Tonights viewing

[Chefgage]

I have a rare night of no cloud tonight. It will be a full moon (98%) which will be up when i am out observing.

Any thoughts on what I could observe other than the moon and jupiter. Both of these will be getting a look but i was wondering if its worth looking for anything else, such as clusters etc..

(This is observing from the UK)

[ronin]

Be careful and check about the "no cloud tonight". I check the weather so I can take the bike out for some exercise. It has forecast sunny and about 20-25% cloud for today (Tuesday) since Saturday, 3 different weather sites. At 7:00 this morning it was cloudy here but the weather said it was sunny and slight cloud. Same at 9:00, 10:00 and 11:00. Every weather site has said I was enjoying a nice sunny day with slight cloud. So why has it been dull 100% cloud everywhere, and still is.

Just Lincolnshire is not that far away.

[Chefgage]

I am of course relying in what the weather data says for my area but this is not always reliable as we all know

 

[Chefgage]

Clear outside is showing 100% cloud for my area at 4pm and it is correct. So i am hoping it is equally reliable tonigh at about 11pm

[Fypunky]

I am hoping for the skies to stay clear also, at the mo the weather bods seem to think so for Blackpool!

On my bucket list is moon, Jupiter, M44, WZ Cas, The Garnet Star and finishing off with Alberio then bed.

[bejay1957]

8/8 cloud here until around 18:30, clear now...

[Stu]

Looks promising unless you are in East Midlands/East Anglia. Clear ish here at the moment.

[Chefgage]

clear outside app showing 4% cloud at 10pm and then 0% at 11pm for my area. Just taken the scope oit to the garage to cool ready for later. Just need to plan a couple of things to observe as the full moon is out

[John]

Clear Outside has been forecasting 75%-85% cloud cover all night here but my Tak 100 is out and Jupiter is looking superb at 180x

Don't believe all the forecasts !

[Davesellars]

Looks lovely and clear at the moment! Will be heading out once the kids are tucked in bed!

[Paul73]

5 hours ago, Chefgage said:

Clear outside is showing 100% cloud for my area at 4pm and it is correct. So i am hoping it is equally reliable tonigh at about 11pm

I'm looking out of the window?. Hoping that it stays clear. I'll be trying some double stars and a very nice glass of wine.

Paul

[Chefgage]

11 minutes ago, Paul73 said:

I'm looking out of the window?. Hoping that it stays clear. I'll be trying some double stars and a very nice glass of wine.

Paul

Good idea that, might have to take a few beers out with me

[Stu]

Was clear earlier so put the scope out while I had tea and now it looks cloudy  will give it a little while then call it a night.

[John]

13 minutes ago, Stu said:

Was clear earlier so put the scope out while I had tea and now it looks cloudy  will give it a little while then call it a night.

Sorry to hear that Stu

Time for a glass of something perhaps ?

 

[Chefgage]

Just been out, lovely clear skies but the moon making it difficult to see alot of stars but then i only popped ot for a couple of minutes. Hardly time for the night vision to kick in

Might have to try getting a few photos of the moon using my iphone and phone/telescope adapter. Tried it before on my other scope but the tripods that unstable i could not get a good picture. Now i have the dob along with the headphones to take the pictures i should be good to go.

 

[Stu]

56 minutes ago, John said:

Sorry to hear that Stu

Time for a glass of something perhaps ?

 

Thanks John, butvthings have improved a little. Some clear patches coming over and the Tak is sitting on the GP tracking Jupiter. GRS making an appearance now, around x150 good for me with all this cloud around, seeing a bit variable but good when it's good!

[scarp15]

Yes the GRS made a good appearance a burnt orange tone, completed at around midnight using 8" dob and 200x.   

[John]

I've just bought the scope in. Fine views of Jupiter this evening. Lots of detail for a 10cm aperture including a thin pale rim around the "hollow" in the south equatorial belt that the great red spot nestles in. 4th night in a row observing - can't be bad, although the moon won't have made the DSO hunters happy.

 

[Stu]

Yes, not bad views here either John. I caught that feature too, very nice. I've seen Jupiter looking better in this scope but a clear sky is a clear sky, so I'm not complaining! 

[Davesellars]

Just got in after a couple of hours observing Jupiter and the Moon.  My site started to get rather soupy just after midnight - there sure was a heck of a lot of dew and low lying fog - everything was soaked.  

Some nice views though with the 120ED although it took quite a while to reach ambient temperature so get really sharp views.  The seeing was at times good enough for 190x although it was so-so.  The GRS looked really nice at this power and some detail in the bands and 136x showing quite a bit more substantial colour.   The Moon had some nice detail surprisingly considering it's near 100%

[Chefgage]

I managed just over an hour outside but the cold beat me back in. Note to self I must sort out a hat and gloves!

I seems everyone scopes were turned towards jupiter last night due to the full moon. I myself had very good seeing for jupiter. I could make easily make out the GRS and alot more detail than usual, i wish now i had done a sketch.

My plan was to take in a couple of DSO's near Hercules, but I could not see ONE star in the constillation of Hercules with the naked eye so that proved impossible!!!

I then turned to Lyra for M57 but again I coukd only see one star (Vega with the naked eye) so again star hopping was pretty much a no go although I could see both Vega and the double star next to it all in the FOV of the finderscope which looked nice

 

[Stu]

5 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

i then turned to Lyra for M57 but again I coukd only see one star (Vega with the naked eye) so again star hopping was pretty much a no go although I could see both Vega and the double star next to it all in the FOV of the finderscope which looked nice

Next time take a closer look at that double star at higher mag. It is the Double Double, each star splits into two tight doubles. It needs a nicely cooled and collimated scope, try at x150 and you should get it.

[Chefgage]

4 hours ago, Stu said:

Next time take a closer look at that double star at higher mag. It is the Double Double, each star splits into two tight doubles. It needs a nicely cooled and collimated scope, try at x150 and you should get it.

The one i was looking at was Zeta which i believe is just a double. I was trying to look at the double double (epsilon)  but could not see it.

[Stu]

16 minutes ago, Chefgage said:

The one i was looking at was Zeta which i believe is just a double. I was trying to look at the double double (epsilon)  but could not see it.

Ah ok.

When you say couldn't see it, do you mean you found it but couldn't split the two pairs?

[Chefgage]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Ah ok.

When you say couldn't see it, do you mean you found it but couldn't split the two pairs?

No i could not see it at all be it with my eyes or the finderscope. The seeing was really bad regards the glare from the moon and light pollution last night. I struggled to see most stars with the naked eye!. I could only see one star of lyra which was vega with the naked eye. Most constillations could not be made out with the naked eye last night.