Nice to have the 12 inch dobsonian out under darkish skies again !

[John]

7 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

I found it in the end, but the circlet wasn’t that obvious with the moon starting to make it’s presence known. I had the 15x70s setup on the tripod so had a hunt around with those first to familiarise myself with the area. There was light cloud around too, which didn’t help so took me longer than it should. Still, just great to be back out with the dob again, even if it was on the front drive. 

Well done

 

[Pixies]

Still clear outside, but the skies have been a little hazy. Spent some time in Cephus and Cassiopeia, waiting for Jupiter to appear over the houses.

When it did, Io and Europa were so close they were almost touching. Both heading towards Jupiter and passing behind it in a few hours. I observed for a while at x150. The GRS was not in view but there were periods of very clear views. I could see the equatorial and temperate belts, as well as a dark barge on the northern equatorial belt. I don't know whether what I was seeing was correct, but the equatorial zone appeared quite dark, especially towards the northern belt.

Anyway, had a shot at Neptune. Found it OK but not Triton.

Then back to Jupiter to watch Io vanish behind the limb of Jupiter. Seeing was deteriorating and it was also getting a little dewy, so I called it a night.

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Just to add . Used my 12” Dob ( with its “new” primary ) for the first time last night ! Wow ! Never seen the gas giants like this before .. echoing the views of @Pixies. With my limited EP collection my best views cane at about 120x , but I did get a decent view albeit a bit “soft “ through a barlowed 10mm . But I soon realised that less is sometimes more and reverted back . The only problem .. and this really is a first world problem, is that I was overawed with the amount I could see  , even from my bottle 5 location  when trying to find things .I went out with a bit of a plan but ended up stumbling on many star clusters and even a few distant smudges without even knowing what they were. Ie a distant patch of grey a few degrees below Vega , when I was looking  for M57 ! ( which I still didn’t get chance to see) . This scope has really opened up the sky for me . It also means I didn’t know the night sky as well as I thought I did . 
Fascinating isn’t it ?  
  

[Stardaze]

I started out at 127x but later on went deeper with the XW7 (181x). Added a baader contrast booster which was subtle but did add a little something for Jupiter. Need to look at Jupiter’s topography as I could see clear definition in the banding and two dark patches on the bottom of the main central band. 
There seemed to be 3 moons around Saturn and not just Titan as normal. Checking SkySafari didn’t properly confirm for me but the furthest out were Titan, Hyperion and Lapetus? The Cassini division was clear and seeing improved over the the session, but overall it was very steady.

As per @Pixiescomments, over the 90 mins or so, I just caught a little of the GRS disappearing on the edge but was taken with Lo and Europa’s tight positioning, resembling a tight double. 

It’s been so long since I’ve had the dob out, so thoroughly enjoyable session. The extra lights around on the front isn’t such a problem for planetary viewing. I finished up having a quick hunt around in Cygnus with the, new to me, 13E to give that an airing. Sunday looks promising too, fingers crossed, but the sack truck still hasn’t arrived so I’ll need to enlist a helper.

[Stardaze]

Couldn’t have been Hyperion at mag 14.9 so probably Tethys but could be Dione?

The first screenshot resembled how it looked but the closer view shows a deeper breakdown at the time? Dione and Tethys are similar magnitudes so I’d have thought those were possible together? 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by Stardaze

[John]

The ones that we can see regularly with small to medium aperture scopes are Titan, Rhea, Dione, Tethys and Iapetus (in order of brightness). Enceladus is the next on the list but it needs to be reasonably elongated from the planet and the rings to get a glimpse of it because it gets drowned out by the glare easily. I have yet to see any other Saturnian moon even with my 12 inch which goes down to magnitude 14.7-15.1 on good nights here but that is for targets towards the zenith. Saturn's low position in the sky (from the UK) scrubs off some of the brightness of the moons through atmospheric extinction.

And of course there are sometimes background stars showing amongst the moons, just to confuse the observer !

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by John

[Stardaze]

24 minutes ago, John said:

The ones that we can see regularly with small to medium aperture scopes are Titan, Rhea, Dione, Tethys and Iapetus (in order of brightness). Enceladus is the next on the list but it needs to be reasonably elongated from the planet and the rings to get a glimpse of it because it gets drowned out by the glare easily. I have yet to see any other Saturnian moon even with my 12 inch which goes down to magnitude 14.7-15.1 on good nights here but that is for targets towards the zenith. Saturn's low position in the sky (from the UK) scrubs off some of the brightness of the moons through atmospheric extinction.

And of course there are sometimes background stars showing amongst the moons, just to confuse the observer !

 

 

 

I was hoping you’d add to my musings John, thank you. I haven’t seen 3 before and so whichever, a great sight nonetheless.

[IB20]

Had both scopes out again last night, the views were astonishingly good, especially in the 8” dob. 

Saturn in the dob was a bright white with grey polar region but showing depth, the Cassini division although not always constantly crystal clear, popped in and out. In the 80mm refractor it changed to a sand colour, banding easier to see without the brightness. Again the Cassini division jumped in and out with the seeing at the left & right edges of the rings. Titan and Rhea visible in the frac, Dione & Tethys added in the dob. 

Over to Jupiter and two brown barges quite clear above the NEB and greyish/white festoons sandwiching the GRS. Lots of colouration and banding visible, quite incredible what a backyard astronomer can see with a fairly basic instrument. Io & Europa were slowly dancing around each other all night too; Jupiter just keeps putting a smile on my face.

Also managed to locate Neptune in the 80mm refractor. Located by finding the parallelogram of stars it currently sits in the middle of, near HR8931. A very greyish blue dot and although not much to look at quite amazing to think of this icy planet in our System 4 light hours away. Triton may have revealed itself in the 8” dob but I couldn’t stop looking at Jupiter so never spent the time finding Neptune in the bigger scope.

The eyepiece winners of the night were the 10mm BCO in the dob (surprise surprise) and the 13mm Delite in the frac. The BSTs are fighting for their life but the 12mm performed beautifully last night so they have a stay of execution.

Managed to grab an afocal snap of Saturn too, best I’ve managed!

 

[JeremyS]

Sounds like a good night @IB20 👍🏻

[Captain Scarlet]

Your report on Jupiter and Saturn uncannily resembles mine from Saturday (second light for my OO/Helmerichs 12”) except that whereas your viewing was “advanced” mine might be better considered “beginner”.

I concentrated on Jupiter and saw more belts and bands than I ever have before, including a mesmerizing Io transit. Your description of the planet and its features though mirrored mine quite closely. Seeing was only so-so but with occasional momentary freezes into amazing clarity. Saturn too briefly revealed the Cassini Division, again a first for me. Though I spent little time at Saturn.

M

[John]

7 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

.... occasional momentary freezes into amazing clarity.....

 

That nice description sums up a lot of planetary observing for me. But those are the moments that make us come back to the eyepiece, over, and over again

[Nyctimene]

Your report, John, prompted me to give Triton a try with my newly acquired 12" f/5 Dobson. Conditions were not great - NELM 5.0 (UMi); SQM-L 20.92; M 31 near zenith barely to make out. Seeing average. After warming up with Jupiter - prominent NEB, four moons (but no transits, no GRS); I started from Phi Aqr with Rigel and SkySafari, and found Neptune after five minutes of star-hopping with 58x mag. The blueish colour was not as obvious as I expected, and the tiny disc needed the magnification of 333x (9 mmf UWA+2x Abbe Barlow) for revealing. Careful observing the field for several minutes and using averted vision, I finally spotted the 13.6 mag Triton, popping in and out of view (as you described it) at the correct position in SkySafari. Later, I found out, that I had observed this moon almost at it's maximum separation from Neptune (which is 17") in 16.3" distance. This was the first time in five decades of observing, that I've seen Triton - admittedly, the first real try. Studying afterwards the article by Phil Harrington in "Cosmic Challenges" (no. 156), I learned, that Triton is the only (larger) moon in the solar system, that circles it's home planet  in a "backwards" way against the direction of Neptune's rotation ( indicating an origin of Triton perhaps in the Kuiper Belt, and a capture later in the gravity field of Neptune). The albedo is extremely high (0.75; our moon is just 0.12).

I had a short look at M 33 with 58x - no structure visible, but at least NGC 604 easily with direct vision. M 81/M 82 ended the session after 75 min at 01.30 CEST. Very pleased with the optical quality of the 12" and with the view of an extraordinary celestial target; and so to bed.

Thanks for reading

Stephan.

[Stu1smartcookie]

6 minutes ago, Nyctimene said:

Your report, John, prompted me to give Triton a try with my newly acquired 12" f/5 Dobson. Conditions were not great - NELM 5.0 (UMi); SQM-L 20.92; M 31 near zenith barely to make out. Seeing average. After warming up with Jupiter - prominent NEB, four moons (but no transits, no GRS); I started from Phi Aqr with Rigel and SkySafari, and found Neptune after five minutes of star-hopping with 58x mag. The blueish colour was not as obvious as I expected, and the tiny disc needed the magnification of 333x (9 mmf UWA+2x Abbe Barlow) for revealing. Careful observing the field for several minutes and using averted vision, I finally spotted the 13.6 mag Triton, popping in and out of view (as you described it) at the correct position in SkySafari. Later, I found out, that I had observed this moon almost at it's maximum separation from Neptune (which is 17") in 16.3" distance. This was the first time in five decades of observing, that I've seen Triton - admittedly, the first real try. Studying afterwards the article by Phil Harrington in "Cosmic Challenges" (no. 156), I learned, that Triton is the only (larger) moon in the solar system, that circles it's home planet  in a "backwards" way against the direction of Neptune's rotation ( indicating an origin of Triton perhaps in the Kuiper Belt, and a capture later in the gravity field of Neptune). The albedo is extremely high (0.75; our moon is just 0.12).

I had a short look at M 33 with 58x - no structure visible, but at least NGC 604 easily with direct vision. M 81/M 82 ended the session after 75 min at 01.30 CEST. Very pleased with the optical quality of the 12" and with the view of an extraordinary celestial target; and so to bed.

Thanks for reading

Stephan.

A really nice report ... Neptune is something i have yet to see , but now with a 12" dob of my own i will hopefully be able to achieve my goal , especially as its favourable in the sky this month . The only trouble is , its been cloudy every night for the last week in the east of England . zzz.

[John]

1 hour ago, Nyctimene said:

Your report, John, prompted me to give Triton a try with my newly acquired 12" f/5 Dobson. Conditions were not great - NELM 5.0 (UMi); SQM-L 20.92; M 31 near zenith barely to make out. Seeing average. After warming up with Jupiter - prominent NEB, four moons (but no transits, no GRS); I started from Phi Aqr with Rigel and SkySafari, and found Neptune after five minutes of star-hopping with 58x mag. The blueish colour was not as obvious as I expected, and the tiny disc needed the magnification of 333x (9 mmf UWA+2x Abbe Barlow) for revealing. Careful observing the field for several minutes and using averted vision, I finally spotted the 13.6 mag Triton, popping in and out of view (as you described it) at the correct position in SkySafari. Later, I found out, that I had observed this moon almost at it's maximum separation from Neptune (which is 17") in 16.3" distance. This was the first time in five decades of observing, that I've seen Triton - admittedly, the first real try. Studying afterwards the article by Phil Harrington in "Cosmic Challenges" (no. 156), I learned, that Triton is the only (larger) moon in the solar system, that circles it's home planet  in a "backwards" way against the direction of Neptune's rotation ( indicating an origin of Triton perhaps in the Kuiper Belt, and a capture later in the gravity field of Neptune). The albedo is extremely high (0.75; our moon is just 0.12).

I had a short look at M 33 with 58x - no structure visible, but at least NGC 604 easily with direct vision. M 81/M 82 ended the session after 75 min at 01.30 CEST. Very pleased with the optical quality of the 12" and with the view of an extraordinary celestial target; and so to bed.

Thanks for reading

Stephan.

I'm so pleased that you have spotted Triton Stephan

That's a great report as well !