Tonight is the night - Transparent skies over the uk tonight and no moon

[mdstuart]

Polar maritime Air over the UK tonight. I could see Dunkery Beacon 60 miles away from Gloucestershire and the moon does not rise till well after midnight.

So tonight is the night for trying to see..

That faint spiral arm..

That central planetary neb star..

The variable quasar on your challenge list...

The lensed galaxy you keep trying to see

Faint nebula or galactic cirrus

The asteroid that has always eluded you

Go on you know you want to...

Mark

P.S but not good double star or planetary seeing...

[Pixies]

Yep, forget the seeing conditions tonight:

[John]

Thanks Mark

Tonight is big aperture night then

I'll leave the "peashooters" indoors

[Stu]

Thanks Mark. There still seems to be high cloud on the satellite but hopefully that will clear.

I will put the 12” dob out and try to see some galaxies, starting with M65 and 66. If I can’t see those I shall sulk, and likely go to bed 🤣🤣🤣

[Paul73]

Definitely a Dob night tonight!

Paul

[John]

One of my targets tonight will be to see all 4 of the Hickson 44  "Leo Quartet". I got 3 the other night but NGC 3187 eluded me. 

 

[Pixies]

[AbsolutelyN]

Sounds great but feels too windy for my 10” to guide well enough.

[mdstuart]

Sounds like many of you are as excited as me.

My plans include

The galaxy pairs ngc 5289/90 and ngc 4227/9 

Ngc 5025 with its fake supernova

Ngc 5263 right next to M3

A few markarians 431/669/278

So let's see how we all get on.   

The wind will drop overnight but yes might make astrophotography more challenging so maybe a night for us visual astronomers.

Mark

[tooth_dr]

Not looking great here, this is the view from my daytime all sky camera - solid cloud and now snowing

[mdstuart]

1 minute ago, tooth_dr said:

Not looking great here, this is the view from my daytime all sky camera - solid cloud and now snowing

Hope it clears but snow does tend to reflect lights and take the edge off the sky darkness!

Mark

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, mdstuart said:

Hope it clears but snow does tend to reflect lights and take the edge off the sky darkness!

Mark

Ok, that image was taken five minutes ago, this is now 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

That polar air is streaking over my house producing 20mph winds and a procession of fuffy grey/white clouds... 🙄

Good luck tonight with your dobs. 👍

[Nik271]

I'm normally a Mak person but tonight will take out the 6 inch Newt. Hoping to spot the third member of the Leo triplet.

[westmarch]

20 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Ok, that image was taken five minutes ago, this is now 

Nothing new then for Ireland, eh! 😄

John

[Laurieast]

Clear blue all day, but shower clouds passing over Derbyshire going south now. 

[John]

Clear but cold here.

Some interesting potential target galaxy groups in Leo covered in this Sky & Telescope piece:

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/explore-night-bob-king/exploring-bright-galaxy-groups-in-leo/

 

[tooth_dr]

29 minutes ago, westmarch said:

Nothing new then for Ireland, eh! 😄

John

Lol John literally every season today. Frost snow hail wind rain sun 

[mdstuart]

Here is an image showing ngc 5263 at the  left and m3 in the centre.

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by mdstuart
Better

[Laurieast]

Clear now, going for NGC2903 

 

[Luke]

I'm feeling a bit cold and tired but I think I am gonna give it a shot tonight, thanks for the heads up. I'd love to have another look at M13.

[Stardaze]

Looks good here tonight but it’s a school night with an early start 😂 Tomorrow looks good too though so hopefully I’ll try then. I’ll grab half hour with the binos all the same.

[John]

Better make a start. The obligatory look at Nova v1405 Cas, to see how it's doing

 

[Paul73]

Got to wait for the family to go to bed and switch the house lights out. Then looking forward to a galaxy fest!

I’ve got the Dob out cooling with a freshly washed mirror.

Paul

[Laurieast]

More cloud rolled in, and after Celestron wi fi dongle decided Procyon was buried in the lawn gave up, Icy cold wind.