A Lunar "Blister", A Double, & Several Blackbirds!

[cloudsweeper]

4.15am Thursday - clear, still - Moon (2 days after full) low in south - AR102S Frac waiting in Astroshed.

Mare Crisium was on the terminator, with the eastern floor/basin forming the terminator line itself as a smooth curve between the bordering rugged features.  (Bit like a lunar blister!)  Craters Swift, Peirce, Picard, and Greaves looked sharp to the west of M. Crisium, and further west (near its edge) other features were made out, namely the ill-defined crater Yerkes (only the western wall showed up, resembling a ridge) and, further north, the Oppel Ridge.  Cleomedes was very clear, just to the north of MC.  All x60.  Going up to x100, the view was very good, albeit a little unstable.  x120 still good; x150 less so - getting "wobbly".  At x25, Luna was beautifully framed, with a yellow-fringed limb shimmering gently (not at all unpleasant).

4.35am - the blackbirds started up - a lovely accompaniment - and a few minutes later there remained only a few very faint stars.  So I quickly aimed at Mizar.  At x30 / 2.73deg, Mizar A & B, Alcor, and Ludwig's Star stood alone in a wide field.  {Mizar A and B, and Alcor (the C star) are each actually tight binaries.  A, B, and C are physically connected systems, although Sissy Haas gives the AC pair as optical (line of sight).  Ludwig's Star (once thought to be a planet) is not physically connected to the others.}  Very pleasing, see sketch.

4.45am - still had the above in the EP, though no longer naked eye.  More blackbirds had joined the chorus, competing in vocal virtuosity - a true delight, enhancing a great way to start the day and lift the spirits.  Going back indoors, it suddenly went very quiet!

Doug.

Edited April 29, 2021 by cloudsweeper

[Nik271]

That's an early rise! I'm tempted to try early morning observation too, to view Saturn for the first time this year. I think around 4:30-5am should do it right now but from next month it has to be earlier and earlier

Mizar was the first proper double I saw, with an Astomaster 130, I still remember the excitement of these two close dots in the EP, it's still a favourite of mine. 

Edited April 29, 2021 by Nik271

[cloudsweeper]

1 minute ago, Nik271 said:

That's an early rise! I'm tempted to try early morning observation too, to view Saturn for the first time this year. I think around 4:30-5am should do it right now but of from next month it has to be earlier and earlier

Mizar was the first proper double I saw, with an Astomaster 130, I still remember the excitement of these two close dots in the EP, it's still a favourite of mine. 

Yes Nik - early is worth the effort: peaceful, and very little stray light!  Mizar is nice (albeit very easy) - it was my first double too.  I'd have gone for others, but the sky was too light by then.  A 3.00am start next time, I reckon!

Doug.

[Knighty2112]

Nice report Doug. Like the dawn chorus of the blackbirds. Very nice.

I was out last night for the first time in a while, the main reason was to collimate a C8 I just got courtesy of my brother, and my Stellalyra 6 RC. Managed to do the C8 first and got it pretty much spot on I think. Stars were looking the right shape again (not like blackbirds in flight ), so decided to see if I could find M65, M66 in Leo. Wasn’t fully dark as yet at around 21:15, but managed to just see them tweaking out in the sky none the less. As the sky grew darker I watched them become a little more prominent. Tried for the third galaxy member in that group NGC3628, but wasn’t able to conclusively say I got it, although once or twice I thought I could see something there. 

After a while I also went after glob M53 in Coma B. Not as good a sight as M13, but nice to see a glob in view again in an EP. After that I put the 6” RC on the Skytee 2 and messesd around for ages getting the collimation right on that via Polaris. Took an absolute age to do and nearly gave up, but stuck with it and managed to tweak it eventually right. By that time I was tired and cold at 00:15, so retired for the night. Now looking forward to the next clear night to get out there again to see what I can nab.  

Edited April 29, 2021 by Knighty2112

[Knighty2112]

Meant to say I also nabbed Cor Corali double in CV as a test on my C8 after successful collimation as a final test on its optics and it was looking very nice.

Where’s the edit option now gone to?

Edit: found the edit buttons now   

Edited April 29, 2021 by Knighty2112

[cloudsweeper]

Thanks Gus @Knighty2112 - good to hear from you again.  I shall try for some more challenging doubles (and other targets) ASAP - I left it late this morning: after the Moon, stars were very sparse!

Doug.

 

[Stu]

On 29/04/2021 at 06:48, cloudsweeper said:

Mare Crisium was on the terminator, with the eastern floor/basin forming the terminator line itself as a smooth curve between the bordering rugged features.  (Bit like a lunar blister!)

Lovely report Doug. I checked out the phase on the NASA terminator simulator and it gives this report which seems to fit very well with your blister description. I don’t recall seeing Mare Crisium at just this phase, so it’s one to look out for in future.

Thanks!

[cloudsweeper]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

Lovely report Doug. I checked out the phase on the NASA terminator simulator and it gives this report which seems to fit very well with your blister description. I don’t recall seeing Mare Crisium at just this phase, so it’s one to look out for in future.

Thanks!

Thanks for this great image Stu.  Yes, it really was an impressive apparition, worth getting up for!  I recall the "bulge" was even better defined at the moments I observed, with the rugged bits only at the very edges.  That's the joy of the Moon - you never know what it has offer at a particular time.  (And I'm glad I changed the title of the post to highlight this lovely spectacle.)

Doug.