Out Again At Last (or - Mixed Fortunes)

[cloudsweeper]

1.30am - took a look at the sky to see silvery spots between big white puffy things, so not having been out for over a fortnight, I had to take a better look.  Bresser AR 102S frac was put to use.

Jupiter was low in the south, with Saturn a little further east.  Concentrating on the former, three Galilean moons were clear, but Europa had just begun to cross Jupiter's face along the Northern Equatorial Belt, so I tried to spot the transit of its shadow.  Being so low (as well as Jove dodging clouds), this would be a challenge, and so it proved.  Over x100, the view was blurry, and even later when the shadow was about central, I didn't manage to spot that little black dot.  (No success.)

An hour later, the low, waning gibbous Moon had emerged from rooftops, east of south.  It looked good at x100/0.6deg.  I targeted Theophilus, Cyrillus, and Catharina, and the long Altai Scarp (or cliff) to the south, reaching down to Piccolomini near the terminator.  Altai's long jagged shadow was all that could be made out with the brightness of the Moon, and Piccolomini was a black disc apart from the bright central peak.  (Moderate success.)

When little else goes well, the Perseus Double Cluster can be relied on to please.  It was higher than the above targets, in the NE.  I aimed the RDF at the right spot and landed dead on it using x25/3.28deg.  Upping the mag to x43/1.91deg, more detail emerged, and framed it perfectly.  I ended the session immersing myself in its beauty and wonder.  (Great success.)

After an hour and a quarter, it was close of play due to thickening clouds, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Doug.

 

[domstar]

A nice read to keep my enthusiasm ticking over.  Astro darkness returns for me tonight.

[Knighty2112]

 Nice one Doug. Well done!  

There is a chance that there will be clear skies where I am between 1am to 3am, so fingers crossed I am going to hopefully have a shot at Comet Neowise (even more finger crossing going on!).  

Edited July 10, 2020 by Knighty2112