What did you see tonight?

[Ratlet]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

It was a cracking night here, seemingly similar to the previous night for others. Seeing was pretty good, and transparency excellent. I used the AZ100 Goto and FC100, probably should have grabbed the 130mm f6, but didn’t have too long so stuck with the smaller scope. I do enjoy Goto, whizzed around quite a few favourites just to enjoy the skies, nothing too exotic. Then played around with a Pixel 6 Pro phone I picked up used, and managed to grab this image of M42. My processing skills leave something to be desired, particularly the sky background, but otherwise I’m chuffed with it. Even caught the Running Man 🏃👍

 

How are you holding the phone to the eyepiece?  I struggle with mine as I can never align it.

[josefk]

...Another great night last night - rather boringly from the point of view of posting on here i went back more or less to the same targets as the night before - i wanted to compare refractor and Cassegrain on extended DSO and also see what more i could pull out of them on a second attempt.

An early start (something like 17:30) brought fantastic views of Jupiter at 200x in the refractor (still cooled from the night before). Probably equal or a close second best to what i have seen the whole past 6 months. Quite cool in tone, hard/icy, bright but in a good way, and strong multiple bands with clear (sharp) lumps and bumps in the edges of NEB/SEB. On the 16th i felt like i could see differences in magnitude of the moons but last night i couldn't see this.

Next Mars - again awesome and probably again equal best or a close second to what i have seen this season. Smudgy southern hemisphere markings and partial  northern (north west) hemisphere markings and "possible" northern polar cap. A clear bright limb leading to the west.

A repeat look at M81/M82 and NGC 3077 showed they were not as variegated/contrasted as the 16th but here i was also trying to compare refractor at 125x mono and Cassegrain at 152x bino. The Cassegrain was clearly winning to the point i was beginning to curse the refractor. The comparison got so bad in favour of the Cassegrain i checked the front objective on the refractor and it was totally dewed up (may even have been iced up). Phew. Don't need a refund!

Continuing with the Cassegrain only I failed to find (or at least see) the Medusa Nebula in Gemini so reverted to observing the Eskimo Nebula NGC 2392 sort of nearby. This was awesome - better than previous viewings - bigger and with a tiny tiny hint of blue/green colour and with a star glowing strongly in the SE quadrant - really really rewarding over a long long view. It stood up to 300x in the Cassegrain. It was clearly softer at this mag than my DSO favourite 140x but it still helped to "unpack" the Nebula for the eye.

Great session.

[Froeng]

Something I have been trying to see on Mars in the C8 but so far failed to - despite the excellent seeing and collimation - is a hint of the great volcanoes in the Tharsis region. They would have been on show last night, but I saw no hint of them. I understand these would be extremely low in contrast with the surrounding desert, so maybe someone with a bigger aperture could let us know if you can actually see them?

Edited January 18, 2023 by Froeng

[Stu]

4 hours ago, Ratlet said:

How are you holding the phone to the eyepiece?  I struggle with mine as I can never align it.

I often just hand hold it, but for the long exposures you need to use a smartphone mount. Last night I used a Televue FoneMate as this connects very solidly to the 24mm Panoptic I was using (although it needs the dioptrix adaptor to work)

I also use a Celestron NeXYZ and an Orion SteadyPix EZ depending on which eyepiece I happen to be using. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. The NeXYZ has plenty of adjustment in three axes but can be a little floppy and doesn’t always hold the phone parallel to the eyepiece lens.

[markse68]

On 17/01/2023 at 10:47, josefk said:

I'm super jealous! ENJOY!

 

On 17/01/2023 at 10:54, Froeng said:

Please take a phone snapshot! 😋

Well- that was a let down! I had seen Mars through it back in November when it was much lower at 8-9pm viewing time and had seen some dark features but not with any sharpness and I had put it down to atmospheric disturbance and had hoped this time round with it overhead (although smaller) that the image would be sharper. It was terrible I get a far far superior image from my little 6" f5 Tal reflector! I confirmed this later on. It's such a shame but I think the scope is in dire need of some serious attention. I suspect it is a long way off collimation as they first used a 50mm ep for ~170x and with Mars centre of view it had terrible chromatic smearing- not typical chromatic aberration (its an achromat) but a linear smear.  The optics haven't been cleaned in a very long time but that's not an easy job given the cell weighs 100Kg and isn't very accessible. It really needs the Es Reid touch to bring it back to its potential. It's a lovely old thing and quite a feat of Victorian engineering and I'm sure it could do better!

Mark

Edited January 18, 2023 by markse68

[PeterC65]

Finally got a clear night last night to work through my list of ultra widefield targets using the 72mm APO, 2” diagonal, and Baader Hyperion Aspheric 36mm, giving x12 and a field of view of 6°. I had also fitted the 2” nosepiece to the Baader Hyperion Zoom so that I could up the magnification when that made sense.

The ultra widefield targets turned out to be a mixed bag, some just your average star field, but others were nice to observe. Here is my pick of the more interesting …

Orion’s Belt / Collinder 70 A great target for the BHA 36mm as they nicely fit into the field of view and the S shape of stars between Alnilam and Mintaka can easily be seen. No nebulosity though, just the three really bright belt stars.

M35 / Collinder 89 There was plenty of interest within the field of view of the BHZ 36mm with both M35, its near neighbour NGC2158, and the wider star field.

Hyades / Collinder 50 A great ultra widefield target with the whole of Hyades fitting into the field of view including the bright edge star Aldebaran. There is a clear triangle of stars at the centre of Hyades. The only downside is that with so many bright stars right across the field of view the edge distortion of the BHA 36mm is quite noticeable.

M45 / Pleiades / Collinder 42 M45 is always a delight but I think I like it better with the BHA 36mm as you can really make out the context.

SAO040290 / Collinder 62 A rich wide star field. Nice target.

Mirfak / Collinder 39 Collinder 39 is all to one side of the bright star Mirfak, like the star is at the centre of a sector of stars with concentric rings of density.

SAO012969 / Kemble’s Cascade The line of stars fitted well into the field of view with the BHA 36mm so that I could easily make out its entire extent. One of the better ultra widefield targets.

NGC869 / NGC884 / Double Cluster / Collinder 24 A great target for the BHA 36mm with both clusters clearly visible near the centre plus a rich surrounding star field.

M103 / Collinder 15 A wide rich star field with two smaller clusters near the centre of the field of view (M103 is one of these) and a noticeably brighter star a little further out.

After two hours I was frozen and loosing concentration but I’d completed my planned list. Earlier in the day I’d ordered a coupe of sets of thermal base layer so hopefully that will keep me going next time. I also ordered a dictaphone as writing notes in the cold isn't much fun.

 

[josefk]

well that is a shame @markse68 - does it belong to a society or a club that could invest into bringing it up to scratch? i suppose thats the kind of specialised time consuming work that could cost a fortune and be hard to justify for the return on it. It does look a very impressive bit of kit. Cheers

[Mircea]

My most recent observation happened not ''tonight'' but today in plain daylight.

On the Sun, the active solar region 3190 was a black, very small but well visible dot with naked eye.

I put the Eclipse eyeglasses over my normal eyeglasses I wear for distant viewing. Otherwise I don't use eyeglasses for observation.

This is not my first naked eye sunspot observation. I'm not sure but I believe in my entire stargazer ''career'' I logged maybe six or seven such observations. ( I better check the logbook and count them ... )

https://observoergosum.blogspot.com/2023/01/naked-eye-sunspot-ar-3190-january-18.html

 

Mircea

[Stu1smartcookie]

Out with the Stellalyra 8” d dob for its first light… no collimation device but it looked quite good.. will need a tweak. Schoolboy error setting up to close to the house but just about caught Mars and the Hyades using the 31mm EP some really nice widefield views . Switched to the much maligned supplied  9mm and centered on the Orion Neb … wonderful  view with loads of nebulosity . Quite Dewey tonight but I didn’t use the built in fan although no doubt it’s a useful addition . Dual speed focuser was nice . A few extras needed including bobs knobs and a digital angle  finder . Maybe a telrad although a red dot finder would compliment the included RACI . One of the best things is the set up time of 5 minutes ! No stress or fuss … just how it should be . This scope is about 80 pounds dearer than the skywatcher version but the included extras are worth the extra investment . Looking forward to having a full session tomorrow evening . 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Stu1smartcookie

[Ed the Fox]

The first time the scope has been out this year and I only got an hour tonight unfortunately. 

I had to look at The Pleiades first and they looked fantastic but I need a 32mm eyepiece to fully appreciate them. The Beehive looked good too but not the best I've seen it. However the Orion Nebula did look impressive tonight with the nebulosity looking very clear.

Just an hour but a productive one non the less.

[RobertI]

First session in a while. Beautifully transparent, a fair amount of sky glow and wobbly seeing. Out with the 102ED plus 17.5mm Morpheus plus dew straps. Sub-zero temps but ski jacket, thermals and warm boots kept me toasty for the whole 90 minutes. My main goal was to try out my new Hb filter. After thoroughly dark adapting and using an observing hood, I spent a good thirty minutes trying to see the Horsehead. A bit ambitious perhaps, but I was actually quite pleased, although I was not close to seeing it, there was distinct nebulosity in the right area and in the right direction, which was not visible in any other filters. I have to confess, I was hallucinating seeing it at times! I learned the starfield well and have hopefully taken my first step on the quest for the HH. I’ll try with the 8” sometime. Sigma Orionis looked lovely nearby and I was surprised to see the faint fourth member at just x40 mag. Seeing was too awful for planetary or challenging doubles, so I scanned for some old favourite “two in a view”. M97 was clearly seen, and much better with the OIII and UHC filters, but no sign of nearby M108 in the low murk. Higher up in the darker skies, M81 and M82 were spectacular and benefitted from increased magnification, M82 especially so. M35 and its small companion cluster looked wonderful. The Morpheus is such a lovely eyepiece, so immersive and foible-free, made observing a joy. Nice to be out again. 

Edited January 19, 2023 by RobertI

[Epick Crom]

11 hours ago, Mircea said:

My most recent observation happened not ''tonight'' but today in plain daylight.

On the Sun, the active solar region 3190 was a black, very small but well visible dot with naked eye.

I put the Eclipse eyeglasses over my normal eyeglasses I wear for distant viewing. Otherwise I don't use eyeglasses for observation.

This is not my first naked eye sunspot observation. I'm not sure but I believe in my entire stargazer ''career'' I logged maybe six or seven such observations. ( I better check the logbook and count them ... )

https://observoergosum.blogspot.com/2023/01/naked-eye-sunspot-ar-3190-january-18.html

 

Mircea

Great job Mircea! I hadn't realised that some of the massive sunspots can be visible naked eye, I must have a look. Thanks for sharing 👍

Joe

[PeterStudz]

I made the effort to get up at 4:30am here in Southampton in order to try and get a look at Comet C/2022/ E3 (ZTF) - I wish they’d name it as I can never remember all of that! For the time being I’ve named it Comet Bob

But sadly, despite being crystal clear when I went to bed, there was significant hazy  high cloud. I could see the brightest starts like Vega & Arcturus but naked eye none of the stars in Hercules. I did play around with the binoculars for a bit. A bright satellite came directly overhead going roughly south to north. Then I gave up and went back to bed . Will try again!

[markse68]

I saw the comet! Well I say I saw it but what i mean is Starsense took me to where it should be- I’m convinced i was looking at the right area as there’s a pair of stars with one distinctively red (HD139920) and with averted vision I could tell there was something there below and right of it. A ghost of something- no idea what shape  but definitely something 🤣 

Mark

[Stu]

31 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

I made the effort to get up at 4:30am here in Southampton in order to try and get a look at Comet C/2022/ E3 (ZTF) - I wish they’d name it as I can never remember all of that! For the time being I’ve named it Comet Bob

But sadly, despite being crystal clear when I went to bed, there was significant hazy  high cloud. I could see the brightest starts like Vega & Arcturus but naked eye none of the stars in Hercules. I did play around with the binoculars for a bit. A bright satellite came directly overhead going roughly south to north. Then I gave up and went back to bed . Will try again!

Same sort of experience for me, crystal clear at 11pm, forecast for clear skies in the morning but when I went out about 5.30am it was very milky, no chance of seeing anything. I’ll get the pesky thing one day soon!

[markse68]

18 hours ago, josefk said:

well that is a shame @markse68 - does it belong to a society or a club that could invest into bringing it up to scratch? i suppose thats the kind of specialised time consuming work that could cost a fortune and be hard to justify for the return on it. It does look a very impressive bit of kit. Cheers

Hi Josef, it’s the Royal Greenwich Observatory which is part of Royal Museums Greenwich. My astro society (Flamsteed) have links to them but no authority. I think I’ll make enquiries though as to me it’s a real shame to have such an amazing instrument performing so badly. Checking the collimation and condition of the diagonal mirror/prism wouldn’t be too  costly an endeavour at the very least.

Mark

[josefk]

oh wow - didn't realise that's where you were @markse68. In that case definitely! 

[Mircea]

You are welcome Epick Crom, I wish you good luck and clear sky !

 

Today it was a very weird weather here.

I was able to see again with naked eye the AR 3190 sunspot.

The time was 11:00 Local Time Romania or 9:00 UTC. The Sun was visible through sucker holes.

In a 6x30mm finder, the sunspot gained area and an elongated E to W shape . Two extensions were visible, one at NW, the other at SW of the sunspot.

 

I bought last week a used Celestron aspheric 23mmx62 deg eyepiece...... Just for fun or as a kind of astro-joke.

I tested it on my 200mm F/6 Dobsonian and on ETX 90mm F/ 13.9 Maksutov.

 Well, the joking mood is gone. It is a better eyepiece than I expected.

I was hopping to continue today with testing on ''Ugly Duckling'', my D= 125mm  F/6.9 Dobsonian. 

Hopes in vain ... many, many layers of clouds !

Mircea 

[cloudsweeper]

ANOTHER DISAPPEARING MOON!

Thursday, 5.20pm, 8SE Cat + Focal Reducer, Jupiter west of south, aligned on it.

Io was very close to the disc, but I couldn't see it at x36.  At x128 there was a tiny faint dot very close to Jupiter.  Struck me that I would not have spotted this with the 102S Frac I used yesterday on account of the CA around the planet.

At x160, the moon was very clear, just "kissing" the NEB.  I checked the time, and found that seven minutes later it has gone behind Jupiter.  

Well worth seeing, and another example of a very dynamic system, changing before your eyes!

Doug.

[Saganite]

Total cloud cover this evening for me...I am glad to say..🤭

I was out last night for almost 5 hours, the second long session this week, so l am glad the decision to go out was taken from me...🙂

[bosun21]

Managed to get my first light with the 8” Nexstar SE purchased from @Stu1smartcookie. I made the grave error of not reading up on the Celestron hand controller. It’s alien to me after years with the Synscan. I was getting stressed as if it’s left sitting for a short while the directional buttons don’t operate. I was constantly having to switch it on and off again. I sacked the HC and switched to the WiFi adapter and Sky Portal. What a difference. Simple, intuitive and it works extremely well. First 3 star alignment and then slewed to Mars. It was I just off of centre with my 17.5mm Morpheus. Despite the seeing being a bit poor in Oxford tonight I still cranked it up to 225x with my 9mm Morpheus. Then while waiting for M42 to appear from a neighbors tree I selected Jupiter.  I used a 12mm Morpheus for 169x. Some decent NEB’s and EB’s but the poor seeing gave it a slightly underwater appearance. M42 was visible to me now so I put an Astronomik UHC filter on a 17.5 Morpheus and used the Sky Portal app on my tablet to go to M42. Once again it was in my FOV! Impressive. The difference that a decent UHC filter makes on M42 is not to be underrated.The nebulouslity was increased no end and stood out more against a darker background sky. Looking at the trapezium stars I could very easily spot 5. In better seeing with more magnification I could do much better. I quickly asked for the scope to go to Capella to check the collimation of the SCT. It was almost spot on with just a tiny tweak here and there to get it perfectly concentric rings on both sides of focus. Now for my favorite view of the night. This was the first time I had ever viewed the pinwheel cluster. With the 17.5mm Morpheus back in minus the UHC filter I was hooked on the this cluster and viewed it very intently. I had to call it a night despite there being no clouds due to the freezing temperature. I had endured 4 hours outside and had to seek warmth. Glad to say despite everything being iced up my dew ring that I recently fitted and a dew band around my eyepieces, my corrector plate was clear as a bell as was each eyepiece used. The Astro gloves acquired from @Littleguy80 were the best £13 I’d spent in a long while. Now to strip down and get into the warmth.

Edited January 20, 2023 by bosun21
Typo

[Stu]

It’s a crystal clear night here again, but I got back from my weekly trip to Dartford so couldn’t face anything major. Just had the FS60C out on a lightweight tripod with Giro WR and pootled around the sky for a bit. Normal stuff, M42, M45, DC, M81/82, Sigma Orionis, and probably best was Kemble’s Cascade, fitting beautifully into the fov of the 24mm Pan. The tiny double in NGC1502 still split well even at this low power.

[Zermelo]

In this cold spell we have had evenings limited by some high cloud, but I didn't see any tonight. The seeing started off quite poor, but improved some after a while.

Jupiter was very poor, low above the rooftops, couldn't make anything out. Mars was quite decent high up, even though it's getting smaller, the North polar cap is still obvious and I caught some albedo features. Uranus was, well, Uranus.

Like @bosun21, I took a Morpheus 17.5mm to M38, and also to M35,36,37. And a few doubles to try out the debutant Morpheus 6.5mm: Alrischa, epsilon Arietis, Almach, Algieba, HD 36203. Finished with M42 at different magnifications.

Over 4 hours outside, and everything was covered in frost when I turned on the headtorch.

[Pixies]

Just popped out with the binos and the comet E3(ZTF) is well placed now, without having to get up at silly-o'clock!

Pretty faint and fuzzy, but visible with direct vision. Didn't have to do much star-hopping, just pointed in the rough area and found it.

Using 10x50s. The North East direction for me is nice and dark, as it's over the sea.

[Sarek]

Really clear night here just north of Bristol. Into my 4th hour now and so far I've captured data for M101 (Pinwheel Galaxy), Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF and just started on M51 (Whirlpool). Making hay while the stars shine so to speak!

Only frustration is not being able to get guiding to work with the ASIAir - error message is "RA Calibration Failed - Star did not move enough"  I'll have to resolve that another night