Clear outside but.....

[Stu]

.... whilst I'm feeling alot better, I don't think it would be wise to head out just yet. It's frustrating but probably the right option. I might just pop the little spotting scope out for a few minutes before bed.

Anyone else got some clear skies to get out under?

[chiltonstar]

Clear at the mo, and the forecast is good. Another session on Orion doubles I think! Two nights ago the seeing and transparency were so good that i even managed a second ever glimpse (no more than a glimpse unfortunately) of the HH.  Maybe tonight will be better.

From your post it sounds as though you've been ailing....flu? If so, bed and a glass of something warming might be better than facing the cold night air!

Chris

[Stu]

43 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

From your post it sounds as though you've been ailing....flu?

Let's call it man flu Chris 😉, yes, staying in the warm seems to make most sense.

Hope you gave a good session.

[James]

Hope your recovery is quick Stu..

 Cloudy here in East Devon - clear night predicted tonight for several days but it’s turned out cloudy

Maybe for the better as tonight’s a school night so to speak.

James

[jonathan]

I haven't been out in the back garden with a scope for what feels like a very long time, certainly not been a regular at it anyway, so with it being so clear and feeling a surge of renewed interest I headed out with a binocular and naked eye tour guide, bagged quite a lot of nice stuff around Auriga, Pegasus, and Orion (mainly clusters and a few galaxies).  Pleased to find that my averted vision still works pretty well in the cold!  I could only stand it for about an hour, mind you, before my toes and fingers began to pack their bags for the trip back inside.

Good practice for when I get a real telescope out, I'm planning to look at Auriga and clusters in more detail seeing as that's up and looking great in the evenings right now.

[John]

I'm just back from a society outreach session at our observatory. Dead cold up there so I'm glad to be back inside now. Good session though with initial cloud cover clearing rapidly to give some great views of the Autumn favourites. I never tire of hearing people say "wow !" when they look at an object through a scope for the 1st time even if it is a target which I'm familliar with.

Hope you feel better soon Stu.

 

[Stu]

Glad some are braving the cold 👍👍

I just popped out with the 52mm spotting scope for a quick 10 minute fix on a few old favourites. Kemble's Cascade suits the wide view in the scope, with NGC1502 showing aswell.

For one of my small scope challenges, I managed to split the Trap with all four components showing although the mag 8 star was tough. I got three stars in Sigma Orionis too which is all I could expect.

Lastly the lovely swirling S of stars between Alnilam and Mintaka again makes a nice widefield view. Mintaka splits well in this little scope too.

That was enough for me! Bed now, feeling much better thanks Chaps, mustn't milk it too much 🤣. Back to work in the morning 😥.

[NGC 1502]

On 01/12/2019 at 22:16, John said:

I'm just back from a society outreach session at our observatory. Dead cold up there so I'm glad to be back inside now. Good session though with initial cloud cover clearing rapidly to give some great views of the Autumn favourites. I never tire of hearing people say "wow !" when they look at an object through a scope for the 1st time even if it is a target which I'm familliar with.

Well done John.   My local club does public outreach, but it’s been ages since we had a successful clear night, the recent events had to be cancelled due to cloud.  But fully agree, when you hear that ‘wow’ from someone it makes it all worthwhile.     Our best one was many years ago, we had over 400 visitors, nearby roads were full of parked cars, residents called the police thinking it was looking dodgy, police turned up but were very friendly when they saw what was going on with queues across the field at each scope.......😁

Cheers from Ed.