What did you see tonight?

[Franklin]

Out again trying out the new Svbony 3-8 zoom, watched the first half of the shadow transit and it showed well at the 3mm setting, quite a bit over the usual 2x aperture in mm max mag advice. Inky black dot very visible and I thought I could even see Io against the disk fleetingly at times, the seeing is very good tonight and the haze seems to be helping. The waning Moon was magnificent along the terminator, the outer mountainous walls of Mare Crisium were seen in great detail and contrast, Langrenus was impressive as was Petavius and Rima Petavius was the best I've seen it in a good while. 

[Nik271]

Quite good seeing on Jupiter tonight after 10:30pm when the haze cleared. I observed  the planet at x140 with my 4inch refractor. Io's shadow is very clearly defined and some irregularity in the NEB was also showing up. The Moon was great as well, Rima Petavius standing out near the terminator. It's cold but the views are worth it!

[Ed in UK]

9 hours ago, IB20 said:

Clouds and mist have well and truly piled in, yet Jupiter is still visible through the murk. Have to say, impressed that I can see Io’s shadow through this! Maybe I need a bigger dob… 🤔😆

And Santa's coming soon 😉

Hope that you've been good.....🤣😂🤣

[Stu1smartcookie]

Out with the 8" Newt for its first light . Set up before 5pm and waited a couple of hours before even attempting to see anything ... Using the AVX mount with the skyportal app i basically pointed the mount North ( ish) and pressed the connect button on the ipad . Slewed to Jupiter and it was remarkably accurate (just a bit out) but once centered the planet stayed in view for the next 90 minutes . The scope was well collimated and no adjustment necessary and whilst i didnt bump the mag up too much the views were exceptional . Decided to bring everything in at around 8;30 as the cold was biting . All in all though a great session . 

[F15Rules]

I finally got out last night, which was my first proper session for several months on a number of counts:

- my first scope session since c. early September due to various factors, weather, family, holidays etc, even a bit of waning mojo to be honest.

- my first proper session with my Maxbright II binoviewers since I got them in the early part of this year..

The colder, clearer weather was forecast, so I prepared Trinity my FS128, installed the BVs, having  checked everything was properly connected (using a BV can be an exercise in frustration if you're not very organised!)..so, by 8.20pm I was ready to go, lined up on Jupiter🙂..with my R.A.drive keeping the planet in view with only minor corrections for over an hour.

The sky was very clear to begin with, but of course the high up waning moon was still very bright and washing out most stars of mag 2 or fainter. 

I did manage to position the scope behind a tree in the garden to block out much of the direct light. Jupiter was a picture, with the 4 main moons beautifully arranged, with one of them (Io, I think) close to Jupiter on the east side, and two more further out, also on the east, appearing almost vertically on top of each other. The higher magnification second shot was taken at 21.49pm, 48 minutes later than the first one at 21.01pm, and you can clearly see the change in the positions of the satellites in that time, especially Io, which was heading for a transit with Jupiter (please excuse the less than great mobile phone pics, I must get a phone holder!)..

By now there was a high milky haze which did start to dim key features and cause a bit of light scattering.

I could see 4 key bands, and hints of "roughness" along the band edges, but the conditions wouldn't support much over 100x without the sharpness diminishing..I did get long enough to try the Baader 1.7x OCS in the BBHS Zeiss prism diagonal..this gave 147x when coupled with a pair of Tak 12mm Abbe orthos, and I could tell that this will be a wonderful pairing in better skies.

Sadly, the skies began to cloud over by just after 10pm, just as my beloved Orion was gaining some altitude..all I had time to do was get a quick shot of the main stars with my phone..but it's fair to say that c 90 minutes of viewing Jupiter, and very briefly, at the last minute, a hazy rather light scattered waning Moon, has really been a tonic. I cant wait to get outside again!

PS: although it was bitterly cold, I felt very comfortable using a combination of double socks, Havers thermal long Johns under soft fabric tracksuit bottoms, fingerless Thinsulate gloves, two warm fleece lined jackets and a woollen Beanie!👍😊

Dave

Edited November 30, 2023 by F15Rules
Typo

[Stu1smartcookie]

10 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

I finally got out last night, which was my first proper session for several months on a number of counts:

- my first scope session since c. early September due to various factors, weather, family, holidays etc, even a bit of waning mojo to be honest.

- my first proper session with my Maxbright II binoviewers since I got them in the early part of this year..

The colder, clearer weather was forecast, so I prepared Trinity my FS128, installed the BVs, having  checked everything was properly connected (using a BV can be an exercise in frustration if you're not very organised!)..so, by 8.20pm I was ready to go, lined up on Jupiter🙂..with my R.A.drive keeping the planet in view with only minor corrections for over an hour.

The sky was very clear to begin with, but of course the high up waning moon was still very bright and washing out most stars of mag 2 or fainter. 

I did manage to position the scope behind a tree in the garden to block out much of the direct light. Jupiter was a picture, with the 4 main moons beautifully arranged, with one of them (Io, I think) close to Jupiter on the east side, and two more further out, also on the east, appearing almost vertically on top of each other. The higher magnification second shot was taken at 21.49pm, 48 minutes later than the first one at 21.01pm, and you can clearly see the change in the positions of the satellites in that time, especially Io, which was heading for a transit with Jupiter (please excuse the less than great mobile phone pics, I must get a phone holder!)..

By now there was a high milky haze which did start to dim key features and cause a bit of light scattering.

I could see 4 key bands, and hints of "roughness" along the band edges, but the conditions wouldn't support much over 100x without the sharpness diminishing..I did get long enough to try the Baader 1.7x OCS in the BBHS Zeiss prism diagonal..this gave 147x when coupled with a pair of Tak 12mm Abbe orthos, and I could tell that this will be a wonderful pairing in better skies.

Sadly, the skies began to cloud over by just after 10pm, just as my beloved Orion was gaining some altitude..all I had time to do was get a quick shot of the main stars with my phone..but it's fair to say that c 90 minutes of viewing Jupiter, and very briefly, at the last minute, a hazy rather light scattered waning Moon, has really been a tonic. I cant wait to get outside again!

PS: although it was bitterly cold, I felt very comfortable using a combination of double socks, Havers thermal long Johns under soft fabric tracksuit bottoms, fingerless Thinsulate gloves, two warm fleece lined jackets and a woollen Beanie!👍😊

Dave

lovely , Dave... as cold as it gets , when its nice and clear we are spoilt for the wonders we get to see in the early winter night sky 

 

[John]

I had cloud cover all night last night 😒

Hoping for better things tonight though 🙂

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by John

[Franklin]

Now that's what you call a "yard canon".

[Franklin]

Clear outside has a 3 hr clear skies window around midnight for my location so I'm hunting for thermals right now.

[JeremyS]

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 . Nice GRS transit this evening 

 

[F15Rules]

3 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 . Nice GRS transit this evening 

 

That's  a very flexible set up Jeremy..a finder that can act as a handle, and flexible rods that have, er, handles😉😊..

Dave

[SwiMatt]

I just went out for a little hour in the snow, at -10°C, hoping to be able to sketch some DSOs using pastels on black for the first time, but from my perspective everything was either hidden by trees or too high in the sky for sketching comfortably.

Still, I caught some good views of the double cluster, M31 and M103 in Cassiopeia. Jupiter wasn't amazing, probably due to some haze lower on the horizon. The "nebulosity" of the Pleiades was a very nice sight for me who normally lives in a city

[John]

Lovely and clear here but, currently, the seeing is rather poor 😒

Blustery wind as well so wind chill is a factor.

I'm clear of the jetstream, if the forecasts are accurate, so it must be more localised issues.

Hopefully, it will get better 🤞

 

[Chandra]

18 hours ago, Stu said:

 

Just found it on this image taken by Roy. Not a barge as it is not oval, what would we call it?

 

In my humble opinion it can be called a barge, I think they do not have to be oval, since in that case we would talk about dark spot or condensation. In fact, "bar", "barge" or "dark rod" would be different names for the same phenomenon, especially when it occurs in the NEB (which is the band most prone to it), it would be a partial darkening in the band or a elongated dark spot... However, from the photo perhaps it could also be considered a projection, which is a prominence of the band over the area, which may or may not be darker than the band itself, and may be smooth or edged sharp. Honestly, I would have my doubts about how to rate it...

[John]

26 minutes ago, Chandra said:

In my humble opinion it can be called a barge, I think they do not have to be oval, since in that case we would talk about dark spot or condensation. In fact, "bar", "barge" or "dark rod" would be different names for the same phenomenon, especially when it occurs in the NEB (which is the band most prone to it), it would be a partial darkening in the band or a elongated dark spot... However, from the photo perhaps it could also be considered a projection, which is a prominence of the band over the area, which may or may not be darker than the band itself, and may be smooth or edged sharp. Honestly, I would have my doubts about how to rate it...

Very interesting. That is a very useful reference tool - thanks for posting it.

Edited November 30, 2023 by John

[Nigella Bryant]

48 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 . Nice GRS transit this evening 

 

Lovely, I'm going to be clouded out until around 11pm when it's supposed to clear. Happy GRS observing. 

[IB20]

2 hours ago, John said:

I had cloud cover all night last night 😒

Hoping for better things tonight though 🙂

 

Man, that is one fantastic looking scope. What’s the OTA details including length, if you don’t mind me asking?

[Nik271]

For all of you out there looking at Jupiter tonight, watch out for the emergence of Europa from behind the shadow of Jupiter, sometime between 19:02 and 19:09, it will a be gradual brightening. Then 10 minutes later Io will be eclipsed behind Jupiter.  Looks like I will miss the show due to dinner commitment, but hope to catch GRS later. 

[John]

15 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Man, that is one fantastic looking scope. What’s the OTA details including length, if you don’t mind me asking?

It is a 130mm F/9.2 triplet so 1200mm focal length. The OTA is made by APM in Germany, the objective and cell by LZOS in Russia and the optical design by Thomas M Back of the USA. Mine is an older version of the one reviewed here by @DirkSteele (Matthew):

The APM TMB LZOS 130-1200 f9.2 apo review | Alpha Lyrae (alpha-lyrae.co.uk)

The seeing seems steadier now but that could be because Saturn has risen more and I've been using that as a yardstick.

I've just managed to see Neptune and it's brightest moon Triton, which is always a nice "catch" 🙂

[andrew63]

Had another look at comet 12P before moon rise. It was still visible in my 4" but less bright, x33 a faint patch. Perhaps a magnitude fainter than last view.  Also viewed a nice pass of the ISS. 

[Ags]

40 minutes ago, John said:

It is a 130mm F/9.2 triplet so 1200mm focal length.

I'd love to see Jupiter and Mars on a good night through a scope like that!

I did see Mars through the 26.5" refractor in Johannesburg - 2000m altitude - but I was too young and inexperienced to fully appreciate it. I did see the canals!

[Saganite]

Seeing not good here so far tonight, Jupiter is showing a soft disc at 77x

Maybe later...🤞

Edited November 30, 2023 by Saganite

[Froeng]

Seeing is good here. Three white ovals and the GRS appearing the equatorial belt. There is an odd dark spot next to the middle oval. Anyone seeing this also?

[bosun21]

Out again for Jupiter, both imaging and observing tonight. I’m patiently waiting for the GRS to come around and for Jupiter to reach even higher in the sky. The Jet stream is clear tonight but the stars were twinkling earlier which isn’t a good sign. It sure is cold here 🥶

 

[F15Rules]

Just got the 5" apo out as the sky was largely clear..got 30 seconds with Jupiter looking great, and the it's moons looking superb, then...RAIN!😭.

In one minute the cloud has whipped in and started dropping rain. Then it stopped and partially cleared again!🤦‍♂️

Checked the Met Office app and they're forecasting more rain this evening, so am back indoors with the log burner🔥and a cuppa.

Hope some of you do get some prolonged clear spells tonight👍

Dave