What did you see tonight?

[wookie1965]

I've just come in for a brew then I'm back out again. 

[Mr Spock]

14 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

I've just come in for a brew then I'm back out again. 

Same here!

Seeing is very unstable but I'm picking up some detail in the belts. I've noticed the STeB is darker towards the west. 

[maw lod qan]

Glad to hear someone is getting so viewing in.

Cloudy here with possibly heavy rains this weekend.

[Mr Spock]

Forecast is out as usual. BBC has it clear, CO has it cloudy. Both say 2° to 3°. It's clear and 0.7°... Must wrap up a bit more 

[andrew63]

Just saw a good  Geminid,  heading towards the eastern horizon. Nothing spectacular yet though.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Profoundly clouded over here.  I've just been down to Dover and there is thick fog over the channel.  Boo.

[Mr Spock]

Jupiter is looking better in the 5mm LVW than the 4mm TOE (x148 v x185). Just come inside for a while as the objective has fogged a little. I've left it pointing horizontal to see if it will clear. 0.3° now!

There's quite a bit of activity in the NEB with two distinct dark 'knots' equidistant from the centre. NPR is quite crisp with a dark edge. STeB is quite faint - the darker area has moved out of sight.

[John]

Some nice detail visible in the NEB now with the 5mm (180x) focal length setting of the Svbony 3-8 zoom. There seems to be a festoon or loop that comes off the southern edge of the NEB, loops down into the Eq zone and then re-joins the NEB further east, or west, depending which point you start at.

Like the 4th category of dark object in the ID chart below, 2nd example:

[andrew63]

Just saw some really nice Geminids. Caught a good one by Orion my iPhone.

[Mr Spock]

Called it a night. Seeing is a little better but the scope has misted over quite badly 😡 Frustrating. I don't usually get that here.

[Nigella Bryant]

Second session of the day, solar this afternoon and Jupiter this evening, just managed an hour and a half before clouds interrupted play. NEB belt continues to be more disturbed than the SEB with at least three blue festoons running into the equatorial zone. Seems to look like a bay of brighter creamy colour coming from the NEB in the east and a dark barge in the North of the NEB. Seeing started of OK but became mushy and hard to keep focus after the first 3/4 hr. 

It was worth going out even for a short session. 

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by Nigella Bryant
Pic added

[Zermelo]

I've just come in from a very pleasant couple of hours with the 150mm Newt.
There was some low cloud about early on, but it mostly cleared up, just an occasional bit of higher mist. The seeing seemed to be good, and the Svbony 3-8mm zoom at x250 split a couple of 1.8" doubles in Pisces, Alrischa and HD 9817.  Jupiter was crisp, with quite a bit of detail in the equatorial belts, though I wouldn't be brave enough to assign any to the list of features above. 
I took in the three Auriga Messiers M36/7/8, and also M35 in Gemini, all with a Svbony 10mm UFF. I bought this recently for £16 and I'm very pleased with it.  It framed all of these clusters nicely, with pin sharp stars. I also used it on IC 1805 and NGC 457 in Cassiopeia.
I finished on Orion, poorly positioned above houses, but the UFF showed some very subtle detail in M42, and I think the Trapezium F star was just visible with averted vision. The same eyepiece definitely showed four components in sigma Orionis.
I wasn't particularly looking for Geminids tonight, but saw at least a dozen, including some brighter ones with trails. As tomorrow is supposed to be the peak, that bodes well.

[John]

I have thin, high cloud starting to spoil things now but it's been a nice session anyway. Jupiter was the best I've seen for a while and Orion is looking really nice, until the thin cloud layer gets to it !

I managed to get E & F Trapezium with the ED120. The best magnification seemed to be around 120x. More than that seemed to make seeing these faint stars harder and less didn't help either. 

I doubt I'll stay out much longer but it has been a really nice couple of hours observing 🙂

[Epick Crom]

3 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

I've just come in for a brew then I'm back out again. 

Hi @wookie1965 that is one fine looking scope! Is it carbon fibre?

[bosun21]

I'm sadly suffering from new scope syndrome. It's been more or less solid cloud cover here with no end in sight for the next 5 days. I'm itching to get first light soon.(I hope).

Edited December 14, 2023 by bosun21

[Stu]

Just arrived back from a car club evening out and the sky looks pretty spectacular here. Had a quick gawp from the driveway, counted 19 stars in Orion, not including the four corner stars which is the most I’ve seen for some time although not particularly remarkable I know. Not bad without fully adapted eyes though. Up at 4am tomorrow so no time for any proper observing unfortunately.

[Epick Crom]

I know you guys over there in UK have been shivering lately ( I have family in England they tell me it's very cold there now) Over here in Perth, Oz we are warm and sunny. Clear and steady last night, had a look at Saturn with Titan hovering above Saturn, a nice sight. Checked out M42, two bright satellites zoomed right though it seconds apart. That startled me a bit! 

I also observed the LMC, so much too see there. I compared M42 with NGC 2070 ( the Tarantula Nebula in the LMC). Both these showpiece nebulae were spectacular. The Orion Nebula was green while the Tarantula Nebula looked light blue! Finished the night on Jupiter, stunning as usual with subtle details seen in it's cloud bands. 

Stay warm my northern hemisphere friends!

 

Clear Skies

Joe

[SwiMatt]

The forecast gave clear skies this night from 4am onwards, but none were to be seen when I woke up at 6am. Happy I didn't set an alarm for this. It looks like it's gonna be cloudy until Christmas 

Enjoy, you who can!

[Ed in UK]

Bagged a couple of Geminids last night whilst doing end of day jobs.

Hopefully it'll be clear tonight, even managed to persuade the wife to join me outside tonight.

Let's hope it's a good one.

[Mr Spock]

I didn't see any Geminids, I was too glued to the eyepiece  Jupiter is so fascinating at the moment I'm not getting any doubles in either. Must plan a session.

[Franklin]

Early evening I had an hour or so with Jupiter despite pockets of low cloud blowing over and later at around 10.00pm it cleared a little so just sat on my garden bench with the binoculars scanning clusters in Perseus, Auriga, Taurus and Gemini. Caught a grand total of 9 Geminids, mostly faint but around 10.30pm one was long, bright and slow, leaving a trail that shot directly through Gemini at an angle that didn't quite follow back to the radiant. 

[John]

39 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

I didn't see any Geminids, I was too glued to the eyepiece  Jupiter is so fascinating at the moment I'm not getting any doubles in either. Must plan a session.

Likewise, plus Orion.

I'm not actually that bothered about meteor showers in all honesty. Mostly they disappoint. A bright unexpected bolide is nice to see though.

 

[wookie1965]

12 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Hi @wookie1965 that is one fine looking scope! Is it carbon fibre?

In actual fact its a Celestron Sp -- C102 tarted up lol.

[PeterC65]

I did another EAA session last night. This time with the Explorer 200PDS Barlowed to F12 which should have been right for observing the Planets, and with the 72mm refractor fitted with the x1.0 field flattener which gives a nice crisp wide field of view.

The intention was to observe Jupiter but with the Barlow it was a bit fuzzy ...

So I removed the Barlow and it actually looked better (at F5) ...

The highlights of the evening where seeing The Tadpoles (IC410) for the first time as I'd only recently become aware of this feature right next to the Letter Y Cluster (NGC1893), and managing to see Uranus with the camera for the first time (just a blue green disc).

Here are The Tadpoles, just to the left of the Y, observed using the 72mm refractor (which happened to have the filter wheel attached allowing me to use the UHC filter).

 

[bosun21]

32 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

I did another EAA session last night. This time with the Explorer 200PDS Barlowed to F12 which should have been right for observing the Planets, and with the 72mm refractor fitted with the x1.0 field flattener which gives a nice crisp wide field of view.

The intention was to observe Jupiter but with the Barlow it was a bit fuzzy ...

So I removed the Barlow and it actually looked better (at F5) ...

The highlights of the evening where seeing The Tadpoles (IC410) for the first time as I'd only recently become aware of this feature right next to the Letter Y Cluster (NGC1893), and managing to see Uranus with the camera for the first time (just a blue green disc).

Here are The Tadpoles, just to the left of the Y, observed using the 72mm refractor (which happened to have the filter wheel attached allowing me to use the UHC filter).

 

For planetary you would want to be nearer f15 with a 2.9um camera. Which barlow are you using Peter?