Lunar X & V, a Tak, some binoviewers and a clear sky!

[Stu]

It was our club night last night, as Gavstar has posted about elsewhere. Gavin made an early start, setting up his NV arsenal because of an expected early finish, and I joined him around 7.30pm to set my little peashooter up mainly for some lunar viewing. I had some nice early views of the X and V, enough to confirm they would be around for a little while so at 8.15 I went to meet the other chaps in the pub for a crafty shandy .

We had two newcomers to our small group, one complete novice and @Captain Magenta, always nice to have new faces especially some with experience and a scope or two . In addition to Gavin's TEC and C11, we had John with a home-built 10" f6.3 dob and Brian with his DSLR on an Astrotrac. I don't think Brian had much luck because of the moon and blobs of cloud but John managed the Lunar X for the first time which was great.

As mentioned in the title, my intention was to concentrate on the Moon last night so I fitted the binoviewers with normal barlow and extension giving me around x150. It felt a nice comfortable mag so I stuck with it, although the seeing was actually pretty stable and it would have taken more.

Obvious first targets were the X and V. I had viewed these earlier between 6 and 6.30 in the Heritage 130p at low power (main eyepieces packed in the car) and also my TAL Alkor 65mm Newt at x88 and x133 (it uses its own eyepiece/barlow combo). At that time the X was just finally forming and was hanging out into the blackness very nicely.

By 8pm, which was when I took the photo, it was fully formed and looking great. Whilst I have a kind of love hate relationship with binoviewers, for Lunar I am finally convinced of their value. I still suspect I might see a smidge more detail in cyclops mode, but the relaxation and lack of floaters is enough to persuade me that BVs are the way to go.

I must say, trawling up and down the terminator, the views were stunning. Stable skies really helped, and I spent some time with our new starter showing him views which he was convinced, at first, were a picture taped to the front of the scope! He was amazed; it is always very rewarding to be the first person to share these sorts of views with someone.

As Dave reported earlier, Hyginus rille and crater were a fine sight, well placed to view near the V, and with @PeterW's help, we also viewed Treisnecker and the rilles running nearby, really lovely. I also really enjoyed the dark area between Hyginus rille and the crater Manilius, plenty going on in there.

I switched to cyclops after finishing with the Moon, and trawled a few fabourites. Thinking back to a thread about the Eskimo,  I thought I would try for it, not hoping for much with a 4" scope under moonlit skies! Goto was a little off because of a kick to one of my tripod legs, but was getting me close enough to star hop to targets.With the 24mm Pan, I wondered whether I would be able to identify it at x30, no UHC with me either. Sure enough though, even at low mag one of the stars did not look right, disappearing with direct vision and bloating a little with averted vision. I centred it up and popped in the Nag Zoom and at 6mm/x123 it showed very clearly indeed, the brighter centre portion and surrounding halo, great to get given the sky.

Plenty other favourites seen, but I also enjoyed looking through Gavin's new acquisition, the reduced C11 with NV, very cool indeed.

A great night, clear skies for once, clouding over a little later than expected, what more could we ask?

Apologies if it appears I am spamming my image  

[Knighty2112]

 Nice report and image Stu. Is that another iPhone shot there? If so it’s very good!  

[Stu]

4 minutes ago, Knighty2112 said:

 Nice report and image Stu. Is that another iPhone shot there? If so it’s very good!  

Thanks. Yep, iPhone special  

[mikeDnight]

That's a thrilling report Stu, and the i phone image is superb! Was it taken through your binoviewer? 

[Scooot]

Good read and great image Stu  

[Stu]

21 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

That's a thrilling report Stu, and the i phone image is superb! Was it taken through your binoviewer? 

Thanks Mike. Yes, down one channel of the binoviewers! Seems unconventional but somehow it works, often better than down a single eyepiece. It may be that the brightness reduction helps prevent it being over exposed?

[JeremyS]

Great report Stu. And v nice pic!

[mikeDnight]

38 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thanks Mike. Yes, down one channel of the binoviewers! Seems unconventional but somehow it works, often better than down a single eyepiece. It may be that the brightness reduction helps prevent it being over exposed?

Despite it being a little unconventional and for whatever reason, it really is a great image. 

I didn't observe last night, but the detail on the terminator the night before was just wonderful. There was a region just beginning to come into the sunlight that was completely littered with mountain sized boulders and it was stunning! Perhaps you could record some of those breathtaking views using your iPhone and binoviewer as they are impossible to draw, and as far as I know, there are no lunar images compiled for observers with such quality! I'd certainly enjoy seeing more pics through your Tak! 

 

 

[Captain Scarlet]

Very nice night, and very good to meet some of you lot at WAG: am I now a member or is there some initiation/exam/rite-of-passage/member-ballot? . It's the first time I've ever done anything like that, ie the opportunity to look through a TEC160, C11, Tak100 and the 10" home-made Dob was fantastic, not to mention the NV! Next time I might bring along my Skymax127/SupaTrak and knock you all into the shade

The suggestion to make these meets every 27.32 days rather than every final thursday seems sensible? (or is it 29.53 days, er...)

Thanks again, Magnus

[GavStar]

Pleased you enjoyed the meet, Magnus and very good to meet you. I look forward to looking through your scope in the future.

It’s obviously good when we can get out observing. It been suggested to make the meets around new moon but also good to look at the moon sometimes. The current approach is to be a bit flexible around timings (keeping broadly to Thursdays) and it seems to be working well.

There’s also a scandalous rumour of further dark site visits in the future as well ?

I think Stu got it right last night by concentrating on the moon. I had fun with my new scope but was flitting around a bit. I think I need to be a bit more planned in future.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Captain Magenta said:

am I now a member or is there some initiation/exam/rite-of-passage/member-ballot?

Member? Ah yes, we might need to have a little chat about the initiation ...  

Good to see you, your timing was good with the weather playing ball, look forward to getting your scope along in future then we can all sell up and go Skymax

EDIT Yes, Thursdays work well but dates flex with the moon, or even when I forget to arrange the meeting and push it back a week  

[paulastro]

Excellent report Stu.  I was out from 5.15 to 7.15 pm with the Astro-Tech 102ED, it was an excellent lunation - as it was the night before which Mike mentioned.

Could use magnifications  usefully up to just over x200 using Baader Mk111s in the binoviewer, fabulous detail.  In my observing book it's gone down as the Night of the Rilles, too many to make a list here.

I'm pleased to know you're using your binoviewer to some benefit Stu - I was spell-bound last night and the night before.  Hoping for a repeat tonight, forecast frost but also lots of cloud!?  Still, you never know.

Thanks again for the report Stu, it made  me smile as I remembered my night among the rilles.