What did you see tonight?

[Voxish]

Seeing is shocking however 

[mikeDnight]

Some interesting detail on Jupiter, with a prominent large white oval on the southern edge of the north equatorial belt. Festoons and garlands also visible.  Even intricate detail in th north temperate belt. Worth a look if seeing allows!

[John]

31 minutes ago, Voxish said:

Seeing is shocking however 

It's quite good here. 180x / 225x working well at showing Jupiter's features. That is more than I usually find useful on the giant planet with a 100mm scope.

 

[Mr Spock]

Raining here - there's a shock!

[JeremyS]

Dodging clouds, but some good views. Quite breezy.

[Ags]

Rain doubled down today. Garden flooded.

[PeterC65]

Just managed a couple of hours of visual observing between the clouds. This was first light visually for the Explorer 200, but the 50% Moon and the neighbours Christmas lights meant I was restricted to brighter objects.

Jupiter looked impressive at x149 with the yellow filter. I could see structure in the NEB and SEB which was a first for me with this new scope. Unfortunately the GRS was not on display. I've not observed it visually yet but I'm fairly confident now that I would be able to do so with the Explorer 200.

Saturn wasn't revealing any detail but it is getting quite low for me and is over the neighbours roof. Uranus on the other hand, was a definite blue disc, also the best I've seen it with the new Explorer 200.

The Moon looked very crisp, even at x212, but the shadows along the terminator weren't the most interesting (I'm not a big Moon fan).

I tried a few star clusters, M45 and M34-38. M45 was showing some luminosity which is promising for when I get a properly dark night. M42 was just above the horizon so I took my first visual look of the season, but really it's too low and the sky was too bright.

Overall the Explorer 200 performed well and I'm expecting good things from it on a darker night.

 

[John]

Continuing clear skies here. Fine views of Jupiter. Great Red Spot now on the disk and showing quite well 🙂

 

[Stu]

Basil is out tonight, on the EQ platform. Using the Leica zoom at x180 and was getting some decent views before the cloud came over. Seeing was not the best, but still got some decent detail, GRS just about visible coming onto the disk, hope it clears soon so I can see it better.

[lunator]

The seeing isn't too bad here. Having another look at the GRS. 

My Step-son has joined me and we are having an in-depth discussion of the luminosity distance relationship 😁

Also had a look at Uranus, a couple of fainter doubles, M42 and the Moon.

Cheers 

Ian

[John]

On Jupiter, it is interesting to note how dark the NEB and SEB are currently and also how the tone of the SEB is noticeably paler to the E of the Great Red Spot and it's hollow than it is immediately to the W of the GRS.

 

[Alan White]

First time out on the pad and what a night to go out

 Conditions poor, but Lunar X and V and nice terminator details

Orion being high enough to look at

Jupiter and the GRS 

Just the medicine for me and my first week back at work full time again

happy person me

 

[Stu]

29 minutes ago, John said:

On Jupiter, it is interesting to note how dark the NEB and SEB are currently and also how the tone of the SEB is noticeably paler to the E of the Great Red Spot and it's hollow than it is immediately to the W of the GRS.

 

Yes, SEB very dark, particularly to the West of the GRS. Seeing is frustrating, a lot of the time mediocre but occasional really steady moments where some lovely detail shows through.

[Stu]

Just had another quick session. There is a strong dark belt running East of GRS but at the South of it (on West side it is to the North. I guess this is the influence of GRS rotation shifting the belt? The separation between GRS and SEB very clear too.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Finally got out tonight for the first time in a week.  Clear skies, decent seeing but absolutely knackered so only managed about 15 minutes of Jupiter.  Equitorial bands were very obvious, lots of contrast.  Really enjoyed the view!  Was out too early for the GRS and probably wasn't at a high enough magnification to see it without wishful thinking or a lot longer looking but even ten minutes scratches the itch and keeps me in the habit!

[SwiMatt]

Beautiful clear skies yesterday afternoon and... tons of clouds and wind when it got dark. Frustrating weather. 

[Ed in UK]

Managed to pop outside last night with the scope. Not 100% clear skies but enough to get a couple of hours in.

Jupiter, really mushy. Even with low magnification (x36) couldn't see the banding at all. Had an occasional moment(s) where I could just make out banding before back to fuzzy cream disc.

Moved across to M45, had a nice wonder around the brighter stars for a while. Nebulosity showing around them all. Not really seen this before, it's only reading about it on here that made me stop and look closer. Pleased to have seen it.

On to M42, nice view of the Trapezium and finally up to Altinak just as the cloud arrived to bring my session to an end. 

[wesdon1]

On 17/12/2023 at 22:38, Ags said:

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.

@Ags LOL loved how you described the clouds mate! made me giggle! 😂 We can all relate to the little things constantly ruining our night skies here in the UK! 😩😂

On the subject of the 50mm RACI, I have often just grabbed my 50mm finder scope and scanned the skies, and it's really surprising what you can see with such a simple small optical instrument! Many many Stars and even brighter nebulae! 

[Mr Spock]

Just a reminder - no bypassing the swear filter please 

[lunator]

I had noticed the dob had slipped down in the rings a bit so the balance was out. Despite the met office saying it was heavy cloud it was quite clear so I took the opportunity to view the Moon after rebalancing the scope, Clavius looked excellent at x200, loads of detail. 😁

Cheers

Ian

[SwiMatt]

Happy longest night of the year to those who celebrate and get clear skies 

No surprises here - it's clouded. But at least it's snowing... (which just makes it harder to set up outside in the forest, but at least I am feeling jolly )

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I bet you get some good views over there around Göteborg.  I was there in August and we had three days of excellent weather followed by some of the heaviest, most persistent rain I've ever experienced - was like being in Orkney all over again!  Will be back in April but staying near Haga renders a telescope almost useless...

My partner has just applied for a job near Stockholm, so I rather hope (should we get lucky) that the rain is offset by the lack of light pollution compared to the South-East UK...

Edited December 21, 2023 by GrumpiusMaximus

[SwiMatt]

8 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

I bet you get some good views over there around Göteborg.  I was there in August and we had three days of excellent weather followed by some of the heaviest, most persistent rain I've ever experienced - was like being in Orkney all over again!  Will be back in April but staying near Haga renders a telescope almost useless...

My partner has just applied for a job near Stockholm, so I rather hope (should we get lucky) that the rain is offset by the lack of light pollution compared to the South-East UK...

In Gothenburg proper, bortle is 7 to 9 about everywhere - with the highest amount of street lights that I've ever seen. But outside of the city you can get some very decent views, with bortle dropping to 3 or 4 very fast - especially if you own a car.

In Haga I see zero chances of observing, but with a truly portable set-up, with public transportation you can reach sites dark enough to at least do some planetary or double star observing. So far my real enemy here has been the weather, which on the West coast is extremely variable and hardly predictable due to being at the very end of the Atlantic. I would suppose that the East coast of Sweden offers better stability

Of course, in Sweden the season only goes from the second half of August to about May! Which you already know if you are familiar with Orkney  good luck to your partner with the job hunt!

OK everyone, sorry for the off topic!

[Ed in UK]

Has I was chasing the cat into the house last night I looked up to pretty much clear skies which was most unexpected.

Scope out and onto Jupiter just as cloud started to arrive....😡 Just missed the start of Europa Occultation.

Spent probably about an hour on Jupiter, with about 3/4 of that time tracking it through the cloud. 🙄

NEB & SEB far more visible tonight when cloud and atmosphere allowed.......

 

[SwiMatt]

The sky just got me an early Christmas present, so I spent a lovely hour on my balcony sketching Jupiter and the Moon, which were about 3° apart. Lovely sights. I also tested my new portable stool, it's a joy to use!