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Full moon.....What to observe.

StormAurora

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StormAurora

StormAurora

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Any suggestions for what I can observe and image tonight with the moon being so bright?

I found it very difficult last night with the sky brightness. Don't want to waste a rare clear sky ?

Thanks in advance.

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Yamez

Yamez

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Jupiter? If not try splitting some double stars, couldn't tell you which double stars as I go through the goto catalog of double stars, see which one is visible from my garden then try and split them. 

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Pig

Pig

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I don't think it is quite a full Moon tonight so how about some Lunar observing? there will still be a good termination line and some of the crater edges will look like they are detached.
I have just had a peek and there are some lovely views even against the blue sky so the darker skies tonight should be pretty good .

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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I saw the Moon a couple of hours ago, and it is nowhere near full. Shouldnt be a problem later on. In fact, the Moon is just right to observe about now. Great detail on the terminator. It is waxing gibbous.................

Perfect time to pick out fine details. 

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RichM63

RichM63

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Barn Owls gathering on one of the chimneys in Moonlight is my current favourite observing session. :) (obsession)

at 3am last night there were 4 of them. Woo Hoo

Of course the Moon itself warrants close inspection.

Rich

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niallk

niallk

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Moon and Jupiter for me tonight: 1st time out in over a month :) Not bothering to drive to a darker spot. One of the pixels clearing the tree is Jove!

Have already spotted the shadow from the transit of Ganymede: always verycool to see an eclipse taking place on another world ;)

IMG_20170407_205844752.thumb.jpg.f8da97393f4a6a798ccf8da2bf4e077a.jpg

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StormAurora

StormAurora

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You lucky things!

Barn owls, now that is a treat ? 

I did see Ganymede emerge from Jupiter. However never realised it was a transit as I was using my 70mm scope! Darn!! It was still great to see.

Also saw a pretty cool crater near the terminator that resembled a watch face ? with an hour hand! Also a group of mountains below Sinus Iridium. 

Thanks for all your help.

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Trumpetnut

Trumpetnut

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Hahaha I was going to post the very same question. I was out last night getting frustrated with my camera set up and ended doing some double stars and the messier clusters in Auriga. Then I foolishly looked at the moon (with a filter, I might add) and saw a huge white dot in my right eye for the rest of the night. Good job the scope only takes a couple of minutes to set up and take down. I think nights like these make those clear, moonless nights that little bit precious. Got me a visit to a dark sky sight in the forest of Bowland lined up for he weekend. Fingers crossed for clear skies and a late rising moon.

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kiloran

kiloran

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Jupiter is looking lovely tonight. 4 Galilean moons seem equally spaced at the moment and all in the same plane.

A question for the more experienced observers, in a 25mm eyepiece there was a further object, on the right (currently single moon to the right, three to the left in my refractor). Slightly above the plane of the 4 moons and to the right of the single moon on the right, around about the same magnitude. Not sure what it is? I shouldn't be able to see more than 4 moons should I?

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Knighty2112

Knighty2112

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32 minutes ago, kiloran said:

Jupiter is looking lovely tonight. 4 Galilean moons seem equally spaced at the moment and all in the same plane.

A question for the more experienced observers, in a 25mm eyepiece there was a further object, on the right (currently single moon to the right, three to the left in my refractor). Slightly above the plane of the 4 moons and to the right of the single moon on the right, around about the same magnitude. Not sure what it is? I shouldn't be able to see more than 4 moons should I?

Here's the view from Skysafari for a 90mm 'frac using a 25mm EP. The only other object in that area you describe was Thete Virginis.

IMG_0482.thumb.PNG.e2b719d7ac2a048482857c3e5f9145db.PNG

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rockystar

rockystar

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@Trumpetnut Forest of Bowland is good, some nice dark skies - not super dark, but the best I've been under.

@kiloran there was a background star in my FOV too, last night - almost certainly the one that knighty pointed out. I love Jupiter when it's  moons are lined up, all nice and orderly. Not like Saturn with its moons all over the place, all higgledy piggledy.

 

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Stu

Stu

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29 minutes ago, Bradderstar said:

saturday was spot on for jupiter (forgive then pun) all moons in line and i could be wrong but i think thats spica at the top of my pic, it was taken with a nokia lumia so its not the clearest of image your ever likely to see

WP_20170408_22_52_54_Pro.jpg

Spica is further away, and much brighter. The star is Theta Virginis.

Nice shot :) 

IMG_0576.PNG

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Stu

Stu

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3 minutes ago, Bradderstar said:

oh, ok still getting my head round all this, this is a pic of my planisphere app saturday at time of viewing ish suppose was easy mistake to make

WP_20170411_16_43_22_Pro.jpg

Yep, easy to do.

It is well worth getting a good understanding of scale when looking at the sky and viewing through a Finder or eyepiece.

For instance, this image shows a 10 degree circle in blue, something you might see in a pair of widefield, low power binoculars (7x35 or similar), whilst the red circles are 4, 2 and 0.5 degrees respectively. 4 degrees might be what you get in a widefield scope with a low power eyepiece, 2 degrees might be a low power in a larger/longer focal length scope and half a degree would be a higher power, possibly what you might see for planetary observing (actually often less than this).

Spica is currently 7 degrees from Jupiter so you won't see them together in a scope.

IMG_0578.PNG

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