FEB 22ND, TONIGHT!! , GASSENDI AND SCHILLER ON THE TERMINATOR - AND CLEAR SKIES FOR MANY OF US!

[paulastro]

The terminator will be about half way across the floor of Gassendi at around 7pm, and Schiller on the terminator just about fully illuminated.  Kepler also looks to be quite well placed.

I hesitated mentioning the weather forecast, so please remember, I'm only the messenger 🙂. 

The Moon transits around 8.40pm - but some cloud may arrive in some parts before midnight, so dont leave it too late.

Edited February 22, 2021 by paulastro

[John]

The forecast is clear until around 9:00 pm here tonight so I might get an hour or so in.

Thanks for the heads up on Gassendi and Schiller

 

[paulastro]

Have a good session John. 🙂

[JeremyS]

I'm all set:

[John]

9 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Have a good session John. 🙂

Thanks !

Having had a little read of my copy of "21st Century Atlas of the Moon" I'd like to try and see the volcanic dome Kies Pi which should be showing quite nicely. If I'm lucky I might be able to see the 2km crater on it's summit

Loads of other stuff in the Mare Humorum area as well !

[RobertI]

Sadly not looking so promising here, but thanks for the heads up, look forward to all the reports! 🙂

Edited February 22, 2021 by RobertI

[Stu]

Thanks @paulastro. Might get a clear spell for a little while here, probably just another Telementor night for me but would be good just to get out.

[John]

I have the Tak FC100 pointed at the moon right now. Lovely clear skies but the seeing is rather unsteady, unfortunately. Maybe it will improve as time moves on ?

Chances of resolving a 2km crater right now are slim I'd say 

[mikeDnight]

I set my FC100DZ  up in the obs late afternoon and am all ready to go.  Just need to remember which end to look through!  Fat end or thin end???

[Saganite]

The sky here is clearing now, the scope is ready and the Moon is steady at 104x.

[Mr Spock]

Taken just seconds ago. All ready and waiting (for cool down)

Heavily processed, but, it is nearly dark out there!

[Mr Spock]

Only got 20 mins before the clouds rolled in. Seeing was pants anyway 

[wulfrun]

Hazy/clear here with some wispy cloud, I've been out with the 150PL for a couple of hours but the seeing isn't good. Had a fabulous 22-degree halo around the moon though, very eerie sight.

[Stu]

Fairly constant cloud around for me, Moon is visible though so managed to take a very quick handheld shot through the Telementor before packing in.

[John]

My scope is still out there and so am I, on and off.

I've got ridges of high cloud passing over but in between them I've managed to get some decent views of some doubles.

No "firsts" tonight though I think - the seeing is not going to allow pushing things too much. Best to keep to 120x - 150x and just enjoy some of the easy ones

 

 

 

 

[JeremyS]

I was observing for about 30mins then thin high cloud covered the sky within 5 mins 👎🏻

[scarp15]

Clear here and yes Gassendi in particular and Schiller were each very imposing. The light began to filter down, revealing aspects of the terraced walls of Gassendi, conveyed in the 10mm Delos, 7mm DeLite (using an 8" dob).

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

I managed a couple of hours. There was plenty of interest along the terminator. However, the highlight was favourable libration revealing Mare Humboldtianum for the first time. Although I do need to double check a map!

 

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Mars was in a part of my view wrecked by lights, but I managed 2 hours Moon watching, and actually got so warm I needed to take my gloves off ! A few lines of light cloud around now , so I've come in for a snack , and a thinner jacket ...

Heather

[Kimboman]

Hi all I went out tonight at around 5pm and set up on the moon .

soon as it was dark spent 2 and a half hours on the moon and had a few views of the Orion nebula it was clear until 8.45 pm really enjoyed the nights viewing and it wasn't cold.

I used my Celestron 6se and my Meade etx90

[John]

I finished my session as the clouds were occupying 80% plus of the sky.

I did manage to get Iota Leonis as my last target, which was nice

Lovely piece on this one by John Nanson on the "Starsplitters" website:

https://bestdoubles.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/on-the-other-side-of-the-hill-iota-ι-leonis/

 

[Marki]

Thanks for that link John. Excellent resource I'd completely forgotten about!

My night wasn't so good and pretty frustrating - haze and ridges of cloud rolled in as just as I'd got aligned/balanced and cooled. Seeing started off average, but declined. I knew it was going south when one minute I could see the F component of the trapezium and the next it was gone and the main four were dimming. Like you I then retreated to a few easy doubles in the Cancer/Leo region, and enjoyed some moon-time. I did play with seeing how much magnification I could usefully use on the moon with the Skywatcher ED (pretty high, it turns out) as I'm nearly ready to write up my review  of it now - I just really want a good clear night of steady seeing (don't we all ).

 

[paulastro]

I observed with my Tecnosky 102ED F7 from 5.50pm until 7.35pm when thin layers of cloud started to come in. The seeing was fairly poor with fine scintilation  with the Moon in the middle of a halo.  It was still very nice to get out, just under a month since my last lunar session due to a very poor run of weather.

Still very nice to see Gassendi and Schiller. Also good detail in the adjoining craters Mee and Heinzel not far N of Schiller.

I took a single frame with my Olympus E-M5 Mk 11 at 7.33pm, 1/320 at 400 asa.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by paulastro

[Nik271]

I also spent an enjoyable hour at 8pm watching the Moon. The seeing was poor, so I stayed below 100x with Mak 180 with binoviewers and a pair of 32mm Plossls. One extra bonus of the binoviewers: they cut the glare of the Moon by half 😎

I particularly liked the shadow that promontory Laplace was casting from the tip of Montes Jura on Sinus Iridum. I think I can even see it in the image by @paulastro above

Then I hunted down Hagrid's dragon NGC 2301 in Monoceros.  Hadn't seen it until now, at 100x it was framed very nicely, and despite the moonlight looked very good indeed with big spread 'wings'.

And then the clouds arrived around 9pm   

[Soligor Rob]

I managed a couple of hours outside, some looking at the moon and like Heather I spent a bit of time looking at Mars, trying out my new right angle 9x50 finder scope made life so much easier find things, trouble for me there is so much vibration on my set up any movement takes so long for the view finder to settle down.

I'm definitely going to be investing in either the HEQ5 Pro with Rowan upgrade or the EQ6-R Pro when they become available and have to say The Sky Watcher Evo Star 150 is very appealing, then my wife mentions we could take a 200 DP Dobsonian away with us in the motorhome.

It'll be like Christmas day all over again.