An unexpected perfect night

[DaveGarland]

Well, the weather forcast said 17% cloud so I didn't bother setting the scope up. My wife is still at a birthday party with the kids, so here I am. All alone in the garden next to an open fire in my shorts. And there isn't a cloud in the sky!!! It's absolutely crystal clear and I'm not going to bother getting the scope out. Sometimes it's just nice to lay back on a lounger and see the sky as its meant to be. I'm in heaven

[John]

Yep, it looks a good one Dave

My 10" newtonian is just cooling down but just sipping a cold beer and using the eyes is great

[Uranium235]

Already imaging here, and good all the way down to the horizon (at the moment) so im giving M17 another go.

[DaveGarland]

Oooo and I do believe that was the ISS!

[kevrees]

Oooo and I do believe that was the ISS!

Yep, just saw it as well

Only went out to see if its worth taking the lounger to have a couple of hours under the stars with the binoculars so seeing that was a nice surprise.

Quick question, without thread-jacking, how does it go out of view so quickly, is it due to the way it orbits ?

[martin_h]

Oooo and I do believe that was the ISS!

It depends on the earths shadow, sometimes you get a horizon to horizon view sometimes only a few seconds

[DaveGarland]

I believe it's flying into the earths shadow. Me and my kids always wave at the spacemen. Awww.

[Codmate]

Yeah, it was pretty good here until a few minutes ago when the cloud jaws closed.

It was clear enough for me to find a faint M12 for the first time.

Even though it's close by, I couldn't find M10, mainly due to dastardly LP!

I also checked in with a few old favorites including the Ring nebula in Lyra and both bright Hercules clusters (M13 & M92).

I have the lights of central Cardiff directly to the South, so this spoils anything near the horizon in that direction unfortunatly; although if I had trimmed my foliage today I would have caught Saturn at sunset.

I saw the ISS too! In-fact the sky was buzzing with satellites to the East and a bonus bright meteor streaking from S to SSW!

Twice I have caught the ISS in my 32mm EP; but this time I decided to be ambitious and try to catch it in my 11mm Nagler.

Not a chance! Saw a bright flash to the side on one attempt; so I got very close though!

<comic book villain voice>

I'll get you next time ISS!

</comic book villain voice>

A short night out there for me - but a good one

[kevrees]

Cool, thank you. My mum was asking, i never really thought about it, lol.

Well, time to get the lounger and bins out. Mission tonight is to try and find the coathangar and m13 again and maybe get a glimpse of my old nemesis m31 if i dont lose track of time looking at the milky way like i did last time. Make the most of these clear skies while we have them

Oh no, just saw your post Codmate, since im just up the road in the Rhondda no doubt the clouds will be rearing their ugly head here as well. Oh well, lets get out there and make the most of it, hopefully be able to post a report of sorts later

[Monty]

Too tired after a really hot day cleaning the bike. Off to collapse in a hot bed...

[petermarknimmo]

Same here! The met office were predicting total cloud cover

[John]

Well the cloud cover has arrived here

I'll leave the scope out for a bit in case it clears but it's not looking too great now.

I managed some nice views of half a dozen galaxies, my favourite summer triangle DSO's plus the globulars in Hercules so not a wasted night by any means though

[Carbon]

I headed up to my local dark site here in SoCal (Mt Pinos) on Saturday afternoon despite forecasts of intermittent thundershowers but as I arrived at the 8,300 ft summit there was not a cloud in the sky and stayed clear the entire night. I stayed til morning and took in some excellent views of M42, Venus, and Jupiter before sunrise. The seeing was excellent throughout the whole night.

I snapped this pic as soon as I arrived and set up my gear.

[martin_h]

The forcast clear weekend was a lie here, total cloud cover yesterday, and tonight, well lets just say its not cloudy, but not clear either.

[russ.will]

Last night caught me out. At 11pm, I stepped out the back door and thought 'Huh! Cloud bands'. Then I stopped and looked a little longer. It was the Milky Way, so bright and clear, even my non-dark adapted eyes could see it instantly. I was back inside like a flash, turning lights out and dragging the Dob onto the lawn.

It was staggering. I don't suffer much LP from my back garden, but I've never seen Andromeda naked eye from it. Until last night and you couldn't miss it. The Great Rift running through Cygnus was clear to the eye and whilst M57 isn't excatly hard to find, I've never (from the back garden) been able to turn the magnification up high enough and see the central star. Whoduvthunk?

Apparently, tomorrow night is predicted to be nearly as good. Mini Mexican wave from me!

Russell

[jam1e1]

Also had good night from back garden, saw loads satellites also the iss, though had oiii filter on and didn't have time to change so got a great green tinted view of iss! Saw both eastern and western veil nebulas as well as cats eye and dumbbell - the oiii really brought it out! Had a go at other nebs but lp made v hard to find so gave up and went back to wide field viewing around Cygnus great night! Tried new Meade 5k uwa 24mm wasn't a dissappointment!

[kevrees]

Within half hour of going outside, had a good look at the coathanger, and was mega pleased with myself being able to find it so thought id give trying to find m13 a go, found the 4 stars in the middle of hercules that kinda make a square and all of a sudden they started getting feinter and, yep, in came the clouds. Never mind was nice to have a quick fix and fun while it lasted

[AceShaw]

I've pretty much stopped trusting to forecast around these parts. The weather channel will tell me its pouring rain outside- and it will be a beautiful day!