70mm Skies 16-17 June 2018

[iPeace]

When before twilight the clouds did shift in the west, both Luna and Venus were on their way down, but clearly visible and surely worth a go. Being away from Starbase Newt, it would be another job for Bjorn Borg 71FL.

Venus never offers us any more than a nice phase, but it's always worth seeing for ourselves that it is indeed a planet and not the erstwhile Evening Star of ancestors' lore. On this occasion, its slightly more than "half moon" appearance was most convincing and as always, the closer to the horizon it got, the more it insisted on its rainbow fringe.

The Moon, just a few days past New, was a classic waxing crescent. I'm at a point where I recognize features and recognize their names, but in most cases when observing I struggle to name the stuff that's looking most interesting at that moment. The names themselves - for the most part - certainly aren't meaningful or memorable to me; nor does knowing the given name of a particular crater, valley or fault make it any more or less interesting or fun to observe for me. Nonetheless, using names is the only real way of sharing the results of lunar observation with anyone interested. In that spirit, I did look up and take down the names of the bits that were best on show. I shall reel them off, for what it's worth:

Endymion
Lacus Temporis
Geminus
Bernoulli
Burckhardt
Cleomedes
Tralles
Crisium
Dorsum Oppel
Swift
Peirce
Picard
Greaves
Lick
Tebbutt
Langrenus
Lame
Vendelinus
Lohse
Holden
Petavius
Wrottesley
Palitzsch
Hase
Snellius
Stevinus
Vallis Snellius
Furnerius
Fraunhofer
Biela

But the best bit, certainly the most memorable for its dramatic appearance in the lighting of the current phase, was on the western rim of Crisium, opposite Palus Somni, where two promontories (Lavinium and Olivium) reach out towards each other. It seems to have been an inspiring sight to others in the past, as well:

http://andrewplanck.com/unusual-feature-on-the-moon/

Chasing the Moon down the sky.

As Luna reached the treetops, it was time to look elsewhere; there was Jupiter occupying a gap in the southern clouds. And the GRS was on show, with a nice grapefruit-pink hue. The Equatorial Belts were as always clearly visible, while of the Temperate Belts those in the south were more suggestively present than those in the north, where they remained more of a gradient up towards the pole. Only three moons, but it would be a while yet before Io (if I remember correctly) was to reappear from eclipse.

Izar had recently appeared as good as it gets in the TV-85. But tonight, again, it seemed to claim the excuse of marginal conditions. The split was there, and the blue-white dichotomy obvious, but not the sharp, clear pinpoints I had seen. Hm. Will look into this further another time.

Up to Izar. Nothing like a DIY dewshield - fully flocked!

Mu Librae has been no fun at all, to be brutally frank. It's not particularly bright, but its current position just above Jupiter makes it fairly easy to locate. As to it being a multiple system, well...with other things to seek out, I'm close to pushing it onto the list of things to try with a bigger scope. Sometime.

It's remarkable how much collective momentum clouds are able to muster when it's been decided that one's observational activities are no longer to be tolerated. As it was getting worse in the west, I thought I could squeeze in some Cygnus to the east; but I had clearly been found out and just as I was Baader Zooming in on M29, it disappeared in the mist. Looking up from the eyepiece, it was clear the session was over. Oh well.

[cloudsweeper]

Good session Mike, plus eloquent report - thanks!

Doug.

[Knighty2112]

Who’d a thunk that an ex tennis player would be good for astronomy too!  

Great report. Only managed a brief bino look at the moon and Venus, and then later on in the C8 before clouds closed in 10mins after setting up! 

[scarp15]

Good session Mike and I liked reeling off that list of specified Lunar features. That is interesting information concerning the observation along the rim of Crisium. This caught my attention last night from my allotment session, perhaps like you, I can identify core features, yet actual encounters of particular phenomena on each night, especially along the terminator requires research. This is of course why it becomes so interesting to observe the moon, my own session was in Twilight and I had returned home by 11.45pm, so time to spread out the maps and charts and the marvellous SGL frequent recommendation, 21st Century Atlas of the Moon, to try and fathom what had been encountered and to learn about our fascinating neighbour.  

[chiltonstar]

Interesting comment re Mu Librae Mike - it is just about visible as a double with my ED80, but it needs the greater res and magnification of my 180 Mak to split it cleanly.

A very nice report.

Chris

[iPeace]

On 17/06/2018 at 22:28, chiltonstar said:

Interesting comment re Mu Librae Mike - it is just about visible as a double with my ED80, but it needs the greater res and magnification of my 180 Mak to split it cleanly.

A very nice report.

Chris

Finally got the job done on Mu Librae. Took me all this to split:

Satisfying.

[chiltonstar]

A handsome piece of kit Mike, even if it has the eyepiece at the wrong end of the tube.....

Chris

 

[Mark at Beaufort]

An interesting read Mike. According to my notes I have not viewed Mu Librae. I am going to use my 12" Dob tonight so I will give it a go. Lovely scopes by the way.

[iPeace]

1 hour ago, chiltonstar said:

A handsome piece of kit Mike, even if it has the eyepiece at the wrong end of the tube.....

Chris

 

I wouldn't have pegged you as a partisan...

Truth is, for me, it's really comfortable to stand at the front of "a long one" instead of crouch or sit at the back. And the Newts are really getting it done for me, so I'm happy.

[iPeace]

47 minutes ago, Mark at Beaufort said:

According to my notes I have not viewed Mu Librae. I am going to use my 12" Dob tonight so I will give it a go.

All credit to @John for putting me on to it. It's a challenging one, hasn't quite become a favourite yet; we'll see.  

[chiltonstar]

27 minutes ago, iPeace said:

I wouldn't have pegged you as a partisan...

Truth is, for me, it's really comfortable to stand at the front of "a long one" instead of crouch or sit at the back. And the Newts are really getting it done for me, so I'm happy.

No partisan I .....fracs and Maks - I even had a newt for a brief time, although I found collimation and coma a pain; I have thought of getting a more modern one though, just to compare with my other scopes.

With maks, I have a low stool which gets my head just in the right place and is comfortable for long periods (well until frostbitten rear syndrome sets in of course).

Chris

[Eastman]

Nice report en great looking set up.