The seeing last night

[BeerMe]

Apart from a few snatches here and there, last night was the first chance I'd had to get the scope out for a decent bit of planetary viewing.  We got home late and slightly inebriated  () from a night out with family in tow, and I'd been promising my sister's new man a look through the scope so he could understand what all the fuss was about.

I knew from the glare of the moon and our advanced stages of drunkenness that trying to look at anything other than Jupiter and the moon would be a wasted effort, so we got the scope out to cool around half past midnight and by 1am, I had got Jupiter in my sights and invited a few of the others out for a look.

Jupiter was just amazing.  I couldn't have asked for a better night to invite a newcomer for a look.  My stock 25mm, which has served me better than the 10mm that came with the Heritage, seems to have a small issue...the planet wouldn't focus properly in it for some reason and the best I could get was a blobby egg shape - I'll need to have a good look and possibly attempt a clean.  Once I put in the 10mm though, I immediately realised what the difference is between a normal night of stargazing, and a night of proper good seeing.  Instantly that I had Jupiter in focus, the bands became apparent and solid.  There was no trying to catch glimpses or anything, just perfect clarity (for my 5") as it drifted across the FOV in the EP.  This was far and away my best view of it, and my sister's boyfriend was pretty awestruck with the view.  He got lucky, and I'm glad he did as we're planning some weekends away and the scope will be coming along too of course, so it's good that he's at least seen the possibilities. 

We also had a good look at the moon through the 10mm which he loved, although we didn't get to spend as much time on it as I'd like as it was now beer o'clock.  I did get back out myself for another few observations  (he's a lightweight and crashed about 2am haha) and Jupiter kept it's beauty right in to the wee hours.

I'm really looking forward to upgrading my Heritage, but nights like last night just remind me what a brilliant little instrument it is :-)

[jabeoo1]

Nice write up!  Seeing was superb last night, the moon was on a very light occasional shimmer rather than its usual simmering or boiling & Yep those bands of jupiter were clean & crisp.  Lovely   

[Galen Gilmore]

Same here! Had great seeing even through the clouds.

[jabeoo1]

I think the jet stream has moved itself out of the equation, which is very unusual here. 

[BeerMe]

14 minutes ago, jabeoo1 said:

I think the jet stream has moved itself out of the equation, which is very unusual here. 

I'd been reading that too and that the UK had been having exceptional seeing (clouds permitting).  That and how beautiful a night it was made me determined to get a little session in.  Well worth it!

[Pete Presland]

I knew on Friday there was a good chance of some decent conditions. No Jetstream, no wind, high pressure did seem to suggest good seeing. It was probably the best of the year and I guessed last night would be similar. I also had a few "Heineken's" with dinner, so I thought I better give it a miss even though I was very tempted!