14th February Moon

[Lurcher]

Hi everyone,

Hahaa! Looks like quite a few of us took advantage of the clear sky on Thursday. I headed out to the countryside hoping for really dark skies but I was surprised by how bad the viewing conditions were. I suppose the moon was washing a lot of stars and objects out and I think there was mist coming in from the coast.

It was also surprisingly cold. We had quite a layer of ice on the scopes after an hour or so. We stayed out for two hours and then headed back home for some warmth!

I grabbed a quick shot of the moon. This was with a Canon 1300D (basic model), attached directly to the scope without the lens. ISO 100 with an exposure of 0.025 seconds (1/40).

Skywatcher 300 Dobsonian flextube.

Most of my time was spent messing about with different magnifications and trying to sketch a couple of craters, but I realized this was taking too long. I was also desperate to see the Whirlpool Galaxy. I was hoping as this was away from the moon it would be possible. But I could only make out the faintest of faint smudges which I assume must have been it, but I was essentially really disappointed. Is the Whiirlppol Galaxy faint and hard to see ?? I'll have to try again if we get clear skies near a new moon.

Thanks all. (Sincerely hope the file size isn't too large. I didn't reduce it. I hope it's ok).

[LeeRich]

Gorgeous shot ?

[Lurcher]

Thanks LeeRich!