What did you see tonight?

[scarp15]

No transit action, yet good presentation tonight (22.15), as Jupiter transits south. Detect barge activity in both NEB and SEB regions. Temperate belt and Polar regions visible. Responding to 171x - 200x, 8" F6 dob, pouring a Guinness, then back out for more.   

[badhex]

Damn, just realised it's actually clear but I'm sadly not in a position to observe tonight 😱

I'll have to make do with the fact that I did actually manage a session for a few hours on Tuesday night. Actually, despite all my concerns about observing from home (or lack thereof) I observed from my light polluted balcony with my TS102 - first light since it came back to the UK, with an hour or so on Saturn and about 30 mins on Jupiter before it clouded over again. 

It gave me hope! 

Edited November 10, 2023 by badhex

[Mr Spock]

Just come in for a warm. Great session on Jupiter. With a mag of x147 and a combination of minus violet and 80A filters the view through the 120 was quite respectable. Detail in the main two belts and a couple of narrower belts clear. Not quite the Tak view but good enough.

One thing the 120 is good at is wide field. The Pleiades at x33 with the 30mm UFF is spectacular.

Duh! I should have put the 12" out to cool - Jupiter's well round the house (the 12" patio only sees south and west). Done it now. 

[Saganite]

Just like on Monday evening the seeing will only support circa 85x on Jupiter, anything higher and it is soft, but of course better seeing does pass through at intervals.  I will try later, but in the interim there is plenty to see in what is again a dark starry night, which does for once look like the Bortle 4 it is supposed to be.  I have both refractors on M33 , the Vixen showing a reasonable core  directly but better with averted vision .  In the 6" however a very visible core with direct vision and outer nebulosity with averted. Certainly the best I have seen for some time.  I should really drag the OO12 out for this one, but I feel as lazy tonight as did earlier in the week and am quite happy seated in my Obsy...🙂

[IB20]

For the first and probably last time 😅 I have finally tracked down M1. I’m going to put this down as a “must have dark skies” target. 

[John]

I've had some great views of Jupiter with my ED120.

More and more clouds have now piled in so I've decided to pack up now. 

 

[Mr Spock]

15 minutes ago, IB20 said:

For the first and probably last time 😅 I have finally tracked down M1. I’m going to put this down as a “must have dark skies” target.

I saw it for the first time earlier this year. My previous attempts to see it (in my light polluted skies) were unsuccessful because I didn't realise how big it was. 

[Epick Crom]

Hi all. I pulled over on the side of the road on my way from work last night, doing long haulage truck driving. A long 1,200km round trip.

I was 500km from Perth, in the middle of our West Australian outback. The darkness was blinding as I got out of my semi! I brought my trusty Nikon Aculon 10x50mm binoculars with me and proceeded to have a 1 hour long observing session under those pitch black skies, solid bortle 1 with zero light pollution as I was in the middle of nowhere! Highlights included the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, M7, M45, M42, Jupiter and M31 low on the horizon. The Sky was so dark and transparent I could actually see stars rising on the horizon! Keep in mind outback Australia is extremely flat. A religious experience 😍

 

Clear Skies

Joe

[PeterStudz]

On 07/11/2023 at 07:41, Stu said:

Good stuff Peter, sounds like we saw similar features though I was only using a 4” so sure you saw more detail. I’ve been following the ‘bite’ out of the NEB; it shows on some of the images posted as a couple of white oval type features, though I’m not sure exactly how they would be classified. They show well in this post from Geof.

 

Somehow I missed your comment until now. But been busy most of this week.

But looking at that I think what I saw is something else. It’s in a different position - there’s a lot going on in the NEB recently. You can make out the “bite” or “notch” feature in the smartphone images, especially the last one with the shadow of Io, that I took (link below), although visually it was even more obvious. 
 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by PeterStudz

[IB20]

Just finished the night on Orion. After thinking I much prefer my little fracs (which I still do), seeing the benefits of aperture on M42 still makes me realise I have room in the armoury for a large shaving mirror. 😁 It’s good to have the hunter back in my skies. 

Transparency has been wonderful tonight even if the seeing hasn’t. The 15x bins alongside the big light cannon have really held their own in these conditions.

 

 

[Saganite]

21 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi all. I pulled over on the side of the road on my way from work last night, doing long haulage truck driving. A long 1,200km round trip.

I was 500km from Perth, in the middle of our West Australian outback. The darkness was blinding as I got out of my semi! I brought my trusty Nikon Aculon 10x50mm binoculars with me and proceeded to have a 1 hour long observing session under those pitch black skies, solid bortle 1 with zero light pollution as I was in the middle of nowhere! Highlights included the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, M7, M45, M42, Jupiter and M31 low on the horizon. The Sky was so dark and transparent I could actually see stars rising on the horizon! Keep in mind outback Australia is extremely flat. A religious experience 😍

 

Clear Skies

Joe

Wow, how good must that be. I would like to experience that !

Maybe next time I visit my daughter in Melbourne I will get a chance to go somewhere similar.

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Saganite

[Epick Crom]

Just now, Saganite said:

Wow, how good must that be. I would like to experience that !

Maybe next time I visit my daughter in Melbourne I will get a chance to get somewhere similar.

 

Hi @Saganite. Yes it was soo good ! Makes it hard to face my light polluted back yard, but it's all good there is lots to see and enjoy for us all, no matter our location or light pollution levels. 

Yes mate, when you visit your daughter you must leave the city and go bush to experience truly dark skies. It's mindboggling!

 

All The Best

Joe

[Mr Spock]

GRS coming into view. 12" + 22mm LVW + x2.5 Powermate for x173. Wow, this is the view of Jupiter you pay money for. Incredible detail and despite the seeing my best view ever. I was ill last year so never got the 12" on it. Until now...

The moons are lovely discs 👍

[Saganite]

Getting good views of the GRS since the seeing has improved somewhat  in the last hour, but still only 133x.  

[scarp15]

Yep just after midnight and Great Red Spot swinging clearly into view 200x; 6mm Delos doing proud. 

[Saganite]

20 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi @Saganite. Yes it was soo good ! Makes it hard to face my light polluted back yard, but it's all good there is lots to see and enjoy for us all, no matter our location or light pollution levels. 

Yes mate, when you visit your daughter you must leave the city and go bush to experience truly dark skies. It's mindboggling!

 

All The Best

Joe

I will Joe.  Last visit we all spent a week in Daylesford which was a lot better than Melbourne but I still never got away from lights.  I did however see both Magellanic Clouds with my bins, which was excellent, 

[Mr Spock]

GRS about a third of the way in. x224 with the 17mm LVW. I'm just having a ten minute break as my eyepieces keep misting over. Must go back to keeping them in pockets 

[RobertI]

1 hour ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi all. I pulled over on the side of the road on my way from work last night, doing long haulage truck driving. A long 1,200km round trip.

I was 500km from Perth, in the middle of our West Australian outback. The darkness was blinding as I got out of my semi! I brought my trusty Nikon Aculon 10x50mm binoculars with me and proceeded to have a 1 hour long observing session under those pitch black skies, solid bortle 1 with zero light pollution as I was in the middle of nowhere! Highlights included the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, M7, M45, M42, Jupiter and M31 low on the horizon. The Sky was so dark and transparent I could actually see stars rising on the horizon! Keep in mind outback Australia is extremely flat. A religious experience 😍

 

Clear Skies

Joe

That must have been a truly awesome experience, the kind of conditions I can only dream of. Worthy of a separate observing report I think - perhaps next time (and I hope there is a next time). 🙂

[Whistlin Bob]

Lovely evening at Rosliston Forestry Centre. First an excellent talk from Paul Money, who never disappoints, then emerged to excellent conditions. I set up my 14" dob and had the immense gratification of sharing views through it with around twenty other people, including several for whom this was their first view through a telescope. Jupiter was the most popular object, drawing lots of wows, but I also shared the Pleiades, M31 and M42, all of which got a lot of appreciation. A few brave souls even joined me in hunting down and finding M1. A wonderful time 😃

[Mr Spock]

Session over. Seeing has gone really mushy and there's some cloud rolling in. GRS dead centre but hard to see Great night though. 

Task for tomorrow morning is putting all the stuff away 

[SuburbanMak]

Just in from a satisfying garden session, dark & transparent. Seeing wasn’t great, split Castor as a test but quite degraded at 148x so not a night for high power doubles.  Enjoyed some more great views of Jupiter and first Tak views of some of the emerging winter favourites - M35, M38 and stunning wider field looks at M45, Double Cluster and M42, greenish glow and lots of almost 3D texture.  
Have got a bit lazy, quick sessions with the Tak 100DC and 3 EPs, Hyperion 24mm, Morpheus 12.5mm & Pentax 5mm -  must try harder, but the views with this set up are great and I can be out in 10 minutes. 
Orion, big coat, frost - winter is coming…

Edited November 11, 2023 by SuburbanMak

[scotty1]

Got this shot of comet 2023 H2 Lemmon with DSLR and Astrotracer + 90mm Tamron macro lens

40 secs ISO 800 f3.2 

06.30 phone shot 

Venus and crescent 🌘

Edited November 11, 2023 by scotty1

[Franklin]

Despite the seeing being up and down throughout, last night was probably the best night of the year so far for me. Light pollution yes but crystal clear and cloudless for 12+ hours and still clear right now with Venus high in the morning blue sky. Spent a lot of time on Jupiter which had plenty of detail to offer with the 115 and 6mm SLV at 148x. Had a good hour or so on doubles in Orion and of course M42. The young stars of M45 looking like diamonds with the LVW22 at 40x, I must give the Pleiades more power and explore the many doubles that are embedded in this cluster. M1 with averted vision was detected but like M33 needs darker skies really. First signs of frost on the lawn, I need a roofless shed or something!

[josefk]

13 hours ago, Paul M said:

It's been one of those days, beautiful, deep blue sky. Looking across Morecambe bay, the high peaks of the Lake District fells had their first wintery dustings. A day that I just knew wouldn't last, and it didn't. As dusk fell, the clouds began to scud along in the west, slowly encroaching.

No point in setting up in the hope of it clearing, the forecast is for overcast. Groundhog Day, allover again.

 

it's probably no consolation but that view of the fells does sound nice in its own right. Slightly jealous here in the Lincs flatlands 🙂

[josefk]

8 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi all. I pulled over on the side of the road on my way from work last night, doing long haulage truck driving. A long 1,200km round trip.

I was 500km from Perth, in the middle of our West Australian outback. The darkness was blinding as I got out of my semi! I brought my trusty Nikon Aculon 10x50mm binoculars with me and proceeded to have a 1 hour long observing session under those pitch black skies, solid bortle 1 with zero light pollution as I was in the middle of nowhere! Highlights included the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, M7, M45, M42, Jupiter and M31 low on the horizon. The Sky was so dark and transparent I could actually see stars rising on the horizon! Keep in mind outback Australia is extremely flat. A religious experience 😍

 

Clear Skies

Joe

Sounds absolutely awesome Joe. Fantastic