Minimalism in every way

[vlaiv]

I probably just had the tiniest session to date

Not doing much observing lately (well, that is understatement - I don't do any really), so I just felt like grabbing whatever was lying around and having a look at Jupiter and Saturn.

I'm planning a proper planetary session tomorrow evening, but for now it was up to 32mm Finder / guider scope to deliver!

Scope is little 32mm F/4 achromat - so 132mm of focal length. ES62 5.5mm was at hand. That is planetary EP, so it should serve well.

I had total of less than 5 minutes of observing - but I'm happy.  Managed to see all four Jupiter's moons at x24. Europa and Ganymede were mere 15" apart - but it was clean split. Two bands were visible on the planet.

Surprisingly scope was optimized for blue part of spectrum so there was no characteristic purple halo but rather red ring of fire around Jupiter. Same was visible around Saturn but to lesser extent. Saturn showed rings but no other features were discerned (neither on ring system nor on planet).

In the end, I turned scope toward the teapot (I knew that I'll be able to find something easily there) and I immediately spotted M22. Very nice smudge for 32mm of aperture in Bortle 8. Sky is very transparent tonight. Did a bit of sweeping around and spotted a threshold nebulosity - but have no idea what it was. It had cluster associated with it (saw maybe 3-4 tiny stars in concentration) but could not recognize what it was - neither by looks nor by position as I was hand held sweeping at the time (probably M17?).

 

[saac]

Sometimes keeping it uncomplicated is the best way to go .

Jim

[jetstream]

Excellent that you are observing and reporting vlaiv!

[Pete Presland]

Whether its a small scope, Binoculars, or just the naked eyes, its all Astronomy 🙂  Very nice report Vlad, Saturn and Jupiter are rising earlier as each night passes.

[CraigT82]

Nice report 👍 I also take a lot of pleasure from just stepping out the back door with my 10x50 monocular (actually one half of a snapped binocular) and just sweeping around. Not even botherering to identify what I see. I'm always surprised and the number of objects that pop into view.  Really helps keep the mojo alive

[Ags]

I have had some nice views through my 50mm finder. One of my current favorites is Vega, Zeta and Epsilon Lyrae in on one view, with both doubles split nicely. (To avoid any confusion, Epsilon is only split in two, not four - I wish my finder was that good!). It also shows the moons of Jupiter nicely. It is better then binoculars, it has a diagonal and no shakes!

Edited August 8, 2021 by Ags