1st January 2013 - Finally, A Break In The Clouds

[Double Kick Drum]

Sky clarity was not great with a VLM at zenith of magnitude 4.9 but a quick peek at Jupiter indicated seeing was better than usual. All four moons were on display (two on each side) with a nearby star, BD +20 744 completing a near perfect line of six .

Jupiter looked most impressive to the North of the Hyades. A more scaled down version of this was the nearby NGC 1647, with the asteroid 4 - Vesta in the same 25mm eyepiece field of view. 25 or more individual stars were visible but no hazy background which didn't surprise me given the lack of transparency in the sky.

I then moved across to the similar cluster NGC 1746 which had almost as many identifiable stars.

To the South of Taurus, two more open clusters were visible but much less impressive. NGC 1807 and the inferior NGC 1817 appeared in the same 25mm eyepiece field of view and appeared as chains of 15 and 7 stars respectively with little hint of any nebulosity.

A cloud bank was closing in from the Northwest but I still had time to find the very condensed open cluster NGC 1857 in Auriga.

All of this crammed into just over an hour.

Let's hope for more and longer opportunities soon.

Happy New Year!

__________________________________________________ ______

Observing Session: Tuesday, 1st January 2013, 17:50 hrs to 19:00 hrs GMT

VLM at Zenith: 4.9

New - Revisited - Failed

[rory]

brilliant dkd. great to finally get a break eh. (my scopes out coolin as i tap this message ) just want to see something ,anything .

happy new year mate.

[Bendeavour]

I went out tonight (tonight being 1/1/2012) and I wish I could say I saw that much.

I saw Jupiter and the 4 Galilean moons, the Pleiades, the double star Almaak and attempted to find the ring nebula and the double cluster but failed. Then the cloud came along so stopped

I wish I'd been able to see more

-Ben

[Double Kick Drum]

brilliant dkd. great to finally get a break eh. (my scopes out coolin as i tap this message ) just want to see something ,anything .

happy new year mate.

Cheers Rory.

Hope it stays clear long enough to ease the Astro-starvation we have all had to endure.

Clear skies!

[Double Kick Drum]

I went out tonight (tonight being 1/1/2012) and I wish I could say I saw that much.

I saw Jupiter and the 4 Galilean moons, the Pleiades, the double star Almaak and attempted to find the ring nebula and the double cluster but failed. Then the cloud came along so stopped

I wish I'd been able to see more

-Ben

The Ring nebula is starting to get quite low in the evening sky and is not at its best for another four months or more. It is a rewarding view though and well worth time at the eyepiece.

The best way to view the double cluster is probably with binoculars. It should be easier to locate too. Using a scope, low power is your best bet.

Clear skies!

[foundaplanet]

Nice one, it's good to get out again huh..

I have just managed an hour on Jupiter and I have to agree with you on seeing, it was pretty darn good. Clouded out now but I'm leaving the kit out for a bit, I always live in hope.

[Bendeavour]

The Ring nebula is starting to get quite low in the evening sky and is not at its best for another four months or more. It is a rewarding view though and well worth time at the eyepiece.

The best way to view the double cluster is probably with binoculars. It should be easier to locate too. Using a scope, low power is your best bet.

Clear skies!

my problem with the ring nebula was that I couldn't find it and the double cluster was about at the zenith and because i dont have a diagonal finder scope i was twisting my neck looking but thanks for the advise though.

-Ben

[m_j_lyons]

Jupiter was indeed brilliant least night...didn't know to look for Vesta...that would have been nice.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[SnakeyJ]

Thanks - you were spot on with the seeing, Jupiter was fantastic - I had counted 5 moons with BD +20 744 (newb), thanks for putting me straight and it was a fine line nonetheless. Sorry the cloud spoiled the session after an hour, but lets hope for another break in the cloud in the very near future.

[Double Kick Drum]

Thanks - you were spot on with the seeing, Jupiter was fantastic - I had counted 5 moons with BD +20 744 (newb), thanks for putting me straight and it was a fine line nonetheless. Sorry the cloud spoiled the session after an hour, but lets hope for another break in the cloud in the very near future.

Cheers, although to be fair I only identified BD +20 744 using Cartes du Ciel - a really useful tool for identifying all sorts.

Clear skies.

[VigdisVZ]

Great job man, I had a blast today also, didn't really see anything new however.