A night to keep close to heart

[Scosmico]

Deep blue sky at 51Nland, 5 PM I put my telescope out after seeing the moon high up in the sky. The 12" Dob didn't need much cooling, I have left it in the shed overnight, after Friday night's Galaxy session.

Moon

By 7PM, the sun was still up but I didn't want to wait any longer to start observing the moon. I thought to myself, "why have I been ignoring the moon?", some many days without turning my telescope to that beauty. Lovely views of the moon with a blue background. My wife loved that. It was her first lunar view at daylight.

84x, 122x, 169x, 217x, 254x, that is it! sure! 305x crazy! I just don't remember going 300x on the moon. And the views superb. The highlight were: Messier Craters, just the right inclination to get that 3D effect and ejecta.  Janssen Crater, very complex floor and rimea. Atlas Crater, great rimea system. NAONOBU trio, Circular formation forming an interesting trio with Bilharz and Atwood.  The conditions were so good, such a steady image that I thought about trying the pup.

Pup

After the moon has hidden behind my house I turned the telescope to Sirius. I have read this week Bob King's report where he writes about his recent first glimpse of the PUP. Well, if Bob King can do it... :). I must say that I don't like being obsessed by something, specially in my mind-heart-fullness hobby. But I have tried some times without success, thirty years in fact.

Again I have followed the usual scale, 84x - something there? Yes, No, No! it is just a neighbouring star, 122x - nada, checked Skysafari, I need more mag,  169x - Not quit, 217x - bingo - really? 254x - Yes it is there. So I have spent the next 30 minutes just checking all star maps in hand to verify my observation. As I was really convinced, I just enjoyed the view going to 305x.

Just to celebrate, I defocus Sirius to see a beautiful colour flickering doughnut. 

ISS

Fellow SGL member bejay1957  just sound the alarm about an ISS flyby close to the Moon. At the right time, ISS was there, very bright. A lovely pass between Taurus and the crescent moon.

Sundently, I just had one of those ideas; Lets see if I can see it through the eyepiece...  Quickly, I run towards the dob to get it in the finder. As the ISS path was almost overhead most of the movement to track it was on Altitude only. Happy with the speed I turned to the ocular at 84x, and there was it. It was  coming and going due to the speed, and not so perfect friction in my Dob, but it was there shining in golden colours.  That was a mesmerising view. One to keep close to the heart.

Eskimo Nebula

Lovely view of the Eskimo nebula. I didn't get much colour this time. But it responded well to the UHC filter. Center blob was defined but not much more signs of structure at 217x. Central star visible from 84x. 

Iridium Flare

My wife was really happy to see the ISS pass, so I wanted to show her a bright iridium flare. There was a -7.4mag later on, perfect timing after the children have gone to bed.

Thanks to heavens above, it was easy to track the satellite since it was visible below Thuban ( Draco) brightening till the flare in Hercules. Got a WOW from her, second in the same night.

Jupiter

Great seeing condition help me to see details in jupiter, GRS and several bands, as well as some disturbances on the main equatorial belts. South belt was dark grey, giving great contrast against the GRS. The GRS, perhaps because of the enhanced contrast and stead skies, seemed to me more orange than usual. I wonder if only now the telescopes were developed we would call it the Great Orange Spot or The Great Salmon Spot. I have managed to put  254x with some degree of success. That is definitely a bonus in terms of Jupiter from the UK.

 

That was a great night out! Seeing the Pup and the ISS for the first time, at the same night was an exciting experience. 

Hope you get encouraged to get out and look up! Cheers!

 

[estwing]

A great session indeed!..clear skies!

[Swoop1]

A session  to envy there. Nice.

[Paz]

Nice report. I've never planned to see an iridium flare, that's something I must give a go.