Who is out to play tonight?

[JamesF]

Clear sky here at the moment and the forecast calls it so until late tomorrow morning, but I'm not convinced about the seeing.  During the day the Quantocks were looking distinctly murky and they're probably only five miles away at the nearest point.  A heavy dew is already wetting the grass however, so perhaps it will clear the air a little.

In any case, seeing some stars for a while will mean the evening shouldn't be wasted, as I have a filter wheel to configure and I need to get the guide scopes focused properly.

James

[Hallingskies]

Not me.  My rig is in bits while I fit a new telescope and mount out and get all the wires and computery bits sorted.  

Should have done it all months ago.  Clouds will roll in permanently when I am finally ready, that’s for sure...

[Ouroboros]

I'd like to be. The kit is set up ready to roll. But cloud. I've spent the whole month so far down here in Cornwall and there have been two not very clear nights. It's so frustrating!!!!!  If it's not showing any promise by 10:00 I'm going to go out, cover up and give up for today. Much of the rest of the country looks fairly clear from the satellite images.  

[Rob Sellent]

Scope's out of doors. Will have a relatively short session and close up around midnight I guess

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

A lovely clear sky beckons. I've just put the Dob out to cool, laid out the eyepiece box etc and most importantly poured a bottle of Lancaster Bomber. 😉

 

[Paul73]

Looking good here. The Dob is lucking in the garden all collimated and ready to go!! First proper session for ages😁 

Cue the clouds.

Paul

[John]

I'm all setup with the 12 inch dob. I've bagged a few doubles, Saturn and good old M57 and M27 while the sky darkens.

Hoping to have a good long session on the Veil Nebula when the sky is fully dark.

 

[DaveS]

Running a short sequence on Mel15.

Will be following a couple of exercises from the OU elementary course I'm doing, even though they're something I'm familiar with. Playing it straight.

[JamesF]

Is Mel15 part of the Heart and Soul, or am I misremembering?

James

[DaveS]

Yes, it's the "Heart of The Heart". The image scale of my 130mm triplet apo and 694 should give me a tight close up.

Very heavy dew tonight, the grass is soaking. Last night it was pretty dry. Running the dew heaters.

[Davey-T]

Thought I'd catch a few more subs of NGC7331 and had to blast the Atik314l+ with a USB fan to get it down to minus 10.

Dave

[discardedastro]

Really good skies here. All setup and running on the Bubble Nebula for the night, LRGB. Had some interesting polar misalignment, given I've done nothing but put the scope cover on and take it off again - longing for a nice solid bit of concrete and some better fine-adjustment knobs than what Skywatcher provide!

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by discardedastro

[Gina]

Trying to get the gear to work properly!!  Still sorting things out after taking a completely new approach to imaging.

[Paul M]

Just come back in from a quick session with my new-to-me Celestron 127 SLT. 

The main purpose of the session was to take advantage of what might be Junior's (13) last chance before back-to-school to get a look a Jupiter and Saturn.

The sky here was cloudless but humidity was making it a bit "soft". Jupiter looked steady enough naked-eye but was boiling through the eyepiece. Still, Junior described what she could see without prompting; bands on the disk and 4 moons, all bunched up on one side.

Saturn stood up to more magnification than I expected. No idea what focal length this cute Mak is ( could go and find out...) but I'm guessing the 8mm BST was giving somewhere towards 200x. Not sharp but impressive enough for squirt to be still jabbering on about it all the way to bed and beyond!

And no Junior, you couldn't see the rings of Jupiter with your bare eyes....

 

 

[Hughsie]

Night 3 of imaging NGC 6960. Started at 9pm Friday, Saturday and tonight and will wrap up about 5am when the calibration frames are done. Just waiting on the meridian flip then I will get my head down for a few hours.

[mcrowle]

Like Ouroboros, I'm in Cornwall - and totally clouded out.

Disappointing, as I had high hopes for this bank holiday weekend. I did get the opportunity to view and image Comet C/2018 W2 Africano on Friday night, at least until the waning Moon rose, but it looks like that will be it for now. Good luck, all, anyway!

Regards, Mike.

[djpaul]

I would be but too tired after a long busy working bank holiday.... home now so just binoculars for me tonight. 

I'm off tomorrow so hopefully clear tomorrow night. 

[david_taurus83]

I'm hoping to grab 4 hours on the Iris. Got the 102EDR out and back to RGB imaging. I captured lots of Ha stuff the last few months but little else. Guiding also behaving for a change. Will be out tomorrow night as well if the Imaging Gods permit.

[geoflewis]

It’s clear here in South Norfolk, but transparency is not great. Nevertheless I’m trying to collect data on some low southerly targets, currently shooting RG&B on M16 to add to some L that I got a couple of nights ago. Fingers crossed 🤞 

Edited August 25, 2019 by geoflewis

[DaveS]

I'm towards the end of a 2 hour run on Mel15, but think I'll start another hour or so where that left off.

Been sweeping the MW with the 7x50s, quite detailed. Swept up M20 and M8 pus the Sagittarius star clouds. M31 clear naked eye and looking huge in the bins. M33 not quite naked eye, but it's low ATM. Very clear in the bins though.

[discardedastro]

Transparency and seeing both surprisingly good here. Really starting to think about a decentish cheap scope for visual while the imaging rig runs - the 10x49 Opticron monocular isn't too much use, especially since I can't keep it steady enough!

[Stub Mandrel]

Tonight is amazing.

Before it was fully dark I got some really good captures of Jupiter - it was barely moving even in 25ms exposures, the moons were pin sharp and the red spot was clear even being near the limb.

I got out my 10" dob and I was able to go up to x320 on jupiter and Saturn. On Jupiter I could see polar bands as well as the two equatorial ones and even the spot before it disappeared into the limb. Only time I have seen all four moons on the same side of it.

Saturn I could easily see the shadow on the ring, hints of banding on the planet and even flashes of the cassini division either side.

I have never been able to image anything in Sagittarius because of skyglow and LP, but in teh end I got a load of subs of the Swan nebula  - it was even showing in a 15 second test sub.

Doing the bubble now.

Struggling to find things in the dob with poorly adapted eyes and just lack of skill, but i've seen Andromeda and M57 and looked right through the dumbell!

I thought I would try one of these legendary 'star tests' to see how good my scope is. I pointed at Altair. Out of focus I could see the secondary supports etc. Focused in tight then backed off. I couldn't believe it, barely any movement and there were two perfect and complete circles around a central point.  It is clearly between 9 and 10 on the 'Pickering scale' http://www.damianpeach.com/pickering.htm.

Then I checked my imaging rig - the HEQ5 is achieving 0.73" with the 150PL, a perfect match for the pixel scale.

At last! A night when, finally, everything comes together! I just wish I could find some more DSOs!

 

[Stub Mandrel]

5 minutes ago, discardedastro said:

Transparency and seeing both surprisingly good here.

See the post i made at the same time as you - I suspect these are as near perfect conditions as I will ever see at home!

[JamesF]

I've ironed out a few niggles and look to have things working pretty well now.  The seeing is pretty good here, too.  To the south the Milky Way is clear right down to the roof of the house.

Once I get the imaging side under control I shall be getting back out with the 10" dob which I have to admit I've ignored a fair bit recently.  Looking forward to getting eyeballs on the stars directly again.

James

[JamesF]

3 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

See the post i made at the same time as you - I suspect these are as near perfect conditions as I will ever see at home!

Really unexpected after such a sultry day, too.  I'm more than a little surprised.  Not complaining in the least, mind.  Could turn out to be a late night :D

James