What did you see tonight?

[Ian McCallum]

I had some fantastically clear seeing of the lunar disk, earlier this evening.  I used the SW ST120 achro, initially with a SW 2" 28mm LET EP.  Then did a bit of observing of M45 and M42, using averted vision to see some more of the nebulosity around the Trapezium.  The CA wasn't too bad at all, even on the edge of the moon.  I think switched to the SW Evostar 120 achro, starting of with the same 28mm EP on the moon, then onto M42.  I finished up with higher magnification of the moon at the terminator, moved on to Mars, Betelgeuse and back to M45.  The mount was the AZ5 on the stainless steel tripod, for simplicity.  I did use the Baader Contrast Booster filter on the moon and Mars for the higher magnifications.  It gave the moon a slight yellowish tinge, as has been reported by others...

Edited January 2, 2023 by Ian McCallum
Added photo...

[Mr Spock]

Just come in for a break. Seeing is wobbly. Mars looked at its best at x380 in the 4mm Nirvana. Plenty of detail to see.

That spurred me on to test my eyepieces again on the moon. Comparing the 7mm Nirvana, the 6mm SLV and 7mm Otho, the Nirvana just presented the best view - more detail and a tad sharper. It seemed easier to pick out the craterlets in Plato with the Nirvana!

Not so impressed with the Baader contrast booster filter. It might help a little on Mars but seemed to introduce some false colour. Hmm..

[Ian McCallum]

3 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Not so impressed with the Baader contrast booster filter. It might help a little on Mars but seemed yo introduce some false colour. Hmm..

It does give a yellowish tinge to objects, especially the brighter ones...  I was going to get a 2" version for my 28mm LET EP, but am now convinced that I don't need it.  I've still got the 1.25" version, if needed.

[Spile]

I set up the 12” Dob at the astronomy club this evening as it was a rare clear evening. We had a few refractors set up too. I decided to take along my zoom and we had some nice view of Jupiter including the extremely close Callisto, Mars, M42 and M32, Almach, M45 and the Trapezium, Castor and finished by splitting Rigel. Some very happy observers.

[wesdon1]

i'm having an amazing night tonight! Got so much data i'll be busy all week processing it! And to think the night started off terrible, everything that could go wrong, did!? LOL

[Ian McCallum]

Just now, wesdon1 said:

And to think the night started off terrible, everything that could go wrong, did!? LOL

That's partly the reason that I've gone back to visual.

[markse68]

dew stopped play- had a short break after some stunning views of Jupiter earlier and left scope out to cool. Went back out and had a go at Sirius- no joy. Checked Rigel and noticed star diffraction pattern was very noisy but easily saw the secondary. Onto Alnitak- very dim and no split. It was a very clear split last time I was out 🤔 Turns out the secondary was completely fogged  so I have had to bring the scope inside and I'm waiting for it to dry out before more Mars fun.

uodate: scope is clear again   but clouds rolled in  but there’s a big gap coming  

Mark

Edited January 2, 2023 by markse68

[wesdon1]

10 minutes ago, Ian McCallum said:

That's partly the reason that I've gone back to visual.

I do understand totally where you're coming from, I almost quit imaging on many occasions due to struggling constantly! I guess if visual makes you the happiest then thats definitely the right path! 

[Froeng]

I have just come in for another break after finishing my second Mars sketch! I also tweaked the collimation a tad bit. It sharpened Mars up nicely! Tbh I have had my C8 for 30+ years, but tonight are the sharpest views of Mars I can remember! What an evening! More to come…

[Whistlin Bob]

Terrific 90 minutes tonight on Jupiter, Mars and then a long sweep down the terminator of the moon. Interesting to read @Mr Spock's view of the Nirvana. I had a 4mm Nirvana in my SW200p and the two just seem to get on like a house on fire for planetary and lunar whenever the seeing will support 300x. The sharpness and clarity will match/beat my 14inch dob on all but the very best nights, and also edge out my Bresser 127l, which is no slacker when it comes to looking at the moon.  I've got a page of observing notes, but the the highlight was the sight of a tiny craterlet (I think on the edge of Kirchner crater) , picked out by the sun, just past the terminator that gave the appearance of a tiny ring of light suspended in the void. Breathtaking  .

[IB20]

Must say Mars is looking extremely good tonight one of the best times I’ve ever observed it. Managing 300x with the 4mm TOE in the 200P with fantastic albedo detail and colouration.

[Ian McCallum]

43 minutes ago, wesdon1 said:

I do understand totally where you're coming from, I almost quit imaging on many occasions due to struggling constantly! I guess if visual makes you the happiest then thats definitely the right path! 

I do like AP, but I've don't have an APO refractor or DSO cooled camera.  I find that sometimes the software on the RPi can be glitchy, but when it does run it does work well.

[RobertI]

Nice clear night, but it’s just a humid hell, bino eyepieces instantly fogged and by the time I had attached the eyepiece dewstraps, the objective was starting to dew - a very rare occurrence. I’d run out of dew heater sockets so time to pack away and order a 4-way dew heater controller! Mars looked very good tonight…briefly. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by RobertI

[Froeng]

Right then. Went back out at 23:00 and the magic was gone! Mars was just a fuzzy orange blob. Nothing to write home about... However I am grateful I was able to catch this amazing seeing as it happened. Makes me wonder what a bigger scope could show 😱

Below the two sketches from tonight...

[catburglar]

Just come in from a great session. Mediocre seeing when I started at about 18:30 with clouds coming and going. Things improved a lot after a couple of hours with wall to wall clear skies and some of the best seeing this year😁.

Spent most of the time on Mars with my 10inch SCT - the best views at 357x with a 7mm ortho and #21 orange filter to reduce the brightness and increase contrast. Watched for a couple of hours as Syrtis Major rotated into prime view. 
 

Took a detour to Uranus which showed an obvious disk and blue/gray colouring at the same magnification (without the orange filter).

And finally- a scan over Luna- picked up 4 prominent craterlets in Plato, and 3 more in the moments of best seeing- A, B, C, D, e, g & h according to this annotated image…https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/34841-guide-to-plato-craterlets/

[markse68]

43 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Must say Mars is looking extremely good tonight one of the best times I’ve ever observed it. Managing 300x with the 4mm TOE in the 200P with fantastic albedo detail and colouration.

I was getting good detail and colour contrast at 300x with my barlowed 5mm in the 150p tonight too- it was really good tonight. I wonder if it helps that it is past opposition (looking decidedly not round anymore) and less bright? Seeing was good too of course

Mark

[Mr Spock]

A good night despite seeing being poor here. Mars was still better at x380 than x217 though; reverse for the moon, that was better at x217 - weird.

Tonight was my first chance to try The StellaLyra 30mm UF. Pleiades was nicely framed and stars sharp right to the edge. Very nice indeed 👍 M42 looked decent to despite the moon with plenty of extension. It's going to look great on a dark night.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Tonight a week or so of cloud and rain gave way to clear skies and chilly air. So, despite still feeling fatigued after my brush with disease, I popped onto the patio the AZ5 mounted Skymax 127. Tripod legs fully extended and the extension fitted for a spot of casual observing throughout the evening.

This session was first light for the Takahashi prism diagonal and paired with the Skymax, also the Svbony SV190 10mm UFF. Both I'm pleased to say worked admirably. Compared to my mirror diagonals, light scatter was much reduced. Even the chunky Altair 24mm UFF felt secure. The 10mm UFF provided almost refractor like contrast on the lunar and Mars. Cranking up the magnification to 214x with the 7mm OVL Nirvana-ES, Martian albedo features were strong and for the first time this season Syrtis Major revealed itself along with the adjoining Mare Tyrrhenum and Mare Serpentis.

Airborne moisture, local light pollution and the moon light washed out the sky considerably so observing anything else besides the moon and Mars was not particularly satisfying. When packing up I grabbed the 10x50s for a quick scan and the Double Cluster was barely observable. Although the expansive open cluster Melotte 20 was still eye catching.

Overall a nice casual session. Probably my best Martian observations this season and it was nice to be outside breathing in some cold air!

 

[josefk]

7 hours ago, Froeng said:

Right then. Went back out at 23:00 and the magic was gone! Mars was just a fuzzy orange blob. Nothing to write home about... However I am grateful I was able to catch this amazing seeing as it happened. Makes me wonder what a bigger scope could show 😱

Below the two sketches from tonight...

You saw more than me @Froeng - i like your sketches.👍🏼

[josefk]

First light for the TOA-130 last night. Mars was fantastic - the best i've seen it. 83x Bino in the refractor was incomparably better than 140x mono in the Cassegrain. With mono and with a little more magnification through the refractor (111x) looking at Mars I was immediately reminded of the way the man in the moon is drawn in children books. Unfortunately my copy below of my rough EP sketches (00:00...00:30 GMT) captures less of the spirit of it than the rough and ready EP sketches and captures nothing of the brightness. Unfortunately i couldn't bring much magnification to bear overall to gain more detail - with current kit i am running out of magnification capability at 111x and 125x (will be fixed shortly). 

Other targets for first light were: M42, Theta1 Orionis (bronze stars here against white nebulosity), M32 & M31 (but couldn't see M110 against this bright moonlit sky), Jupiter and Uranus, 38 Lyncis ("easy" split even while being tight), Iota and Zeta Cancri (lovely colour in the Iota Cancri pair, Tegmen/Tegmeni 2-way (AB)C split only), 62 Tauri and loads more of Mars. I really enjoyed the Tak Abbe Ortho 18mm in a 2x Powermate at 111x vs an 8mm Ethos at 125x on Mars. Food for thought regarding how to build out the higher mag end of the EP box. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by josefk
time added

[Ratlet]

I eventually got back out, unfortunately Jupiter was very much in the weeds by that point and declared out of bounds.  I spent an inordinate amount of time viewing the moon.  More than I would have thought.  The 12mm (x54) provided a really nice view and was nice for a leasurely viewing.  The detail was incredible.  The star of the show was the 8mm in the 2x ED Barlow (x162) which revealed far more detail than I've previously seen.  I could easily have pushed the magnification futher.  Previously at this magnification I've always felt it was more comfortable on any object to back it off a bit, this was the first time I've felt the need for more.

Not a lunar expert by any means, but Gassendi Crater (I think)  was pretty much bob on the terminator and the whole are was rife with tremendous contrast and shadows.  I popped back a few times through the night from about 21:00 to 01:00 and the seeing was always good and each time the scene appeared to change slghtly.  Was nice coming back and watching the shadows from the crater walls and the bright central feature change over time.  So many tiny craters visible around it.  Magnificent.  I would have put a polarizing filter on it to try and get better contrast on the rest of the moon, but the terminator and monochrome viewing there was more than enough!

I spent a fair bit of time playing with the scope.  It was too bright to really do any Deep Sky observing so I just mooched about various constellations playing with focus and splitting a couple doubles.  My collimation is probably not perfect but I'm pretty sure it is a lot better than it has been.  Quite satisfying watching Airy discs in a weird way.

I also setup the Takumer 200 SMC and Altair Astro 533c.  Not ideal conditions for astrophotgraphy, but fortunately I basically use it as a way of sharing astronomy with friends and family and they are not pixel peepers!  IC33 (Horsehead), M42 (Orion), and IC 1396 (Elephant's Trunk Nebula) All got a go.  About 30-45 minutes each of 90s exposures so pictures are noisy as heck but get the point across.  I think I landed on the wrong side of focus so the red CA is a bit more apparent, but for a £40 lens I'm not complaining.  Orion got an extra round of 10s exposures.  That core region is fairly bright!  Can't split the trapezium, but you can definitely see it ain't just one star in there!

[josefk]

23 minutes ago, josefk said:

Unfortunately i couldn't bring much magnification to bear overall to gain more detail - with current kit i am running out of magnification capability at 111x and 125x (will be fixed shortly). 

Ignore that blathering idiot up there - he needs another coffee . Of course i can make more mag than 125x - I have become so fixated on getting the powermate before the diagonal (for which i need a spacer that i don't yet have) that i forgot in the moment just to stick 12mm and 8mm EPs in the powermate after the diagonal even while i was doing exactly that with an 18mm EP. Funny how my brain gets after midnight! A good opportunity missed i think. Doh!

 

[josefk]

8 hours ago, RobertI said:

Nice clear night, but it’s just a humid hell, bino eyepieces instantly fogged and by the time I had attached the eyepiece dewstraps, the objective was starting to dew - a very rare occurrence. I’d run out of dew heater sockets so time to pack away and order a 4-way dew heater controller! Mars looked very good tonight…briefly. 

i wonder if that an effect of the bino bandit Rob? i use a hood with my binoviewer and when doing so i'm definitely conscious of condensation needing more active management. 

[RobertI]

20 minutes ago, josefk said:

i wonder if that an effect of the bino bandit Rob? i use a hood with my binoviewer and when doing so i'm definitely conscious of condensation needing more active management. 

I think you’re right, the bino-bandit made fogging happen quicker and I also found that I couldn’t help touching the bino-bandit which induced vibration at very high mags, so possibly only for use when deep sky viewing at lower mags and with the dew heaters. It’s not really needed for planetary and lunar anyway to be honest so I should probably have removed it. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by RobertI

[wesdon1]

11 hours ago, Froeng said:

I have just come in for another break after finishing my second Mars sketch! I also tweaked the collimation a tad bit. It sharpened Mars up nicely! Tbh I have had my C8 for 30+ years, but tonight are the sharpest views of Mars I can remember! What an evening! More to come…

I had by far my best night ever! Imaging M42, viewing Mars, Jupiter. Amazing seeing!