What did you see tonight?

[GasGiant]

Decent enough view of Saturn and moons in the evening. Left all my gear set up for a viewing in the early morning. Set alarm for 04.30, jumped out of bed, loads of clouds, jumped back into bed. Bah !!

 

[paulastro]

Seestar pics taken early hours of Oct 5th, Saturday, at Kelling.  The third clear early morning in a row 😊.

Edited October 5 by paulastro

[Captain Scarlet]

On 04/10/2024 at 22:18, Nyctimene said:

Just coming in from a short Impromptu session with the 16x70 binos. M 31 with 32 and 110, M 33 easy, oc 457,663, 7789. M57 as a defocused star. Finished with the Eastern Veil, that could be held almost constantly with AV - without any filters! (If you know, where, and how, to look). Clouds rolled in, but rewarding 30 minutes.

No aurora.

Thanks for reading

Stephan

 

Veil without filters in 70mm binoculars: I have tried, but failed so far with my 18x70s in 21.8 skies. You inspire me to try harder!

M

[SwiMatt]

I just came in from an impromptu session, after waking up at 4.30 and seeing some stars and few clouds in the sky. Transparency was very good, but I couldn't make good use of it as my telescope did not have the time to cool down in the 45 minutes I was out.

Still, I managed to do some good work at low-ish magnification (58x): I focused on Cassiopeia, rivisiting the open clusters I had seen a month back. First, I'm pretty sure that I managed to see the shadow of Caroline's Rose (NGC 7789). Once the field was in the eyepiece (between Rho and Sigma Cassiopeiae), I just let my gaze linger and slowly many fine stars started to pop in the field of vision. However, it never reached its full potential, probably due to the lack of cooldown and the poor quality of the skies.

I went on to study M103, Tr 1 (barely visible tonight - only visible when knowing where to look), then the close trio NGC 659, NGC 663 (Caldwell 10) and NGC 654. C10 is very obvious and I suspect I will rather enjoy seeing it in dark skies. Here it was just OK, with a recognizable pattern of the major stars. NGC 659 was kinda visible in averted vision, but at this point I was able to barely push to 100x and the darker background helped in seeing this very small cluster (about 4 arcminutes wide). NGC 654 was almost as difficult, but more obvious with some patience and averted vision.

I moved on to look at M31 and M32, looking for M110 but never finding it. At this point a thick cloud cover arrived in a few seconds and I got back inside. Still, not bad, considering that I did not expect any time under the stars this weekend.

Edited October 6 by SwiMatt

[Nyctimene]

9 hours ago, Captain Scarlet said:

Veil without filters in 70mm binoculars: I have tried, but failed so far with my 18x70s in 21.8 skies. You inspire me to try harder!

It's certainly doable, Markus. I started the Veil with/without filters a few years ago, almost as a sport. When I had located the Eastern Veil ,e.g. with the 5.1" Heritage, using the UHC or OIII filter, I removed the filter without changing other parameters and tried to spot at least the brighter parts of the nebula - with often unexpected good results. Even the tiny 76/300 "Blue Penguin" showed it with mag 15x two years ago. My brain, in the meantime, memorizes the Veil's arc and the associated star patterns quite well; and I'm absolutely sure, that the view of the Veil is not "averted imagination". And my skies are with SQM-L values of around 20.7 - 20.9, at the moment (Milky Way overhead, and skyglow due to the solar maximum) not as good as yours. So there's hope for you; good luck with the hunt!

Stephan

[lunator]

Had a short clear spell here. Took the binos out to check on T CrB no news to report. 

The Milky Way  was excellent as the transparency was superb. Enjoyed some time sweeping up and down until the cloud started to return. 

Cheers

Ian

[AlcorAlly]

Aurora alert woke me up. No aurora but the sky looked clear in between the clouds. Good transparency right after the rain. Grabbed a small telescope and a nice GRS transit was shown around 2:20am with Callisto positioned sweetly on top of Jupiter. 

[lunator]

I managed to nip out between the showers and had a wander through Casseiopeia and Perseus. The star clusters did look good. 😀

Cheers 

Ian

[Jim L]

Took a peek out the window around midnight and was greeted by a wall of aurora extending from the horizon to more than half way to the zenith, and as far as I could see from east to west through my little porthole to the sky. The pale blue-green but sometimes quite bright aurora showed sometimes as a slowly moving curtain, sometimes as bright vertical columns varying thickness, and sometimes as a combination of the two.

From our dark sky location flying at 37,875 feet and 900 km/hr between the Hudson Bay and Greenland, Orion was dazzling with what appeared to be hundreds, if not thousands, of stars in and around the familiar hunter. Luminous bright auroral beams extended down from Orion’s Belt as though they were searchlights probing the earth below.

I informed my wife of the spectacle and immediately after taking a look she informed the rest of the passengers seated on the right side of the plane. There was quite a stir for the better part of an hour and those with the newest cell phone cameras captured astonishingly colorful and detailed photos. My wife’s are far less spectacular, but they will at least give you a feel for the event.

 

 

[Mr Spock]

I was hoping to do some observing tonight as the forecast is clear. However, the sky is 'milky'. Despite the LP here I can tell now what an aurora looks like... And to confirm it someone's just posted pics on my local FB group.

Nuisance! 😡

[Stu]

Took the family just out of town and managed to spot the aurora amongst the clouds, just North of Crewkerne.

[Stu1smartcookie]

Nothing better than natures beauty

[Froeng]

Rather faint in St Albans…

[PeterStudz]

Cloudy here in Southampton, but you can still see it!

[GordonD]

That's just how it looks here at the moment too - clouds with pink glow peeking out

[badhex]

Visiting parents in Duckmanton, Derbyshire. Just got a message from a mate about the aurora and popped outside:

[Ratlet]

I'd nothing else I at least have more sympathy for those with light pollution.  I cant even see the pleiades naked eye

Edited October 10 by Ratlet

[Paul M]

I spotted tonight's aurora while walking the dogs at dusk. So I headed to a spot with a decent northward view to grab a some camera shots, then headed home excitedly to tell the girls. 13 and (nearly) 15.

I called them as I got home and headed straight out into the back yard to see what could be seen from there. Immediately the girls appeared at their bedroom windows, bright lights on, windows open, shouting excitedly about what they should be looking for. Reminded me of the council estate I was raised on... Common as muck... 😂

After noisily agreeing that they couldn't see anything worth their time they went back to their electronic entertainments. Kids🤪

 

 

[ED Splitter]

Visible to the eye in Wrexham North Wales, could see reds, pinks, greens. Saw northern lights earlier in the year when it was faint colour flashes but most part grey wisps of moving cloud. Very special occasion tonight. Almost makes up for abysmal lack of scope time this year. 

[Littleguy80]

Stunning display in Norwich! What an absolute treat ☺️

[lukebl]

The view from Banham, Norfolk.

[Adreneline]

The view from just south of the Lincolnshire Wolds:

13s, f1.8, ISO200 with a Canon G5.

[AlcorAlly]

Spoiled for choice tonight: perfect clear sky, Jupiter, Saturn, aurora..

Edited October 10 by AlcorAlly

[Mr Spock]

Yep, can't see Ursa Major at all! There is some visible colour this time.

Everyone wants a view though. Just been reading the road near me which leads on to the moors is packed with cars... 

Meh, I'm staying indoors. Bah humbug 

[Moonshed]

Amazing views from North Norfolk near Holt. Taken with iPhone hand held 2 second exposure. Waited  70 years to see it and two come along within a few months of one another!