What did you see tonight?

[johnturley]

20 minutes ago, John said:

I was hoping for the same but such hopes are fading now. Earlier I got some nice views of Saturn despite thin cloud. Now nothing at all is showing through 😒

Continuous rain here in Dronfield

John 

[PeterStudz]

I can see the shadow transit on Jupiter here in Southampton. Just come in. Very obvious shadow (like a small hole punch in the surface) But the seeing is poor. Still, the first I’ve seen this year!

[IB20]

Fairly clear skies so have quickly deployed the f12.75 3”. The air seems very still and seeing is good; getting to 190x with little trouble. 

The lunar region of Petavius, Rimae Petavius, Vallis Palitzsch and Palitzsch A is really catching the eye. The mountainous region in Petavius with the large gouge heading towards the crater rim is a wonderful sight.

Jupiter once again showing tons of detail in the EBs. Io’s inky black shadow is very visible, right bang on the SEB and approaching the GRS. 

Hopefully the forecasted mist stays away for a bit longer!

[IB20]

I’m fairly certain I can see Io’s disc too, there’s a brighter area on the SEB right next to its shadow. It’s easier to see with lower mags as the floaters disappear.

[IB20]

The GRS not so R and the colour was really hard to make out once the moon’s shadow started transiting! 
What a lovely little fortuitous session, thanks for the heads up @Nik271 😃

[Nik271]

The weather held here too, and the seeing improved from poor initially to good in the past hour. I could use up to x160 on Jupiter. Io was visible at the start and then  near the end once it approached GRS and the edge of the planet. Watching the shadow move was mesmerising, I have been outside for the whole of two hours just watching it . Now time for  a toasted crumpet 🥶

[Stu]

I made a valiant, although futile attempt to put the FC-100 out tonight. Saw the Moon and Jupiter through cloud. Just about able to detect GRS but then it started raining, now it is pouring! 🤬🤬🤬

[Mr Spock]

What did I see tonight?

Nothing but the rain...

[Epick Crom]

Hi astro friends!

Last night I observed Jupiter with my 10 inch dob using my wratten 80A blue filter. Marvelous results, I saw the South Temperate Belt for the first time. 

Overall this is a very good filter for observing Jupiter. Tonight I will try my violet filter on Jupiter just for fun!

[Paz]

I saw the Io/red spot pass on sky safari and the conditions were good for it but I was caught up in taxi driving duties and so missed it. However I did see this moon ring later on and got a phone picture of it.

[badhex]

Got hundreds of amazing pictures of Saturn, its rings and moons today! 😂

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by badhex

[Captain Scarlet]

Just in from a really good session with the SV140, almost exclusively on Jupiter and Io’s transit plus close-in shadow across the GRS, and Io emerging from the disc. Far and away the best views of Jupiter I’ve ever had, several bands, differently-shaded regions, details within the bands. And post-transit, Io and Ganymede clearly distinct discs lending a 3-D effect. Mostly with DeLite 3mm for 313x. Memorable.

Magnus

 

[Nigella Bryant]

I ventured out at midnight as the forecast was clearing with a two hour window. Raining, lol, hum, went back in looked at the forecast, clearing now at 12.15am. So ventured back out and rain stopped by the time I got the dome open and things switched on. My target was Jupiter and it didn't disappoint. The banding and intricate details in both North and south equatorial bands and regions were amazing. The best I've seen in a long while. Blue patches of cloud vortexes,  swirls and white spot's clearly visible. Io getting further and further away from Jupiter. Missed the transit but well worth going out for an hour.

[Sunshine]

3 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

I ventured out at midnight as the forecast was clearing with a two hour window. Raining, lol, hum, went back in looked at the forecast, clearing now at 12.15am. So ventured back out and rain stopped by the time I got the dome open and things switched on. My target was Jupiter and it didn't disappoint. The banding and intricate details in both North and south equatorial bands and regions were amazing. The best I've seen in a long while. Blue patches of cloud vortexes,  swirls and white spot's clearly visible. Io getting further and further away from Jupiter. Missed the transit but well worth going out for an hour.

I had no idea you ventured out at night, at all 😄considering your solar imaging prowess.

[PeterStudz]

Like @Nik271 the seeing did improve, but after the shadow transit of Io. Earlier there was an annoying “boiling” which did improve but too late for the main event. Still, watching the shadow move across the disk was fascinating. And around the GRS, to one side, I could make out a couple of swirls. Not convinced I could see Io itself, but the shadow was really obvious. I also took a short smartphone video and created this quick illustration using the iPhone app VideoStack. Considering the seeing at the time it’s OK. The moon is Ganymede and it does do a good job of  showing what I could see in my 200p Dob.

Eventually clouded over and now it’s chucking it down!

[Froeng]

2 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

Like @Nik271 the seeing did improve, but after the shadow transit of Io. Earlier there was an annoying “boiling” which did improve but too late for the main event. Still, watching the shadow move across the disk was fascinating. And around the GRS, to one side, I could make out a couple of swirls. Not convinced I could see Io itself, but the shadow was really obvious. I also took a short smartphone video and created this quick illustration using the iPhone app VideoStack. Considering the seeing at the time it’s OK. The moon is Ganymede and it does do a good job of  showing what I could see in my 200p Dob.

Eventually clouded over and now it’s chucking it down!

Nice! This image is pretty close to the actual eyepiece view in my C8, too.

Well done!

[Nigella Bryant]

5 hours ago, Sunshine said:

I had no idea you ventured out at night, at all 😄considering your solar imaging prowess.

On very rare occasions, lol. 

[PeterC65]

Just about managed another EAA session last night, this time with the 72mm refractor, and as ever, with the FMA135 riding piggyback. I’m really enjoying being able to switch easily to a widefield view of the same object.

The sky was clear towards the south east, but that was also where the almost full Moon was located. As well as its glare, it was also ‘enhancing’ the effect of the two marks on the scopes lens that I hadn’t previously noticed (now cleaned away).

M33 and M74 were a little washed out, but M27 looked great. Here it is, widefield with the FMA135 and a UV/IR cut filter,

and in more detail with the 72mm refractor and the L-eNhance filter.

 

I tried a few nebulae away from the Moon, NGC6823, NGC6888, NGC6992, NGC7380, but these looked a little noisy, I think because of light cloud cover. This was my first opportunity to check the new Optolong L-eNhance filter on nebulae. I’ve previously been using an Astronomik UHC filter and it was immediately obvious that the L-eNhance was now blocking IR from the stars. Not sure yet which filter I prefer though. That will have to wait for a properly clear night.

The Moon was the most pleasing object of the night to observe. The 72mm refractor lets me see the whole disc and I managed to stack a nice image from frames captured on the night. Pity it wasn’t the previous night with the occultation.

 

[SwiMatt]

I woke up at 4.30am for a Moon session (I started the Lunar 100 recently) - the forecast indicated the only cloudless nighttime  for the foreseeable future (and in the last 2 weeks)... and it was cloudy as hell. And to add injury to insult, when looking at the radar, the forecast was correct everywhere around city except my neighborhood  

Woke up again at 6.30am and the thick clouds were gone, but the Moon was surrounded in a halo of haziness. By the time the haze cleared, the Sun was up and I had to go to work. I tried a quick look at the Moon from behind the window with the Mak, but it was even impossible to focus correctly behind the glass.

I will have once again to live vicariously through your observations (and you're welcome to cry along when it's cloudy where you are too)...

[jjohnson3803]

26° F before dawn today and some of yesterday's snow still on the ground, but I wanted to see how low I could go with my 80mm in Puppis.  I was able to easily see the 4 brightest stars in Cr 135 which was about 10° above my horizon through some tree branches. 

I wasn't able to resolve double star Pi Pup though which was disappointing since the separation is listed as 66.5".  But the secondary is listed as about mag_v = +8 and the moon wasn't terribly far away, so I'll have to try again without moonlight.  Nonetheless, I'm happy I was able to see anything that low here.

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by jjohnson3803

[Mr Spock]

Clear blue sky so the 120 is out for some solar. First glance show how much the spots have moved since my last session. Even though it's not cooled yet the scope is showing some nice faculae and granulation.

[John]

Clear here, currently.  My ED120 is out and just waiting for Saturn to clear the local rooflines. 

 

 

[Mr Spock]

Gone cloudy here with showers. Same old... 

[IB20]

Have just seen a string of 20 odd satellites in a row, which I’m assuming were Starlink? They weren’t particularly close together and from end to end took about 30° of sky, the biggest constellation I’ve ever seen. They were all as bright as Deneb (+1.3) until they faded into our shadow. 

I used to think they were pretty cool but seeing them like that has actually made me quite concerned.

[John]

56 minutes ago, John said:

Clear here, currently.  My ED120 is out and just waiting for Saturn to clear the local rooflines. 

 

 

Lovely views of Saturn just now. It's 5 brightest moons are quite close into the planet. I can't quite convince myself that I'm seeing Enceladus though. It's just that little bit fainter and very close to the ring system currently. Iapetus is clear enough though.