Seize the moment

[Littleguy80]

Monday night I'd stayed up late baking and decorating a birthday cake for my daughter's birthday party the following day. The party was in the afternoon so I was working from home. My first opportunity for some astronomy came with a brief break between calls at lunchtime. My Equinox 80 was already set up with the TS Optics Herschel Wedge from the weekend. I was quickly out and observing the Sun with the sunspot, AR2757. Over the course of 10 minutes, I was surprised by how much detail could be seen. Many smaller spots or pores could be seen trailing the main spot.

The day moved on and we went off to my daughter's party. As darkness set in, I looked outside from the happy smiling faces of the party goers, to see a bright crescent Moon and Venus in the early evening sky. Arriving home some time after 6pm, I switched the Equinox 80 over to night mode. The target was the conjunction of Venus and Neptune. The best views came with the APM HDC 20mm, showing the phase of Venus and the tiny pale blue dot of Neptune. I'd have loved to have seen them the previous night when they were much closer but the weather hadn't cooperated for that. The Moon was absolutely stunning. The thin crescent was showing Mare Crisium particularly nicely with two large craters within it. Earthshine lit up the whole disc in the eyepiece. It was the planetary conjunction that brought me outside but it was the Moon that stole the show. My list of duties now required a trip to the grocery store. As the skies were clear, I put the 10" dob outside to cool. I couldn't resist a quick peek at M42 before I went back inside.

When I returned from shopping, things were looking distinctly cloudy. My wife and I sat down and watched an Episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation while we at our evening meal. I looked outside to see the clouds clearing so out I went again. This time I aligned the dob with the double cluster and went in search of a comet. Very quickly I found Comet C/2017 T2 Panstarrs. I've been following this comet since mid November and was very much looking forward to it's fly by of the double cluster. Some eyepiece experimentation revealed the ES82 30mm as framing the comet and clusters most pleasingly. The comet seemed quite bright which was a sign of good transparency. The buzz of my phone ended the fun for now as work called.

It was closing in on Midnight by the time I finished work and my household chores. The skies were looking great so I decided to try for one more thing before bed. Virgo had risen just high enough for me to target it from my back garden. I star hopped my way to the galaxy NGC 4636. I began to compare the view through the eyepiece to an image I had found on the internet. After 10 minutes or so of careful studying between the eyepiece, image and SkySafari, I was happy that I'd seen Supernova 2020UE. Only the third Supernova I've ever seen and the brightest at mag 12.1. It was thrilling to see it.

I contemplated the thought that a star had exploded in a galaxy and 46 million years later, a life form on a planet in another galaxy looked through a telescope and saw a small pinpoint of light in the galaxy. The life form smiled and punched the air with excitement. He then went inside his house, ate a slice of birthday cake and went to bed feeling very lucky to have witnessed these small events in the history of the cosmos.

[Stu]

Lovely report Neil. Great catch with the SN!

The comet is very faint from here, very tricky but sounds like you had a good view.

[Littleguy80]

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

Lovely report Neil. Great catch with the SN!

The comet is very faint from here, very tricky but sounds like you had a good view.

Thanks Stu. I wasn't sure I was going to get a chance to see the SN so I was really chuffed to get that. The comet has become a bit of tester object for the conditions. Transparency was good last night so it showed really well. I normally settle on my 9mm Lunt XWA which gives 133x mag in the dob. It's quite clear at this mag. When conditions are less favourable then it can be a struggle to spot.

[Greymouser]

Thank you for a good and inspiring report. Looks like you like getting the most from every spare moment, very organised. 

[Littleguy80]

2 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

Thank you for a good and inspiring report. Looks like you like getting the most from every spare moment, very organised. 

Thank you! I've always loved event astronomy. Those little things that are just there for a brief moment in time. Well worth running out to grab a view of

[Greymouser]

2 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Well worth running out to grab a view of

Couldn't agree more, I just wish I was better organised; had more time and better sleep then I would have a better go at things than I presently do. Perhaps I need to make some changes...

[Littleguy80]

12 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

Couldn't agree more, I just wish I was better organised; had more time and better sleep then I would have a better go at things than I presently do. Perhaps I need to make some changes...

I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. It’s hard to keep on top of life and astronomy is just a hobby after all. That being said, if you can keep a little scope permanently set up and ready to go then it’s easy to pop and catch some of these moments  

[scarp15]

Lovely way to begin the story Neil, making that birthday cake for your daughter. Quite motivational interspersing everyday (and night) life with those visual astronomy quests. Congrats in particular for capturing the supernova. Birthday cake and stargazing, a fine combination. 

[Littleguy80]

22 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

Lovely way to begin the story Neil, making that birthday cake for your daughter. Quite motivational interspersing everyday (and night) life with those visual astronomy quests. Congrats in particular for capturing the supernova. Birthday cake and stargazing, a fine combination. 

Thank you Iain. It was part observing report/part day in the life of Neil! I did want to show that it’s possible to fit a bit observing in around a busy day  

[bish]

Great stuff. It's very rewarding when you have to put the effort in to track down something new. Must have been a real buzz spotting the SN. To me it"s the thrill of the chase.  Non astronomers dont get the appeal of looking at a dot of light or faint fuzzy thing. 

[Littleguy80]

57 minutes ago, bish said:

Great stuff. It's very rewarding when you have to put the effort in to track down something new. Must have been a real buzz spotting the SN. To me it"s the thrill of the chase.  Non astronomers dont get the appeal of looking at a dot of light or faint fuzzy thing. 

Thank you. I was really happy to see it. I gave the SN in M100 a really good try a week or two before but never felt any confidence that I saw it. It’s those failures that add to the thrill of success. I completely agree on the excitement of the chase. I’ve never used goto, just finding everything manually with SkySafari as a guide. It’s so satisfying to find things they way. That’s just my preference though. Certainly not knocking anyone who does use goto.