What did you see tonight?

[Kon]

2 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

Woah Kostas you and your son took those pictures? Outstanding! Great father and son combination 👍

Yes it was a team effort. It is scary how computer competent little ones are these days. He wanted to see M42 (not ideal but the time works well for school days) but the seeing was awful; we are supposed to have clear skies tomorrow and Wed.

[Ags]

An evening reconnoitering expedition around the hotel revealed a dark spot suitable for some visual "work"; I will set up there next clear night.

Back at my balcony, I tried to chase down W Orionis which I hear is the reddest star in the sky, but could not match the stars I was seeing to the finder chart I am working from. While chasing W Ori (Worry?) something wonderful happened: all the hotel lights went off including the infernal light on my balcony. Much thanks to the La Palma light pollution laws! The additional number of stars to see was stunning - I quickly viewed the Orion neb again and it was very bight and well defined, but oddly I couldn't make out all four stars of the Trapezium, despite seeing many other faint stars??? I had to have a go at M78 which always eludes me from my city home, it was an easy, albeit unimpressive spot, found by following the belt and turning right at Alnitak. Zipped up to M35, which was the highlight of the quick session - so many stars! As a bonus I went after M41. This cluster was oddly faint and the surrounding field was depleted - I suspect that some black cloud off the coast was dimming the view. 

All viewing done with 66 mm frac and 20 mm plossl (2.6 degree field of view).

Edited March 21, 2022 by Ags

[SuburbanMak]

Sneaked a quick session at my new semi-dark (20,86 SQM, Bortle 4) site.  I have this dead hour on a Monday when I drive my son to swimming-team, go home, have a cuppa then turn around & go straight back out. Well last night I popped the ST 80 in the boot & filled the time productively. 

A whistlestop widefield tour of M42, C70, M44, M45, M35, M36, M37, M38, C39, NGC457, NGC869/884, M81, M82 and a good recce around Alkaid for the star field for M101 which yielded, dare I say it, a fuzzy star with a hint of mottling around it… hoping to confirm tonight as the forecast looks good + a few premoon hours! 

Edited March 22, 2022 by SuburbanMak

[Stu]

I popped out (🤪) with my 16” dob and had a play around just to check all was working as I’ve not used it before. Transparency was very poor here, so galaxies were very muted. I just did a little tour of known suspects; M81/82, M42, M35, 36, 37 and 38, M51, M97, NGC2169, , M65 and 66, The DC, M3 and the Eskimo nebula.

Highlights were M97 which was large and with hints of eyes, the Auriga clusters which showed far more stars than I’m used to, and finally M3 which resolved right into the core. All will be much better under a dark and transparent sky, but first signs are promising.

EDIT I also tracked the ISS for a few minutes using the 21mm Ethos at x80, picked up some good detail.

[StephenRh]

Capella last night. 130PDS with Olympus OM5 iii camera. No tracking but took 25 sub 1 second exposures and Siriled them. Nothing brilliant but I like it.

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by StephenRh
Wrong photo!

[SuburbanMak]

I see a clear blue sky - what do people reckon transparency will be like in the South of England later? 

[Kon]

1 minute ago, SuburbanMak said:

I see a clear blue sky - what do people reckon transparency will be like in the South of England later? 

SW seems to have a bit of light haze in the horizon at the moment. Overhead not too bad.

[SuburbanMak]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

SW seems to have a bit of light haze in the horizon at the moment. Overhead not too bad.

Same here in Hampshire - working out whether to drive somewhere dark tonight… 

[Stu]

2 hours ago, SuburbanMak said:

I see a clear blue sky - what do people reckon transparency will be like in the South of England later? 

Satellite shows a lot of high haze so I would expect the transparency NOT to be very good tonight. Last night was pretty rubbish here too.

Looks like the Jetstream is elsewhere though so seeing could be good. Might be a doubles night.

[Davesellars]

Was clear half an hour ago when I setup the dob... It's now clouded over at the moment!

[SuburbanMak]

Just watched the whole ISS pass in the ST80. Could see it’s shape. 
Sailed right “through” the Pleiades - unforgettable! 

[Pixies]

Haar here!

[cajen2]

Just had an awful evening. In my efforts to solve my street light problem, I decided to try my local common. I took my smaller scope (150p Flextube dob) to try and keep the weight down, but I had to bring down the scope from upstairs, load up all the ancillary stuff (its stool, my stool, eyepiece case etc etc), drive to the site and walk twice to my chosen spot, worrying that stuff would get stolen in the meantime.

Once there and set up, the transparency was awful. I could just make out Orion but even Ursa Major and Cassiopeia were almost invisible. I couldn't find the Andromeda galaxy or anything else I hadn't seen before, except a split on Castor, which I'd never tried. I also missed the resolving power of my 8" dob.

I persisted but it didn't improve, so had to do the whole performance in reverse.

Sorry to do nothing but whinge, but I just had to unload! I seem doomed in my search for a good night's session.

[Kon]

I was out with my son again taking photos of ISS (nothing worth to share tonight as I was trying different settings). He wanted to see Orion nebula (his favourite) and the Persei double cluster for the first time since he read about it in the Turn Left at Orion last night. He was absolutely mesmerised with all the stars and would not let go of the EP. He also got a glimpse of the Pleiades. I thought I would try some galaxies but transparency is awful and cannot see much hat all. Even M42 was just about showing some nebulosity.

[Davesellars]

Just come in for a break...  Transparency has been slowly improving during the evening.  Some galaxies around UM observed

Edited March 22, 2022 by Davesellars

[mdstuart]

Poor transparency here near Bristol tonight. I could barely see the stars of ursa minor.

However still had a look around and managed to find a few new galaxies to me.

I spotted ngc 4957 in Coma. It is a mag 13 elliptical galaxy. I find this type of galaxy can be hard to spot as they fade gradually around the edge. This one is about 300 my away. 

Mark

[Kon]

4 minutes ago, Stephen Waldee said:

Splendid images! This fascinates me as my next door neighbor Sid worked with the mechanical engineering team that made the structural assembly for the photoelectric panels of the ISS.  He and I have tried to get a glimpse of it, live, thru my C-11 but trees got in the way on a particularly good occasion, and we failed to do so.

 

I was watching a user-uploaded video on a Net platform two nights ago; it asserted -- among other RIDICULOUS things! -- that 'the ISS is a fraud, a fake-nonexistent.' You know the kind of stuff, epitomized by "We never went to the Moon" on one extreme edge, and on the other "There are giant buildings on the Moon that I have imaged with my 6" scope" etc etc....

 

I watched that, getting all fidgety and frustrated--and ALMOST posted a reply about Sid & his work; but decided it would be a waste of time.  

 

The great thing about VISUAL astronomy is that it can convince oneself, in the moment, that something you've only read about it REAL, REALLY THERE, and CAN be detected by the old Mark 1 human eyeball--surpassed of course by imaging thru your scope, to convince OTHERS.  (Not everybody, of course: that's simply not possible!)

 

Best,

Steve & Regina, Ivins UT
http://reginacelestial.byethost3.com
or 
http://celestialregina.x10.mx

Fascinating to know one of the several people who have managed to put ISS up there.

Don't start with the conspiracy theorists. I had the same in another site, my photos are CGI or fake or how is it possible to see an object 400 km overhead but not on a straight line....

... but the visual aspect of the hobby is amazing and I love observing the night sky.

The only thing that looks like 'fake' according to my wife is Saturn with its beautiful rings.

[PeterC65]

The sky seemed bright tonight despite the Moon being below the horizon so the seeing wasn’t great. I decided to take in some wider field targets with the refractor and aligned the mount with Procyon and Regulus. It stayed pinpoint accurate throughout.

SAO 132346 Alnilam / SAO132220 Mintaka – The S-shaped line of stars between Alnilam and Mintaka that @Stu has mentioned stood out and was well framed with the ES 24mm. This is a nice target for the refractor.

M44 – The ES 24mm showed the star cluster in context so that I could make out its edge. The cluster doesn’t appear very dense, with a relatively small number of relatively bright stars.

M35 – The ES 24mm showed the main star cluster and the surrounding smaller clusters. The ES 14mm showed the main star cluster in context so that I could make out its edge. The cluster appears very dense, with lots of relatively faint stars. The ES 6.7mm showed the main star cluster in more detail, allowing me to pick out individual stars. The BHZ worked well on this target allowing me to zoom between a contextual view and a detailed view. The BCO 10mm also gave a good view, comparable with the ES 6.7mm.

SAO 082291 Coma Star Cluster – This is the central star of the Coma Star Cluster which consists of widely spaced fairly bright white stars across an area of sky that doesn’t quite fit into the field of view of the ES 24mm so I couldn’t get a sense of context. The stars are all similar so not the most impressive target.

M81 / M82 – Both galaxies were framed nicely with the ES 14mm and I could just about make out some shape at this magnification (x31). One of my favourite targets for the refractor.

M84 / NGC 4435 / NGC 4477 Markrion’s Chain – With the ES 24mm I could see a faint set of dots but they didn’t seem to form the shape of the Chain and were probably stars rather that the galaxies of the Chain.

M87 / M60 / M49 Virgo Cluster of Galaxies – The Virgo Cluster, bounded by M87, M60 and M49, sits right next to Markion’s Chain and so was an obvious next target. The cluster covers way more sky than will fit into the field of view of the ES 24mm. I could see lots of faint dots but again these were probably stars rather than galaxies. Since the mount was well aligned I concentrated on M49 which is one of the brightest galaxies and found it, just, with the ES 14mm. With averted vision I could just make out a blob moving as the scope slewed. Given how faint this galaxy was, that seemed to confirm that the dots I was seeing were most probably stars.

M65 / M66 / NGC 3628 Leo Triplet – Feeling disappointed about the Virgo Cluster I decided to try again for the Leo Triplet as last time I wasn’t sure I’d found it. I used the ES 24mm to find the group, first finding M66 which is the brightest and could be seen fairly clearly. The adjacent bright stars, visible within the field of view of the ES 24mm, were useful for determining the orientation and then finding M65 and NGC 3628. Once found I switched to the ES 14mm which gave a better view of the group. Averted vision and slewing of the scope back and forth was needed to properly make out all three objects. This is actually a satisfying target to find with the refractor.

[bosun21]

You should try the tap the scope technique. Just give the tube a very slight tap with your fingernail whilst looking through the eyepiece. The slight movement can bring unseen objects into your visual image. This is what you are doing by slewing 👍

[SuburbanMak]

@PeterC65 Great report tonight - worthy of its own thread I feel  

 

[Davesellars]

Just got in... had a really quite productive session in the end with the transparency improving sufficiently (far from great though!).  Managed to go through quite a few new galaxies in the Herschel 400 list.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Davesellars

[Stu]

7 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

The sky seemed bright tonight despite the Moon being below the horizon so the seeing wasn’t great. I decided to take in some wider field targets with the refractor and aligned the mount with Procyon and Regulus. It stayed pinpoint accurate throughout.

SAO 132346 Alnilam / SAO132220 Mintaka – The S-shaped line of stars between Alnilam and Mintaka that @Stu has mentioned stood out and was well framed with the ES 24mm. This is a nice target for the refractor.

M44 – The ES 24mm showed the star cluster in context so that I could make out its edge. The cluster doesn’t appear very dense, with a relatively small number of relatively bright stars.

M35 – The ES 24mm showed the main star cluster and the surrounding smaller clusters. The ES 14mm showed the main star cluster in context so that I could make out its edge. The cluster appears very dense, with lots of relatively faint stars. The ES 6.7mm showed the main star cluster in more detail, allowing me to pick out individual stars. The BHZ worked well on this target allowing me to zoom between a contextual view and a detailed view. The BCO 10mm also gave a good view, comparable with the ES 6.7mm.

SAO 082291 Coma Star Cluster – This is the central star of the Coma Star Cluster which consists of widely spaced fairly bright white stars across an area of sky that doesn’t quite fit into the field of view of the ES 24mm so I couldn’t get a sense of context. The stars are all similar so not the most impressive target.

M81 / M82 – Both galaxies were framed nicely with the ES 14mm and I could just about make out some shape at this magnification (x31). One of my favourite targets for the refractor.

M84 / NGC 4435 / NGC 4477 Markrion’s Chain – With the ES 24mm I could see a faint set of dots but they didn’t seem to form the shape of the Chain and were probably stars rather that the galaxies of the Chain.

M87 / M60 / M49 Virgo Cluster of Galaxies – The Virgo Cluster, bounded by M87, M60 and M49, sits right next to Markion’s Chain and so was an obvious next target. The cluster covers way more sky than will fit into the field of view of the ES 24mm. I could see lots of faint dots but again these were probably stars rather than galaxies. Since the mount was well aligned I concentrated on M49 which is one of the brightest galaxies and found it, just, with the ES 14mm. With averted vision I could just make out a blob moving as the scope slewed. Given how faint this galaxy was, that seemed to confirm that the dots I was seeing were most probably stars.

M65 / M66 / NGC 3628 Leo Triplet – Feeling disappointed about the Virgo Cluster I decided to try again for the Leo Triplet as last time I wasn’t sure I’d found it. I used the ES 24mm to find the group, first finding M66 which is the brightest and could be seen fairly clearly. The adjacent bright stars, visible within the field of view of the ES 24mm, were useful for determining the orientation and then finding M65 and NGC 3628. Once found I switched to the ES 14mm which gave a better view of the group. Averted vision and slewing of the scope back and forth was needed to properly make out all three objects. This is actually a satisfying target to find with the refractor.

I agree with @SuburbanMak, this sort of report deserves to be in its own thread in the observing section. Do feel free to cut and paste it into a new thread so it gets some more attention.

Glad you liked the S! 👍

[Kon]

@PeterC65excellent report. I have the ES24 and it is one of my favourite EPs . For Markarian's chain, you will know you found it with all the little fuzzies , I personally find it mesmerising panning around the area.

And yes move your report as a new thread, it's great writeup and observation!

[PeterC65]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I agree with @SuburbanMak, this sort of report deserves to be in its own thread in the observing section. Do feel free to cut and paste it into a new thread so it gets some more attention.

Glad you liked the S! 👍

OK, OK! I've copied this report to a new thread in the 'Observing Reports' section. I always write a report like this for my own benefit after a session and then post a slightly edited version on here. I'll post them in the 'Observing Reports' section from now on!

[PeterC65]

2 hours ago, Kon said:

@PeterC65excellent report. I have the ES24 and it is one of my favourite EPs . For Markarian's chain, you will know you found it with all the little fuzzies , I personally find it mesmerising panning around the area.

The ES 24mm is my favourite and most used eyepiece. That eyepiece started me on the expensive road to a set of ES eyepieces, mostly the 82 degree range. I like these too, especially the 14mm and 6.7mm.