Did you get out last night?

[klytus]

Just curious how many managed to get some stargazing done last night,unfortunately i was otherwise occupied getting rid of a rather nasty chest infection

[jflowers]

Sorry to hear you didn't manage it

Not to rub it in, but it was fantastic here, nice and steady and very clear. Virgo cluster, Saturn, some nice globulars and Venus all nicely placed from the back garden and to top it off, the neighbours are on holiday so no Blackpool illuminations either

Hope you get out soon!

[pajr777]

No I didn't - was out Friday until 00:30 and packed in, disgruntled with the lack of darkness and my failure with my first go at webcam AP. Went for a long mountain bike ride yesterday and had a few drinks in the evening in front of the telly

Might give the webcam another shot tonight, testing on Mars which will be up early enough. Work tomorrow so not too late..

[ObscuredbyClouds]

Managed a couple of good learning hours with me bins spying G.Clusters

[patomlin76]

Best seeing conditions ever for me last night. Only an hour session but for me that's enough. Bagged some fantastic views of m92 & 13... Skies were so still it looked better than some winter nights!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[samtheeagle]

No joy for me I seem to have my own personal cloud bank... We were catching up with friends during the evening, they're only about 40 minutes down the motorway, and it was lovely and clear there. Turned in the direction of home to see a massive lump of cloud, and sure enough it was hanging right over our place :S Still, I really needed to catch up on some sleep, so a very small part of me was glad for the excuse to just turn in for the night.

[Charon]

Cloudy over here so I went to my friends bar and downed a Mythos or three.

[euphony]

Back to earth with a bump for me last night

Friday was incredible, but last night just didn't seem to be dark. I just struggled to see any detail other than Mars and Saturn. I was extremely disappointed after Friday was so good. It just amazes me how consecutive nights can both be clear and I can observe from the same part of the garden and have two completely different experiences! No idea why it was so difficult last night. Oh well, maybe next week

[TREJ]

Good conditions here last night although there was occasional cloud. Got home at 10.00 and aligned on Venus –nice crescent at the moment. As it got darker I set up the binoviewer with my Xcel-LX 18mm’s and slewed to Saturn. Great view; it seemed to just float there in space so I didn’t bother to change the “stereo” view for a “mono” higher power. My chest cold and wife eventually dragged me in however. Still the best viewing for weeks it seems.

[sanmatt]

We had a good night. Finally managed to work out 2 star and calibration star alignment, and following the instructions we polar aligned on Pollox (which had been the last star we calibrated on)! It was jolly accurate though, very good slewing.

we saw Saturn, Mars, 19 Lyncis double star, Eskimo Neb, Theta 2 Can, Iota Cancer, M81, M82, Crown Cluster, Black eye Galaxy, Sunflower Galaxy, Ring Cluster, Blinking Planet Neb, Dumbell Neb.

Well, when I say 'saw' I do mean found a faint fuzzy that's supposed to be something lol. But it was thrilling to try and describe what we were seeing to each other until we swapped over to look. One or two of those we werent sure we could actually see anything, averted or otherwise.

Also planned to see a mag -8 Iridium Flare, and managed to image that very nicely

And a couple of chinese lanterns (I think they were, they cant have been anything natural) - they look like fireballs going steady and fast across the sky, but there were two of them, in a line.

A very good first slew - despite being back garden with plenty of LP

[petermarknimmo]

Sorry to hear you didnt make it out last night.

On the other hand, I saw the ring nebula for the first time

[JamesF]

Out on Friday night until well gone 2am, then woken before 8am by the children. Out again last night trying out the new Lifecam on Saturn, but around midnight some cloud started to drift over and I could easily have fallen asleep at the PC so decided to call it a night. The transparency wasn't stunning though I was hoping it would improve as the night went on, but whilst the spirit was willing, the body was weak...

James

[JamesF]

Just checked the weather forecast. Looks like my next decent night's sleep may well be Wednesday...

James

[malc-c]

Well after missing Friday night due to technical issues with the mount I ventured out around 11:00pm last night as the clouds had blown away.... first half hour or so was spend setting up the camera and re-alignment, then bagged M13, M101, M57 and a few other NGC's before noticing the background sky was getting lighter... retired to bed at around 4:20am then got woken up at 7am by someones cockerel crowing its head off !!

Nice night, and with few clouds around chance to do some solar imaging later today as well - shame I have work in the morning, it would of been better if we had these conditions last weekend

[Darkstar_1]

Lovely clear sky here, so i took the mak127 out, got it nicely aligned got a quick view of Saturn then the cursed batteries died aaaaaargh:( but on a brighter note the misses said i can get a bigger scope (without go to) so it seems a 200p on an eq5 is on the cards:) no batteries just a steep learning curve ha ha.

[Monty]

Had a fantastic night here in Cheshunt and finally bagged my first galaxy "m82". If I'd calmed down and thought about it I could've bagged "m81 at the same time.

Used Vega to adjust the spotting scope and was delighted with the clarity of the viewing sky.

We're lucky here, after midnight the local authority turn off most of the street lighting. Fingers crossed the pressure from the residents doesn't make them reverse the decision.

[Paulus17]

I went out Friday night with PorkyB,Andy,who took his telescope,and we had a good night.

I saw Saturn and its rings and a couple of its moons for the very first time and it was just incredible to see it like that:hello2:

Then Andy found the upside down coat hanger in his bins which was great also.

But as said above it didn't really seem to go dark??

[Moonshane]

got out Friday http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=188791 but not last night.

[Alan_B]

Had a good couple of hours of excellent seeing. saturn was magnificent through the dob + BGO 7mm

Clouds started to roll in at 01.00 so went to bed - really good night though

[brucen]

Woke up at 2.30 and looked out the window to find a beautiful clear sky. Mangaged to get a great view of saturn before it went behind the trees - although the scope could have done with cooling down a bit more. Even so it was a fantastic sight.

[NigelCampbell]

Yes amazingly last nights clear skies coincided with a Star Party that Macclesfield Astronomy Society were holding at Teggs Nose (which is 5 mins drive from my cottage). Lots of great targets to look at and my goto scope behaved itself impeccably for once!

The only down side was breaking one if the spreaders on the tripod when packing up (posted about that for hep in the Equipment/Mounts section.

Though we were all trying to squeeze in as many targets as possible most admitted to returning to Saturn like a guilty pleasure!

[petermarknimmo]

Oh are you in the macclesfeild astronomy society?

I was concidering joining

[David Smith]

Didn't do much Friday, shattered after work. Out last night though and picked off M107 in Ophiuchus. Had struggled to find this one previously due to low altitude and lots of LP in the south from home. Only 11 left to get!

[Cath]

[puts hand up]

Though I too am trying to get rid of a chest infection. Its difficult trying to keep steady whilst looking through the eye piece whilst coughing whilst trying not to cough.

[M4lcs67]

Certainly did. First time i've been able to get out in about 2 months, due to the lousy weather. Had a very good night and had the first light of my new Hyperion 10mm/14mm ftr combo which worked like a dream.

All in all very pleased.