Observing sessions are like ...

[David Levi]

... buses. Yes, it's the old joke. You wait ages and then two come along at the same time. So, it was a second night out in a row doing the same session structure; Moon, Jupiter, double stars. Telescope was the 100mm refractor with binoviewers.

On the Moon, the craters Aristoteles and Eudoxus looked fantastic. Terrific detail on the ejecta immediately surrounding the craters. On the south western edge of the Mare Serenitatis I had a look at the crater Sulpicius Gallus. It's on the lunar 100 list at number 71 for its dark mantle. It appeared in a darker patch of ground but not sure if that's what you are supposed to see as it wasn't that impressive (there are dark patches in many places) and at number 71 in the list it should be quite hard to see but it wasn't particularly.

Further south, close to the terminator the Albufeda Crater Chain provided an interesting view and below that the Pontanus E Concentric Crater was lit up perfectly to see the concentric ring. Apparently, concentric craters are rare away from maria.

Proceeding down the terminator further, the overlapping craters of Maurolycus were impressive. Finally near the limb, I had a great view of the crater Boussingault. The inner crater being very clear together with detailed terracing descending to it.

I moved on to double stars next. Tonight exploring some more obvious ones in the constellation of Scorpius and low declination Ophiuchus ones.

α Sco, Antares, 1/5.5 mag, 2.5" sep, failed to split, although, inspired by another thread I'm coming back to it.

β Sco, 2.6/4.9 mag, 13.7" sep

ν Sco, 4.0(4.4/5.4) / 6.3(6.7/7.8) mag, 41", A1.4", B2.6", an exciting double double, I could only split the brighter A pair at moments of good seeing.

ρ Oph, 4.6(5.0/5.7) / 6.8 / 7.3 mag, 156.3", 151.1, A3.0", what a fantastic 4 star system. The fainter two stars are positioned almost equidistant from the primary at a roughly 90­° angle which makes for a eye pleasing view.

ο Oph, 5.1/6.6 mag, 10.1" sep

36 Oph, 5.1, 5.1 mag, 5.0" sep

Jupiter had now cleared the rooftops and it gave some really steady but not particularly clear views at approx. 200x magnification. Still a 3/1 split with the Galilean Moons as last night but less of a straight line I would guess. The equatorial bands were obvious and the south polar region was showing some darkness. Nothing really to report in the faint northern polar region.

Another enjoyable session.

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by David Levi

[Paz]

Nice report, two nights in a row is good going,  you have to take the chances when they come!

[Pete Presland]

Two nights in a row this week is fantastic going, not seen a hint of blue/clear sky for ages! 

[Trikeflyer]

Any camping pitches in your back garden 🤔. Nothing but solid grey could and torrential rain here for the last 4-5 days. 😡

Steve

[Paz]

2 hours ago, Trikeflyer said:

Any camping pitches in your back garden 🤔. Nothing but solid grey could and torrential rain here for the last 4-5 days. 😡

Steve

There's a good idea, we could all rent out good weather slots to each other!

Edited June 12, 2019 by Paz

[alan potts]

Two nights in a row, I dream of that at the moment, tonight looks OK.

Alan