What did you see tonight?

[Saganite]

Definitely worth getting up for.  The seeing improved a little during  the occultation...

[globular]

5 hours ago, globular said:

Threatening rain here so I can’t set up ready for Saturn/Moon but I have set my alarm for later and will keep everything crossed that the rain stops and the clouds clear and that someone will have chopped the neighbours tree down that will otherwise block it.

Well there is a turn up for the books - rolled out of bed to discover clear (ish) and still conditions.

Saw a lovely immersion of Saturn - but none of Saturn's moons detected. Bit of haze in the sky keeping them at bay I think.

Explored the moon while the planet was partying behind it - very stable really, much more so than I was expecting. I should get up early (rather than staying up late) more often.

Then an even better emersion.  Saw an arrow head emerge then watched it slowly turn into a drawing pin and then, erm well, Saturn shaped.  I was surprised the emersion was slightly away from the moon but I'm sure someone can explain the physics of that to me.

Very glad I set my alarm.

 

Edited August 21 by globular
typo

[Paz]

1 hour ago, scotty1 said:

Good capture

What setup is that? 

That was taking a photo at the eyepiece with a 127mm maksutov and 17.3mm Delos.

[globular]

I didn't fiddle with my phone over the eyepiece until it was all over - I didn't want to miss it.
But got this snap shortly after...

This doesn't do the visual experience justice - it was a lot better than that in person.

Edited August 21 by globular

[josefk]

The occultation of Saturn also for me here in South Lincs. I’m much better staying up for things than getting up for things but this was worthwhile for sure.
 

Seeing and transparency were both poor for ingress but I estimated a full 30-seconds or so from first contact till full immersion. 
 

Transparency much better for emersion later though unfortunately I was concentrating my view just a little bit too high and didn’t see the first few seconds of the emergence.

Here’s a poor sketch. It was very cool seeing Saturn 50% covered by the moon and especially cool that this was so close to a particularly interesting terminator…

 

[globular]

3 minutes ago, josefk said:

Here’s a poor sketch. It was very cool seeing Saturn 50% covered by the moon and especially cool that this was so close to a particularly interesting terminator…

You got my 'drawing pin' moment 

[josefk]

3 minutes ago, globular said:

You got my 'drawing pin' moment 

And fabulous it was too!  Quite startling even. I wished I had been concentrating my gaze further down in the few seconds before that moment but still, quite something. 

[globular]

3 minutes ago, josefk said:

And fabulous it was too!  Quite startling even. I wished I had been concentrating my gaze further down in the few seconds before that moment but still, quite something. 

It was indeed.
SkySafari tipped me off to where it would emerge, so I was ready for it as soon as it popped out. 
Got a few tingles I have to admit.

[Stu1smartcookie]

A lovely evening , Have to embrace the Moon on nights like this , watched as Saturn got ever closer to our near neighbour . Unfortunately i was unable to view the actual occultation as its a work day today but i was very pleased just viewing the planet and the moon ... the atmosphere was very steady and both were very sharp in the EP . Just used the ZS61 on the AZ Pro mount ... tracking was spot on . Watched a YT video from Galaxy Art Media , who attempted to show the occultation but his sky was particularly cloudy . 

 

 

[Nik271]

I managed to see the occultation though some light haze. Saturn was washed out and none of its moons were visible even Titan, probably drowned in the light of the Moon. The moment of immersion was spectacular, a giant planet tilted and sinking below the surface of the moon. Somehow Titanic came to mind. 

Afterwards I had a good look at Jupiter and Mars, but the seeing and the haze did not allow anything more than x150 and even that was a bit too much for Jupiter. The Galilean moons were arranged on the east side like a textbook picture in the order of their distance: Io, Europa, Ganymede and distant Callisto.  

Needed some more sleep so did not wait for the emergence of Saturn 😴

Edited August 21 by Nik271

[Chandra]

From the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, the occultation began around 5:23 local time, with clear skies and a relatively stable but dense atmosphere in the city (suspended dust and smog, difficult to see anything even with the telescope less than 25º above the horizon). A little less than an hour later, Saturn was due to reappear near the Moon's terminator, in the Langrenus area, which is particularly beautiful, so I had certain expectations and the camera ready... but just 10 minutes before, a thick bank of clouds appeared. It began to flood the sky from the west, so I missed the reappearance and then I could barely see and record brief fragments with Saturn still close to the Moon, through thinner clouds... I'll process the videos but I highly doubt I can get anything decent...

I just made changes with my colleagues in this working day for me, to be able to enjoy the phenomenon in peace, and in the end I was able to do it only halfway. Those clouds were very untimely, considering that August is not exactly what we would call a cloudy month around here...

Edited August 21 by Chandra

[lunator]

I managed to catch the re-emergence of Saturn this morning. The cloud had rolled in but lifted enough to spot Saturn. 

Cheers

Ian

[paulastro]

Well.  My Saturn Occultation  adventure almost never happened. I'd put it on my calendar for the night of 21/22nd instead of 20/21st!     

I didn't realise my mistake until after opening an email from my friend Laurence after 11pm.  I had told two other friends it was on Thursday morning, so I had to phone one and email the other so they wouldn't miss it!  Then to bed for a few hours sleep.

Up at 3.30am and set up outside with the Celestron 8inch Starsense Dob and Baader 8-24 mm zoom.  It was rather breezy, a lot of scudding ominous looking cloud with a watery Moon. It brightened a little and there was Saturn around 20' or so from the Moon. Fabulous detail on Saturn as it approached the brighter limb.  Hope of success was raised.  A few less clouds and I had a steady view - then saw a smaller darker cloud approaching - about 7 mts to go.

Two minutes to go and the dark cloud obscured the Moon completely, for four minutes. A few sharp expletives filled the night air, I had been thwarted.

The cloud increased, rain started to drizzle down and I quickly threw a cover over the telescope, it was 4.45.

It seemed pointless waiting for the reappearance in the worsening conditions, so in a gap in the drizzle I took the scope back into the garage and shut the door. It was 5am.

At this point there seemed to be a brighter patch of cloud approaching, and as it reached the covered Moon the Moon  broke free as if mocking me. I checked my watch, time 5.10, time till reappearance 6 minutes. It couldn't happen,....could it?

Utter panic, as I ran to the garage, flung up the door and ran to the telescope. Grabbed it and rushed back outside. Set the scope down, fumbled in an eyepiece and looked into it.

It was 5.13 and after two minutes I saw a needle rising from the terminator which was full of exquisite detail adjacent to the N of Mare Crisium   Saturn's rings!

I zoomed in and had a fabulous view of a Saturn showing great detail as it emerged from an even more detailed lunar limb. Its hard to explain how wonderful and dramatic it looked.  I had a clear view until until 5.35 when the clouds overwhelmed me for a final time.  Success from the jaws of defeat.

This underlines something I've learned in over fifty years of observing.  Never, but never, give up.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Wonderful story Paul. As you say you should never give up. Anyway Paul well done on seeing Saturn.

[SwiMatt]

Just came back from a nice binocular session, again with the 10x50 mounted on a photographic tripod (a Vivitar that must be 50 years old).

I had some nice long views of IC4665, M31, the double cluster (amazing just on the edge of the mountain), and added M11 and M25 to my Messier catalogue! I also got the field of M24 but couldn't see anything else but the stars. I possibly added M52 up in Cassiopeia but it was quite faint and I'm unsure. With averted vision I saw M3, M15, M103 and - again - possibly M81 and M82. I also did a round on some doubles, such as Nu Draconis (one of my very first binocular targets) and Albireo. I then picked up Herschel's Garnet Star - more orange than red in my binoculars. I closed the evening waiting for Saturn and the Moon to come out from behind the mountain. I resisted until Saturn showed itself, but couldn't resist until the Moon came up. Still - a great night!

[Whistlin Bob]

I've been wondering why I went to the effort of putting together a rig and driving it round France these last few weeks, when it has clouded over every evening. Tonight it paid off 😃😃!! Using a dual rig of etx105 mak and svbony 70mm frac. The haze and full moon spoilt most of the rich field viewing that the frac is best for, but I had a ball with the Mak! There was just enough of a terminator for the moon to be a real treat, and also got some lovely views of Saturn. It looks a bit odd with that ring edge on, doesn't it? Spent the rest of the evening on doubles- Albireo (obvs!) , Cor Coroli, Epsilon Cass all made an appearance. Toughest was Izar- the little mak did a sterling job with companion just visible outside the first airy ring. 

[paulastro]

On 21/08/2024 at 05:56, globular said:

Well there is a turn up for the books - rolled out of bed to discover clear (ish) and still conditions.

Saw a lovely immersion of Saturn - but none of Saturn's moons detected. Bit of haze in the sky keeping them at bay I think.

Explored the moon while the planet was partying behind it - very stable really, much more so than I was expecting. I should get up early (rather than staying up late) more often.

Then an even better emersion.  Saw an arrow head emerge then watched it slowly turn into a drawing pin and then, erm well, Saturn shaped.  I was surprised the emersion was slightly away from the moon but I'm sure someone can explain the physics of that to me.

Very glad I set my alarm.

 

The emersion was slightly away from the Moon because after full Moon ( which was on 10th )  the Moon's illumination gets less as it heads towards last quarter and then new Moon.

Edited August 22 by paulastro
Typo

[globular]

2 minutes ago, paulastro said:

The emersion was slightly away from the Moon because after full Moon ( which was on 10th )  the Moon's illumination gets less as it heads for last quarter and then new Moon.

Right, so it was just a slither of unilluminated moon.  Simple. 
Here I was thinking of complicated refraction or parallax or the soup dragon or something. 🙄

[Nyctimene]

Was out last evening with the eldest of my scopes, this 1976 beauty:

A 6" f/6 Newtonian on a classical German Equatorial Mount, built by the then renowned Manfred Wachter. He was a mechanical engineer and constructed his telescopes with a wealth of  professional knowledge and attitude. He was famous for his Coudé refractors up to 200 mm aperture, installed in many public observatories at that time. All his scopes and mounts are rock solid, long lasting and oozing quality. The mirror was made by the Switzerland company Aeppli, and has never needed cleaning or recoating(!). No electricity nowhere- but manual tracking is easy and smooth, with a precise 1:6000 planetary gear.

I had cleaned scope and mount during the sunny afternoon, polished it's brass and red bronze's parts and set it up (all in all around 25 kgs!) under slightly hazy skies at 22.00 CEST. The 10x40 straight view finder is the only nightmare, due to the always changing positions and the rather poor eyepiece. Nevertheless, starting from Alpha 2 Capricorni, I found after a short star hop (with SkySafari 7) the 9.4 mag planetary NGC 6818, the "Little Gem Nebula". With a magnification of 150x, the slightly oval patch was easily visible with direct vision. An OIII filter increased the contrast to the background sky significantly. With the SvBony 8-3mm zoom, I was able to crank up the mag to around 250x. Of course, no trace of Barnard's galaxy 6822 close by. Next, I spotted Saturn, but was disappointed by rapidly upcoming clouds, and finished the observation at 23.15.

This scope has, due to the many conveniences of my bigger Dobsonian scopes, not seen much light during the last years. But it's sturdiness and very good optical qualities are worth to reanimate it. I had already an adapter for 11/4" eyepieces (up from the ancient German standard 31mm-measure) made by a local mechanical workshop, and it works quite well. Next will be the addition of a decent RACI finder, matched in black colour. And I'll have to do somewhat more weight lifting, to get fit for that heavy beast!

Thanks for reading

Stephan

Edited August 23 by Nyctimene

[Whistlin Bob]

1 hour ago, Nyctimene said:

A 6" f/6 Newtonian on a classical German Equatorial Mount,

That is rather beautiful

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Nyctimene said:

Was out last evening with the eldest of my scopes, this 1976 beauty:

A 6" f/6 Newtonian on a classical German Equatorial Mount, built by the then renowned Manfred Wachter. He was a mechanical engineer and constructed his telescopes with a wealth of  professional knowledge and attitude. He was famous for his Coudé refractors up to 200 mm aperture, installed in many public observatories at that time. All his scopes and mounts are rock solid, long lasting and oozing quality. The mirror was made by the Switzerland company Aeppli, and has never needed cleaning or recoating(!). No electricity nowhere- but manual tracking is easy and smooth, with a precise 1:6000 planetary gear.

I had cleaned scope and mount during the sunny afternoon, polished it's brass and red bronze's parts and set it up (all in all around 25 kgs!) under slightly hazy skies at 22.00 CEST. The 10x40 straight view finder is the only nightmare, due to the always changing positions and the rather poor eyepiece. Nevertheless, starting from Alpha 2 Capricorni, I found after a short star hop (with SkySafari 7) the 9.4 mag planetary NGC 6818, the "Little Gem Nebula". With a magnification of 150x, the slightly oval patch was easily visible with direct vision. An OIII filter increased the contrast to the background sky significantly. With the SvBony 8-3mm zoom, I was able to crank up the mag to around 250x. Of course, no trace of Barnard's galaxy 6822 close by. Next, I spotted Saturn, but was disappointed by rapidly upcoming clouds, and finished the observation at 23.15.

This scope has, due to the many conveniences of my bigger Dobsonian scopes, not seen much light during the last years. But it's sturdiness and very good optical qualities are worth to reanimate it. I had already an adapter for 11/4" eyepieces (up from the ancient German standard 31mm-measure) made by a local mechanical workshop, and it works quite well. Next will be the addition of a decent RACI finder, matched in black colour. And I'll have to do somewhat more weight lifting, to get fit for that heavy beast!

Thanks for reading

Stephan

Beautiful scope Stephan. Well worth its own post in the equipment section perhaps? It’s a shame to leave it buried in here where it will get lost very soon.

[lunator]

Checked on T CrB, didn't spot anything in the Binos. 

Had a wander through Aquila and to the South. Pcked up M26 for the first time so able to tick off another Messier. 

First night it has felt autumnal.

Cheers

Ian

[John]

Just checking out my 250P dob this evening following a primary mirror clean.

All good although the sky quality is quite milky towards the horizons.

An orange moon (Canadian forest fire smoke still in the atmosphere ?) is rising.

Best sight so far has been the Blue Snowball Nebula (NGC 7662) which seems to thrive on high magnifications this evening. It's inner ring structure can been seen as a brighter circle broken in 2 places, within the slightly larger disk of nebulosity. Fascinating object 🙂

Visually, it looks a bit like this:

Edited August 24 by John

[Tony Acorn]

As a newbie, I'm more than happy that my ZWO ASi bundle is doing a good job of tracking Caldwell 33 with my 80mm ED f/6.25 frac tonight but I think it is because I have dew heaters on both main and guide scopes.
Grabbing 60 x 180s images seems to be the easy part, finding out what to do with them will no doubt prove more of a challenge 😂

[globular]

24 minutes ago, John said:

All good although the sky quality is quite milky towards the horizons.
An orange moon (Canadian forest fire smoke still in the atmosphere ?) is rising.
Best sight so far has been the Blue Snowball Nebula (NGC 7662)

Similar conditions here too... and it's now clouded out so I've given up.

Funnily enough I had a close look at the Blue Snowball Nebula and it was my highlight of the night too.