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Clear sky !!!


John

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It would be when a full moon is rising (wouldn't it ? :rolleyes2:) but the LZOS 130 tripet has cooled so I might be able to have a nice couple of hours out with it, with any luck. No wind either, at the moment.

First target: Tegmine / Zeta Cancri. Lovely triple system at 240x and 300x. The tighter pair have a separation of 1.1 arc seconds and they are beautifully split at these powers. An excellent start ! :thumbright:

Hope it stays clear until Jupiter hoves into view ....

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I popped my scope out at lunch time to try and capture a few contrails  passing over Scotland from Europe to Canada, or possibly USA when 5 come along at once? but then my neighbour popped her head over the fence so to speak! Thats a big one she quips, Its a reflector I said :lol:
I never managed to see the planes through the eyepiece!

However, it was my intention to leave the scope out to reach ambient before nightfall, whilst still indoors decorating. Lucky I was still aware of how quick the weather changes here, and had the scope back inside just before the down pour!

Just had a look now, and its a Full Moon, so do I or not?

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10 minutes ago, Charic said:

I popped my scope out at lunch time to try and capture a few contrails  passing over Scotland from Europe to Canada, or possibly USA when 5 come along at once? but then my neighbour popped her head over the fence so to speak! Thats a big one she quips, Its a reflector I said :lol:
I never managed to see the planes through the eyepiece!

However, it was my intention to leave the scope out to reach ambient before nightfall, whilst still indoors decorating. Lucky I was still aware of how quick the weather changes here, and had the scope back inside just before the down pour!

Just had a look now, and its a Full Moon, so do I or not?

do it, you will regret it. just managed 51 very faint though :headbang:

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Scope  is out cooling. The street lights look less intimidating due to the Moons brightness, so maybe a check with my new BCO's and the Delos, its been long overdue, but I really want to check the Delos under a clear Moonless night.

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38 minutes ago, faulksy said:

do it, you will regret it. just managed 51 very faint though :headbang:

With lots of careful searching I've just managed to pick out M51 with my 130 frac. It's so faint that it's almost not there but there are 2 very, very faint patches of light in the right place. A tiny bit easier at 92x than 50x. If I did not know the star patterns to look for I'm sure that I'd have missed it completely.

So much better without a moon in the sky !

I seem to have lost the steady high power seeing ATM - hope things pick up again soon.

 

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1 minute ago, John said:

With lots of careful searching I've just managed to pick out M51 with my 130 frac. It's so faint that it's almost not there but there are 2 very, very faint patches of light in the right place. A tiny bit easier at 92x than 50x. If I did not know the star patterns to look for I'm sure that I'd have missed it completely.

So much better without a moon in the sky !

I seem to have lost the steady high power seeing ATM - hope things pick up again soon.

 

same here to be honest john, could see it because i knew what it looked like, slight spiral's but same colour as the sky realy

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Well I went out just a quick run as my back is still really bad just wanted to check mount and handset. Polar aligned 2 star alignment then NGC457 and there it was bang in middle (yes) M44 right in middle M36/37/38 right in middle I could of jumped for joy but my back wouldn't take it. Took a quick video of the moon and looked at Jupiter got to check my eyepieces my 5mm looked blurry and my 8mm could of been the dew others where ok. Anyway looking forward to getting away and really having a good session.

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I've given up and come inside. The sky is still clear but the seeing here is really unsteady now. The limb of the moon is very poorly defined and wavering even at 120x. I could make out a few cloud belts and the GRS on Jupiter but again all wobbling about.

Strange to think that I could split a 1.1 arc seconds double star 3 hours ago but just now I could barely see the "double double" in Lyra as 2 pairs :rolleyes2:

Never mind, there will be other nights :smiley:

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What a mild night,  especially for Scotland this time of Year.
Well I'm not long back in and it was worth blinding myself silly viewing the Moon. even tried a Moon filter, but the damage was already done! (No real  physical damage of course!)
None to descriptive, I was just running through various focal lengths, from the various brands I have, in quick succession looking for any colour change, noting the comfort level and FOV.
I  placed  the eyepieces into their focal length groups  6, 8, 10 & 12 and  and to be honest, the only two EP's that stood out tonight for me, viewing the Moon was the WO SPL 12mm and the BCO 18mm 
Two of the Delos especially the 6 and 8mm  there was some orange colouration at the extreme fields view, which I have not seen before, and they were just not comfortable tonight viewing the Moon, I'm not sure if 72° is just too much, but struggled with the eye-relief  tonight? The William Optics SPL 12mm appeared to be sharper, but the first eyepiece I looked through was the 18mm Baader, and that was quite a sight, the Moon almost filling the field of view, but it appears all my BCOs need a  good clean, something I normally do when I buy second hand, and I know I have some floaters of my own, but its evident when rotating the eyepiece that they need a clean! but I have not had the chance yet to worry about cleanliness, but they do need a clean! 
Jupiter was visible If I stood up, but due to the various issues surrounding by observatory, I only managed a fleeting glimpse of Jupiter, through the scope (an issue with Dobs on the deck!) seeing three Moons and two weather belts using my 10mm Delos. the 8mm may have got me a little closer, but the position was wrong so called it a night.

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Managed to get about an hour or so in observing when the clouds final parted. Just missed the transit of Io as it had just slipped off Jupiter's face. Seeing was pretty bad. Could only just make out GRS fleetingly, a blue filter helped but not much. My 5mm TMB Planetry II EP was too much in my 200P-DS, and could only just get away with my 6mm WO SPL EP at 166x magnification. Held up slightly better in my XLT120 'frac, but seeing was getting worse, so switched to the moon. Even there as John said the seeing was deteriorating, so called it a night at just befor 2am. 

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It was the same here John. Nice clear skies and Venus was a lovely sight. Left the scope up and went out again at 9 pm. Seeing by then was absolutely terrible. The Moon was wobbling like a jelly. Waited for Jupiter to appear but even at 80x it was just not worth viewing.

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I was really excited about the prospect of some observing last night but was then disappointed after I realised it was a full moon. I had lost track of the moon phase due to the lack of observing. I was hoping to get my first attempt at some DSO's around the constellation of Leo. The trapezium in the Orion nebula was doing a dance and the seeing didn't improve. With the moonlight adding to the usual light pollution I gave up after an hour.

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