What did you see tonight?

[PeterC65]

26 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

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

I think the ratio of F / pixel size is suppose to be between 4 and 5, and at F12 I was operating at 4.1 which should have been OK. At this magnification focusing can be difficult so that may have been the problem. Jupiter was certainly bigger with the Barlow!

I was using the Baader Hyperion Zoom Barlow which is specified at x2.25 but I measured it at x2.4 with the Uranus-C camera. I also have the Baader Q Barlow which is specified at x1.3 if you just use the bare lens but I measured it at x1.7 with the camera. With the Explorer 150 the x2.4 Barlow is good for Planets but little else (and until recently observing the Planets via EAA was disappointing), but the x1.7 Barlow is useful for smaller galaxies (F8.5 is a little too slow for DSO EAA but still usable).

 

[lunator]

I was hoping to see some Geminids tonight but it a totally clouded over now. There was a clear patch around Jupiter for some time so I watched Europa disappear behind Jupiter.

It s not looking promising for the next few days....

Cheers

Ian

[Zermelo]

37 minutes ago, lunator said:

I was hoping to see some Geminids tonight but it a totally clouded over now. There was a clear patch around Jupiter for some time so I watched Europa disappear behind Jupiter.

It s not looking promising for the next few days....

Cheers

Ian

In the same neck of the woods, and just brought in the scope that's been sitting outside for three hours, waiting for the clear evening promised only this afternoon by CO and Metcheck!

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, PeterC65 said:

I think the ratio of F / pixel size is suppose to be between 4 and 5, and at F12 I was operating at 4.1 which should have been OK. At this magnification focusing can be difficult so that may have been the problem. Jupiter was certainly bigger with the Barlow!

I was using the Baader Hyperion Zoom Barlow which is specified at x2.25 but I measured it at x2.4 with the Uranus-C camera. I also have the Baader Q Barlow which is specified at x1.3 if you just use the bare lens but I measured it at x1.7 with the camera. With the Explorer 150 the x2.4 Barlow is good for Planets but little else (and until recently observing the Planets via EAA was disappointing), but the x1.7 Barlow is useful for smaller galaxies (F8.5 is a little too slow for DSO EAA but still usable).

 

I don't do EAA on the planets as you really need to take short videos 1-2 minutes to punch through the seeing and atmospheric turbulence. I generally take 90 - 120 second videos at 200 FPS and then stack them in Autostakkert III and finish with derotating in Winjupos then Registax 6/Astrosurface. I'm really getting into planetary imaging and thoroughly enjoy it. I'll be picking your brain when the planets are gone and I'll be doing EEA at native f4.7 with my go to dobsonian. Which plate solving software do I need to download again to use with Sharpcap? I hope you won't mind the questions I'll ask you then.

Edited December 14, 2023 by bosun21

[John]

20 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

In the same neck of the woods, and just brought in the scope that's been sitting outside for three hours, waiting for the clear evening promised only this afternoon by CO and Metcheck!

A little to the north, I was looking forward to this evenings clear skies (as forecast by CO) but somehow that hasn't happened 🙄

 

[bosun21]

1 minute ago, John said:

A little to the north, I was looking forward to this evenings clear skies (as forecast by CO) but somehow that hasn't happened 🙄

 

I'm in the same situation as yourself. I had optimism earlier but that swiftly faded away.

[mdstuart]

Last night I observed three new galaxies to me in Gemini and Auriga.

UGC 3536, UGC 3596 and UGC 3884.

Here is an image of UGC 3536

All three were small in my 20 inch dob. UGC 3884 required averted vision but the other two were easily seen with direct vision. Great to spot them in these galaxy poor areas of the sky.

They are all about 200 Million light years away based on their red shift figures.

Give UGC 3536 a go, it is mag 13 so should be easy enough in a 10 inch in dark skies. Go beyond Messier and NGC, go on....

Mark

[bosun21]

3 minutes ago, mdstuart said:

Last night I observed three new galaxies to me in Gemini and Auriga.

UGC 3536, UGC 3596 and UGC 3884.

Here is an image of UGC 3536

All three were small in my 20 inch dob. UGC 3884 required averted vision but the other two were easily seen with direct vision. Great to spot them in these galaxy poor areas of the sky.

They are all about 200 Million light years away based on their red shift figures.

Give UGC 3536 a go, it is mag 13 so should be easy enough in a 10 inch in dark skies. Go beyond Messier and NGC, go on....

Mark

A 20" dobsonian in a dark sky. An astronomers wish come true (my wish). It must be really satisfying to see these faint galaxies.

[PeterC65]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

I don't do EAA on the planets as you really need to take short videos 1-2 minutes to punch through the seeing and atmospheric turbulence. I generally take 90 - 120 second videos at 200 FPS and then stack them in Autostakkert III and finish with derotating in Winjupos then Registax 6/Astrosurface. I'm really getting into planetary imaging and thoroughly enjoy it. I'll be picking your brain when the planets are gone and I'll be doing EEA at native f4.7 with my go to dobsonian. Which plate solving software do I need to download again to use with Sharpcap? I hope you won't mind the questions I'll ask you then.

I didn't do planetary EAA either until SharpCap implemented live stacking for planets, but that's been a complete game changer. I have recorded video for later processing and got reasonable results in the past, but now I can get results just as good on the night. I'm looking forward to watching a moon transit, hopefully before Jupiter disappears.

Another improvement to SharpCap is that it now has the option for built in plate solving so you don't need to download a third party tool. The built in plate solving is very fast, almost instantaneous.

 

[John]

The sky has cleared here for a while so I popped out for 20 minutes or so to see if I could spot any Geminid meteors. I counted 10 definites and a couple of maybes (peripheral vision ones) during that time. Most came down through Orion, a couple up through Auriga and the rest were heading towards Ursa Major. I'll pop out again later perhaps and see if I can spot some more. 

 

[lunator]

It was supposed to be cloudy tonight but between 6.30-7:30 it was clear. I saw on sky safari that the GRS would be transiting during this period. I set up the 8" dob and started observing at x150. It was fairly steady so I took the mag up to x240. The GRS was very clear even the white edge where it touches the SEB was clear. It was probably the best I have ever seen it. 

I did hope to see some Geminids but the final score was GRS 1 Geminids Nil.😄

Cheers

Ian

[Epick Crom]

I got back late from work last night looking forward to sit outside and try to see some Geminids, but clouded over unfortunately 😔

[JeremyS]

Not the most transparent of nights, but not bad. Started off with a couple of hours of CCD photometry in the dome (the open slit can just be seen in the background of the photo). Then some visual Jupiter with the Mu 210. Seeing has improved during the evening but still not the best. I’m finding that the Leica Zoom is really good for tuning the magnification to the seeing. It puts up really good images and is perhaps going to be my main planetary eyepiece with this scope. With a Panoptic 35 as widefield. 
With single EPs, I found the highest usable mag tonight was 220 (Apollo 11). 

Edited December 16, 2023 by JeremyS

[Telescope40]

Great session last night.  Out late afternoon to set up and catch Europa transit and it's shadow follow suit. Getting good views. Bobbed over to Saturn and the Moon for a little while but rather low. Not worth persisting with. Left my gear in place and came in for food. 

Back out about 6.30. Rowan AZ100 had nicely followed Jupe. TBH, the sky was not looking that great but talk about steady. No waiting for those short periods of stillness. Jupiter now getting some serious altitude and I have to say I think I witnessed my best ever views or pretty close. Able to see a nice difference in size of the moons Ganymede and Europa to the left of the main disc. Bands have detail - NEB seems to have a big "mark" on it that I have seen in my last couple of sessions. A cooled scope and steady atmosphere a complete winner. 

The Svbony 8-3 zooms I find to be excellent. Click stops nice and firm. No OCS in use and was getting great value views with mags of x173, x208 and x248 - native. Not quite sure if these magnification calculations are spot on but can't be all that far off base. ( Never been able to confirm for sure how the maths work ?? )  

 

John 

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Telescope40
Photo

[AL1]

On first night arrival at Queenstown New Zealand, I was presented with clear evening skies.  Being late and tired I initially walked out in front of our apartment to the waterfront path lit by lampposts.  My first target was our old friend the Orion nebula.  Orion is in the northern sky over the lights of Queenstown so was not at its best however the milky way extended from Orion in the north to the Southern Cross low in the east.  It seems strange to see Orion apparently standing on his head compared to my usual view from the U.K.  Next, I moved to the southern cross and located the jewel box which was faint but clearly visible in my small 55mm scope.  Encouraged, I swung low to the eastern horizon to easily locate Omega Centauri as a bright fuzzy patch but were not able to resolve individual stars.   

It was a fantastic clear night but the path lighting and passing cars were a bit hopeless.  With new energy I picked up my kit and walked 10 minutes out of town.  Wow what a difference!  I was still on the roadside and had no chance of dark adaptation with cars passing every few minutes but even with this limitation the glow of the milky way was very apparent.  I could make out the outline of the Remarkable Mountain range against the lighter sky which made me think this is not even at it best. 

I revisited my first targets then started my hunt for the large Magellanic cloud.   After 15 minutes of searching in the eyepiece I gave up feeling a little deflated but not for long.   This is not a telescope target (at least not in my set up).  The large Magellanic cloud was naked eye as huge faint glow.  Encouraged, I tried the eyepiece again, the glow was not discernable, but I immediately located the Tarantula nebula which I had been previously ignoring as a concentrated glow.   

The small Magellanic cloud was also naked eye.   It did not show in the eyepiece but 47 Tucanae popped into view.   I could not resolve individual stars, it visible as a concentrated glow. 

Thrilled and very tired, I gave up hunting for specific targets and started sweeping the Milky Way, which was magnificent.   I discovered a new (to me) method of astronomy of scanning the milky way naked eye for an interesting fuzzy patch then placing the red dot finder over the location.  I viewed many beautiful unidentified clusters through the eyepiece but most excitingly stumbled on a lovely cluster surrounded by nebulosity with a dark lane through the middle which I subsequently identified as the Eta Carinae Nebula.   

 

Quick hand held phone camera view of the southern cross

 

View this morning roughly the same patch of sky

My travel kit

 

 

[Ags]

Grabbed a brief session while the clouds weren't looking! Jupiter was very steady in my 90 mm refractor and I could easily pick out the details in the four visible belts. The four Galilean moons showed anice range of magnitudes and colors, and a few field stars were visible despite the Jovian glare.

I then tried viewing the Pleiades with a few different eyepieces in my 50 mm RACI, as a test session for a bare-bones travel setup. I settled on my NLV 12 as offering the most aesthetic view at 3mm exit pupil and 17x magnification. I think it might just work as a holiday setup! The little scope can't tolerate any higher magnification.

Finished off with a quick peek at the Double Cluster, which has to be my favorite object in the sky. But then the clouds spotted me and quickly covered up the gap they had carelessly left open.

[lunator]

AL1 enjoy the southern sky😬. I have yet to see it so I am envious. 

Agnes, glad you managed to dodge the clouds for am little bit.

It was supposed to be wall to wall cloud here but when I got home at 10 last night there was a clear patch so I grabbed the Binos and had a little sweep through Orion and Auriga. All the usual sights but it was nice to catch a few photos 🙂

Cheers

Ian

[Mr Spock]

I keep hoping for some clear sky. However, the forecast is cloud for the rest of December 

[John]

At least we have had some variation this evening: fine drizzle followed by medium rain followed by misty precipitation followed by murky downpour then back to fine drizzle again. Great 😒

 

[Mr Spock]

Same here. Mostly drizzle at the moment.

[Stu1smartcookie]

We certainly are in a truly grim weather pattern at present … so in a fit of boredom, and to stop me falling asleep this evening ( which has nothing to do with going to bed at midnight and getting up at 5am everyday … or so I tell my wife ) I experimented with my Lyra on the new tripod with the fluid head . Disclaimer .. don’t try this at home folks ! 

[Ags]

1 hour ago, John said:

At least we have had some variation this evening: fine drizzle followed by medium rain followed by misty precipitation followed by murky downpour then back to fine drizzle again. Great 😒

 

I am planning on setting up a decoy telescope a few miles away. It should attract the clouds, and then I can nip out for a quick look.

[John]

Some clear sky for a change. The Moon looks lovely with the Hyginus Rille very close to the terminator and superbly defined 🙂

[Voxish]

Absolutely, had a glimpse of Jupiter (somewhat wobbly) and a little more quality time with the moon. 🌒 

[John]

The Triesnecker rille network (close to the crater of the same name) is also very well defined just now. It's closer still to the terminator so lots of shadow in the narrow rilles. 

This is a Lunar Orbiter image with the Hyginus Rille in the top right corner of the image.

Edited December 19, 2023 by John