saturn..... then here we go again...

[nickdud]

after looking out of the window and seeing no clouds(seriously, its true i tell you!!) i decided to risk a look

after extracting the scope from behind the sofa and leaving it out in the garden to cool i located saturn(over the fence, right of the tree) and took a look, a little fuzzy but still, better than nothing, then suddenly from nowhere and faster than jensons practice lap, in rolled the clouds again.

i was still left thinking that it was 2 or 3 mins more than most people have spent looking at the rings tho so i'm still plenty happy here:)

[knobby]

Now that's what I call commitment!

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I believe you. I looked out half an hour ago, was clear. About 10mins ago i carried the scope downstairs, went to take the tripod out, black clouds everywhere

[JamesM]

Brief as that was, it was darn sight more than I have seen of late! I going to start keeping my kit behind the sofa to see what happens! :grin:

James

[cantab]

Reminds me of a few nights ago when I decided I'd point my binoculars on the Moon. Got all of a minute before the cloud banks came up and covered it

[Mr Moff]

Same here,I came out at half 11 and have had 4 hours observing. The only thing that brought me back in was daylight appearing.

[squeaky]

Same here, he sez, sipping a nice hot cuppa.

Not brilliant viewing; a high haze saw to that - but a good practice night.

And the heavy dew showed me that I seriously need to clean my secondary. I don't know who the mirror cleaner at the Skywatcher factory is but they left it very streaky. Doesn't show in day light, nor in dew free viewing - but a bit of dew and you can see every swipe mark of whatever rag they used.

Got some very odd spotty bits too.

[DazC]

I looked out the window at around 1am, saw the moon and a pretty clear sky and thought about getting my scope out to try my new lp filter out and my first atempt at a moded webcam for ap.

I'm glad i didn't as a few minutes later i looked again and guess what?.......

Yup, you guessed it, cloud, cloud, cloud!!!!!

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

D.C

[paul schofield]

Sounds like a great 3 minutes. We don't ask for much do we ? Hopefully next week we will get 10 minutes, I know, dream on.

[Bluey]

How bad have things got, we measure viewing time in minutes now!

[Paulus17]

Sounds like we are all desperate

Well i managed about an hour and half of looking at Staurn from the comfort of our front room.

I had a look on Stellarium at about 9-45pm and it was showing Saturn.So i jumped up out me comfy seat and had a look out the front and the sky was clearish to my amazement.

So i dragged the Dob out the corner again and sort of pointed it where i thought Saturn was,as i coudn't see it with the naked eye and i couldn't believe that i had it in the finder scope straight away all nice and bright against a blue sky.

So that was it put my 25mm EP in and it was just going out the left corner if there is a corner in a circle and that was it i put my 8mm in and just sat there in comfort watching it.

Then my daughters boyfriend came to pick her up,and he came in and had a look and i couldn't get him out the seat

I only saw one Moon though which i think was Titan

[squeaky]

How bad have things got, we measure viewing time in minutes now!

Day before yesterday I got time to set up a web cam, get focus on a star, switch to desired target... mouse cursor half way to the "Start Capture" button....

..boom! Cloud!

[Tinker1947]

i took a chance at 22:00, set it up to cool, at 23:15's found M14, then swung round to IC4665, dropped down a bit to M14, here are 800iso 30 second single J-Pegs

M15

M14

IC4665

[spacedyemeerkat]

Lovely pictures there.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I got a bit of solar viewing in today. Alot of sunspot activity, im pretty happy as its the first time ive seen the sun for a few days! Maybe tonight will be the night..

[dav1d]

Also got in a bit of sunspot viewing today, so quite pleased. Persuading registax to work on sunspots as the sun drifts across the FOV can be a bit hit & miss though

[Astro Imp]

Same here,I came out at half 11 and have had 4 hours observing. The only thing that brought me back in was daylight appearing.

Now come on, no need to rub it in, 4 hours all in one go!!!

[Matt Scunthorpe]

It seems clear outside at the moment, but a bit hazy, ill poke my head out the door in about half an hour and decide if its worth setting up, haven't had the scope outside for about a month so not missing any chances.

[Matt Scunthorpe]

its even hazier now, if thats a word. I can't wait until the dark (and hopefully clear) nights again, want to start working on clearing the messier list as a long term project.

[LukeSuppalot]

after looking out of the window and seeing no clouds(seriously, its true i tell you!!) i decided to risk a look

after extracting the scope from behind the sofa and leaving it out in the garden to cool i located saturn(over the fence, right of the tree) and took a look, a little fuzzy but still, better than nothing, then suddenly from nowhere and faster than jensons practice lap, in rolled the clouds again.

i was still left thinking that it was 2 or 3 mins more than most people have spent looking at the rings tho so i'm still plenty happy here:)

Exactly what happened to me this evening. Bloomin' frustrating I can tell you.

[x6gas]

Also got in a bit of sunspot viewing today, so quite pleased. Persuading registax to work on sunspots as the sun drifts across the FOV can be a bit hit & miss though

Try AutoStakkert - you might find it copes a little better...

[Donkeiller]

I'm impressed, the ONLY viewing I have had in the last 2-3 weeks is out of the window, watching

pigeons and crows on the chimneys opposite.

Spent today updating my baggage allowance with Ryanair, now that I have found I can fit my

Kson 1026ED, Synscan mount, batteries and EP case in a suitcase.

Off to Portigal in a few weeks- at least there will be clear skies there!