What did you see tonight?

[Stu1smartcookie]

Out last night for about an hour with the 8”newt but the highlight for me was spotting the beehive cluster in cancer . Lovely . I’ve  never seen it before without optics so I was delighted to spot it . Obviously points the scope to it but really needed a really wide eyepiece to fully appreciate it . Ended up looking through the 8x50 finder scope which really showed it off 

Forward to tonight : 

Just set the Mak outside to cool but caught a glimpse of the crescent moon . Predictably a bit low on contrast as it was still light , around 4:30 .

Tonight will be Jupiter and Uranus . And  a bit of Orion ..I think it’s due to be clear until 9pm . Got to take these moments when we can .  

Edited February 12 by Stu1smartcookie

[Nakedgun]

~

Last night, 11 FEB 24, conditions were predicted to be unusually favorable, so I set up to do some double star observing.

25 years at this hobby and I finally saw the Pup. After catching it at higher power, I was surprised how easy it was to spot at much lower magnification.

 

 

.

[John]

First stargazing / space tourism for ages here for various reasons. 

Jupiter looks lovely despite the red spot hiding around it's other side. The 4 Galilean moons are strung out nicely to the west of the planet. Ganymede stands out as the largest of the four at 180x magnification.

Rigel split neatly and cleanly.

I don't think the clearish skies are going to last though but something is better than nothing 🙂

[PeterC65]

I just about managed an EAA session in between the banks of cloud last night, the first time I've used flat frames for EAA and they made quite a difference. No dust bunnies and much more detail, particularly at higher magnifications.

I started with a test using M43, with and without the flat frames, then moved on to galaxies. All of the Leo Quartet, NGC3628 from the Leo Triplet (my favourite, despite never been able to spot it visually), NGC2683 (which is a new one for me), Markarian’s Chain, and the old favourites, M81, M82 and M51. M81 looked the best I’ve ever seen it.

I finished with the Silver Streak Galaxy, NGC4216, since it contains a supernova, SN2024gy, that I observed last month. It’s still very obvious but a little less bright.

There’s a full report here.

 

[johnturley]

Got my first glimpse of Comet Pons-Brooks at around 18.45 tonight through my Esprit 150, I was just about to take the mirror cover off my 14in Newtonian, to see whether it gave a better view, when it started spotting with rain, so I closed the roof of my observatory shed very rapidly!

This comet has previously eluded me despite a predicted magnitude of around +8, but had very few clear evenings recently to search for it. I usually find that in my fairly light polluted Bortle 5 skies, and with my poor eyesight, the limiting magnitude for diffuse objects is around +9. Not surprisingly therefore I've been unable to spot Comet P Kushida with a predicated magnitude of around + 10, but for some reason the Sky at Night magazine seem to have been hyping this comet, despite it being too faint to spot visually at least, through most amateur telescopes.

I hoping that it might be possible to see Comet Pons-Brooks during the total eclipse of the sun on 8 April (which we are viewing from Mexico), especially if it does according to some predictions, reach magnitude +2. 

John 

Edited February 12 by johnturley

[John]

Before the forecast cloud cover obliterates things I had a look at Eta Geminorum (Propus) inspired by @Nik271's report here:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/418615-eta-geminorum-a-gem-in-gemini/

I was pleased to see the fainter secondary star on the outer edge of the faint diffraction ring around the primary star and the colours matched Nik's description. I found 225x and upwards was required to clearly make out the secondary star to the W of the primary.

I'm not sure that I've split this one before - it's probably a new one for me, which is very nice 🙂

[gp102m]

Took a quick look at Jupiter while the 8" dob cooled. Followed by the the Orion nebula and Trapezium, just the four mains stars visible to me, but the nebula was a lovely green extended cloud.

Thought I'd have a go at M1, managed to see it as a grey oval smudge with direct vision, made more obvious by nudging the scope. There's nothing else similar in the vicinity of Zeta Tauri, so fairly sure I've now bagged the crab, which is a first for me.

 

Edited February 12 by gp102m

[Naughty Neal]

Very much the same as John has seen , I was out at just after 6pm with my 80mm  f12/.5 acro.  Jupiter and the four moons absolutely looking fantasticat approx. azimuth of 220 degrees from my back garden and sitting pretty high up in the early pm sky, sadly yes the GRS on the wrong side but viewing pretty good early pm.  XF 8.5 and sv215 zoom good up to 5mm giving some nice views.

Also very nice clear views of the small crescent moon to night using the same two ep's.

I  haven't been outside with the scope for nearly two weeks as suffering a very heavy cold which is proving hard to shake , still suffering sinus and asthma issues due to it's  effects but nice crisp clear skies early pm.  Still currently set up outside  on the Vixen p110 pillar so may go out for another hour session.

 

  

Edited February 13 by Naughty Neal

[PeterC65]

Out tonight again but I think I'm pushing my luck. The clouds are coming in thick and don't show much sign of letting up.

Still, it's given me a chance to practice my setup routine including taking darks and flats which was much quicker tonight.

And I did get to observe M42, always a pleasure, and NGC2371, a little planetary nebula which was visible even with just the two stacked frames I managed to collect before the clouds intervened, having worked out where I was pointing.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

It was beautifully clear earlier but I had to pack some bags as I'm travelling for a couple of days.  By the time I went out the seeing had deteriorated but I persevered for around 30 minutes with my 70ED.  I purchased an inexpensive 28mm 2-inch eyepiece (the Skywatcher modified Kellner type) and despite the opinions of some, it was decent.  I particularly like the twist-up eyecup which helps enormously align my eye given its long eye relief.

Had a nice widefield look at M81/M82, then got out my 20mm and continued.  Contrast was poor given the seeing but I can't help but enjoy the view, whatever the conditions.  There's something about galaxies that hits me right in the brain.  Had twenty minutes on them with the 20mm and 28mm, then had a bit of a scan looking at some nearby asterisms.  Nothing structured, just a bit of a scan.

Lovely to get the scope out, it's been over a week and given that it takes 30 seconds to get out, I really must take advantage whenever I can!

[PeterC65]

And some more practice, this time at quickly bringing the kit indoors when it starts raining!

[GrumpiusMaximus]

10 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

And some more practice, this time at quickly bringing the kit indoors when it starts raining!

It's not so much the grabbing it and shoving it indoors that I take issue with.  It's the inevitable ten minutes the next morning when you try and work out where you put the lens caps, eyepieces, Barlow lens, case for the above and start work on time with all of the aformentioned piled on top of my keyboard...

[John]

32 minutes ago, Naughty Neal said:

.....suffering a very heavy cold which is proving hard to shake , still suffering sinus and asthma issues due to it's  effects....

 

  

Sorry to hear that but I've had something similar. In my case I lost my voice for 3 days and I'm still speaking in a whispering croak 🙄

Nice to see some starlight this evening though. Made me feel a bit more human again !

[jjohnson3803]

M13, M92, couldn't see M56 with my ST102, but that's no surprise - I've never been able to see it at home.  The arrowhead asterism that points to it was easy, but no glob. 

It was below freezing, so I only stayed out about an hour.

 

 

[SuburbanMak]

I was back from work a bit too late to catch the best of the sky but sneaked a nice half hour with the FS60Q a 32mm Plossl and two zooms, Baader 8-24mm & SV Bony 3-8mm.  Some quick splits then of Rigel, Alnitak, the Trapezium & M42 (4 stars tonight in the 60mm), Castor and Algieba. A good look at Sirius, seeing really quite steady but unsurprisingly no sign of the Pup at 200x in the 60. 

A lacklustre look at M35 and M36 as the cloud really took hold. Yet again though I was still observing stars after none were visible naked eye, the little Tak showing it’s cloud busting properties! 

A nice breath of fresh air though and a cleared head after the working day, so job done. 

Edited February 13 by SuburbanMak

[Zermelo]

We have had the 10" Dob out again. Conditions were good for a couple of hours; seeing was better than of late, around II, and quite transparent.

The Dob was well cooled this time, and I could really see the effect of the extra aperture. The fourth component in Sigma Ori was obvious, and nearby Alnitak (2.1") was comfortably split, so I went up to 32 Ori. That was a harder at 1.4", but eventually yielded to the Svbony 3-8mm zoom at x254.  Encouraged, I went for 52 Ori (1.0"), which I seldom split with smaller scopes. It was actually easier than 32 tonight, perhaps down to the closer mags.  Down to the Trap, backed off the Svbony to x212 and the E and F stars were both obvious. I'm fairly sure I've only seen the six once before.  M42 itself showed some astonishing subtleties to the nebulosity in the Morpheus 14mm (x91).  M45 was not quite contained in the 30mm UFF (1.6°, x42), but with surprisingly good contrast.  M37 was impressive in the 17.5mm Morph, but by then some high cloud was forming.  So M33 was barely seen, and Jupiter not as good as I've seen it.

But overall a very decent session, and I'm happy with the mirror now that I've tweaked it a bit. Collimation was probably not spot on, but close enough.

 

 

[Nigella Bryant]

I had a couple of short sessions between clouds this afternoon and think I caught a CME

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Just now, Nigella Bryant said:

I had a couple of short sessions between clouds this afternoon and think I caught a CME

My Dad sent me some pictures taken by another club member this afternoon of a large CME.  Much suspect that the club member snapped the same one.

[Nigella Bryant]

Just now, GrumpiusMaximus said:

My Dad sent me some pictures taken by another club member this afternoon of a large CME.  Much suspect that the club member snapped the same one.

I would imagine it was. Not processed my data yet.

[Naughty Neal]

Just come back indoors from another near hours viewing, I live in an area of Bortle 6 -7 sky's with  my main  azimuth for viewing being quite small due to severe lp. From my rear edge of town garden It is a little darker,  the viewing I have is only small typically 100 degrees view from approx.  165degrees to approx. 265 degrees as my viewing sky .  The rest of the  sky N/W  , E and to almost the South is all pretty much  lp'd . Industrial estate lighting, housing and street  lighting, leading to poor viewing.

I have to pick varying hours of night to select objects ,  this time of year it is 4am ish to view  Bootes, Cannes Venatici, Coma Berencies, Virgo and the   Leos.

With Jupiter being the first bright object it is the obvious one to set up and view at the moment soon after dusk, then slowly other celestials appear. Tonight was first light with a few newer ep's that I had yet to try out so in the main I concentrated on Jupiter early on and in the last hour swapping out and going between Sirius and the trapezium /M42.

XF 8.5 a lovely ep in my slow frac, crisp and clear to the edge of view. Jupiter being a gem to look at with 117x power.

SV215 zoom like wise nice good clear viewing to the edges with only the lower settings below 5mm  being to much power for Jupiter. 200x being the most I could coax out of my 80mm acro.

M42 I opted to try out the 65 degree 18mmm uff at 56x , this one being the SvBony badged ep.  I can say in the slow acro this ep rocks with beautifully clear views to the edge, I saw little colour to the nebula using a AE uhc or a lumicon oiii though they did enhance the nebula cloud far better. The neb in my sky's is faintly visible to the naked eye.

 

[Naughty Neal]

 I also forgot to mention that I had first proper light with my DIY obs seat tonight as well, I posted about this earlier in the year in the DIY section.  The viewing is and was so much more comfyand relaxing  being seated rather then standing.

  

[Epick Crom]

4 hours ago, johnturley said:

Got my first glimpse of Comet Pons-Brooks at around 18.45 tonight through my Esprit 150, I was just about to take the mirror cover off my 14in Newtonian, to see whether it gave a better view, when it started spotting with rain, so I closed the roof of my observatory shed very rapidly!

This comet has previously eluded me despite a predicted magnitude of around +8, but had very few clear evenings recently to search for it. I usually find that in my fairly light polluted Bortle 5 skies, and with my poor eyesight, the limiting magnitude for diffuse objects is around +9. Not surprisingly therefore I've been unable to spot Comet P Kushida with a predicated magnitude of around + 10, but for some reason the Sky at Night magazine seem to have been hyping this comet, despite it being too faint to spot visually at least, through most amateur telescopes.

I hoping that it might be possible to see Comet Pons-Brooks during the total eclipse of the sun on 8 April (which we are viewing from Mexico), especially if it does according to some predictions, reach magnitude +2. 

John 

Yep, Comet Kushida tell me about it John.. Ive tried to spot it for the past week with my 10 inch dob but no luck! No doubt my bortle 6 backyard it too bright for it.

[DirkSteele]

I spent the weekend in a bortle 4 location, more then. 3 hour drive from my central London home. Took the FC-100 on the chance of clear skies and all the forecasts proved to be pessimistic for Sunday evening. Had a 5 hour session under almost cloudless skies (though two banks did roll through that stopped me for 10-15 mins). I really need to work a few prevention solution as the lens fogged up but I did not give up and took the scope inside to warm up before continuing.

Not an exhaustive list but I took some good notes so may well do a full write up of this session over the next week and post to the website.

M1, NGC1647, the Hydaes (using my finder to enjoy the whole thing) and several other open clusters in Taurus including Cr65 and M45 with plenty of reflection Neb on display.

M42 etc in Orion and many open clusters. Also took in J320 (yeah, me neither before Sunday night), it’s a planetary nebula.

Rosette Nebula (with UHC) and a couple of open clusters in Monoceros.

Had a go at Sirius but seeing was not great. Several open clusters including M41 and Cr121.

Hopped over the border to Puppis for M46 and M47 and made an effort to spot the planetary nebula that sits on top of M46 (using OIII) which I had never done before.

Eskimo nebula and M35 in Gemini and split Propus and Castor.

Usual suspects in Auriga (M36 to M38) and several more OCs and perhaps a nebula or two with some filter help.

Decided to take in a few galaxies during the night as well including M31 and it’s satellites, M33, M51, M81 and M82 as well as the Leo Triplet.

Spent a good amount of time In Cassiopeia for many open clusters including my favourite NGC457.

All in, I hit more than 60 over the session.

[DirkSteele]

Oh and though I did not really feel it (was well wrapped up) it was pretty cold. Ice even formed on my eyepiece travel backpack! That is a tiny picnic table for toddlers I found at the back of the house (was a weekend rental) which I used to keep the bag on.

[jjohnson3803]

Skies cleared after midnight last night, so I popped out with my ST80 around 0400 this morning.  I was trying a different configuration of mount / tripod and decided I didn't like it, so I lost some time reconfiguring things back to my original set-up.  That was ok - one of my goals was to see if I liked the new configuration.

M13, wandered around Lyra for a bit, over to The Coathanger, and a quick look at U Sge, which was not in eclipse as usual.  I'll catch it in eclipse one of these days. Cygnus was still too low in the trees to see much.