Sirius B with 130mm

[John]

Nice session on double stars with my 130mm refractor but a cloud layer has just crept across the sky masking all but the brighter stars

Just before the veil was drawn across the sky I managed to spot "The Pup" star Sirus B glimmering very faintly beside Sirus A. I was using 240x a this point and was getting quite a nice tight image of the A star with minimal shimmer. The encroaching cloud layer put a stop to that of course so the scope sits in the greenhouse now waiting to see if things clear up again.

Seeing is steady but transparency seemed a little down so the Orion and Eskimo Nebulae were not as extensive as they can be with this aperture. E & F Trapezium were nicely seen though so that was a fair exchange I guess.

Perhaps the cloud will thin out again ?. Hope so

[John]

Clearer again now for a bit - out we go again !

 

[John]

Still clear here but somehow the seeing is not quite what it was and the transparency no better.

While it's good to actually be observing, I feel that I'm "going through the motions" a bit just now. I can pick out stuff like M51, M97, M81+82, NGC 2903 etc, etc but I know that I've seen them looking better.

Perhaps its time to pack up and come back into the warm 

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, John said:

Still clear here but somehow the seeing is not quite what it was and the transparency no better.

While it's good to actually be observing, I feel that I'm "going through the motions" a bit just now. I can pick out stuff like M51, M97, M81+82, NGC 2903 etc, etc but I know that I've seen them looking better.

Perhaps its time to pack up and come back into the warm 

It’s been very similar here, John. It was nice to be out but transparency just wasn’t that good. Did pick up the SN in NGC4636 again which was fun. Seems to have faded a bit based on comparison to a nearby star. As I was looking at M51 a thin layer of cloud added to the haze so called it a night. Good job on Sirius B by the way. Tried and failed to see it again. Quite windy which didn’t help. I’ll get it one day. 

[RobertI]

Well done on seeing the pup John, I've just had a similar slightly diappointing session which yielded a couple of good things, will try and write up.