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Whoohoo got it Jupiter/Venus

bomberbaz

By bomberbaz
in The Astro Lounge

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bomberbaz

bomberbaz

Posted
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Well the 3.45am get up proved entirely worth it. Got to my chosen venue (Farmers road heavily laden in cow pooh) for just after 4am and quickly setup the 100p on flimsy tripod at the front of the car. Fact is the whole setup lies acccross my back seat and the only setting up is splaying the legs and away you go. 

First thing I noticed, heavy bank of clouds N/E over where they were due to rise, so I decided to start with M45, not seen this in months and it was nice to get a decent view this early on in the year. Next my thoughts turned to Orion (still too much cloud N/E) but it was rather cloudy here too. Then  I spotted Rigel, ok so its clearing, then Betelguese shone its bright reddish glare through the cloud! Then I got Alnitak. Ok straight line from there to there and yes, there it was. Although by now dawn well well on the way to breeaking but I slapped a UHC filter and got a reasonable view here of Orion although in all fairness nothing to write home about. (hang on, thats exactly what I am doing  :rolleyes: )

Now I peered back N/E, still too much cloud. I decided to just check out where Venus should be on stellarium (Laptop in back of car) and it showed the location and I judged the height in sky where it should be and peered into the direction when I saw a pin point of light through the now thinning cloud, oh my god there it is. I jumped out from behind the car door, nearly slipped in a pile of cow muck and almost knocked the scope flying in my haste to get to it. "Quick" I screamed in my mind before the clouds roll in, down onto my knee avoiding the now well recorded cow pooh and got the red dot onto it. Only at 16x now but there she was, shining brightly in the morning sky. A few seconds later and duiller light shone out and there it was, Jupiter, oh wow, and wow again. The clouds began to part. A thin sliver of morning sky between layers of fast moving dark clouds, oh thank you cloud god, thankyou for not dashing my hopes and bringing me a few moments of cloudless sky just where I wanted it!

Ok so crank it up a little to 50x (as much as i dare with the rather naff mount) and there we are, sitting nicely iin the middle and there I could "just" make out IO and Europa along with hints of cloud belts. But how brigtly Venus shone, this was amazing and I can honestly say this was worth losing a few hours sleep for this "Oh my god" moment. I managed bout 15 minutes peering at these two galactic neighbours and then the clouds closed in again. 

Now this is to me one of those rare moments when the weather actually plays ball and I promise never to curse again at the weather (fingers crossed  :grin: )

The picture below is the best I could manage with an Iphone, shakey mount and stiff morning breeze, ( I never mentioned I was actually freezing on the open field)

post-26735-0-17543600-1408337222_thumb.j

I hope some others managed to get a peep at this too but for me this was the first, but not last time of losing a few hours to get this type of moment. When I got home and started typing this review the enormity of the occasion to me hit home and I had to draw breath a few times whilst typing. Thats all, hope you enjoy my review, clear skies all

Steve/Baz

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Paul M

Paul M

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I was up all night working and kept a close eye on the sky.

Unfortunately the clouds didn't part until about 5:30. By then the sky was getting bright.

Between the clouds I spotted Venus but needed the bins to pick out Jupiter.

Still a nice pairing but spoiled by conditions :(

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Ant

Ant

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I packed the car last night, set the alarm for 4am.

Woke to a 80/20 clear sky :), took a walk over the location I was going and watch a thick bank of cloud coming in from the north :(

By the time I called it a night (morning), castor and Pollox had gone.

Just before 5 I climbed back into bed.

Really pleased you managed to see it :D

Ant

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Davey-T

Davey-T

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Well spotted. Was going to get up for a look but was up till 2.30 imaging Comet Jacques and had to get up at 6.00 for work, sky was perfectly clear when I went to bed but cloudy when I got up so don't know if I could have seen it.

Dave

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bomberbaz

bomberbaz

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Thanks for kind comments all, really was a fab hour seeing so much in what were fairly poor conditions. And faulksy, my heart was beating when I first saw Venus pop its head over the cloud line, not had an Astro wow moment like that since the first time I saw Saturn, amazing.

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michael8554

michael8554

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Failed with Canon 1000D and 80mm F6 refractor - tripod too wobbly and FOV too tight, no horizon or trees to give scale to the images.

Got shots with the Canon and 28-85mm lens, but now FOV too loose, Jupiter and Venus little dots.

Visually the conjunction was fantastic to see.


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