Tonights Session

[Ed in UK]

Well managed finally get out tonight after being dogged by Flu and poor weather so I seized tonight's opportunity with both hands.

I headed out side complete with Scope, Bins and a copy of The Sky At Night magazine for a tour around Orion.

Hmmm Lesson one, large moon close to Orion tends to hide everything. Lesson two, High level fine could really makes stuff mega hard to find.

I could just about make out Orion's Belt so really just settled for having another look at M42 (found by chance) and taking the time to make sure I had a good look at the Trapezium. The gas haze looked much more subdued, I'm assuming that's down to the bright light of the moon masking it somewhat.

Following that, I  decided, seeing that it was the brightest object in the sky I would spend some time looking over the moon. Found a lovely crater that looked heart shaped and saw some interesting shapes/shadows along the terminal (?) line.

Really enjoyed it, practiced focusing which seemed to have plagued me before now on higher magnifications, and still does.

Hour and half only seemed like 30 mins.

Can't wait for the next clear night.

Thanks for reading 

[MarsG76]

Nice night...

Yeah the moon blots all faint stuff from view.... wait until the moon is gone and give it another go....

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Ed in UK said:

terminal (?) line.

The terminator!  

Nice report. When the big bright thing is around, it makes sense to look at it I reckon, that's just what I've been doing.

I'm hopeless at remembering the lunar features. There are plenty of apps around that show you what they are though, I like following as I observe, picking off the names as I go.

[mikey2000]

I had some fun looking at Orion tonight too.  The last time I tried was under a moonless sky and I marvelled at the nebula and cursed the difficulty of Splitting The Trapezium. 

 

Tonight, the Trapezium was easy but no nebula.  Then later on, I wasn't even sure I'd found the pleiades.....   Curse that moon!

Then I looked at the moon - love that moon!

[NGC 1502]

Hi Ed, thanks for the observing report ?

I was out too, observing double stars, well seen with light pollution and a bright moon.

Cheers from another Ed   “ two Ed’s are better than one “...........?

[Astro Imp]

Nice one Ed, as you note observing faint stuff is best when the moon is out of the way.

The last few nights I've concentrated on the moon, to help find my way around the Virtual Moon Atlas is a great free resource. https://sourceforge.net/projects/virtualmoon/

[Redscouse]

Hi all, 
Hey @Ed in UK your post just saved me asking a question, thanks for that! 

I have the same set up as you (although have upgraded the eyepieces - see sig) and have spent a good hour or two looking for Bodes and Triangulum with no luck. I was about to post a question on here to ask if they were out of the reach of my scope. Reading your post it seems not, which is great news as it means the limitations are with the operator rather than equipment!  

[Nyctimene]

53 minutes ago, Redscouse said:

the limitations are with the operator rather than equipment

I agree. Your 130 mm scope will show you M 81/82 quite well, even with some detail, under darker (at least moonless) skies. M 33 is, under very dark skies, visible without optical aids, and can be found with 8x40 binos under moderate conditions (experience helps). Take your scope to Dartmoor National Park, and enjoy the views:

https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=9&lat=6527702&lon=-394486&layers=B0TFFFFFTF

M 81/82 have been discussed here; a very good star hop route included:

M81 & M82?

By philipw, January 7 in Getting Started With Observing

 

Stephan

 

 

[Redscouse]

Thanks Stephan. 
I am planning on going up the moor when the weather is a bit more predictable as I don't mind being cold but soaked is a different ball game up there.
Appreciate the link to the light pollution map and have bookmarked it.

[Ed in UK]

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

Here's to another clear night soon.

[NGC 1502]

1 hour ago, Ed in UK said:

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

Here's to another clear night soon.

Hi again Ed. I see you are in Lincolnshire. I stayed there last year at good old Skeggy. On traveling around noticed areas with few lights, so hope you have some good skies, tough to find in SE Essex without a bit of a drive, it’s an hour to my club’s dark site.

Cheers from Ed.

[des anderson]

Good ole` moon, not a lot people I know do it justice 2 days before a full moon or 2 days after. Myself always looking for that elusive crater or mountains if illuminated and libration is being kind to me. Des

[Ed in UK]

Thanks NGC 1502, I'm in the wolds but unfortunately the village has street lights so not quite as dark as I would like. Not strayed out with the scope as yet currently back garden only for me. I'm sure that not too far away will be a darker corner of lincolnshire to try out.

Hope you liked Skeggy ?

[NGC 1502]

19 hours ago, Ed in UK said:

Hope you liked Skeggy ?

Indeed, Skeggy was great, just like Southend, good old fashioned sea side town, 50% charity shops, the other 50% amusement arcades...............?..............Ed.