Planets for Breakfast

[Littleguy80]

Woke up to clear skies this morning. Despite it being after 7am, it was still worth a scan with the binoculars for planets. Venus was incredibly bright in the sky. With the 10x50s, I started low to the Horizon and slowly scanned up. After a few passes, I found what I was looking for...Mercury! It's been several months since I last observed the little planet so I was very pleased to see it again. After a couple of minutes, I decided to throw caution to the wind and get the dob out. It's currently stored in the garage to make room for the Christmas tree so it was fairly well cooled. I used the binoculars to help position the scope in an appropriate place to see both planets. As I was out front of my house, pointing the scope not far above people's rooftops, I felt a little inconspicuous. 

I first set my sights on Venus. After adjusting the finder scope which was way off for some reason, I soon had it in the eyepiece. With the 9mm BGO, it was like a little moon. A lovely fat crescent. The way the light faded away to the terminator gave a very clear impression of the planet. Through the 9x50 finder, I started near the Horizon and worked my way up. I got the the star like planet in the centre of the cross hairs and returned to the eyepiece. Something was wrong, Mercury was too big! Then it dawned on me....it was Jupiter. I hadn't expected the big gas giant to high enough to see. I could just about make out something that could have been an equatorial belt but no moons. Not great views but I was still really pleased to see Jupiter again. I returned to the finder and carried on up until I found Mercury. Even at 240x, through the 5mm BGO, it was small. When I saw Mercury for the first time through a telescope it had been bigger than I was expecting. Despite the small size, it appeared to showing a phase, perhaps two thirds of disc showing? I put the Neodymium filter in and spent the next few minutes looking at each of the planets in turn until I could leave it no longer before getting ready for work. Best Monday morning in awhile!

[domstar]

That's wonderful. What a way to start the working week.

[cloudsweeper]

Nice one Neil!  I've been away, and the nearest I got to stargazing was when having a family meal in the chapel of a former Victorian boarding school.  The beautiful, arched ceiling was in pale blue with silver stars painted all over it.  Not seen so many stars in several weeks!

Doug.

[Littleguy80]

12 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

Nice one Neil!  I've been away, and the nearest I got to stargazing was when having a family meal in the chapel of a former Victorian boarding school.  The beautiful, arched ceiling was in pale blue with silver stars painted all over it.  Not seen so many stars in several weeks!

Doug.

Sounds lovely, Doug. I’m sure you won’t have to wait long to see some real stars  

[Whistlin Bob]

Brilliant!

I was out for a run yesterday morning and saw Mercury- had to do and check it in Sky Safari to be sure- my first time! And I've seen all the planets now!!! ? ?? It was too bright by the time I got home for the scope to come out though!

[Littleguy80]

21 minutes ago, Whistlin Bob said:

Brilliant!

I was out for a run yesterday morning and saw Mercury- had to do and check it in Sky Safari to be sure- my first time! And I've seen all the planets now!!! ? ?? It was too bright by the time I got home for the scope to come out though!

Nice one, Bob. Mercury was the last planet I got too. I’m waiting for an opportunity to see them all in one night now!

[Swithin StCleeve]

Lovely post. This is what astronomy is about, for me.

 

I haven't seen Mercury since the 2006 solar eclipse, I'm ashamed to say. Except for its silhouette in transit, a few years ago. 

[Littleguy80]

48 minutes ago, Swithin StCleeve said:

Lovely post. This is what astronomy is about, for me.

 

I haven't seen Mercury since the 2006 solar eclipse, I'm ashamed to say. Except for its silhouette in transit, a few years ago. 

Thank you. I don’t have a solar setup but hope to have something for the Mercury transit next November!