What did you see tonight?

[Captain Scarlet]

A clear night and no wind, after days and days of howling gale and rain. I had the SV 140 out on the Moon, and it was fantastic. Vixen HR 1.6 giving 586x was perfectly doable, occasionally wobbly but mostly sharp. Backing off to 313x with the DeLite 3 was stunningly 3D on the taller craters. Some intermittent cloud but a very good session ended by battery running out of juice.

I concentrated on the area between Lacus Somniorum and Mare Tranquillitatis, especially craters Atlas and Hercules and the area Rupes Cauchy, according to my moon app.

I might do a proper obs report, not sure.

Edited March 27, 2023 by Captain Scarlet

[jetstream]

47 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

I had the SV 140 out on the Moon, and it was fantastic. Vixen HR 1.6 giving 586x was perfectly doable, occasionally wobbly but mostly sharp. Backing off to 313x with the DeLite 3 was stunningly 3D on the taller craters.

There is no question that your 140mm has excellent optics as these sessions show. The 3D effect, along with a fast snap focus are 2 telltale signs of it IMHO. And then taking near 600x... that speaks for itself.

47 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

I might do a proper obs report, not sure.

Yes, please do Magnus- your reports are much appreciated!

Gerry

Edited March 27, 2023 by jetstream

[Guest]

Naturally Sunday night is clear when i have to get up at 0400 Monday morning, but since it was really the first clear night i have been able to take advantage of i grabbed the 1.25 inch eyepieces and aimed at the moon. Basically i was just running a comparison of my Orion Planetary Edge On eyepieces vs the 14mm and 8.8mm ES eyepieces. While the ES eyepieces were more crisp in the image the Orion Edge On held their ground well.  It was only a half hour or so worth of time but still enjoyable. 

[Mr Spock]

Theophilis, Cyrillus and Catherina are looking splendid at x264 in the Tak even without cooldown. The floor of Catherina S looks interesting. As soon as the scope cools I'm going to have a look for the rille on the floor of Catherina P.

[cloudsweeper]

FRACASTORIUS REVEALS ELUSIVE RILLE!

Moon 2 days to first quarter, very high, south.  10" Dob in action.  Sky initially quite light.  I went further towards the lunar south from the nice trio of Catharina, Cyrillus, Theophilus (near terminator) to look closely at Fracastorius, a lava-flooded crater with no central peak, but plenty of pits and bumps and an elusive crack or rille.

x35, 73 - nice general detail, very stable (helped by high altitude).
x144 - more clear detail such as pits in M. Nectaris and Fracastorius at the sea's southern edge.
x190 - still more tiny pits in Fracastorius, but no sign of the rille.

Later, sky darkening, better contrast, a bit more fine detail.  Fracastorius very good - more tiny pits and "bumps", x144, 190.  The view says a lot for the quality of the Bresser Dob.

x212 - still very good.  (Less sharp at x423, as might be expected.)
x318 - brilliant sharp view, and sky darker with some stars out.  AND, with AV, I spotted the elusive rille (with a small pit in the middle) across the crater floor, near the southern edge.

Cloud closed play after 75 minutes.  Very pleasing to tease fine detail from Fracastorius at high mag in a fine telescope!

Doug.

 

[Mr Spock]

I've been studying Fracastorius too. x286 in the Starfield, x296 in the Tak and x304 in the 12". A number of craterlets visible in the 4"'s, but, when the seeing settles, at that magnification, the 12" is like a razor. You almost feel like you can reach out touch it. There's so much surface detail I couldn't attempt to draw it. Craterlets, humps and bumps, light bits and dark bits, and of course the rilles.

When I first switched over from the fracs to the Dob I fitted by Baader adaptor (I only have one) with eyepiece. I wondered why it wasn't as clear as I expected. Yup, it was the 2.5mm SLV I had in for x608  Not a bad 'moonwalk' view though! 

Cloud stops play now though. I'll fetch the kit in as soon as I've warmed up a bit.

[rojay]

My first time out for ages. Like other correspondents, I was looking at the moon: Theophilus, Cyrillus & Catharina, and also Rabbi Levi and Zagut, if I'm reading the map right. I was getting very pleasing views with a 16mm Nirvana, barlowed to give about 170x. Very immersive, and not pushing the seeing too hard, so everything looked sharp and detailed. 

Also spent some time scanning around Kemble's cascade and the open cluster cluster at its end, following the tip from the eponymous @NGC 1502. Very worthwhile!

[Whistlin Bob]

Just for once, the sucker holes let me play for half an hour. My log is telling me it's the first time out since 23rd Feb. March has been pants!

I was going for the planet alignment with 8 inch dob and nirvana 4mm ep, but was a little too late for Jupiter or Mercury. Venus was showing beautifully though with a nice bit of phase. It was an easy hop then to Uranus- with green showing nicely even against the twilight.  Next onto Mars- blimey it's gotten small! Like Venus though- it was nice to see a bit of phase.

Finally over to the moon. At 300x the seeing was a little in and out, but in the best moments the view was spectacular. I scooted up and down the terminator, then lingered on Theophilus, which had it all: the terracing emerging from the shadow looked awesome and the central peak looked like you could reach out and touch it: really superb. Unfortunately the clouds then drifted over- so that was it, but it still felt great to be back in the saddle. 

[Epick Crom]

I had a partly cloudy and windy night here in Perth. 

Checked out Mars lingering 1°49' away from M 35 in Gemini, a lovely sight.

Crescent moon looked nice, cruised the terminator with my 10 inch dob and saw a new to me feature, Vallis Capella. It's cuts right through crater Capella!

I managed to spot my first non Messier or NGC galaxy, PGC 18437 in Pictor.

All up a 1 hr session before clouds and wind became too much. A brilliant way to unwind!

Edited March 27, 2023 by Epick Crom

[mikeDnight]

 I had a great time, over three hours, just observing the Moon Venus and Mars.  The lunar terminator was glorious through the Maxbright binoviewer, and as the sky became darker the contrast and definition increased. The binoviewer gave real depth and nothing short of a spectacular and intricately detailed view standing out in almost 3D.  Venus set against a blue sky was sharp and utterly colour free. Subtle wisps of light grey cloud extended from the terminator in places, with brilliant polar regions and limb. There were also at least two bright regions close to the terminator.   Mars, now very small, still showed subtle albedo features. I made one sketch of Venus early in the session, and three sketches of Mars using different magnifications, with two made using the maxbright binoviewer, while the third was made using a 3.4mm Vixen HR eyepiece. It always amazes me that even under 7 arc seconds, subtle detail can sill be seen in the FC100D.

Edited March 27, 2023 by mikeDnight

[Stu1smartcookie]

Our First clear evening for about 2 weeks saw the "real"first light of the 152mm Starwave on the SkyTee , along with the modified starsense unit . 

Aligining the starsense to the scope and RDF was a simple process that literally took 2 minutes . The starsense needs to be pointed at a clear sky , and it needs to "see" stars . That may sound obvious but i noticed it was almost 8;30 before the final callibration was complete ( Damn you BST ) . Once complete and the starsense had done its plate solving i slewed to the first target . I chose an easily visible one ( Mizar) just to make sure everything was working . Absolute breeze to use . One has to move the Scope or in this case mount quite slowly otherwise the starsense gets a little confused but the arrowed area remains and to be honest i found it soon caught up with my eagerness and speed . Right on target then ! The plus point for waiting for darkness was that the scope was cooled and ready to go ... a 6" frac does need a decent cooling time . 

Ok i went on to view a couple of other visible stars ... and then set about the challenge of finding some  dimmer objects . I had a northern , and sothern sky to aim at so M81 & M82 were next on the list ... straight to the target , no faffing about . The onto the Beehive cluster and then to M67 , which i had never seen before . I was switching between a 28mm EP and my "new" 18mm ortho EP . Finally i wanted to view the Leo triplet which was due south . My first ever view of these and a great sight . The thrill of seeing a small fuzzy patch will never wane . 

So , a successful evening all made possible by the starsense and the lovely Starwave . , Happy but a bit cold lol 

Stu

 

[Alan White]

I got first light yesterday twice for the SD103, not bad for a Saturday arrival.
Solar in WL with my Lunt wedge and I was not dissapointed at all, extremely happy with the view.
Then as darkening a Night session.
Planets, Double Stars, Lunar and a very big grin on my chops.

Also first proper light for the Delos 17 picked up at the PAS in Kettering and also for the Penta XW 3.5 on Lunar and doubles.

What a day of first lights it was.

[Ratlet]

Bit of an unexpected session last night with Bob the Dob.  Clear outside said marginal but the seeing was pretty good and there wasn't a cloud in sight.

The Dob gave cracking views of the moon.  Along the terminator was fantastic and there was a wealth of detail on display with the  Nirvana 16mm (x78).  Managed a split of Castor with it as well.  I actually panned over to it with the 30mm and whilst I couldn't immediately get a good split there was a definite orange wart visible.  Colour was just as good with the 16mm but the 12mmBST (x104) was less impressive and both stars looked identical in colour.  I now realise there is a third component.  Whilst I saw a another nearby star, I think I was seeing an unrelated one rather than the true third member.

M67 was really nice.  Clusters are ace.  I wrapped up the session with M3 and M13.  M13 was underwhelming, but was about 20 degrees or so up and I suspect hiding in some low cloud.  M3 was fantastic though.  Spent a good while on it, and you were getting that cracking effect like spilled sugar where it is stars on stars and you can't see black between them but you can still tell they are stars.  I bumped the power up with the 12mm and it was a good way of finishing off the evening.

First light for the astronomy chair.  It worked well, but I might replace the strap with a bit of pole or something as it's a bit of a hassle with the leg closing all the time when I move the chair.

Next session I need to do some experimenting.  Went to the optician today and I've got astigmatism in my right (dominant) eye.  Want to see if it is actually having an effect as I don't wear glasses when observing.  I've ordered some contacts as well so hopefully I'll be rocking them soon to test them out as it's a bit (only a tiny bit) of a hassle having to constantly take my glasses of and on for consulting star charts and observing.

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Ratlet
Corrected my globs

[Zermelo]

Sounds like a good evening.  I think you meant to type "M3 was underwhelming"?

[Ratlet]

4 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Sounds like a good evening.  I think you meant to type "M3 was underwhelming"?

I'll sort that.  M13 was no good.  M3 was fantastic 😁

[paulastro]

16 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Our First clear evening for about 2 weeks saw the "real"first light of the 152mm Starwave on the SkyTee , along with the modified starsense unit . 

Aligining the starsense to the scope and RDF was a simple process that literally took 2 minutes . The starsense needs to be pointed at a clear sky , and it needs to "see" stars . That may sound obvious but i noticed it was almost 8;30 before the final callibration was complete ( Damn you BST ) . Once complete and the starsense had done its plate solving i slewed to the first target . I chose an easily visible one ( Mizar) just to make sure everything was working . Absolute breeze to use . One has to move the Scope or in this case mount quite slowly otherwise the starsense gets a little confused but the arrowed area remains and to be honest i found it soon caught up with my eagerness and speed . Right on target then ! The plus point for waiting for darkness was that the scope was cooled and ready to go ... a 6" frac does need a decent cooling time . 

Ok i went on to view a couple of other visible stars ... and then set about the challenge of finding some  dimmer objects . I had a northern , and sothern sky to aim at so M81 & M82 were next on the list ... straight to the target , no faffing about . The onto the Beehive cluster and then to M67 , which i had never seen before . I was switching between a 28mm EP and my "new" 18mm ortho EP . Finally i wanted to view the Leo triplet which was due south . My first ever view of these and a great sight . The thrill of seeing a small fuzzy patch will never wane . 

So , a successful evening all made possible by the starsense and the lovely Starwave . , Happy but a bit cold lol 

Stu

 

Great report Stu, I really enjoyed reading it.

It really doesn't matter if you move the scope a bit fast.  However fast you move it, when you stop the scope within the vicinity of the object it will take a pic and plate solve and you then just move the scope to the centre of the bullseye.

It will nearly always take well less than a minute, perhaps up to a minute if there's a lot of cloud or haze.  When you're used to it, you'll be amazed at the conditions in which it works - in some conditions not good enough for a visual finder.

It's a great feeling to know you will never have a problem finding any object - if its bright enough to be seen in your scope. You'll spend far more time observing than searching.

I'd love to see a pic of your scope with the SS 🙂.

[Stu1smartcookie]

On 29/03/2023 at 00:52, paulastro said:

Great report Stu, I really enjoyed reading it.

It really doesn't matter if you move the scope a bit fast.  However fast you move it, when you stop the scope within the vicinity of the object it will take a pic and plate solve and you then just move the scope to the centre of the bullseye.

It will nearly always take well less than a minute, perhaps up to a minute if there's a lot of cloud or haze.  When you're used to it, you'll be amazed at the conditions in which it works - in some conditions not good enough for a visual finder.

It's a great feeling to know you will never have a problem finding any object - if its bright enough to be seen in your scope. You'll spend far more time observing than searching.

I'd love to see a pic of your scope with the SS 🙂.

Thanks Paul 

I wanted a computerised GOTO mount at first but because we have families with very small chidren on both sides of us i was worried about the noise that a motorised mount makes ... especially in the summer time when we (might) have warm weather and windows are open , so the Starsense has proved a game changer . 

@StevieDvd has printed another bracket for me so the starsense can now be fitted to individual scopes which will allow two scopes to now be used on the skytee . 

Oh , and another plus for the starsense is that it can be used with a non GOTO star tracker if its attached to the scope/camera  which will mean easily finding non visible targets , saving a lot of time . 

Stu

Edited April 4, 2023 by Stu1smartcookie

[paulastro]

5 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Thanks Paul 

I wanted a computerised GOTO mount at first but because we have families with very small chidren on both sides of us i was worried about the noise that a motorised mount makes ... especially in the summer time when we (might) have warm weather and windows are open , so the Starsense has proved a game changer . 

@StevieDvd has printed another bracket for me so the starsense can now be fitted to individual scopes which will allow two scopes to now be used on the skytee . 

Oh , and another plus for the starsense is that it can be used with a non GOTO star tracker if its attached to the scope/camera  which will mean easily finding non visible targets , saving a lot of time . 

Stu

Thanks for that Stu and for posting the pic of your setup, it looks great.

It's really nice to hear the difference it has made to your observing, as it did for me when I bought the 8inch Dob SS Explorer last July.

The quietness of it not only keeps the neighbours on board, but makes the experience more enjoyable too.  Listening to the local Tawny Owls is far better than the alternative of slewing motors 😊.

All the best, Paul.

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by paulastro

[Mr Spock]

Just managed a brief 30 min session between cloud with the 4". Seeing not perfect and some high cloud drifting across. Had a few minutes on Venus - looked much the same as a few nights ago.
Spent the rest of the time looking at various craters at x223. A lovely sight despite the seeing, especially Plato, Eratosthenes, Straight Wall and Deslandres.

[paulastro]

Out with the Starsense Explorer 8inch from 7.45 to 8.10 when very threatening black clouds closed in. I went out for the Moon, just as well as nothing else was visible.

Clavius's W walls were snugly against the terminator, lovely contrast of light and dark patches and shadows along with some fine floor details.  Eratosthenes showed good detail under excellent lighting.  Not far from Clavius Tycho was very favourable, with the central  mountain coming out of the shadows and the W walls well lit with lovely detail in the terracing.    The E outer rim of Copernicus was just coming into sunlight on the terminator. It was nice to see the shadows starting to cross the floor of Plato from hills on the E wall also. Other features showing well included the Straight Wall and some of the rille systems close to the terminator.

I used my binoviwer, x2 barlow and 24mm Orthos giving x200.

Very enjoyable  despite the session being on the short side.

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by paulastro
Typo

[Stu1smartcookie]

9 hours ago, paulastro said:

Out with the Starsense Explorer 8inch from 7.45 to 8.10 when very threatening black clouds closed in. I went out for the Moon, just as well as nothing else was visible.

Clavius's W walls were snugly against the terminator, lovely contrast of light and dark patches and shadows along with some fine floor details.  Eratosthenes showed good detail under excellent lighting.  Not far from Clavius Tycho was very favourable, with the central  mountain coming out of the shadows and the W walls well lit with lovely detail in the terracing.    The E outer rim of Copernicus was just coming into sunlight on the terminator. It was nice to see the shadows starting to cross the floor of Plato from hills on the E wall also. Other features showing well included the Straight Wall and some of the rille systems close to the terminator.

I used my binoviwer, x2 barlow and 24mm Orthos giving x200.

Very enjoyable  despite the session being on the short side.

 

 

 

Very nice Paul ... i kind of regret selling my Dob , and now you are confirming it .. 😂.

[Ratlet]

Had an unexpected clear spell last night just before 10pm.  Still lots of cloud rolling through so decided to try the Dob on the moon.  Seeing looked pretty good with the 16mm Nirvana (x78), with a steady pulse of distortion rather than a wobble.  The detail was very crisp with lots of detail.  It always surprises me how you can get objects well within the shadow that are completely white and likewise how you can have some craters that are well into the light that have deep shadows.  I was quite impressed by this as the scope hadn't much cool down time, just take out from the shed and stick the fan on.  Maybe 10 minutes whilst I got everything going.

Decided to get silly and popped in my SVBONY 3-8mm zoom.  Viewing was still good at 8mm (x156) so wound it out completely to 3mm (x416) which is a country mile above any previous power I've tried.  There was a lot of nudging involved but there was some fantastic sight to see.  There was one of the craters to the North which showed pronounced ridging along one wall.  Almost like a viennetta ice cream.

Given the intermittent cloud I decided to just tool about and practice finding stuff using navigation points and the inclinometer.  Found M3 again easily enough, however it was suffering somewhat from the moon.  Cor Caroli is a little further north and always worth a gander.  It's a lovely pairing and an easy split.  I love the subtle contrast between the white primary and the yellow secondary.  I notice on sky safari that M94 should be nearby so used the inclinometer to get in the right area and with a little scanning about with the 16mm a fuzzy circle wandered into view.  A very impressive object, and almost like a large planetary nebula.  The core was bright and became brighter still with averted vision.  There was a faint nebulous region around this also.  Despite the moon it looked very much like the sketches.  One to go back to if the moon isn't up I think.

[Stu1smartcookie]

34 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Decided to get silly and popped in my SVBONY 3-8mm zoom

Interested in this EP ... seems its performing really well , nice one , and a nice report . 

Stu

 

[Carbon Brush]

Last night I wanted to try my 'Talwatcher' hybrid scope with binoviewers.
I had established the ability to focus without resort to barlow in daylight. But wanted to try night use.
Rain showers all day and expected to continue in the evening. But some stars were visible.
Venus was shining brightly in the west, nicely placed to view from in the conservatory, with the door open - I was ready for the rain.
The seeing was awful, changing by the second. I could sometimes make out the phase. But the binoviewing worked.
Advice to self and others. Don't try to view a low target when the sky is known to be unstable.😁

[paulastro]

2 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Very nice Paul ... i kind of regret selling my Dob , and now you are confirming it .. 😂.

Stu, I'm not trying to tempt you or anything, but I think I've seen a SW 200mm dob and a stellaLyra one recently, either here or on astrobuysell for good prices 😊.