What did you see tonight?

[paulastro]

Out last night (23rd to 24th) with the Seestar and 8inch Starsense Dob from 11.45pm to 3am.  It's really nice to be able to take images with the SS with the phone on the Starsense phone cradle and switching back and forth between the Seestar and Starsense Apps as appropriate.

Only took a couple of images. One of the Crescent Neb (NGC 6888) from 00.50 to 02.21. And one of the, very low, 84.8% illuminated Moon at 2.36 before I packed up.

Looked at several objects with the Dob, including more S ones such as M16, M17 and M22 - I wasn't too adventurous in a bright and rather milky sky.  Nice to see M31 above my local horizon  from 2.00am.  Great sweeping along the Milky Way, with the Baader Aspheric 34mm/72deg and 17.5 Morpheus, with the x2 ES focal extender for observing some globulars..  

I was joined by a couple of very noisy hedgehogs for a while around 1.15, an adult and youngster.  A very pleasant session.

[John]

23 hours ago, John said:

I've managed to split Antares this evening using my ED120 refractor. Clearest view was at 257x (Nagler zoom @ 3.5mm).

Antares was subject to some scintillation but for moments it's airy disk and 1st diffraction ring popped into view along with the greenish-grey secondary star sitting at around the 10 o'clock position to the NE of the primary. I did a quick positional sketch of what I seemed to be seeing, then confirmed it again, before consulting Stelle Doppie and checking the current PA of the pair. My sketch does not seem far off, I was pleased to see.

My sketch posted below together with the PA diagram from Stelle Doppie tweaked to put it into the refractor orientation with added north and south labels (in red) for clarity. Actual view quite a bit "messier" than my sketch of course - I was just trying to capture the positions of the stars as I saw them.

First time with the ED120 for this split. 

 

And again tonight, this time with the Tak FC100-DL. Seeing is better tonight and secondary star is visible from 225x upwards quite clearly and stays visible for longer periods.

Probably the best views I've had of Antares B despite the modest aperture. The stready seeing is delivering rewards 🙂

The "gap" that I have to observe Antares gives me about 30 minutes of observing time before a large chestnut tree (to the right in the photo) "swallows" the star.

 

Edited June 24 by John

[Littleguy80]

Similar to John, I’m out with the 100mm Tak. Surfed around Sagittarius until I happened upon the Lagoon Nebula. It really came alive with the Televue Nebustar UHC filter. Thick nebulosity around the cluster. With the APM UFF 30mm, I could see both the Lagoon and the Trifid in the same FOV!! All this and sitting comfortably in my shorts, really love summer observing!

[John]

10 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

Similar to John, I’m out with the 100mm Tak. Surfed around Sagittarius until I happened upon the Lagoon Nebula. It really came alive with the Televue Nebustar UHC filter. Thick nebulosity around the cluster. With the APM UFF 30mm, I could see both the Lagoon and the Trifid in the same FOV!! All this and sitting comfortably in my shorts, really love summer observing!

Though the aperture may be modest the CONTRAST that these fine refractors deliver works wonders on DSO's 😁

[Littleguy80]

27 minutes ago, John said:

Though the aperture may be modest the CONTRAST that these fine refractors deliver works wonders on DSO's 😁

Absolutely. I really rate the TV Nebustar filter too. It made a massive difference to how much I could see last night 😊

[John]

7 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Absolutely. I really rate the TV Nebustar filter too. It made a massive difference to how much I could see last night 😊

I've recently acquired a TV Bandmate O-III (V2) which I've yet to try with any real purpose. Looking forward to that 🙂

[Littleguy80]

3 hours ago, John said:

I've recently acquired a TV Bandmate O-III (V2) which I've yet to try with any real purpose. Looking forward to that 🙂

I sold my Lumicon OIII and replaced it with one of those. I haven’t been disappointed!

[IB20]

On 24/06/2024 at 23:16, John said:

And again tonight, this time with the Tak FC100-DL. Seeing is better tonight and secondary star is visible from 225x upwards quite clearly and stays visible for longer periods.

Probably the best views I've had of Antares B despite the modest aperture. The stready seeing is delivering rewards 🙂

The "gap" that I have to observe Antares gives me about 30 minutes of observing time before a large chestnut tree (to the right in the photo) "swallows" the star.

 

I’ve just managed to get 20 mins on it with the 76Q at 240x. There’s definitely a grey dot fleetingly appearing around 9-10 o clock in at the first diffraction ring that occasionally pops into view, very unsteady views though as it’s so close to my neighbours rooftops. Not a convincing split but I think there’s certainly something there!

Turned my attention to CrB too, Pallas an easy find sandwiched between HD143455 and MS Serpentis. Nice little gng session.
 

[Epick Crom]

I took a wander around Bootes and Sepens Caput last night using my 10 inch dob.

Split Izar at 343x. Lovely close double 

Split the delightfully named Alkalurops. A wide double. Later when checking Sky Safari I found out the Alkalurops b is also a double! I will have to go back and try to split b next clear night..

I tried to see the galaxy NGC 5248 and globular NGC 5466 but my light pollution was not having it 😢

I took a brief detour into Corona Borealis to check out the conjunction between asteroid Pallas and the Blaze Star T Coronae Borealis. T Coronae Borealis I estimated to be around magnitude 10, so no outburst yet!

Soaked in the wonderful view of globular cluster M5 in Serpens, what a beauty!

To end the night I got my first ever observation of the Hubble Space Telescope as it flew over. It was briefly visible naked eye and I tracked it using my 5x25mm binoculars. 

A very nice night of calming observations 👍

[Captain Scarlet]

Last night looked good at sunset and was forecast to remain clear so I set out my 8” newt. As I was assembling it all and collimating I was concerned to note that clouds just seemed to be appearing as if from nowhere. By the time I was ready, the sky was solid grey. This has now happened on the last three times I’ve tried to set up a newt during the last six months, though I’ve had better luck with other scopes.

The only consolation was that around midnight, as the last gaps to the north horizon were filling in, I could see definite Noctilucent Clouds. I’ve never knowingly seen them before, though some did photo-bomb a picture I took of the famous Comet Neowise a few years ago. That made up for it.

Magnus

Edited June 26 by Captain Scarlet

[SwiMatt]

I'm living vicariously through your reports people, please keep them coming. Here at 58N we have no darkness currently. Even the Moon is so low on the horizon and I haven't seen it in a month or so. I can only read what you folks write, plan on some super Autumn sessions and dream about how I'm gonna spend money when September comes...

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

What did I see tonight? Pure, glorious starlight... brought to me by a new, and yet already dear, friend.

I love observing with a binocular telescope, and this is a superlative one. I spent 90 minutes just scanning around... Cygnus, Lyra, Aquila, Cassiopeia. Even under London skies, the stars just flood your eyes and flow into your soul.

[Ags]

I saw stars in focus on my iPad. I switched my FMA135 from being guide scope to main scope, and I am trying my RC6 as a very potent guide scope! I want to try imaging a few widefield targets. Although it was very cloudy I did manage to catch a few clear patches to get the focus dialled in on both scopes. It turns out my estimates of backfocus distances were remarkably accurate - I expected a frustrating saga but I was done in 5 minutes. "5 minutes" was about all the clear sky on offer tonight, so I got lucky 😆

[bosun21]

Out tonight to capture an image of Saturn which will be the first this apparition. I had to capture with the planet really low to the horizon as a neighbours tree intervened as it got higher. Hopefully the ADC did its job in this respect. Also shot a few short videos of the moon which was even lower than Saturn. I will process the captures later.

 

 

[Kon]

9 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Out tonight to capture an image of Saturn which will be the first this apparition. I had to capture with the planet really low to the horizon as a neighbours tree intervened as it got higher. Hopefully the ADC did its job in this respect. Also shot a few short videos of the moon which was even lower than Saturn. I will process the captures later.

 

 

Looking forward to the image Ian. Not the 10" gun?

[bosun21]

5 minutes ago, Kon said:

Looking forward to the image Ian. Not the 10" gun?

I was initially intending to use the dob however it was windy last night and so the 7" Mak got an outing. Found it difficult to gauge an accurate focus on Saturn and eventually used the sharpness of the rings 🤞.

[Kon]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

I was initially intending to use the dob however it was windy last night and so the 7" Mak got an outing. Found it difficult to gauge an accurate focus on Saturn and eventually used the sharpness of the rings 🤞.

I found using the shadow below the rings works well too. Jetstream tonight so I am not planning on getting out.

[Jim L]

I awoke around 0400 this morning, I’m not sure why, but my first instinct was to throw on some cloths, grab a scope, and see what’s up.

The moon was up, half full, and at a furious boil. That’s not good. Saturn was a few degrees away and to the right, and so that was next. It appeared as a yellow-white ellipsoid, quite fuzzy like a bitty silkworm cocoon and devoid of detail of any kind. Drats!

Between the two, though lost in the oncoming morning glow and the ongoing suburban light pollution, was Neptune. I couldn’t see Neptune but Sky Safari assured me it was up and a bit to the right of the moon, and I believed it.

I was using my newly acquired $15 Galileoscope at 50x magnification. For those unfamiliar with this marvel of telescope engineering, it’s a 50mm cemented doublet figured at f/10 with a 500mm focal length. That’s nothing remarkable, but what is remarkable is that the optical tube assembly (OTA) and sliding draw tube are molded in halves from ABS plastic, the stuff Lego’s are made from. The halves of the OTA and draw tube are held together with rings, also ABS, with the forward ring doing double duty as a fixed dew shield. No glue, no snaps, just friction. The entire telescope, including a mirror diagonal and 32mm Plössl, weighs 688 grams. There is so much more to this little wonder but that isn’t the theme of this thread and so here ends the little scope’s introduction.

So I went back from Saturn to the moon, which was still boiling, up a moon’s diameter, and right another. Is that a star, or is that Neptune? Pale light green-blue, star like, fuzzy. I pondered for a moment, but eventually the distinctive color removed all doubt. I’ve seen Izar display a similar hue, but no other star to my recollection. Definitely Neptune.

Neptune was tiny but beautiful and I watched it for a quarter hour. A pale, light green-blue luminous dot. It didn’t need to be anything more, that was enough, and watching it made up for the moon and Saturn and waking up when I should have been sleeping. Surprisingly satisfying, but then beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case predominantly in the mind’s eye of the beholder.

I was a bit surprised while observing that the moon didn’t cast distracting reflections within the scope, but the background sky was absolutely flawlessly black. I credit the designers of the Galileoscope for paying attention to stray light control, and to myself for flocking everything inside the OTA and draw tube when I had them apart. Far more expensive scopes have let me down in similar circumstances, and I fully expected trouble, but the view was perfect.

 

 

[mcrowle]

Looks like hopefully a bonus clear night so far, the forecast having changed from mainly cloudy earlier.

I plan to have another look later at Comet 13P Olbers, with an 80mm refractor, from a spot close to home with a low enough horizon, leaving also a rig taking wide field images at home. I did the same last night, but was only able to view the comet when extremely low, due to a cloudy spell.

Good viewing, all! Mike 

[magnahrl]

Jim L, congratulations  to a nice look at Neptune with your fine little Galileoscope at 50X👍. Good thing you didn`t stay in bed🥱 Intressting little refractor you have.....

Magnus A.

[Mr Spock]

Just about everybody in Britain and Europe is posting pictures of tonight's noctilucent clouds. It's cloudy here... 

[mcrowle]

The skies only stayed clear until about 01:30, but I did see Comet Olbers, low in the NW, in the same 29x field as 31 Lyn. The comet is passing South of that star. A short length of tail was visible, and I was unsure whether or not I could see more via averted vision.

I walked to the same spot again (I don’t have much of a view W or NW from home) after receiving an amber alert for aurora. By then (01:30 - 01:45) there were few gaps in the cloud, though a little purple was showing on camera through the small and diminishing gaps to the North.

Regards, Mike

Edited June 29 by mcrowle

[Littleguy80]

Last night of a holiday in Menorca celebrating my 20th Wedding anniversary. Only brought binoculars as this wasn’t an Astro trip but tonight I got to enjoy the Milky Way naked eye from the beach. The dust clouds were very obvious in the bins as I cruised around the highlights of Sagittarius including M6 and M7 which are real struggle back in the UK. A real treat before we head home tomorrow 

[Saganite]

Congratulations Neil....

[Captain Scarlet]

Earthshine on a waning crescent Moon shortly after Moonrise at 0230. Earthshine on that side of Luna a first for me. Mesmeric. No noctlilucent clouds though, which I had been hoping for. Very short binoculars session. Antares scintillating earlier.

Magnus