Anybody out last night?

[AndyWB]

So after the heavy rain had passed over Berkshire yesterday evening, it seemed to clear up a bit. I've a number of galaxies I want to track down, so I thought I'd cart the 10" outside and see if I could at least get a faint glimpse of some of them, and I'd like a gander at the planets too.

As Jupiter was setting, I decided to start with it - and it was awful. I couldn't get sharp focus, and at points it almost looked like there were multiple images of the planet. "Ah", I thought, "Maybe this is the whole tube currents thing". Normally my scopes live in my unheated spare room - but I'd had visitors, and so the heating had been on. I pointed at a star, defocussed, and instead of a nice ring, I got a round mush with wavey lines that would gradually move through it.

So I'm guessing that's an uncooled scope? I've never had that before. Either than or the air was very turbulent after the heavy rainstorm we'd had.

I had a gander for galaxies in Leo, but the light pollution to the south was very bad. It turns out that when the local football team plays the stadium's floodlights cause significantly worse light pollution.

I managed to faintly see M65, M66, M105 with NGC3371, M96, and M95. None of the triplets were triple.

By now I'd been out an hour, and Mars had appeared over the trees, so I decided to give it a go - but it was still very hard to find focus, and I couldn't seem much detail. I could make out different coloured patches on the surface, and saw a lighter patch where the ice cap should be (according to SkySafari), and also where the Tharsis bulge should be. I don't know - does that appear lighter?

Oh, that was using my new 6mm Vixen SLV. I can't say that I feel it's enough to give any real feedback. I would say that the 6mm length does feel like it filled a gap in my lineup, and optically it looked good to me - but given the conditions, it was very hard to tell a lot. Given how bad Jupiter looked, I was pleased to make out what little I did on Mars - but I've seen better with my 130p.

And at that point I decided I couldn't be bothered, so I packed up and went back in. Really looking forward to SGL and some darkness.

[oldpink]

was curtain twitching all night but too much cloud until very early
about 4 AM there was a break and Mars & Saturn were clear but more cloud moving in and moon rising

so I decided it wasn't worth the effort and setup, hoping tonight is a bit better

[Pig]

I was hoping to Andy but the clouds wouldn't budge, I waited up until 1am and the clouds had broken a little by then, but alas, I gave up and went to bed.

I was hoping the Sun would come out today so I could get the solar scope out but it hasn't stopped raining

[Charon]

Yes I was, I had a great night in the local taverna.

[AlexB67]

Sounds like tube currents and a warm scope  a lot as well Andy. I always have mine in the warm house and it take an hour to hour and half for it to get good views. I now put it out well before I even start on planets. I rather not leave it my damp shed though.

[cotterless45]

Yep, had a couple of fine hours, waiting for the forecast 00-3.00 clear skies. That turned to cloud earlier. Jupiter was very fine with a lovely GRS,

Nick.

[kerrylewis]

I was out around 10.00pm with my grab'n'go 100mm refractor on Portamount. There were sufficient breaks in the cloud to have a go at Jupiter and Mars. In fact I was swinging between the two as one was obscured by clouds! I missed the earlier shadow transit on Jupiter but the GRS was good -  right in the middle of the planet. Seeing was Ok with good details round the GRS and in the 'polar' areas. Some detail on Mars but it was better in the morning. 

I checked around 2.00am and it was cloudy but by 4.00 it was worth getting up. Slightly hazy but very steady seeing and more detail visible on Mars. I have got up a few times lately at around the same time and it's interesting with Mars and its 24hr (approx) rotation period, that the details are very similar each time.

Saturn was quite crisp with the Cassini popping in and out of view but just as I was getting my eye in (you guessed it) in came the clouds agin - back to bed!

Kerry 

[WaveSoarer]

I set up just at about nine o'clock as the sky was clear here. It had been raining for most of the day and the air was faintly misty at low level (very slight and only noticeable under the street lights) which meant that the transparency wasn't great. I was intending to do some imaging so I got on with this rather than run the risk of the telescope dewing up before I had a reasonable number of subs. The sky was clear for almost two hours before the cloud rolled in. The scope didn't dew up in the end, much to my surprise, and it cleared again just after I'd put everything away.

[AndyWB]

Sounds like tube currents and a warm scope  a lot as well Andy. I always have mine in the warm house and it take an hour to hour and half for it to get good views. I now put it out well before I even start on planets. I rather not leave it my damp shed though.

Well, that's an education - and it's back in the unheated spare room, again. I hadn't realised what a difference that makes, though obviously when I walk in there it's pretty obvious! My spare room is like a dry, indoor garage, though.

Now that I'm in my second year of doing this, I do think that this time of year does seem to lack having big, bright, exciting things to look at (planets accepted), but has absolutely tonnes of dim fuzzy things instead. It's just unfortunate that 'dim' doesn't really work with all the light pollution around here. Really looking forward to SGL, and hoping for clear skies!

[Paul73]

Good Report Andy.

Can't wait to read your considered view on the new 6mm SLV in your 10" scope. I'm considering a similar combination.

Paul