lunator

Nova Cass is still quite bright. It looked reddish-orange to me. It was fainter than bright star HD220819 (6.61) Similar to HD220057 (6.94) Brighter than HD220770 (7.82) star and much brighter than SAO20610 (8.97) I estimated the magnitude to be about 7. It was my 2nd novae of the night cheers Ian

Despite having a week off the weather has been pretty poor here in Bucks. There was some hope for clear skies and I was planning to get a quick look at RS Ophiuchi and the novae in Cassiopeia. It was looking good around 8.30pm so grabbed my ‘grab and go’ set up of ST80 on the heavy duty photo tripod. The 1st stop was the Moon low on South in between the houses. Starting with the 25mm ortho giving x16and then using the 12.5mm(x32). The moon fitted comfortably in the field of view with clear detail. This gave me my first indication the seeing was good. I particularly liked the view of the Clavius crater. I could see some of the interior craters so I pushed the magnification to x100 (4mm ortho) and the smaller craters were very clearly visible within clavius. RS Ophiuchi Dropped back to the 25mm (x16), first impression – no colour. Used the 12.5mm to darken the sky background a little more. It is quite faint now. Fainter than HD162488 (7.98) Similar in brightness to HD162215 (9.68) & HD162369 (9.56) Brighter than HD162449 (9.81) I estimated the Magnitude at 9.6. My 2nd Novae of the night was the novae in Cassiopeia. Just used the 25mm. Nova Cass is still quite bright. It looked reddish-orange to me. It was fainter than bright star HD220819 (6.61) Similar to HD220057 (6.94) Brighter than HD220770 (7.82) star and much brighter than SAO20610 (8.97) I estimated the magnitude to be about 7. Saturn had cleared the houses and with the conditions I decided to push the magnification to maximum available using the 4mm ortho. (x100). For the first time I spotted the band on the surface (this is easy in my large scopes) and I am certain I could see the Cassini division. I moved onto Jupiter and very quickly decided to stay with the 4mm. I could clearly see multiple belts with details on their edges. Seeing all the belts and not just the equatorial ones was a very pleasant surprise. The 4 moons were strung out 2 either side. This was the best view of Jupiter I had had in a small scope. With the good seeing I decided to have a go at Pi Aqilae. It would be tricky in the ST80 with a separation of 1.4” and a delta M of 0.41 The ST80 Raleigh criteria of 1.725” and a Dawes limit of 1.45” In my experience for bright close pairs even at the Dawes limit you can detect the companion if it is with 2 magnitudes of the primary. I was able to see an elongated star and when checked against WDs it was in the right quadrant. Overall i was quite pleased with the result.

Nice report the seeing was very good last night. Even though the moon was low the detail was excellent.

It has been obscured by trees until recently. It should be visible now so hopefully I can get another look 😉. It will be interesting to see what the professionals have as an explanation for the behaviour. Cheers Ian

i managed a quick look at this last night. Conditions weren't great, transparency was quite poor. RS has continued to fade. it looked fainter than HD162488 but brighter than the other field stars. I couldn't see any colour. my rough estimate was mag 8.6 cheers Ian

I have a range of volcano top orthos. I picked them up as a lot when Telescope House were selling them off. For double star and planetary they are excellent. I have even been using them in my ST80 whilst watching RS Oph. They way I look at it is, the lens layout is pretty much the same as an Apo refractor so by wouldn't the views be excellent Cheers Ian

Hi John, note Cass is a fantastic sight. The only frac is my little ST80 and it might struggle with the close pair. I will give it a go sometime. I do like the view in my 8" f6 newt cheers Ian

Sounds a good session I stopped off at M57 last night as well. It is always worth having a look Cheers Ian

I got my OMC250 on this last night. The magnitude was still similar at around 8.2. The red was much more apparent using the 250mm vs the 80mm. Neil, based on the previous eruptions the average is about 15 years but varies between 9 & 26 years so there is a good chance to see it go again. The biggest issue could be if it happens when the Sun is in the same part of the sky and it gets missed. I am going to go out on a limb and say the next Outburst could be less than ten years. The previous outbursts are noted as 1898,1907,1933, 1945, 1958,1967,1985,2006,2021 The gaps are 9,26,12,13,9,18,21,15. If you take the 1907,1933,1945,1958 you get 51 years. If you take 1967,1985,2006,2021 you get 54 years. It may be just co-incidence but I wonder if there is a third component in the system with ~50 year orbit having an effect. I might be completely and utterly wrong tho' Cheers Ian

I have been following RS Oph quite closely. It is the 1st variable I really paid attention too. From a visual perspective at 8th mag it is still bright enough to show colour even in a small scope. I have been using an ST80. It does show "flashes" of red when I am observing it but the change in colour does not seem to have changed the overall magnitude as far as it appears to me. Cheers Ian

I managed a very short session last night, the was a 45 min clear patch between the clouds. A quick check in on RS Oph. Still about mag 8.2 not major change but the redness is quite noticeable. I will miss RS when it is back to 11th-12th Mag. I have been reading the free papers submitted in it and it seems there has been quite a lot of discussion about it's nature and distance etc. I even looked into the Gaia data and the orbit would swamp the parallax signal so they don't have. a distance for RS. Next stop was Saturn. Titan was clearly visible and I thought I got a glimpse of the Cassini division at x100 (4mm ortho) It may just have been averted imagination :). Final port of call was Jupiter. It was only just clear of the house but seeing was good enough to see several cloud bans and the GRS. The best views were at x80 & x100. I could see 3 moons but it was not until I came in looked at Sky Safari I discovered Io and Europa were on 2" apart so I was looking at 2 moons but not realising this. The OMC might have been a better one to see this in. The clouds rolled in at this point. As a PS Ethel joined in and I have now designated her my official hedgehog observing Companion Cheers Ian

Paul, great report. It is always fantastic to see people reaction to what can be seen through a telescope 😀 Cheers Ian

Hi John, nice report I have never seen Triton. I may have to try with Mr Dobbie. I hope to have another look at Saturn & Jupiter tonight. Cheers Ian

Hi John, yes it was nice to get out

Last night was looking fairly promising and i wantd to check up on RS Oph. I have my grab and go set up of ST80, photo tripod and ortho eyepieces. I put the scope in the middle of the garden to cool down a bit whilst trying to avoid the slugs and snails (they have had a very successful year this year, the pea plants less so...). I placed my observing log and pencil case on the swing seat, I do love a bit of high-tech First stop RS Oph. My route to finding it is start at Rasalhague (Alpha Oph) and move down to 67/68/70 Oph. Go south from this triangle and you will find a fainter triangle of Zeta Ser/HR6686/6706. On the opposite of the triangle from Zeta Ser are the 3 stars HD162713/1562834 and YOph. RS Oph is in the same field of view. Rs Oph is fading but at a slower rate now. It has changed from a golden yellow to a more reddish-yellow. Around Mag 8. plenty of similar stars to compare it to. Next planned stop were STF1814/1829 in Bootes went via Mizar and Alcor. Mizar were is neat pair of white stars just split at x16. I was disturbed at this point by our semi-domesticated hedgehog 'Ethel' crashing through the undergrowth. I moved to see where she was and realised if I moved the scope I could see Saturn and Jupiter. I spent a good 30 mins viewing them. The ST80 had started to dew up so I called it a night. I will add reports in the appropriate section for the double and planets. Cheers Ian

I had a much better view last night. Using the grab and go ST80 set up the colour was more apparent. It has gone from the golden yellow colour similar to HD162834 to a reddish colour. Brightness was similar to HD162488. So probably about mag 8.1. The haze last night did make it look slightly dimmer. Cheers Ian

Hi John Nice report , I had short session with my ST80 last night. Despite Jupiter being just above the house the view was fairly steady. Saturn didn't look too bad either. Cheers Ian

Hi Nik same here. I had a look at 22.30 last night. There was a bit of haze/contrails around making things a little tricky. In my 15x70's RS Oph was fainter than HD162488 7.98 but slightly brighter than HD162506 8.38 so my best estimate is mag 8.2. The colour did seem more muted last night and I think the haze was the issue. Cheers Ian

Managed a quick look in the 15x70 Binos. It is slightly fainter then HD162834 but still slightly brighter than HD162506. I estimated mag 7.5. Cheers Ian

Hi John Nice report M33 is always tricky. I have never an it from home. It was cloudy here unfortunately. Cheers Ian

Hi JK 31 Sky Safari is an excellent bit of software. I use it on my phone and tab. The database is pretty accurate but not totally upto date. Only the WDS catalogue and Stella Doppie are fully upto date. It shouldn't be a major issue as Most doubles don't change quickly but where an observation is quite old then expect the parameters to have changed a bit. The advantage of SS is that it does get updated. I have numerous double star books and the data is quite inaccurate now. Cheers Ian

Hi Stu Congrats on the move, this is the area I have been looking at as well. I can't move for another couple of years. It is fantastic down there. If you get a chance take some binos up Golden Cap, and when at the coast you have to do some fossiling 😊 Cheers Ian

RS Oph is definitely fainter I estimate mag 6.5. It appeared slightly brighter than HD162713 and a similar colour. It was still very easy to find in the 10x50 binoculars and the ST80. Cheers Ian

Hi Paul Transparency is fairly easy. i know what I can see naked eye from my location on an excellent night (About mag 5.5) and this would score 1/5. This is very rare :). It is quite obvious when there is high cloud or haze about and once you can only see mag 3 stars you are well into a 4/5 transparency. I rarely try viewing anything other than the moon on these types of nights. Seeing is slightly trickier as it can vary quite quickly. You neeed to have a cooled scope and look at a de-focussed star. I use the alignment star when starting the EQ6. At high magnification you can see the atmospheric movements. Some nights it is obvious that there are "waves and wobbles" of air.This means that seeing will be 4 or 5/5. Other nights it can be very still and seeing will be 1 or 2 out of 5. As I do double star observing I can see if the seeing is changing. Even on nights of 3-4 out of 5 you can get moments of excellent seeing. cheers Ian

I managed to have a quick look last night. There was thin high cloud making it a less than perfect night. Using my ST80 with a 25mm ortho eyepiece giving x16' magnification approximately 2.75 degree field of view. I estimated the magnitude at 5.5. I hope for a few more clear night to watch it change colour. Cheers Ian