A night not to remember.

[alan potts]

Well I guess sometimes these things happen, sky was clearing nicely, the few clouds that had been around in the sky all days scattered about were clearing slowly to the south, all looked good. The two kittens that someone dumped in our garden and my son insisted we keep came over and had a look at the M/N 190mm that I had put out, just to see if there was a mirror to to put a paw on and look into, swiftly followed by my boot up the rear. This didn't seem to have the same appeal so it was back to trying to kill each other.

Started off having a devil of a job finding the pole star only to find looking in the right direction helps considerably, once that was done and alignment completed it was over to Saturn. This looked a bit like a jelly on a party plate being carried by some doing a Monty Python Silly Walk that already had a govenment grant, so it didn't need developing. No sign of Cassini and nothing much in the way of anything worth spending any time on, could only just see Titan. Hopped over to Anartes which looked like it had gone supernova and of cousre not a sign of the double which I had seen so easily a couple of nights prior, albeit with a much bigger scope. I have seen the lovely double with this scope but conditions need to be good, how many times do we say that. Had a quick look at M80 and M 4 whilst in that neck of the woods, both far from best due stray light from the moon and a crumby night, but nice to revisit old friend. Slewed across to Jupiter, which is getting low now and was fairly close to the Moon, but being bright as Jupiter is, is Moon proof. Oh dear, wheels have come off, the only belt I see was the one holding my trousers up, if I had turned a light on, this really was an awful night of seeing but strangely clear, with very good tranparancey. I contented myself looking at the Moon which I have to say was clear and detail could be seen, surely no night could wipe out the seeing of craters, clouds manage it though.

Being somewhat annoyed by what had gone I thought I would have a play with the handset and go through some doubles, why the designer could not put them in some sort of order with regards to where they are in the sky I will never know, first one side of the meridian then the other, then back again. Still as much time was spent waiting as viewing some of the selection I did come across one from Nicks' report of the day before, lovely little group of 17 Cygni. I also visited the globulars of M10, M12, M14 and M107, the latter is one of my favourites though being in the general area of the Moon was nothing to shout about. This looks wonderful with the 18 inch on a Moonfree night, this Messier has four, 11th mag stars arranged like a cross, I could bearly make them out at all, with the bigger scope it takes on a sort of golden hue and is quite a sight . After another hour I descided it was time to call it a night as I wanted to watch Phil Taylor in the darts.

Forecast is clear for tonight so lets hope for better.

alan

[cotterless45]

Neat, glad you managed out there, we're in autumn rains just now,

Nick

[Stu]

Good to get out there Alan, they can't all be roaring successes and it's refreshing to see a report that reflects that  

Hope tonight is better!

[Littleguy80]

I always say that I'd rather be outside with a wobbly view of Saturn than inside looking grumpily out the window at clouds  Fingers crossed for clear skies tonight 

[John]

Good for you for posting this Alan !

I think we all have sessions that just don't work out but they don't get publicised much

Some times things all fall into place but sometimes, they just don't

[scarp15]

A good reality check and with a sense of humour yet with informative content, the flip side of stargazing, taking out all the 'romance'. Hope you enjoyed the darts.

[alan potts]

5 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

A good reality check and with a sense of humour yet with informative content, the flip side of stargazing, taking out all the 'romance'. Hope you enjoyed the darts.

I did, he thrashed the world No 1.

I am not sure I will ever understand seeing. When you feel, should be decent to night, it rarely is and when you think it's not worth the effort you often find it is very good. In general we have had a pretty poor few months my our standards, lots of rain and clouds.I have known 90% plus in a month with regards to clear nights, best I could say this year is January and then there was so much snow you could bearly walk in it.

Alan

[MarsG76]

Unfortunately that's what happens, seeing just kills all detail and so you're limited to low power DSO, but wait a minute, double whammy, the moon is out.... 

You had a few objects views so not a total loss, but still better luck for tonight.

 

[mapstar]

On 7/29/2017 at 08:40, cotterless45 said:

Neat, glad you managed out there, we're in autumn rains just now,

Nick

Yeah hopefully they will have blown out by the time Autumn comes round for real