28th June 2018 GRS Transiting tonight

[Stu]

GRS is just peaking around the limb and is transiting at around 11.20 tonight. Worth a look if you are out.

I have the Ercole out with Tak and Mak side  by side which could be interesting.

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

GRS is just peaking around the limb and is transiting at around 11.20 tonight. Worth a look if you are out.

I have the Ercole out with Tak and Mak side  by side which could be interesting.

Some nice views here. Seeing not as good as a couple of nights ago. I’m still able to pick the colour variation in the GRS though  

[Stu]

Similar here really Neil, some decent detail coming through but the seeing is dropping off now so am packing in soon

[Red Dwarfer]

Thanks for the heads up - 200P and ED80 left out to cool half an hour ago 

Mars was a bit of a mess last night , but it was only at 20 degrees elevation at the time 

Cassini division was clear as a bell though ?

[Littleguy80]

42 minutes ago, Red Dwarfer said:

Thanks for the heads up - 200P and ED80 left out to cool half an hour ago 

Mars was a bit of a mess last night , but it was only at 20 degrees elevation at the time 

Cassini division was clear as a bell though ?

When the seeing settles, Saturn is looking great tonight. Cassini and 5 moons that I can see  

[Stu]

Just now, Littleguy80 said:

When the seeing settles, Saturn is looking great tonight. Cassini and 5 moons that I can see  

Lucky you! No Cassini, wobbly as a jelly and only Titan for me!

Bed!

[Littleguy80]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

Lucky you! No Cassini, wobbly as a jelly and only Titan for me!

Bed!

Boo! Clouds are now starting to roll in so I think it might be game over here too

[Littleguy80]

After a short break, I went back out. Split the double double. Very clean split at 170x. Then over to M57 where I could see the mag 13 star next to it. After that split Izar at 240x. Love that blue secondary. Had a run at zeta Hercules. At 300x there was some elongation but no split. Moved on to the easier split of Sigma Coronae Borealis. Just about got onto Mars after that. A lighter area on the limb showed up the ice cap but that was all the seeing allowed. Off to bed much later than I should be. It’s so hard to resist these lovely summer nights!

[geoflewis]

1 hour ago, Littleguy80 said:

When the seeing settles, Saturn is looking great tonight. Cassini and 5 moons that I can see

Hi Neil,

I bagged 6 moons at x200 with ADC in train through the C14, though Mimas was tricky, being very close to the bright ring system and fading in/out due to passing cloud. Cassini was very clear. Shot a buch of data to process too. Clouds eventually took over, so I shut down.

Cheers, Geof

[Littleguy80]

3 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Hi Neil,

I bagged 6 moons at x200 with ADC in train through the C14, though Mimas was tricky, being very close to the bright ring system and fading in/out due to passing cloud. Cassini was very clear. Shot a buch of data to process too. Clouds eventually took over, so I shut down.

Cheers, Geof

Good job on seeing Mimas, Geof! It really is tough to spot them when they’re close to the rings like that. Looking forward to seeing the results of that data. Always neat to see images taken of a target you were observing at the time  

[geoflewis]

3 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Good job on seeing Mimas, Geof! It really is tough to spot them when they’re close to the rings like that. Looking forward to seeing the results of that data. Always neat to see images taken of a target you were observing at the time  

I hope to process them soon, but I'm travelling all nest week so if I don't get to them by Saturday, it will be a while.... I still have backlog from 25th and 26th to process....?

[Red Dwarfer]

7 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Cassini and 5 moons that I can see

I think I`ve counted a grand total of 3 moons so far around Saturn , but not sure how widely to search ?

[Stu]

22 minutes ago, Red Dwarfer said:

I think I`ve counted a grand total of 3 moons so far around Saturn , but not sure how widely to search ?

Not far Red Dwarfer, this shows most of them within a 0.1 degree field. Much fainter Hyperion is a little further out. The labelling on the second one is wrong, it is rounded from 0.15 degrees.

[Red Dwarfer]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

Not far Red Dwarfer, this shows most of them within a 0.1 degree field. Much fainter Hyperion is a little further out.

Ah , right - maybe I have seen more than 3 after all according to the screen caps - that tight cluster around the planet itself looks a bit like Jupiter`s Moons too , distance wise - will definitely have a closer look / count tonight .

[Stu]

I caught five in my Tak some time ago, need to check how high it was, but I found lower power and a low scatter setup important in picking them out of the glare.

 

[Stu]

7 minutes ago, Red Dwarfer said:

Ah , right - maybe I have seen more than 3 after all according to the screen caps - that tight cluster around the planet itself looks a bit like Jupiter`s Moons too , distance wise - will definitely have a closer look / count tonight .

Just be aware that I removed any background stars from the image for clarity, you need to check to make sure they are actually moons. This image has the stars added back in, but note that the moons are shown much larger, they look the same as the stars in reality.

[F15Rules]

I managed to catch the GRS last night in the FS128 at c.10.15pm..

My right eye is still very poor but using the Maxbright bvs with both eyes really helped, amazing how a good eye can help compensate for a bad one.

I used a pair of 10mm Pseudo Masuyama's (1 Parks Gold, 1 Eudiascopic) to give x104 and got a lovely view of the main 4 moons, 3 to the "left" as viewed through a baader prism (right way up, reversed image) and 1 to the "right".

A lot of detail on view, 2 very prominent bands including the southernmost with the GRS, and another, fainter one south of the GRS. Also a lot of irregularities in the 2 main belts. I felt another half hour would have shown me a good bit more, but I had an early start today.

I was only out for 15 mins so scope was still cooling, but just so nice to see Jupe so steady after a long wait?..

Dave

 

[geoflewis]

13 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

using the Maxbright bvs with both eyes really helped, amazing how a good eye can help compensate for a bad one

Hi Dave,

Sounds like a good albeit brief session . I'd love to try BVs for planetary and lunar views in particular, but the expense of doubling even part of my eyepiece collection puts me of the investment.

Cheers, Geof

[F15Rules]

Cheers Geoff?.

I'd heartily recommend binoviewers..Yes, you need 2 or 3 pairs of eyepieces but you don't need expensive ones..Ordinary plossl types do very well in binoviewers: MikeDnight on this forum swears by cheap low cost orthos, and has produced some wonderful planetary sketches using these.

Not everyone gets on with bv's though, so I'd strongly suggest you try a pair out for yourself before a purchase, if you can.

But if they do suit you, you won't want to go back to just Cyclops viewing again!

Dave

[geoflewis]

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Cheers Geoff?.

I'd heartily recommend binoviewers..Yes, you need 2 or 3 pairs of eyepieces but you don't need expensive ones..Ordinary plossl types do very well in binoculars: MikeDnight on this forum swears by cheap low cost orthos, and has produced some wonderful planetary sketches using these.

Not everyone gets on with bv's though, so I'd strongly suggest you try a pair out for yourself before a purchase, if you can.

But if they do suit you, you won't want to go back to just Cyclops viewing again!

Dave

Hi Dave,

They've been on my wish list for a while, but they never get close to the top. The only person that I know that has some lives about 120 miles from me. He says that they give great views, especially lunar, but he rarely does visual. I have wondered about asking to borrow them, but it's a bit of at trek to fetch and then return them. Maybe I'll look out to see if anyone is using them at the Kelling star party this autumn, to see if I can try them out.

Cheers, Geof