What did you see tonight?

[globular]

I too had a long look at Saturn and found 230x about optimum. It just sat there as steady as a rock as if inviting me to find details that are normally just out of reach.

I also (unexpectedly) lingered on the double cluster - both in the FOV of the XW16.5 at 130x - everything sharp and steady and the sky so black (despite the moon).  Wonderful stuff.

Think I'll pop back out and see if the Blue Snowball and Little Dumbbell are available to me from my garden...

 

[Zermelo]

A long session with the Mak this evening (in shorts).

Planetaries M27 and NGC 6572, open clusters M29, M11, IC 4665 and IC 4756 (very nice), doubles HR 6981, HD 203358, d Serpentis and the Double Double, plus Saturn, Jupiter and the moon.

Conditions were OK, though not as great as the forecasts had suggested. I may have been hampered by heat rising from the surrounding rooftops. The moon was very wobbly, even at lower mags. I did read that there was also likely some Saharan dust in the atmosphere down here in the SW.

It was first light for my new Svbony 9-27mm zoom.  I'll write something up elsewhere, but I was very happy with it.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Zermelo

[globular]

I've had my binoviewers for a while now and have found them fantastic on high mag - where floaters have started plaguing cyclops views.  But tonight on Jupiter, together with some lovely seeing conditions, they have presented views better than anything I've ever seen (in my short 3 years with a telescope).  It's easily taking 307x and there is so much detail in the different bands and the GRS. And not just fleeting glimpses, it's there all the time, rock steady. I'm struggling to find words... but I'm very excited and I'm going back out.....

Edited September 5, 2023 by globular
typo

[RobertI]

5 hours ago, globular said:

I've had my binoviewers for a while now and have found them fantastic on high mag - where floaters have started plaguing cyclops views.  But tonight on Jupiter, together with some lovely seeing conditions, they have presented views better than anything I've ever seen (in my short 3 years with a telescope).  It's easily taking 307x and there is so much detail in the different bands and the GRS. And not just fleeting glimpses, it's there all the time, rock steady. I'm struggling to find words... but I've very excited and I'm going back out.....

100% agree with your sentiments on biniviewers. 👍

[RobertI]

A fun session last night with the 130P and SkyProdigy - a smattering of DSOs and a noctilucent cloud (kind of). Full report here. 

[jock1958]

What with the lousy summer, short nights and loss of mojo it was a tonic to have clear skies accompanied by a lovely warm breeze.
With the evenings getting darker earlier it allows me see the top of the Teapot before it disappears, using my Tak FC-100DL, 31 T5 + UHC filter and Nunki & Kaus Borealis as guide stars its fairly easy to pick up a variety of lovely clusters & nebulae including the lagoon, triffid & swan. For me the UHC filter makes all the difference in being able to see these targets especially the swan & lagoon.

Ditched the filter and swung over for a quick look for the blue snowball that @John mentioned, not an easy find through the 31 T5 but once spotted it was much nicer through my 14 mm Delos, tried it through my 3-6 NZ but it was a bit too much. 

Finished the evening off with some of my old favourites, M31, M81, M82 and a wander through Cygnus including the Veil. 

[PeterC65]

Last nights session was my first visual session since January. I’ve been concentrating on EAA and wanted to check that I still enjoyed visual (I do), and to check some kit.

I set up the Skymax 127 since the Moon was bright and Saturn and Jupiter were visible. All looked much better visually than they do with EAA, and the Moon looked amazing with the binoviewer, but that’s all it’s good for.

Looking for brighter objects, I checked out some globular clusters, M2, M15, M71, then some open clusters, Cr399, M29, M39, M52, NGC7789. I switched to the 2” diagonal and Baader Hyperion Aspheric 36mm for the larger open clusters and that was a revelation. Its 1.5° field of view is much wider than the 0.9° I get with 1¼” eyepieces so I could see the context, seeing all of the stars of the Coathanger (Cr399) and even M45, which I don’t usually bother to observe with the Skymax 127.

The Astronomik OIII filter has been in the EAA filter wheel but it turns everything green. Reading some recent reports about how useful this filter can be, I tried it on M27, and it certainly brought out the dumbbell shape.

The full report is here.

[John]

A bit murky out there tonight. Very warm too. I can just see a handfull of the brightest constellation stars. I have my 100mm scope out and I'll take a look at Saturn shortly. Somehow I think Enceladus will not be viable tonight - I'll be lucky if I can see Titan !

Edited September 5, 2023 by John

[assouptro]

24 minutes ago, John said:

A bit murky out there tonight. Very warm too. I can just see a handfull of the brightest constellation stars. I have my 100mm scope out and I'll take a look at Saturn shortly. Somehow I think Enceladus will not be viable tonight - I'll be lucky if I can see Titan !

Seeing is terrible here in NW UK!

It seems criminal to have had such a lousy summer then when i can see the sky, the turbulence is soo bad it doesn't seem worth the effort of setting up!

I hope it improves 🤞 

[Saganite]

The transparency is not wonderful here tonight. My Vixen 103 ED is performing faultlessly as it always does, beautifully splitting the handful of doubles thus far and picking M56 out of the gloom as well as M2 and M15.  My neighbours to the East of me are having a garden party so the sky in that direction is off limits at the moment, but any other time they see my dome in use they switch off their garden lights, so they are very good.

Just waiting for Saturn to clear the Silver Birch and I will have both scopes on the go . A few glimpses between the leaves look promising. 

[Hungrymark]

Concur with the others, not good seeing at all up in Cumbria. Izar is low down this time of year but not normally a problem. It was an unconvincing split tonight though. Double-double was easier but still not great. I went out for Saturn really but it was so hazy that I couldn't make out much detail at all in the rings. Still, got a hint of the Whirlpool M51 with averted vision which was a surprise given its altitude. Dumbbell nice as ever. Need a good dump of rain to clear the air a bit

[Saganite]

Quite surprisingly Saturn is really crisp with glimpses of the Cassini and some banding across the disc, good colour too and four moons.  I had a quick peek at Jupiter in the East and was amazed at the detail considering its altitude so that will be worth waiting  for.  Meanwhile back to Saturn.....

Edited September 5, 2023 by Saganite

[John]

Saturn was nice and the moonrise was worth watching. Jupiter is behind a large tree now for a couple of hours so that will have to wait for me until it's rising earlier. I'm not an "early bird" I'm afraid 🙄

 

 

[PeterC65]

Just completed another visual session, this time widefield with the 72mm refractor. Some of the same targets as last night with the odd widefield addition.

I confirmed that the binoviewer is great for the Moon, I still can't get the images to merge for Saturn but can for Jupiter, I think it is to do with the object size. Tonight the binoviewer gave the best views of Jupiter, just beating an eyepiece.

The highlight of the night was seeing the Veil Nebulae for the first time visually, both East and West, and both together (just) in the same field of view. What made the difference from previous (failed) attempts was using the OIII filter. The nebulae just popped out, whereas with the UHC filter I couldn't find them. This was all with the Explore Scientific 68deg 24mm. The bigger exit pupil of the Baader 32mm Plossl made things slightly clearer but is more fiddly to use.

Less successful was the Baader Hyperion Aspheric 36mm, which remains disappointing at F6. I should really buy a StellaLyra UFF 30mm!

 

[John]

11 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

Just completed another visual session, this time widefield with the 72mm refractor. Some of the same targets as last night with the odd widefield addition.

I confirmed that the binoviewer is great for the Moon, I still can't get the images to merge for Saturn but can for Jupiter, I think it is to do with the object size. Tonight the binoviewer gave the best views of Jupiter, just beating an eyepiece.

The highlight of the night was seeing the Veil Nebulae for the first time visually, both East and West, and both together (just) in the same field of view. What made the difference from previous (failed) attempts was using the OIII filter. The nebulae just popped out, whereas with the UHC filter I couldn't find them. This was all with the Explore Scientific 68deg 24mm. The bigger exit pupil of the Baader 32mm Plossl made things slightly clearer but is more fiddly to use.

Less successful was the Baader Hyperion Aspheric 36mm, which remains disappointing at F6. I should really buy a StellaLyra UFF 30mm!

 

Great report Peter 🙂

Far too murky down here in North Somerset to see DSO's like the Veil but it's great that you got your first views of it up in Glos and with a 72mm aperture as well.

I agree with you 100% regarding the O-III filter's impact on the Veil Nebula and, unfortunately, on the Baader Aspheric. Generally I like the Baader stuff but I think the Aspheric 36 just does not do well. The one I had was not that great even in an F/10 scope.

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by John

[woldsman]

Just back from a session in a field outside of a Cotswolds village.  No combine harvesters crashing by this time - just a white van going to and fro on an nighttime errand. Set up the Vixen Custom 80 on a manual alt-az with 30mm, 10mm & 9mm EPs and dew heater bands run off a usb power pack. Lunar views crisp & beautiful contrast between Montes Appeninus & Mare Serenitas. Banding distinct on Jupiter. Couldn’t resolve the Cassini division in Saturn & only a hint of banding on the surface, so a bit disappointing. Quick looks at M2 and M13. Seeing poor early on but then improved. Most likely conditions even better now but I need to be up early for work. 

[Saganite]

As expected, with the gain in altitude, Jupiter is giving plenty of detail in a very crisp disc. The two equatorial belts are prominent and the shadow transit of Io is nicely sharp and about a third of the way across A white disc is also visible below and ahead of Io in the equatorial belt. This visible with the  Vixen ED 103s,  Baader Maxbright II's  with 1.7 GPC , and a pair of T6 Nagler 9mm  for 150x

Both Saturn and Jupiter have been superb so far.  The Moon  is also stable at 150x .

A very enjoyable session, very good seeing but with mediocre transparency, 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Saganite

[Saganite]

Jupiter keeps on giving tonight. Four belts now visible  with swirls in the equatorial  regions. Io on the limb of the planet with the shadow half way across.

[Saganite]

I thought I would push my luck and popped in the Burgess TMB 5mm pair..270x . The image scale was great and actually held well, the disc being just a tad softer, but they showed me no more, so I swapped back the Nagler 9's.

Always worth a go and sometimes it pays off.  I have been so enthralled with the planet that I have only just noticed the four moons are  perfect little discs themselves as crisp as you like. 

[cloudsweeper]

Moon and Jupiter, with Io emerging into view

3.25am Wednesday - mild, still, a few stars on show, but much thin cloud (natural filter!), hazy last quarter Moon S of E, and Jupiter at similar altitude in SE.  Little ED80 triplet on mount, ready to go, dead easy.

x60 / 1.13deg - Moon sharp and stable - Plato, Archimedes, Copernicus all bright, off-terminator.

Jupiter - great to see it again! - Europa to the west, Ganymede and Callisto in the line on the other side.  Two grey belts.  All very sharp and clear.

x120, 160 - still good and sharp, and a faint Northern Temperate Belt was noticed.

x120 / 0.52deg - back to the Moon, filling the view.  Limb very stable, nice!  No hint of CA there with the Apo!  Alpine Valley.  Cassini south of that, near terminator, with its two floor craters, the larger clearly pear-shaped.

4.10am, same mag, back to Jove, and what a delight - Io had just moved off the planet's face and was kissing the Southern Equatorial Belt.  Just 10 minutes later and the gap was opening up as Io moved to the west.

4.25am - I finished after one very enjoyable and peaceful hour.

Doug.

[josefk]

Cool stuff @PeterC65. I'm after the Veil (as a complete complex) myself with about the same amount of aperture as you have just used and with a 24mm EP. I couldn't see any hint Monday night but i had forgotten to carry my O-III so a self inflicted loss :-). My bag is more properly packed now for the next opportunity!

[Stu1smartcookie]

Another lovely evening with the 70mm scope , on the GTi . This time with ultra low magnification . I was happy to view the double cluster and watch over time as more stars appeared as the evening grew darker . The dragon fly cluster was a nice sight . I switched to saturn which showed a laughable elongated point of light with the magnfication i was using , Andromeda ws viewed but i cant quite seem to see more than the bright core . finished off with a "look" at Neptune which despite being just a dot the blue colour was very noticeable .

I do not use any filters ... if anyone can suggest a filter for dso's then i would appreciate it 

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Stu1smartcookie

[josefk]

10 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Andromeda ws viewed but i cant quite seem to see more than the bright core

Andromeda was so small on Sunday night and Monday night i thought i couldn't see it at all against the grey sky and that i had M32 only in the EP. Mildly disorienting. in fact i had both M31 and M32 but M31 was unbelievably tiny.

[John]

58 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Another lovely evening with the 70mm scope , on the GTi . This time with ultra low magnification . I was happy to view the double cluster and watch over time as more stars appeared as the evening grew darker . The dragon fly cluster was a nice sight . I switched to saturn which showed a laughable elongated point of light with the magnfication i was using , Andromeda ws viewed but i cant quite seem to see more than the bright core . finished off with a "look" at Neptune which despite being just a dot the blue colour was very noticeable .

I do not use any filters ... if anyone can suggest a filter for dso's then i would appreciate it 

 

With any moon around or other significant light pollution a small core is all that can be seen of M31 even with larger scopes.

UHC and O-III filters improve the contrast of nebulae to various degrees. An O-III can mean seeing something whereas without a filter nothing is visible. A UHC is less dramatic but works with a wider range of nebulae.

For galaxies and clusters dark skies are the key. Filters don't help with those.

[Stu1smartcookie]

24 minutes ago, John said:

With any moon around or other significant light pollution a small core is all that can be seen of M31 even with larger scopes.

UHC and O-III filters improve the contrast of nebulae to various degrees. An O-III can mean seeing something whereas without a filter nothing is visible. A UHC is less dramatic but works with a wider range of nebulae.

For galaxies and clusters dark skies are the key. Filters don't help with those.

Thanks John ... I am in relatively dark skies but i take your point about the filters ... they are something i never seem to think about , until now . 

Time to invest MORE money then .lol