cotterless45 Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Every evening I'm greeted by the very bright globe of Venus setting, my observing enclosure of fence panels just lets a peek of this welcome beacon. Looking east and Jupiter is free of the roof tops. It's light up there and by midnight it's not changed much. The light gobbling C6r soon gives contrast. Jupiter shows detail at x185. A festoon from the GRS, a barge to the northern belt and later it swallows the pea of Io. Seeing clears now and again , just wait and let the views arrive. However, higher up , the seeing is ace, getting a wonderfully clean 1.2" split in 0Σ 298. Probably one of the best views of triple Alkalurops. "La Superba" looking light and brilliantly coloured, as is R Coronae Borealis. This is highly variable, but very bright at +5.9 now. Always worth a look in case you catch it dimming , "R CrB has been a favorite with observers ever since its discovery nearly 200 years ago by the English amateur, Edward Pigott. R CrB normally shines at apparent magnitude 5.9, barely visible to the naked eye. But at intervals of several months to many years it fades to as faint as magnitude 14. Over successive months it gradually returns to its normal brightness, giving it the nickname "Fade-Out star," or "Reverse Nova". The cause of this behavior is believed to be a regular build-up of carbon dust in the star's atmosphere. The sudden drop in brightness may be caused by a rapid condensation of dust, resulting in much of the star's light being blocked. The gradual restoration to normal brightness results from the dust being dispersed by radiation pressure" Too bright for the galaxies I was after ,my list included globular M5 in Serpens. What a gorgeous sight, focus on the outer field stars and the wonderful glow sparks into view. Cygnus gave a view of fine clusters and those lovely planetary nebulae. The "blinking planetary" (NGC 6826) certainly does and the "blue flash" (NGC 6905) is a lovely blue. M39 under bright skies , looks like a Trojan horse ! Thrilling session under , clear skies ! Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookie1965 Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Did you view all those on the pages or just on the left I had no luck last night on galaxies or nebula's seeing was not as good as I had the last time I was out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 Fine report Nick I had the scope (Tak 100) on Venus for a while yesterday evening and I even, nearly, convinced myself that I could see some subtle contrast markings on it's 12 arc second gibbous disk. Fine views of doubles, including the wonderful Alkalurops (does sound like the name of a type of dinosaur, doesn't it ?), Izar and Zeta Hercules at 300x but then a Welsh cloud invasion (well thats where it came from !) spoiled things. Jupiter was glimpsed though some of that stuff and would no doubt have been great but the clouds were in a thickening mode rather than thinning so I had to call time on the session. I feel guilty when I seen observing logs like yours - I'm just not systematic or organised enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Levi Posted May 17, 2018 Share Posted May 17, 2018 4 minutes ago, John said: the wonderful Alkalurops (does sound like the name of a type of dinosaur, doesn't it ?) Thanks for the suggestion. Perhaps I can get rid of my drink association and stop calling it Alcopops now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.