What did you see tonight?

[F15Rules]

13 hours ago, Saganite said:

Easy split of Rigel so I thought E&F in the Trapezium would show , but just not quite high enough yet, so  later hopefully.  The seeing remains steady.

 

Hi Steve, 

Sounds like a good session with your Vixen "Foxy"..😊

Were you binoviewing or in Cyclops mode?

I've never seen E or F in binoviewers..I always reckon to lose between c 0.5 and 1.0 magnitude when binoviewing: with bright objects, planets, Lunar, this doesn't matter of course, but I've often seen  both E&F with an ED103s or my FS128, but only with single ep, never with a binoviewer.

Perhaps the Bvs I've owned to date weren't up to it optically 🤔. If the new Maxbright IIs ever become available again I'll be interested to see if they can show the pair..

Dave

 

[Pixies]

Up at 5am (-2°C) to have a quick check on comet E3 ZTF. The waning moon had risen and the cold air was making it slightly hazy. Nonetheless  it was pretty easy to find with 10x50 binos even with the very poor transparency. Just a fuzzy blob with no obvious nucleus - but much larger than I was expecting.

Glad I hadn't set up a scope (as I had been planning) as a few snow showers suddenly blew in. Tonight looks good though.

[josefk]

Short but very enjoyable hour between clouds early evening last night. It's a shame it did cloud over because sky conditions appeared to be lovely at the low magnifications i was using.

Two 1-degree FOVs at 70x observed and sketched:

Firstly M78; the small smudge of nebulosity east of Alnitak. The Orion nebulosity that is M78 is illuminated by the multiple star system Burnham 559. Last night i observed the obvious AC components  but i gather there is a fainter and tighter "B" component that i should (or at least think i should) be able to see with more scope power. In this same field of view was a smaller and subtler smudge of nebulosity in NGC 2071.  

Secondly Mars and 62 Tauri (Struve 534) together. I enjoyed this perspective a couple of weeks ago but last night was slightly better. Last night there was a hint of yellow in the primary and a hint of blue in the secondary of 62 Tauri and with the salmon pink of Mars in the same view it was quite a nice arrangement (and made a nice sketch).

Cheers

[Mr Spock]

On 13/01/2023 at 23:21, Epick Crom said:

The Crab Nebula M1 has always been a nemesis of mine, my previous best sighting of it was extremely vague at best. But last night I caught in along the meridian line and was treated to my best ever view of the supernova remnant. I could clearly see it with averted vision as a fuzzy formless patch. My love for it has now grown!

Same here. What I didn't realise is how large it is and maybe that's why I'd not seen it before.

[Saganite]

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Hi Steve, 

Sounds like a good session with your Vixen "Foxy"..😊

Were you binoviewing or in Cyclops mode?

I've never seen E or F in binoviewers..I always reckon to lose between c 0.5 and 1.0 magnitude when binoviewing: with bright objects, planets, Lunar, this doesn't matter of course, but I've often seen  both E&F with an ED103s or my FS128, but only with single ep, never with a binoviewer.

Perhaps the Bvs I've owned to date weren't up to it optically 🤔. If the new Maxbright IIs ever become available again I'll be interested to see if they can show the pair..

Dave

 

Hi Dave,

I was using the Carton 7-21 zoom in Foxy, and though I have been using binos for a long time now, I don't recall catching them in that mode either.  I prefer double star observations in single eyepiece mode anyway.  The clouds rolled in shortly after, which was a shame because I am sure E&F  would have been visible as Orion got higher.   Here, the forecast is for clear sky from 5pm until 2 am so maybe tonight.

The Vixen 4" is utterly superb and is my favourite scope, much as I like the 6" APM.  

Edited January 16, 2023 by Saganite

[F15Rules]

Cheers, Steve👍.

We got home from the Midlands family visit at 6.30pm and the sky was lovely .. the Milky way was clearly visible straight out from the brightly lit kitchen..

It actually clouded over soon afterwards, and I was actually quite relieved as it was freezing outside and I was knick knacked!🤦😂.

Tonight and tomorrow sound promising here, so fingers crossed for a session🤞👍.

I'm quite relieved to hear that your experience with Bvs and the Trap is similar to mine..I was hoping it wasn't just continuing deterioration of my aging eyeballs!

I agree that BVs aren't the best on all targets, especially splitting the tiniest/closest of point source doubles etc,..but on the Moon and planets they are marvellous on steady nights.

Yes, Foxy is a wonderful scope..I think if only more people had looked through one, there would be a lot more Vixen ED and SD103s apos featuring on the forums..and I speak as a happy Tak owner!😁

Hope you (and everyone else) get the chance of a good session or two in the coming cold spell, Steve😊

Dave

 

 

[F15Rules]

2 hours ago, josefk said:

Short but very enjoyable hour between clouds early evening last night. It's a shame it did cloud over because sky conditions appeared to be lovely at the low magnifications i was using.

Two 1-degree FOVs at 70x observed and sketched:

Firstly M78; the small smudge of nebulosity east of Alnitak. The Orion nebulosity that is M78 is illuminated by the multiple star system Burnham 559. Last night i observed the obvious AC components  but i gather there is a fainter and tighter "B" component that i should (or at least think i should) be able to see with more scope power. In this same field of view was a smaller and subtler smudge of nebulosity in NGC 2071.  

Secondly Mars and 62 Tauri (Struve 534) together. I enjoyed this perspective a couple of weeks ago but last night was slightly better. Last night there was a hint of yellow in the primary and a hint of blue in the secondary of 62 Tauri and with the salmon pink of Mars in the same view it was quite a nice arrangement (and made a nice sketch).

Cheers

Any chance of us admiring your sketches, @josefk?😊

[Saganite]

54 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Cheers, Steve👍.

We got home from the Midlands family visit at 6.30pm and the sky was lovely .. the Milky way was clearly visible straight out from the brightly lit kitchen..

It actually clouded over soon afterwards, and I was actually quite relieved as it was freezing outside and I was knick knacked!🤦😂.

Tonight and tomorrow sound promising here, so fingers crossed for a session🤞👍.

I'm quite relieved to hear that your experience with Bvs and the Trap is similar to mine..I was hoping it wasn't just continuing deterioration of my aging eyeballs!

I agree that BVs aren't the best on all targets, especially splitting the tiniest/closest of point source doubles etc,..but on the Moon and planets they are marvellous on steady nights.

Yes, Foxy is a wonderful scope..I think if only more people had looked through one, there would be a lot more Vixen ED and SD103s apos featuring on the forums..and I speak as a happy Tak owner!😁

Hope you (and everyone else) get the chance of a good session or two in the coming cold spell, Steve😊

Dave

 

 

Well, as you know, I did have a Tak FC100DC, and sold it to replace it with the Vixen, which in my opinion is just as good as the Tak, 99% of the time.. and it looks better to my eyes .

Edited January 16, 2023 by Saganite

[josefk]

47 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Any chance of us admiring your sketches, @josefk?😊

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/405169-mars62-tauri-plus-m78bu559/

Nothing to get too excited about - more "for the record"...

[mikeDnight]

10 minutes ago, josefk said:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/405169-mars62-tauri-plus-m78bu559/

Nothing to get too excited about - more "for the record"...

I love the drawings and find them exciting. Its great to see what you've observed. I cant remember ever seeing NGC2071. I must try harder, and perhaps from a darker site! 

[josefk]

9 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

I love the drawings and find them exciting. Its great to see what you've observed. I cant remember ever seeing NGC2071. I must try harder, and perhaps from a darker site! 

Thanks for the kind words - i'm lucky with semi-rural darkness here i think and last night was really nice and dark - it's a pity the cloud rolled in so early because i felt like it could have been quite a productive session in that South Easterly direction. Its promising in CO for tonight so fingers crossed. School night be damned! 

[mikeDnight]

35 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Well, as you know, I did have a Tak FC100DC, and sold it to replace it with the Vixen, which in my opinion is just as good as the Tak, 99% of the time.. and it looks better to my eyes .

I'd like to see more Vixen's in the limelight Steve. I've always loved them and observed with many, and I can't ever remember a time when a Vixen played underdog to a Tak of equal aperture. In fact it was looking through a Vixen FL102 back in January 2003 that started me down the apo path. Unfortunately Orion Optics UK were unable to import one for me, as at the time Televue had got their greedy mitts on them and drained the supply. You likely remember the S&T double advert for them stating "Your Ship Has Come In", which showed a big Vixen cargo ship. That's why I had to rough it with a Tak. And Vixen were a far better deal too, as for £2200 you could buy a FL102 with 6X30 finder, Vixen GP mount with RA drive and aluminium tripod, and two or three lovely LV eyepieces plus a diagonal. 

[Mr Spock]

Having a doubles session in Andromeda with the 102. LP is so bad I can barely get below mag 10 

Just come in for some toast and coffee. -3.5° at the moment - I'm ok with that, except my clothing is a bit bulky 

[Stu]

7 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I'd like to see more Vixen's in the limelight Steve. I've always loved them and observed with many, and I can't ever remember a time when a Vixen played underdog to a Tak of equal aperture. In fact it was looking through a Vixen FL102 back in January 2003 that started me down the apo path. Unfortunately Orion Optics UK were unable to import one for me, as at the time Televue had got their greedy mitts on them and drained the supply. You likely remember the S&T double advert for them stating "Your Ship Has Come In", which showed a big Vixen cargo ship. That's why I had to rough it with a Tak. And Vixen were a far better deal too, as for £2200 you could buy a FL102 with 6X30 finder, Vixen GP mount with RA drive and aluminium tripod, and two or three lovely LV eyepieces plus a diagonal. 

Must get the FL102S out sometime soon. I’ve got a very nice GP-DX Mount  which I rarely use either, and they go beautifully together. From comparisons I’ve made, it matches the FC100 optically, and the longer focal length makes getting to higher powers just that bit easier. Main reason I don’t use it is because it’s a bigger beastie and needs a bigger mount than the Tak, which is quite happy on the ScopeTech.

[Stu]

Four planets for me. Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. The first two looked pretty rubbish through the scope, although it was nice to see that I can get down to only a couple of degrees with my horizon from the house. Jupiter looked pretty good; GRS well positioned earlier, and Mars was ok until it went over the neighbours house! Hopefully better later if it stays clear.

[Saganite]

Following on from last night where clouds thwarted my attempts to see the trapezium E&F stars, it is even better tonight. The seeing is about 4 /5 on the Pickering scale, and transparency is excellent, so the E&F stars blazed like tiny beacons in the APM @  171x.

Earlier, Jupiter and Mars were again excellent, particularly Jupiter, fair amount of detail in the equatorial bands.  

Really superb night in prospect, until about 2 am according to local weather forecast.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Saganite

[Saganite]

I have the Vixen mounted alongside and they are visible, not so strongly of course, in that scope at  113x with a 7mm eyepiece...great stuff ! and an exceptional sky around here.

[Saganite]

It is getting better and better.  I have been after Orionis 32 for a long long time, been close, but tonight with a Pentax XW 3.5mm, a whopping 343x,  ( separation approx 1 " ) there it was a beautiful clean split with a black tramline between them.. magic 

This one is definitely all about the seeing which is why it has taken so long. The APM is delivering tonight  for sure.

52 Orionis is next and should be easier.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Saganite

[Stu1smartcookie]

First official light of the Star Adventurer GTi and the Skywatcher ED80 , tracking was spot on. But I am no Astro Photographer, and I can’t help thinking that a 12” Dob is calling me ( @bosun21… I’ve got aperture fever after seeing the Stellalyra on Saturday ) 

Anyway an enjoyable if very chilly 2 hours of mainly star watching , and the inevitable Orion Nebula and the Beehive cluster which is always a welcome sight . 
 

[Ratlet]

6 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

First official light of the Star Adventurer GTi and the Skywatcher ED80 , tracking was spot on. But I am no Astro Photographer, and I can’t help thinking that a 12” Dob is calling me ( @bosun21… I’ve got aperture fever after seeing the Stellalyra on Saturday ) 

Anyway an enjoyable if very chilly 2 hours of mainly star watching , and the inevitable Orion Nebula and the Beehive cluster which is always a welcome sight . 
 

That is a stunning looking setup.

[Saganite]

Sirius has focused down to such a tight disc that I can see the Pup star by far the best ever that I have seen it, incredible night so far....I will probably wake up in a minute.

[Ratlet]

Only Jupiter tonight.  The transparency was amazing, but the seeing isn't.  Probably something to do with cool air coming of the hills to the north.  Got to be up for work at 0400 so hoping it doesn't get any better.

[Saganite]

9 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

First official light of the Star Adventurer GTi and the Skywatcher ED80 , tracking was spot on. But I am no Astro Photographer, and I can’t help thinking that a 12” Dob is calling me ( @bosun21… I’ve got aperture fever after seeing the Stellalyra on Saturday ) 

Anyway an enjoyable if very chilly 2 hours of mainly star watching , and the inevitable Orion Nebula and the Beehive cluster which is always a welcome sight . 
 

Very nice Stu.  The Cambridgeshire skies are incredible this evening.  Have fun.

[MalcolmM]

A tour of my favourites, M35-38 with the 100DC, Maxbrights and Tak Erfles. I spent ages gazing at M42, M43 also evident. The trapezium was easily split into 4 and they looked so steady I thought I'd try for E and F. So I swapped the Maxbrights for a Tak TOE 4mm and started with Rigel, the easiest split I have seen with Rigel. Back to the trapezium and sure enough, there was E, a first for me. No sign of F though. A quick go for the Pup, but unfortunately another no show! Still quite low and a bit of a boiling mess!

Malcolm 

[markse68]

16 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Sirius has focused down to such a tight disc that I can see the Pup star by far the best ever that I have seen it, incredible night so far....I will probably wake up in a minute.

Exciting! off out now for a look 🤞

Mark