Bathing in frosty moonlight.

[cotterless45]

Bathed in moonlight , Jupiter gave some strange effects in the fov at x40. After about a chilly one am., I caught the full transit of the dark GRS . The seeing wasn't brilliant, blasting up from x150 to x200, showed belt edge details and some darker areas to the northern belt. Later the tiny white pea of Callipso popped out of the limb. Fine focussing to get it snap on was followed by just sitting and waiting as details came and went, a bit of relaxing patience here. I gave up feeling my fingers in the end, just ignore the cold !

The terminator wasn't much joy, in the wobble some details of crater walls, crease ridges and mounts were enjoyed.

I caught comet Catalina in Draco, it's heading for the pole. Moonlight made it appear less bright than of late. I tried Leo Minor for the other bright comet (+9) P2010 V1 Ikeya-Murakami, something there in the moonlight.

Starting on Burnham's doubles in Leo, I was lucky to get Σ1417 ,a faint 2.2" double in Leo, before moving onto the doubles in high Coma Bernices.
Wind had dropped to give a lovely crisp , but bright night. 
I noted that the eq5 and dew strip were pulling 1.75Ah per hour. I was cut short when the small SW power pack ran out. It came with a mount, just handy for those trips in the deep dark under,
Clear skies !
Nick.

[ronl]

Nice report Nick, as you said not great seeing, but getting out on a lovely cloud free night is a bonus at the moment,

Jupiter being close to the Moon is not good for observing but who cares, getting out and enjoying a session makes 

it worth while.

[Dave In Vermont]

Indeed Ron! Great report, Nick. We've got some clear(iffy) skies here. But the 'seeing' isn't the best either. I'm waiting for the procession of planets to rise for my 15 X 70mm binoculars. Already have the local plague (bad cold making it's rounds), so i'm not going to over-exert my body. Good you caught another comet - that's on my list as well!

"Swearing At The Moon" (a bad movie I'll write),

Dave

[laudropb]

Another nice report. Sky was only partially clear here, but Jupiter and the Moon were well placed in a clear patch about midnight. However the seeing was terrible and I gave up after half an hour.

[cotterless45]

Get a 102 achro, not only is it a proper scope, but it blasts through poor seeing !

nick.

[Patbloke]

6 hours ago, cotterless45 said:

Get a 102 achro, not only is it a proper scope, but it blasts through poor seeing !

nick.

Oh yes, oh yes.. Love my 102 Strarwave :-) so manageable!

[Special K]

Great one, Nick!  Such variety when the moon backs off a bit.  That second comet sounds interesting.  It was a gorgeous morning here though I could think of a thousand excuses not to get out of bed at 4am.  But once up and out, the bins looked great on the waning Moon closeby Jupiter. I followed the line east through Spica and Mars looking spellbindingly RED!  Around 5:45 the air was still with birds chiming in a chorus.  I knew I'd missed a great opportunity due to work but stopped the car at an unobstructed eastern vantage. Scorpio and Saturn were a surprise to see, giving me ideas for the future. Hoping to see more of your famous Clear Skies!

[mapstar]

Great stuff again Nick 

[Piero]

Nice report. Also here, seeing is quite naughty in these days..