What did you see tonight?

[SwiMatt]

8 hours ago, Zermelo said:

The following was posted on a thread here not long ago (not by me) :

I thought I had seen something like that. Thanks!

[John]

10 hours ago, ED Splitter said:

Got 20 mins and a bit more between the clouds. Kept to a 27mm panoptic at the outset as was intending to comet hunt. Clouds put an end to that. Started on Jupiter, 27mm not typically planetary but it gives some detail with 4”frac and it resolves the moons as discs in an overall pleasing FOV. The sky Visibility looked good and clear as could resolve the trapezium in Orion easily at 27mm. Having obtained a degree of confidence following a watch of the sky at night YouTube video for January I then moved over to Sirius and increased mag.

Using a 6mm bco I could detect something in the overwhelming light of Sirius, backed off slightly with a 7mm bgo which confirmed the something in a neater form. I went all in for mag with a 3.2mm starguider and waited for Sirius to rise a little, 20mins later there it was the dog and pup. No comet but will take that. Observed that wonderful sight until the clouds ruined it, all of 2 mins. Then packed up and went in for a celebratory chip butty. 
 

Congratulations on getting "the pup" with a 4 inch frac 🙂

 

[josefk]

17 hours ago, John said:

Without such setups I think I would have given up observing a while back !

 

i haven't made it out with a "big scope" since May 23 and that isn't from lack of will or with too many missed opportunities - being able to GnG at short notice or for a short session is a hobby sustaining lifeline indeed!

Edited January 5 by josefk

[bosun21]

16 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

I have done more observing in the last month than I had in the year previous.

Where in the UK do you live? I haven't had a cloud gap in the last month!

[GrumpiusMaximus]

35 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Where in the UK do you live? I haven't had a cloud gap in the last month!

Canterbury/Dover area.  Not been great here.

[Sunshine]

12 hours ago, ED Splitter said:

Got 20 mins and a bit more between the clouds. Kept to a 27mm panoptic at the outset as was intending to comet hunt. Clouds put an end to that. Started on Jupiter, 27mm not typically planetary but it gives some detail with 4”frac and it resolves the moons as discs in an overall pleasing FOV. The sky Visibility looked good and clear as could resolve the trapezium in Orion easily at 27mm. Having obtained a degree of confidence following a watch of the sky at night YouTube video for January I then moved over to Sirius and increased mag.

Using a 6mm bco I could detect something in the overwhelming light of Sirius, backed off slightly with a 7mm bgo which confirmed the something in a neater form. I went all in for mag with a 3.2mm starguider and waited for Sirius to rise a little, 20mins later there it was the dog and pup. No comet but will take that. Observed that wonderful sight until the clouds ruined it, all of 2 mins. Then packed up and went in for a celebratory chip butty. 
 

Nice work seeing the pup! not an easy task in a 4”.

Edited January 5 by Sunshine

[bosun21]

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Nice work seeing the pup! not an easy task in a 4”.

I never managed it with a 4" scope, not for the want of trying mind you. 

[SwiMatt]

I was greedy tonight and I put my Mak outside for a quick look after an evening at my in-laws. Helas, I didn't give it enough time to cool down properly, and/or the seeing wasn't great. Still, I think I managed to see the GRS at 166x, that would be a first. Wouldn't have been able to without knowing where it was so... jury's out on whether I actually saw it 🥲

[ED Splitter]

10 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

I was greedy tonight and I put my Mak outside for a quick look after an evening at my in-laws. Helas, I didn't give it enough time to cool down properly, and/or the seeing wasn't great. Still, I think I managed to see the GRS at 166x, that would be a first. Wouldn't have been able to without knowing where it was so... jury's out on whether I actually saw it 🥲

Have you ever tried a contrast filter? I had similar experiences before purchasing one, it confirmed I was seeing it but with it equipped there is no doubt what you are seeing. 

[Stu]

I negotiated a full evening pass last night as the forecast has looked promising a few days ago, but alas it was mainly cloud with a few clear gaps. I was trying the FS-128 out with the FeatherTouch FTF3035 for the first time, and it was a good as I hoped. So much easier to reach good focus with a lighter touch on the scope.

Annoyingly I couldn’t find the power cable for the AZ100 Goto, so it was slo mos only which are a little bouncy with the motors fitted.

In the occasional gaps I got, Jupiter was showing some good detail. GRS clear from the time it came around the limb, and when it was central the was a dark belt coming from the bottom of it. Plenty more to see, but it was fleeting in the better moments.

[ED Splitter]

Went out last night for the intention of just 20mins. Patchy sky conditions with our old celestial friends the clouds. Got the mount set up and went to retrieve the scope setup ready with a 27mm panoptic. Went out the doors to be greeted with a clear darkish sky (light pollution). Turned about and went back in, this would be the night that I tried out my recently acquired 31mm nagler. 
first object Jupiter, nice image presentation given the low mag, plenty of detail visible for small apparent size with the planet displayed in a nice background of stars. 
Next on to Orion. Low mag view so quite small but no less pleasant. Far more detail resolved than in a 35panoptic, I put this down more to the smaller exit pupil as much as magnification. With a bandmate applied I could see detail wider than the nebula itself. Not seen this before in such a wide view, could have been conditions, I didn’t do a comparison with the 27/35 panoptic as was having too much fun with the new eyepiece. Beyond this was quite underwhelming when viewing south. I then pointed toward Cassiopeia and cruised around, less affected by light pollution was greeted with a sky more filled with stars than space that was just wonderful. I then aimed for an old favourite the double cluster, wow just wow. I was floating in space for a long time looking at that and seeing improved further during that time as well. The twin targets were nicely framed and as I concentrated on each I fell into their respective diamond centres and stopped thinking. I don’t know if it was the view or the fact that I couldn’t feel my toes due to wearing flip flops (as this was only meant to be a 20min outing that was now well past the hour mark) but could feel my eyes watering.    
I cruised around after this. Tried to find a comet and failed. Then conditions approved at the top of Orion the pi stars were visible to the eye, assuming people were in bed at this point and turned off the needless outdoor winter lights. Decided to go for M1. Failed previously as didn’t appreciate that it’s not as close to Orion as I thought. Faint cloud like object barely perceptible but a good tick in the box. Then overreached and switched to a 13mm ethos and lost it. Gave up finding it again, moved over to Jupiter for a higher mag view, very pleasant in the 13mm then higher again in the Bgo 7mm. I couldn’t feel my ankles by this point so headed in. Too late for a chip butty sadly but you can’t have everything. 

[Bugdozer]

Daughter alerted me to the patchy clouds having cleared around 11.20pm last night, so we quickly set up in the garden. The sky was darker than it often is from our house, I don't know whether some of the streetlights had gone off or something, but I wasn't complaining. Daughter was campaigning to look at Jupiter but it was directly above next door's chimney which had visible smoke coming out! So instead we had a look at some features in Orion, spotting Rigel's companion, checking out the fantastic colour of Betelgeuse (once again, it failed to explode. I am starting to get impatient with it) and then M42, which I was viewing through my new 32mm eyepiece for the first time. 

Then we turned to the Pleiades, and I wasn't sure if I could actually see some nebulosity around Merope and Alcyone. So for an objective test, I got daughter to look at the view and without telling her what I thought I saw, I asked her what she could see. Likewise, she said there's "glowing bits around the stars" so hurrah, I wasn't imagining it. 

We had a quick look at M82, which wasn't well seen as it lay in the direction of a local streetlight. We finished off with a view of the Beehive, which was beautiful though the 32mm eyepiece. 

[SwiMatt]

1 hour ago, ED Splitter said:

Have you ever tried a contrast filter? I had similar experiences before purchasing one, it confirmed I was seeing it but with it equipped there is no doubt what you are seeing. 

Thanks for the suggestion! With 127mm of aperture I don't have too much to work with, so a contrast filter could be a great suggestion. I had not considered buying any filters before upgrading my basic eyepieces, but now it might be a good moment to start looking at them. 

[Bugdozer]

14 minutes ago, SwiMatt said:

Thanks for the suggestion! With 127mm of aperture I don't have too much to work with, so a contrast filter could be a great suggestion. I had not considered buying any filters before upgrading my basic eyepieces, but now it might be a good moment to start looking at them. 

I use a UHC filter for viewing nebulae, and I have 2mm less aperture than you. It makes a real difference. 

[ED Splitter]

16 minutes ago, SwiMatt said:

Thanks for the suggestion! With 127mm of aperture I don't have too much to work with, so a contrast filter could be a great suggestion. I had not considered buying any filters before upgrading my basic eyepieces, but now it might be a good moment to start looking at them. 

I have a baader contrast booster. It works well with my televue eyepieces less so pentax. It seems to make little difference to my baader eyepieces but those are a zoom or Orthoscopic types which might have an impact on the performance of the filter. 

[ED Splitter]

26 minutes ago, Bugdozer said:

Daughter alerted me to the patchy clouds having cleared around 11.20pm last night, so we quickly set up in the garden. The sky was darker than it often is from our house, I don't know whether some of the streetlights had gone off or something, but I wasn't complaining. Daughter was campaigning to look at Jupiter but it was directly above next door's chimney which had visible smoke coming out! So instead we had a look at some features in Orion, spotting Rigel's companion, checking out the fantastic colour of Betelgeuse (once again, it failed to explode. I am starting to get impatient with it) and then M42, which I was viewing through my new 32mm eyepiece for the first time. 

Then we turned to the Pleiades, and I wasn't sure if I could actually see some nebulosity around Merope and Alcyone. So for an objective test, I got daughter to look at the view and without telling her what I thought I saw, I asked her what she could see. Likewise, she said there's "glowing bits around the stars" so hurrah, I wasn't imagining it. 

We had a quick look at M82, which wasn't well seen as it lay in the direction of a local streetlight. We finished off with a view of the Beehive, which was beautiful though the 32mm eyepiece. 

Sounds a great outing and wonderful you got to share  it with your daughter. Beehive is one of my favourites, on a clear moonless night it is superb. 

[Paz]

I was on family taxi duty this morning  but saw clear skies so I put a solar set up into the boot and once I had done the taxi runs I just looked for a nearby field on Google maps and set up.

The field was fine except that it was obviously a very busy dog walking field for a large estate.

I set up  72mm Photoline for white light and saw quite a few smallish spots but the sun was low amd seeing not great so I was at not much over 20x.

Things were going ok until I discovered I was standing in what had to be the world's most evil dog poo. I thought I had been careful but this one outwitted me.

I won't detail it any further other than to say observing came to an abrupt end.

Never again!

[cloudsweeper]

GREAT RED SPOT!

Just been out before 5.00pm with the lovely ED80 Triplet G'n'G set-up.  

Sky clear and still a bit lightish, Jupiter highish ESE.

The four moons and the two main belts were very sharp and clear.  Going up to x160, still good, AND I noticed a small pale curve in the SEB,  just off-centre - the top of the GRS!

Fabulous timing, and Stellarium confirmed the observation.  In after a cold but very satisfying 20 minutes.

Doug.

[ED Splitter]

8 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

GREAT RED SPOT!

Just been out before 5.00pm with the lovely ED80 Triplet G'n'G set-up.  

Sky clear and still a bit lightish, Jupiter highish ESE.

The four moons and the two main belts were very sharp and clear.  Going up to x160, still good, AND I noticed a small pale curve in the SEB,  just off-centre - the top of the GRS!

Fabulous timing, and Stellarium confirmed the observation.  In after a cold but very satisfying 20 minutes.

Doug.

Scope should be cooled now. Time to get back out 🔭

[John]

I'm just watching the GRS transit with my 100mm refractor. The GRS is nicely defined although it's colour seems a little muted this evening. The seeing here is also quite decent so 150x-180x proving useful.

 

Edited January 6 by John

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Dreadful view here by-and-large but it's poking out between the clouds occasionally.  I've got the 70ED on it but I might break out the C5 if the cloud situation improves.  I think if I see the GRS it's going to be a case of wishful thinking with the 70, although I did catch it a little while ago.

[John]

36 minutes ago, John said:

I'm just watching the GRS transit with my 100mm refractor. The GRS is nicely defined although it's colour seems a little muted this evening. The seeing here is also quite decent so 150x-180x proving useful.

 

The 100mm is delivering good views. So good, that I was moved to try a sketch, which I don't often do:

 

Edited January 6 by John

[Stu]

23 minutes ago, John said:

The 100mm is delivering good views. So good, that I was moved to try a sketch, which I don't often do:

 

Very nice John! Similar view to mine last night. The dark band off the bottom of the GRS is very distinct, isn’t it?

[Stu]

There’s a fairly uncommon Ganymede transit coming up which I posted about a while ago. In theory Ganymede is a bit darker than Io or Europa so may show as dark against Jupiter and so be visible more easily during its transit. Cloudy here inevitably 🤬

[Paz]

2 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

GREAT RED SPOT!

I set up at 4.30 to have a look at this. I had a quick look at Saturn first and got caught up in that. Then half an hour later I swung over to Jupiter but it was clouding over so that was the session over... but Saturn was good!