Epick Crom

I took a wander around Bootes and Sepens Caput last night using my 10 inch dob. Split Izar at 343x. Lovely close double Split the delightfully named Alkalurops. A wide double. Later when checking Sky Safari I found out the Alkalurops b is also a double! I will have to go back and try to split b next clear night.. I tried to see the galaxy NGC 5248 and globular NGC 5466 but my light pollution was not having it 😢 I took a brief detour into Corona Borealis to check out the conjunction between asteroid Pallas and the Blaze Star T Coronae Borealis. T Coronae Borealis I estimated to be around magnitude 10, so no outburst yet! Soaked in the wonderful view of globular cluster M5 in Serpens, what a beauty! To end the night I got my first ever observation of the Hubble Space Telescope as it flew over. It was briefly visible naked eye and I tracked it using my 5x25mm binoculars. A very nice night of calming observations 👍

Interesting exercise Josef, you have inspired me to give it a go too 👍 All the best with your project! Clear Skies Joe

I enjoyed a good observing session last night observing the moon with my 10 inch dob. Crater John Herschel looked great, half lit by the rising lunar sun. But the highlight was spotting Phecda (Gamma Ursa Majoris) for the first time using my 10x50mm binoculars. It just peeks over the horizon from here briefly, it was 4° up when I saw it. Clear Skies Joe

@GrumpiusMaximus, two words for you, Sky Safari! I have the Plus version and it has been incredible for me in finding out new targets. Highly recommended! Clear Skies Joe

Regarding Antares, it is a moderately difficult split from here in the southern hemisphere. However when the seeing is good I have never failed to split it from around 240x magnification upwards using my 10 inch dob. The best I've seen its companion is with a hairline thin division from Antares at 686x on nights of excellent seeing. A very beautiful sight as the tiny companion appears green due to contrast with the brilliant orange of Antares! Clear Skies Joe

Enjoy your New Horizons @Zermelo👍

I had 1 clear hour last night before the clouds rushed back in to give first light to my Skywatcher 15x70mm binoculars. I'm impressed with them so far, a very noticeable jump in resolution and light gathering power over my Nikon 10x50's. The true field of view is approximately 3 °. Scanning star fields with this bad boy was very impressive 👏 I have them mounted to a photo tripod, works well to stabilise the images but I think I will need a taller tripod as observing above 45° is a pain in the neck, so for higher elevations I just left up the entire tripod which still provides a more stable view compared to hand held mode. Costing $180 AUD new, I'm very happy, a great bargain! Joe

Nothing but constant clouds and rain over here 😞

I spent last night loitering in the constellation of Lupus the wolf with my 10 inch dob. The standout were: NGC 5822: A fine, large and fairly rich open star cluster. It is unusual in that it contains many chains of stars with empty spaces between the chains. I like to call it the "tattered cluster" NGC 5882: A fine, high surface brightness planetary nebula. The seeing was good so I jacked up the magnification to 686x and enjoyed the sight of a bright, slightly greenish glowing cloud of gas. No central star visible. NGC 5986: A rather bright, dense globular cluster. I resolved three brighter stars in this globular while the rest of it was mottled at 343x. Clear Skies Joe

Wow, I've always wanted to see aurora. There is actually a slim 8% chance of seeing aurora australis tonight, despite my latitude of -32°. This speaks volumes of the awesome power of this current solar storm triggered by the monster AR 3664!

Now you are just rubbing it in Stu 😊✌️ Enjoy guys, I may just have to come up there to the antipodes😀

Wow, you guys in UK are sure getting an amazing show with the aurora🧐🤯 I'm green with envy!

The things we do for Astronomy eyy?! 😅

I brought out my 10 inch dob to enjoy a clear night of observations last night. Despite it being a "dark night" ie no moon, my backyard sky was awash with light pollution. The brightest it's been in a while for some reason 😭 Despite this I pushed on with my planned session in Virgo and saw three new to me galaxies, NGC 4261, NGC 4526 and NGC 4442. I also enjoyed quite a good view of M 104 the Sombrero Hat Galaxy. The highlight of the night was observing comet C/2023 Tsuchinshan ATLAS for the first time. It appeared as a faint blur, but seen nonetheless. A nice but cold and light polluted session!

Hi John. I recall that you had a 12 inch dobsonian. Have you sold it? Joe

I got my first sightings of comet 12P/Pons Brooks last night using my 10x50mm binoculars in the fading twilight. It was 11° above the horizon near the star u Tauri. This really is a bright comet as I did not expect to catch it in my bino's so low down plus the sky was not completely dark yet! It appeared a distinctive light blue colour. Fantastic 😍

I had a nice session last night observing in Canis Major with my 10 inch dob. Tried splitting Sirius but was unsuccessful this night. Nice views were had of M41, NGC 2362 and the lovely double star HR 2764. The highlight of the night was catching the supernova SN2024ggi in galaxy NGC 3621 in Hydra. I couldn't see the galaxy itself but spotted the supernova as a clear dot! I estimate it to be around mag 11.5. Just my second ever observation of a supernova so pretty chuffed!

I had a nice 1 hour session observing the waxing crescent moon last night using my 10 inch dob. Firstly I used my 10x50mm binoculars to enjoy the sight of Elnath 2° away from the moon. A nice sight! Using my 10 inch, I saw for the first time the crater Cauchy sandwiched in between Rupes Cauchy and Rima Cauchy. How I've never seen this feature before is beyond me as it looked very prominent last night. Very interesting seeing a crater between two linear features! Clear Skies Joe

Hi @lunator and congratulations on moving to darker skies! Darker skies bring the biggest improvements to visual observing. Enjoy! Clear Skies Joe

It was a partly cloudy and misty night here in Perth. Just enough gaps in the clouds for me to observe with my 10x50mm binoculars. The highlight was watching the waning gibbous moon slowly rise above the horizon with red Antares 1° away! Absolutely fantastic sight in the bino's . I was surprised that I could make out Antares that low down.

This is a heartbreaking report @DPF😭

Yeah John, the cloud gods don't miss a thing unfortunately 😞

Hi @MalcolmM, yes I have seen the planetary NGC 2438 that's embedded in M46. It's a lovely sight. Cheers Joe

Nice report @MalcolmM! Canis Major and Puppis are favourite hunting grounds for me being in the southern hemisphere. 145 Canis Majoris is the "summer Albireo" for us ☺️. Next to that beautiful double is NGC 2362, the stunning Tau Canis Majoris cluster. Did you get a chance to see it? Funny you mentioned the "mottling" in Canis Major, this was the area I first noticed this phenomenon back in 2020 with my first scope. Puppis contains a lot of beautiful open clusters, I hope you continue to enjoy observing this rich region. Clear Skies Joe

Nice one Stu. Drinking up the Double Cluster with a 31mm Nagler sure sounds like fun. I hope to see this sight one day..