70mm week of lunar and planetary observing

[iPeace]

While the topic of how to mount an OTA with a fluorite objective was getting plenty of airplay, my own little bit of "flu" travelled with me to a holiday spot in the Aegean. Bjorn, the Borg 71FL goes everywhere with no fuss at all - and manages to hang on to its mount by a single black tube ring. Perhaps I've been inconsiderate and should go for at least four of them - in red? We'll see.

Meanwhile, in actual use, Bjorn is the business. On trips like this, one never knows just how much observing there will be had, so taking along kit that's unobtrusive and doesn't make one feel like a fool for dragging it the whole way for potentially no gain is...good. In the end, our actual sessions were sporadic and relatively short, but with Bjorn standing on the tripod in the hotel room, ready for one-handed deployment to the balcony for anything from a quick peek onwards, it was all good.

During the week, the Moon was out and the conditions such that it wasn't worthwhile to go for fuzzies, or even clusters, but the planets put on a great show, night after night. Whenever I managed to tear myself away from Luna, Jupiter was there, with plenty of GRS action, and Saturn not far behind. Skies were pretty clear, but seeing was not conducive to the use of high magnifications. At 114x, views were good, but at 160x it was obvious we were just magnifying all the jelly in the air. I did use 200x a couple of times for some more lunar detail, but in this case even a Vixen HR couldn't work its full magic. Still, we took what there was to be had, and enjoyed it to the fullest.

A most memorable session was in the wee hours before dawn - having awoken to conduct other business, and having done so, I did a quick window check and saw Mars was free for a visit. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't get a lot of Mars. If it's there, it's a small orange blob at best; my memory clings to the one time I was actually lucky enough to see the other colour, you know, the one that Mars uses to hint at its amazing features. Pretty close to opposition now, it appeared very bright and it was obviously time for another go. Out with the scope.

Seeing was, as it was throughout the week, a pile of trousers, but the view was really interesting. Plenty of dark stuff on the bright orange background; we tracked its progress for a good while and were rewarded with the fleetingest of glimpses of the good stuff. The scope was obviously up for more magnification than we could use, but there will be other nights.

So not a bad week, with plenty of Mooning (shush) done and the planets high in the sky. Well worth taking Bjorn along.

?

 

[Knighty2112]

4 minutes ago, iPeace said:

While the topic of how to mount an OTA with a fluorite objective was getting plenty of airplay, my own little bit of "flu" travelled with me to a holiday spot in the Aegean. Bjorn, the Borg 71FL goes everywhere with no fuss at all - and manages to hang on to its mount by a single black tube ring. Perhaps I've been inconsiderate and should go for at least four of them - in red? We'll see.

Meanwhile, in actual use, Bjorn is the business. On trips like this, one never knows just how much observing there will be had, so taking along kit that's unobtrusive and doesn't make one feel like a fool for dragging it the whole way for potentially no gain is...good. In the end, our actual sessions were sporadic and relatively short, but with Bjorn standing on the tripod in the hotel room, ready for one-handed deployment to the balcony for anything from a quick peek onwards, it was all good.

During the week, the Moon was out and the conditions such that it wasn't worthwhile to go for fuzzies, or even clusters, but the planets put on a great show, night after night. Whenever I managed to tear myself away from Luna, Jupiter was there, with plenty of GRS action, and Saturn not far behind. Skies were pretty clear, but seeing was not conducive to the use of high magnifications. At 114x, views were good, but at 160x it was obvious we were just magnifying all the jelly in the air. I did use 200x a couple of times for some more lunar detail, but in this case even a Vixen HR couldn't work its full magic. Still, we took what there was to be had, and enjoyed it to the fullest.

A most memorable session was in the wee hours before dawn - having awoken to conduct other business, and having done so, I did a quick window check and saw Mars was free for a visit. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't get a lot of Mars. If it's there, it's a small orange blob at best; my memory clings to the one time I was actually lucky enough to see the other colour, you know, the one that Mars uses to hint at its amazing features. Pretty close to opposition now, it appeared very bright and it was obviously time for another go. Out with the scope.

Seeing was, as it was throughout the week, a pile of trousers, but the view was really interesting. Plenty of dark stuff on the bright orange background; we tracked its progress for a good while and were rewarded with the fleetingest of glimpses of the good stuff. The scope was obviously up for more magnification than we could use, but there will be other nights.

So not a bad week, with plenty of Mooning (shush) done and the planets high in the sky. Well worth taking Bjorn along.

?

 

 Nice report. Well done!   Björn seems to have performed well. Maybe I need to name my scopes too to get better performance out of them too! Hehe! Hoping to view Mars this weeeknd if weather permits, so hope I can see more than just the wobbly red blob I normally see. 

[johnfosteruk]

Cracking report, grab and go is so important, it's pointless spending an hour setting up the big gubbins a lot of the time. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

[mikeDnight]

A really encouraging report showing the value of a small refractor as a serious scope. Sometimes size can be misleading, as the attached drawings made by a top class visual lunar & planetary observer Nigel Longshaw prove. Nigel used a 78mm Tak to observe Mars and sent these fabulous drawings to me about eleven years ago. They now Grace my observatory wall. Sorry about the reflection from the glass! I'm posting them as a way of encouragement to all small scope owners. 

Drawings by Nigel Longshaw.

 

[JeremyS]

26 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

A really encouraging report showing the value of a small refractor as a serious scope. Sometimes size can be misleading, as the attached drawings made by a top class visual lunar & planetary observer Nigel Longshaw prove. Nigel used a 78mm Tak to observe Mars

Indeed these are quite an encouragement, Mike. Nigel Longshaw is certainly a great observer, but it's still remarkable what he can achieve with a 78 mm scope.

Interesting to see his use of filters and that he's not scared to push the magnification.

[R26 oldtimer]

You are right about the poor seeing conditions. We had a layer of sahara dust cloud down here last week. What's good for farmers is bad for astronomers...

[Eastman]

On ‎29‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 19:05, iPeace said:

Whenever I managed to tear myself away from Luna, Jupiter was there, with plenty of GRS action, and Saturn not far behind

Sounds like a nice week, 70mm powerrrrrrr