What did you see tonight?

[Ags]

Had a nice session looking at the Moon and Jupiter with the 90mm frac and Svbony 3-8 zoom. The rille system around Aristarchus stood out well. Jupiter was very clear and stable. The 90mm is a nice scope.

I was using very small exit pupils without trouble from floaters - I feel fairly confident in my theory that refractors minimise the effect of floaters, because in obstructed telescopes the floaters bring the central obstruction locally into focus.

Took a snap as a memento of a nice evening. Please forgive the green Aristarchus!

Edited November 25, 2023 by Ags

[Paul M]

What did I see tonight?

"The kids". That triangle of stars alongside Capella. I've known them for decades but their collective name is something I picked up here on SGL in middles age.

Anyway, arrived at our Luxury Cumbrian Villa at 23:30, after a long day. The sky is pristine but, expectedly, awash with skyglow form the glowing  cheese ball. 

Orion, majestic, as ever, Sirius rising over the cow field, and Capella with it's kids. The same kids that I'm slowly losing in my home sky. 

The whole vista took me back, along time!

We have ayoung lady with us who has a fixation with zodiac nonsense. As we arrived I pointed out Castor and Pollux, the twins of Gemini. The response was, to the effect, " wot do stars got to do with the zodiac?"

Or sumfin...

[SuburbanMak]

Just in from a fab couple of hours in the local park mainly watching Ganymede transit the S polar region of Jupiter.  Tak 100 DC & Pentax XW 5mm (148x) keeping the tiny disc in view throughout from a pimple on the E limb at around 12:05 to emerging on the W at 01:33 - quite amazing to watch, have seen many shadow transits but a first to watch the actual moon complete it’s transit. Seeing came and went but was treated to a really steady patch as it emerged and moved away to leave a clear black line of space between it and the planet. Lots of detail too at times in both the equatorial and temperate bands.  

Took a few detours to look at M42 - a bit washed out but impressively swirly, Pleiades, Double Cluster and Auriga clusters.  

First outing for the Tak on the AZGTIX in tandem with the trusty ST80 in 2 inch mode, with a Stella Lyra 30MM UFF on board this gives a 5.25 degree field at 13x and makes an Uber-finder as well as delivering very satisfying widefield views in its own right. 

A heavy frost made packing away a finger numbing experience and despite being fully thermaled and North Faced home and a glass of red felt very welcome indeed! 

Edited November 25, 2023 by SuburbanMak

[bosun21]

Out again to capture Jupiter tonight but it appears that the Jetstream has other ideas. This was the poorest seeing I have encountered since recently taking up planetary imaging. Jupiter appeared like it was underwater (sigh 😔) with the moon not much better. I persevered anyway and captured about 8 X 2 minute videos of Jupiter and a couple of the moon. I then swapped the imaging train for a diagonal and eyepiece. Still dismal here with Jupiter looking like it's submerged in a goldfish bowl. With my fingers and toes numb I accepted defeat tonight and withdrew indoors to heat myself up before returning to break down my gear. Lets hope that these colder nights bring with them clear skies.

 

[Joe G]

Hi 

It’s strange the different seeing conditions there were out there. I was out yesterday evening till about 8.30 & the views were the best I’ve seen this last month . I was able to view Jupiter with a Pentax XF 8.5 mm & Saturn with a Meade UWA 5.5 mm showing great amount of  detail

[Franklin]

11 hours ago, Zermelo said:

And the moon - it just fitted into my Svbony 9-27mm zoom at its widest, nice and sharp to the edge, though with a thin, yellow caste on the limb.

I get a little colour at times on the limb of the Moon, sometimes yellow but more usually red or blue. It must be created by the diagonal/ eyepiece (more apparent when using a prism rather than a mirror) combination because when the limb is moved to the centre of the fov, the colour disappears and also it is red on one side and blue on the other. I've seen this effect even when using a fluorite objective.

[Franklin]

The Winter season has begun! This cold snap seems to have created an astro-fest for me as I was out in the day for several hours, WL and HA solar and managed three mini-sessions last night starting around dusk on Saturn and later the Moon and Jupiter. Out again around midnight to catch the beginning of the Ganymede transit by which time Orion was getting high and I explored some doubles in this area, the multiple star sigma orionis  is always a favorite. Star clusters in and around Auriga, Perseus and Taurus, the usual suspects and M42 of course but the Moon was washing out the sky a lot. Up with the larks and Venus high in the dawn sky, clear blue skies again so looking promising over the weekend for getting even more eyepiece time.

To think it wasn't that long ago that everyone was moaning about the constant wet weather and some were even contemplating throwing in the towel!

Oh ye of little faith😁.

[Zermelo]

38 minutes ago, Franklin said:

I get a little colour at times on the limb of the Moon, sometimes yellow but more usually red or blue. It must be created by the diagonal/ eyepiece (more apparent when using a prism rather than a mirror) combination because when the limb is moved to the centre of the fov, the colour disappears and also it is red on one side and blue on the other. I've seen this effect even when using a fluorite objective.

I must experiment with different combinations. I think I have seen a different colour on the opposite side, as you describe. A bit like atmospheric dispersion, but that shows as a top/bottom difference, not side-to-side.

[John]

2 hours ago, Joe G said:

Hi 

It’s strange the different seeing conditions there were out there. I was out yesterday evening till about 8.30 & the views were the best I’ve seen this last month . I was able to view Jupiter with a Pentax XF 8.5 mm & Saturn with a Meade UWA 5.5 mm showing great amount of  detail

That does seem to be a strong theme from last night - the seeing was poor for some and yet excellent for others. Sometimes not all that much distance between them either. There seems to be more to seeing than just the jetstream position. Maybe more localised factors come into play as well 🤔

Last night I found 225x and even 257x very good for observing Jupiter with my ED120 refractor. More often 150x-180x are better on the giant planet with those higher magnifications being employed on Saturn and the moon. Sometimes even lower (eg: 130x) is the best for Jupiter.

Last night I found even "silly" magnification over 300x and as much as 450x (as high as I can go) was still delivering crisp lunar and double star views. More nights like that would be excellent while the planets are well placed 👍

Edited November 25, 2023 by John

[Franklin]

8 minutes ago, John said:

Maybe more localised factors come into play as well 🤔

Absolutely, I observe from the zenith SE/S/SW out over fields and get a reasonably still sky, yet anything in the North starts to get mushy as I'm over houses in that direction.

[Stu]

23 minutes ago, John said:

That does seem to be a strong theme from last night - the seeing was poor for some and yet excellent for others. Sometimes not all that much distance between them either. There seems to be more to seeing than just the jetstream position. Maybe more localised factors come into play as well 🤔

The seeing varied a lot with time and altitude of target to John. I had poor views to start, but they got much much better as the night went on 👍

[Zermelo]

9 minutes ago, Franklin said:

Absolutely, I observe from the zenith SE/S/SW out over fields and get a reasonably still sky, yet anything in the North starts to get mushy as I'm over houses in that direction.

Yes, the more I observe, the more I think that what I describe as poor seeing is often heat rising from nearby buildings, either heat absorbed during daytime in the summer, or heat from chimneys and flues in the winter.

[Mr Spock]

I'm sure my early evening seeing is not helped by the scope pointing over houses.

[Stu]

Just now, Zermelo said:

Yes, the more I observe, the more I think that what I describe as poor seeing is often heat rising from nearby buildings, either heat absorbed during daytime in the summer, or heat from chimneys and flues in the winter.

Very true. I also used to find that early morning ie post midnight is much better from a seeing perspective as everything has cooled down and convection currents are much reduced. Not often I’m up at that time now unfortunately, though I did manage it last night.

[Franklin]

Due to all the other things in life going on a lot of people can only, realistically, observe in the evening but the post-midnight to pre-dawn skies are definitely the best.

[Saganite]

58 minutes ago, Franklin said:

 

To think it wasn't that long ago that everyone was moaning about the constant wet weather and some were even contemplating throwing in the towel!

Oh ye of little faith😁.

Not everyone Tim , not everyone......😉

[Franklin]

Just now, Saganite said:

Not everyone Tim , not everyone......😉

Yes that is correct but not everyone has the luxury and convenience of their own private dome Steve!😁 

[Paz]

1 hour ago, Zermelo said:

Yes, the more I observe, the more I think that what I describe as poor seeing is often heat rising from nearby buildings, either heat absorbed during daytime in the summer, or heat from chimneys and flues in the winter.

It took me quite a while to realise this, I live in the middle of a smallish but fairly new estate with quite tightly packed roads , houses  drives, small gardens, etc and it means I have heat pollution all around most of the time.

One day I clocked that the best solar observing sessions I had experienced were on holiday away from home. Nowadays if I have time to take my set up to somewhere away from the local heat sources I do, and one of those sites is less than a kilometre away, but its worth he extra hassle of packing my kit into the car and going there.

[Chandra]

12 minutes ago, Paz said:

It took me quite a while to realise this, I live in the middle of a smallish but fairly new estate with quite tightly packed roads , houses  drives, small gardens, etc and it means I have heat pollution all around most of the time.

One day I clocked that the best solar observing sessions I had experienced were on holiday away from home. Nowadays if I have time to take my set up to somewhere away from the local heat sources I do, and one of those sites is less than a kilometre away, but its worth he extra hassle of packing my kit into the car and going there.

Heat sources are great enemies of the stargazer due to their effect on local seeing... those of us who generally observe on terraces and balconies know it well, the floors and facades, especially in summer, heat up during the day and give off their heat throughout the night to reach thermal equilibrium... One more problem to add to the city's light pollution...

[jjohnson3803]

A short (cold) double star session pre-dawn with my 72ED:

Algieba - this one was a little difficult due to the brightness of the primary and secondary at about 100X.

54 Leo - clean split at 70X.

24 Com - easy split at 42X.  Looked white-ish and blue to me, but it's listed as types K0III and A9V, so it's really more yellow and blue.

[PeterStudz]

In my experience (limited to many on here) seeing is never straightforward. I also think that it can be subjective. Using Jupiter as an example, and I have spent a lot of time on Jupiter over the last few years, some of my best seeing has been during the summer, which of course has been in the early hours. This year is no exception and my best seeing on Jupiter so far was back in July and early August. I’m in an urban environment so it might be down to that, but I’ve noticed it mentioned in the imaging section too. 

Then there’s the observers experience. Eg sometimes, under certain conditions, the seeing will briefly (for a split second) flick from fuzzy to sharp. Especially noticeable under high power. Over time at the eyepiece plus careful observation your eye/brain can combine those good split seconds into a good image. 

On some nights colours and colour contrast is better than others. Not getting your eyes use to the dark helps here. At first I wasn’t sure if this was seeing or transparency. But I’ve noticed that on nights of poor seeing Jupiter can often look washed out in colour and an overall shade of brown. It seems to coincide with a strong jet-stream and I’m getting to think that it’s something to do with poor seeing.

[Franklin]

Just back in from a little HA solar and the seeing is very bad, difficult to focus even at lower powers, 🤞 for tonight.

[Mr Spock]

Let's hope it stays clear and seeing improves. 

-1.3° last night. I'd rather not see that again!

[PeterStudz]

6 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Let's hope it stays clear and seeing improves. 

-1.3° last night. I'd rather not see that again!

-2C here last night in tropical Southampton, the same forecast for tonight.

However, the jetstream forecast looks better. 

[John]

If it is better here tonight than it was last night, I won't have enough magnification to do it justice 🙂

Edited November 25, 2023 by John