Jupiter, Mars, Venus & Catalina

[bambuko]

After prolonged period of really bad weather... tonight I got up at 4am and had really good time with Jupiter, Mars, eventually Venus, but what really made my day was the comet - Catalina.

Used my TAL-1 with 25mm Vixen LV. Only x32 but any more and it wasn't any good...

Much fainter than I was hoping for, but un-mistakeable

Time to go to bed for a couple of hours at least before the day starts properly

[Knighty2112]

Well done. I got up at 5am to look for Catalina too. Clouds decided to roll in and tease me, so that even though I could glimpse Jupiter, Mars & Venus through the clouds, there was too much cover to show anything else. Have to try another morning to see it alas!

[Joe12345]

I just saw Catalina too, not quite bright enough to see tails, but definitely there in my 8" dob.

I also saw an annoying white line above it. It was there in all my eyepieces, with or without the dew shield. I couldn't see anything on my optics. I tried with bins, and the same line appeared in black. Then I saw it with the naked eye - turns out it was a telephone wire!

[The Admiral]

I set the alarm to get up early today and got the gear out relatively quickly. It was the first time I'd used my new 4" APO on Jupiter, Mars and Venus. I think (I'm a novice!) the seeing was OK, focus coming in and out a bit, but the bands on Jupiter were certainly discernible.

Then I had a scan around for Catalina and managed to track it down. I could make out a brighter core surrounded by fuzz, but no visible evidence of a tail. It wasn't bright at all, but it didn't need averted vision to make it out.

And as a bonus, the crescent moon crept up above my horizon, and a little later it caught some earth-shine. Too low to get any reasonable detail, but very attractive nonetheless.

Ian

[Pete Presland]

Like you all i also got up for the morning show. Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Catalina, and that beautiful earthshine moon! Went to work with a smile today.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

[kerrylewis]

I got up around 3.00 so i was a bit too tired to wait for the moon! Good view of Catalina through the SCT though. I thought that I detected a tail (see post under Comets etc.) but I need someone to post an image to confirm.

A great morning 

[laudropb]

Set the alarm for an early rise, but when it woke me I could hear the rain battering off the window and the wind howling. Turned over and went back to sleep. Well done to those of you who got the comet.