to the west. A repeat look at M81/M82 and NGC 3077 showed they were not as variegated/contrasted as the 16th but here i was also trying to compare refractor at 125x mono and Cassegrain at 152x bino. The Cassegrain was clearly winning to the point i was beginning to curse the refractor. The comparison got so bad in favour of the Cassegrain i checked the front objective on the refractor and it was totally dewed up (may even have been iced up). Phew. Don't need a refund! Continuing with the Cassegrain only I failed to find (or at least see) the Medusa Nebula in Gemini so reverted to observing the Eskimo Nebula NGC 2392 sort of nearby. This was awesome - better than previous viewings - bigger and with a tiny tiny hint of blue/green colour and with a star glowing strongly in the SE quadrant - really really rewarding over a long long view. It stood up to 300x in the Cassegrain. It was clearly softer at this mag than my DSO favourite 140x but it still helped to "unpack" the Nebula for the eye. Great session.

Thanks @Sunshine - if i use a real camera rather than my phone then that is the default setting - Fuji X series and the lovely film like Acros B&W profile 👍🏼

3rd light on the Takahashi tonight. I'd kept it cool all day after last nights session so it was "sharp as you like" straight after taking this picture and returned fabulous view of Jupiter at 200x using a Tak 5mm LE. Mars thirty minutes later with the same eyepiece was equally fabulous. Interestingly my two best views of Jupiter this past 6 months have both been in transitional skies. This evening in twilight and back in August 2022 in the dawn.

As everyone else has remarked absolutely arctic conditions last night - painfully cold extremities by the end. I'm still trying to grab as much of Mars as possible and spent about an hour there last night. I think it may have been my best observation of subtle detail last night (as opposed obvious darker detail like Syrtis Major). Binoviewing at 167x and mono viewing at 250x both gave something up. I'm never quite sure if i've seen the northern ice cap though or if its just brightness on the limb but last night i came closer than ever to feeling like i saw this specifically/properly. Clear split between a brighter northern hemisphere versus a subtly shaded southern hemisphere. Around Orion i went back to M78 and NGC 2071 that i had been looking at on Sunday evening. I wanted to compare observations using different kit but i found these somehow less observable than the night before even though i was using more aperture (though probably less exit pupil). The planetary nebula NGC 2022 in Orion was also really difficult and took ages to fully nail down (O-III wasn't really helping) - possibly because there was a very high thin haze coming across from the east that i only really noticed when i looked up. Swinging round away from the cloud M81 and M82 were excellent. Variation in the distribution of brightness in both and real "mottling" in M81. I added NGC 3077 (a small faint spiral galaxy) just a degree or so away from M81 and also Struve 1387 just off the corner of M81. This double star pair isn't close at 9" but it's subtle (Mag 10.x) and i was really happy to pick this up as it was unplanned and unlooked for. Swinging back round to Orion and the Trapezium i observed "E" for the first time but couldn't see "F". i didn't actually know where these should be and wanted to try and fully identify them before checking. Unfortunately cloud again was coming over from the East and stopped play. Probably just before frostbite set in!

I'm super jealous! ENJOY!

Unfortunately milky cloud stopped play at 23:00. Absolutely arctic temps though so maybe not too bad a thing...

No i use black and white index cards. White index cards for double star "plots", black index cards for everything else. On the black index cards I use white pens under stars and for planets to give a bit of luminosity and add coloured pencil over the top for star colour or planetary detail - all very scientific :-). One drawback with black card and putting white pen under for example Mars is that the paper "loads up" with pen/pencil so there is a limited window of opportunity to get down on paper an accurate representation/capture of how you saw something (doesn't apply to something simple like above). If I lose it (over work it) i find i can't get it back (not even with an eraser) and have to start again. Obviously for subtle things like planetary features that is a bit tricky. The advantage of index cards is that I need only keep the ones I'm happy with (i.e. are somehow a fair capture of the observation). At the EP i use graph paper on a small clip board and just black pen "plots" of everything (including contour lines for want of a better description for nebulosity and its extent) and text notes. Very scruffy.

Thanks for the kind words - i'm lucky with semi-rural darkness here i think and last night was really nice and dark - it's a pity the cloud rolled in so early because i felt like it could have been quite a productive session in that South Easterly direction. Its promising in CO for tonight so fingers crossed. School night be damned!

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/405169-mars62-tauri-plus-m78bu559/ Nothing to get too excited about - more "for the record"...

More "aides-memoire" than sketches per se but here are two "sketches" from the 15th January. A view of Mars (upper right) with 62 Tauri/Struve 534 (centre and close up). The yellow and blue of Struve 534 was possibly not quite as strong as this sketch infers. And M78 - Orion nebulosity illuminated by HD 290862 / HD 38563 (Burnham 559) with NGC 2071. I've seen the two brighter stars of BU559 and M78 together described as "Casper's Ghost". I think that is probably a bit strong. It is noticeably more prominent than NGC 2071 as per the breakout view of them.

Short but very enjoyable hour between clouds early evening last night. It's a shame it did cloud over because sky conditions appeared to be lovely at the low magnifications i was using. Two 1-degree FOVs at 70x observed and sketched: Firstly M78; the small smudge of nebulosity east of Alnitak. The Orion nebulosity that is M78 is illuminated by the multiple star system Burnham 559. Last night i observed the obvious AC components but i gather there is a fainter and tighter "B" component that i should (or at least think i should) be able to see with more scope power. In this same field of view was a smaller and subtler smudge of nebulosity in NGC 2071. Secondly Mars and 62 Tauri (Struve 534) together. I enjoyed this perspective a couple of weeks ago but last night was slightly better. Last night there was a hint of yellow in the primary and a hint of blue in the secondary of 62 Tauri and with the salmon pink of Mars in the same view it was quite a nice arrangement (and made a nice sketch). Cheers

You've 100% nailed it - absolute conviction required (and i wait for my partner to go out so i can use the big kitchen knives). 😇

I'm really enjoying this shadow foam stuff now i've gotten to grips with how to cut it relatively neatly - here used for an accessory case. My first efforts looked like small mice had nibbled the foam - I've realised the secret is use a big broad bladed knife (for straight cuts at least).

...i am that man! 😂

Well if it's not one thing it's another - 1st clear night since the 2nd January and yet 25mph winds. I did foolishly try a little scope but even at 30x and mounted no more than 3-foot off the ground it was vibrating too much so reverted to mounted binoculars at 15x. I must have been subconsciously influenced by the talk of OB associations above. Collinder 70 was pretty as expected in a 4.5 degrees FOV but i made no attempt to distinguish Cr70 stars from the busy (and lovely) star field here. The whole Orion area including M42 below looks lovely at any magnification including just 15x. Collinder 65 - like Cr70 - taking advantage of the big FOV but no attempt to pick it out from the star field in detail. Also the smaller open clusters Collinder 69 and Caldwell 50 (no nebulosity detected here even at this big exit pupil), then NGC 2244 (Herschel VII-2), NGC 2232 (VIII-25), NGC 1817 (VII-4), and NGC 1807 (h348). It was good to be out in general (and to observe a few more Herschels definitely) but there was no peace and quiet in it in this stiff breeze so i would be hard pressed to say it was an enjoyable session exactly. Fingers crossed for something in the next few nights.

Hi @bosun21 you may want to disregard my message above - you won't be using a diagonal of course so the measurement i get is irrelevant. A powermate after the diagonal and before the eyepiece is more or less parfocal. Means i have no clue what it would do for you in your situation. Sorry.

I think (and I can make careful checks for you if you like) that the 2" 2x TV powermate moves the focus point out by ~65mm i.e. it is making a circa -65mm contribution to the light path when used before the diagonal. This is "a bad thing" for my usage but maybe useful for you. Cheers

You have my sympathy - i feel your pain and admire your stoicism!

They sound like long odds - i'm not sure i would have the patience. Is there an upside re. the darkness of your skies on those precious ~20 nights?

What a lovely gesture. Bravo @mikeDnight 👏🏼

Fascinating read this morning so thanks for the links to those articles @markse68. I do love the transfer of your sketches to globes @mikeDnight what a brilliant way to record and demonstrate the observation experience. Hats off to you!

Very nice. Unlike Steve I’ve failed to detect this (I think twice) this year visually. I’n reality i’m underpowered (don’t have enough aperture) for it so it is lovely to see your image of it this morning. 👍🏼