Al last, a bit of clear sky

[Capt Slog]

The last time I took the telescope out was 8thAug.  Tonight it was clear enough to make it worthwhile before the moon rose.  My plan was to have a look for M75, M30, M33, M34.

M75 is low, but I've had some success with 'low hanging fruit' in the past, not a chance tonight, it was all mushy down there.  Saturn was bright enough, but that was all I could see and I moved on quickly

M30.  Maybe just on the edge of visible, I see I put a tick next to it on my plan, but I can't really say I saw it. Again, too much light low down.  I realise I'm looking in the wrong places, but that's my main bit of easy sky from my garden, so beggars can't be choosers.

Onto M33, Triangulum Galaxy.  This took an age to get into the right place, there doesn't seem to be much to point to it.  I eventually found the spot, I could see the 'frame' of stars around it and these matched the Stellarium views exactly.  M33 though was invisible, absolutely nothing there, not even the core.  I'll have to leave it to another night when conditions are better.

M34.  Fairly quick find as it was apparent in the RACI.  A definite 'spot' and my only one of this session.  Nice little bunch of stars, reminded me of a tiny Orion for some reason.

(Primarily 32mm EP, 150mm scope, F=700)

 

[John]

M33 can be tough to spot. It's surface brightness is much, much lower than the integrated magnitude of 5.7 that is quoted for it and it is quite an extended object. You are looking in the right place though - it is framed by 4 stars that form a sort of slightly squashed rhomboid shape. It usually looks like an amorphous slightly brighter patch of sky within the area framed by those stars.

If you get a really dark sky it has some suggestions of form to it  - a kind of vague "S" shape. Under good conditions you might also be able to pick out a much smaller faint patch of light next to the galaxy, near a foreground star, which is NGC 604 - a massive star forming nebula which is actually within Messier 33.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things though - keep at it

 

[Nik271]

M33 is  twice the diameter of the full moon and it does not have a bright core, so it's pretty hard to spot in a telescope even in low powers. I've seen it in binoculars several times in the autumn and winter from Oxford, which is Bortle 6  and it is always tricky for me. Try it when its higher in the sky in the autumn.

[Capt Slog]

Also with M33, i didn't appreciate the effect the moon was having, because for me it was completely hidden by my house.  When it made it's presence known over the ridge tiles, the glare washed out everything, which of course it had been doing all the time 

[Gonariu]

I am spending the summer in Cagliari with my mother and I only have slices of sky with a little light pollution (not much, on the other hand Cagliari if it is as big as a London neighborhood is too much) so I mainly observe the Moon and the planets. The problem is that there is often wind this year either hot from the SE or cool from the NW, so the high resolution goes to hell. The other night I took advantage of the fact that there was no wind to pull out the Nexstar 8 SE and I went to bed at 3 in the morning: Jupiter fantastic, the Moon was phenomenal, Saturn did not mind, of the satellites you could only see Titan but with the Moon present was not night to see a few more. The Nexstar was a bit sensitive to turbulence but at 200X, as I said, the vision was beautiful. At 2 in the morning it occurs to me to quickly see the Moon with the Vixen 102 - M (achromatic 102/1000). At 167X it was the best magnification for image brightness, at 200X it was still fine, the image was contrasted and firmer than the Nexstar. In a few days I will have to go back to central Sardinia as from September 1st I have to go back to school in Nuoro: I will take advantage of the large terrace and the lower light pollution to see even some deep - sky objects, the weather remains warm or warm until for a good part of October, the past autumn I often looked at Mars through the telescope in a T-shirt; for now I am satisfied and do the last dives (due to the covid the mayor of Orotelli has imposed the mask when you leave, I call it "the gas mask": for heaven's sake !!!!).

[Sargares]

Personally considering last night was forecast good seeing, I found it very much a let down. Very hazy. It started to improve about 2am but I’d had enough by then. Thursday was much better. 
 

I wanted to go for m13 personally but couldn’t even see Hercules so wasn’t bothered about messing around shooting from the hip. Ended up nosing around Lyra and scutum for a few open clusters, double double, Vega etc. Then had a look at Saturn and Jupiter. Saturn I couldn’t get to focus at 266x it’s too low. Looked far better at half that magnification. Jupiter was just about ok at 266 and I believe I could see a moon moving across it. Didn’t bother to check which. 

[WiltsStarGazer]

Just thankful it was clear last night as I have my parents down to rural Wiltshire from a very light polluted Stevenage.

It was brilliant to show them Jupiter and Saturn and see the their delight at seeing those planets so clearly.

Wonderful to see you can still have childlike wonder aged 97 and 88!

Edited August 29, 2021 by WiltsStarGazer

[Stu1smartcookie]

Looking at the sky for the foreseeable future on the east/southeast of England I see no clear nights forecast so it seems last Friday and Saturday were my last opportunities for a while .. isn’t it frustrating ? We get so few clear nights add to that the variable seeing conditions , wind , and dew it’s no wonder we try to make the most of every clear opportunity. This summer has been particularly cloudy ☁️. Makes me want to give up , but my view of Jupiter on Friday night was my best ever .. with so much detail so let’s look forward to the next clear night in , er, a couple of weeks !!!

[faulksy]

had my dob set up for the last 2 nights. no clear skys. very brief look at the gas giants saturday for 10 mins