What did you see tonight?

[SuburbanMak]

Super session on comet C 2022 E3 (ZTF) from the South Downs tonight. Picked it up quite easily around 11:30 lowish to the NE.  In and out of mist patches for a while then a (biting) breeze got up and sky conditions improved  markedly. Later views much better - a brighter nucleus in AV surrounded by reasonably bright nebulosity and a dim, short fan shaped tail , occasional hints of a longer structure.  Definitely moved half a degree or so over the time I observed but critical faculties deserted me a bit as was a) too excited and b) too cold for anything resembling scientific rigour!  Will post a more detailed report tomorrow but for now I am enjoying a slow thaw assisted by both tea and Lagavulin.  Great night! 

[Kon]

I finally managed to see the C/2022 E3 comet at 4am this morning. Previous attempts to see it were met with clouds when I woke up at 4-5am. Easy to find (it even looked bright on the finder scope); core looked bright and diffuse/streaked tail but no real sign of the long tail from the APs. I could not see it with naked eye and I have fairly dark skies. Very happy and excited to have seen my first comet. Neowise was my first one but I did not have a telescope back then.

[Sulaco85]

10 hours ago, Ratlet said:

I phoned the wife to get the scope up the shed to cool as this might be the last clear night for a while.  Been working since 0600 this morning and got home at 1900 but oh boy, was it worth it.

Over on the svbony 3-8mm zoom post @Louis D suggested I order a cheap yellow and moonglow filter from eBay to improve contrast on Jupiter and mars.  Total cost was £10.  They both turned up today so I went out to excellent seeing getting straight to 3mm with the svbony for 216x power.  Jupiter looked very steady without the filters.  With them it just looked astounding.  Amazing detail and it almost made the atmosphere look even more steady.  It almost looked photographic and the colour cast was most pleasing.  I couldn't dwell for long before moving to mars as I need to go to bed shortly.

WIt's the filters Mars was hands down, no contest the best view I've had.  I could see definition to the light and dark areas so clearly.  I would swear on my life I could see a distinct white area on the north limb.  It felt a lot more like I was looking at an object where as previously it was like looking at a light, if that makes sense.

I tried without the stacked filters and whilst the viewing was good, the atmosphere seemed more unsteady and the light darker areas were more blurred.  I'm not confident I could see any white at the north again.

I'm certain that the seeing helped massively but for £10 I've had the best views of mars and Jupiter I've had.  The previous best coming because I bought the svbony zoom based on @Louis D review of it!

I've linked the filters I bought below.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/399997-svbony-8-3-zoom/page/5/#comment-4334138

This has me very intrigued. I think I might pick up filter as well. I already have the yellow one. So do you stack them together? 

 

Had a very frustrating session  last night. Break in the clouds and the views were incredible but as was inevitable the clouds won in the end. 

[Ratlet]

2 hours ago, Sulaco85 said:

This has me very intrigued. I think I might pick up filter as well. I already have the yellow one. So do you stack them together? 

 

Had a very frustrating session  last night. Break in the clouds and the views were incredible but as was inevitable the clouds won in the end. 

You just screw one filter into the other and away you go.  The threads on the ones I got weren't great, but worked perfectly well.

As a caveat, I'm using a 130pds (so 650mm focal length and F5) have been observing since August 2022 (so very new) and have only used the combo once.

However, for the £10 I'll be happy with just last night's views if it never works as well again, just for finally seeing what is possible in planetary observing.

Managed to get out again this morning briefly around 0500 to observe C2022/E3. I'm slowly getting better at aligning the mount and was only abou 0.5° off when it slewed over.  Unfortunately there was some haze that extended quite high up.  Some faint nebulosity visible, but largely indistinct.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Ratlet
Clarified

[Froeng]

I woke up at 3.30, just in time for the comet. The camera was ready in the tripod in the bedroom. It was just a matter of going out onto the balcony. But then I thought about the cold, turned around and went to sleep again. Woke up at 7am… Next time 🥱😜

[Telescope40]

4 minutes ago, Froeng said:

I woke up at 3.30, just in time for the comet. The camera was ready in the tripod in the bedroom. It was just a matter of going out onto the balcony. But then I thought about the cold, turned around and went to sleep again. Woke up at 7am… Next time 🥱😜

I sympathise. Till this comet is in the evening sky at a more reasonable time, it ain’t happenin. 
Lazy astronomer. I can’t do middle night / early morning session’s. Just not happening - me bad 

John 

[wulfrun]

I had the 150PL out for another session observing Mars. Damn cold out but with a 9mm plus 2x FE  (x266) I had probably the best views yet with some reasonable clarity and better-than-usual steady seeing. I can't usually use that high a mag successfully. I tried a variable polariser since it was still a bit bright but it didn't help, I got my best view with just a Neodymium. I could see definite colour differences, bluer/redder areas but didn't note any sign of a polar cap. No doubt the views were helped by a freshly-collimated scope, which turned out to have needed it - it was badly out, oddly so!

I spent another half hour or so splitting a few doubles and then having a good look at the Trapezium. Rather chuffed with that, since I just managed to spot the 'E' component for the first time. Sadly not the 'F' though.

I finished up with quick look Jupiter but the view was disappointing since by then it was getting a bit low and badly placed (streetlight!). After that I gave up due to being too cold.

[F15Rules]

On 17/01/2023 at 07:37, Stu said:

Sounds incredible Dave. Nights like that do make you remember why you do this crazy hobby don’t they?

Would you do me a favour? Post up a separate observing report for this, it really does deserve its own thread and not to get lost in here.

Thanks! Stu

Hi Stu (and all),

Sorry not to have done what Stu requested and I said I would do as above.

It's been a tough week, especially for my dear wife. Her mum was desperately ill and we visited her in her midlands care home on Thursday..

We are so glad we did, as she passed away on Thursday night, we were told by phone call early yesterday morning. She died peacefully in her sleep after a good life and at the age of 89.

Clearly, for now I have to focus on my wife's needs and all the "stuff" that kicks in following a bereavement .

We have to go back to the Midlands for a couple of days to help with arrangements, funeral, etc etc, but I will do that post as soon as time permits, and I hope that many of you have had wonderful sessions during the amazing week of clear skies that we have had, certainly here in the east of England👍.

Best wishes to you all.

Dave

 

[bosun21]

On 18/01/2023 at 06:14, Stu said:

Then played around with a Pixel 6 Pro phone

You have restarted my itch again @Stu. I have a Google Pixel 6 pro winging it’s way to me now. I tried AP and it just entailed too much messing around. But a capable phone in a holder? Now that’s a different matter.

[PeterC65]

I’ve been banned from visual sessions until the thermal base layer arrives so the last two evenings I’ve been doing EEVA, Thursday night with the x0.6 reducer for widefield and last night without.

Last night's session I planned using a Stellarium Observing List which really helped and meant I could start with targets about to set behind the house in the North and finish with those rising in the South, moving between nearby targets without darting all over the sky. The new Dictaphone also proved very useful and resulted in a much more detailed written observing report today.

Highlights from the two evenings were …

IC434 & NGC2024 I can always reliably see the Horsehead Nebula with EEVA and with the reducer giving me F3.6 it appeared right away with the details of the Flame Nebula leaping out. Much better with the reducer making for a faster scope, and relatively disappointing without.

IC417 & NGC1931 The Spider and Fly Nebulae, new to me and an interesting widefield pairing. Not enough field of view without the reducer though.

IC1805 The Heart Nebula lived up to its name. With the UHC filter and shifting the histogram mid-level to the left I could make out the heart outline, just fitting into the widefield field of view, and the structural detail of the bright centre.

M81 & M82 One of my favourite targets for both visual and EEVA, I could see colour and lots of structural detail in M82 alongside the more delicate structure of M81.

NGC7635 The Bubble Nebula really popped out now that I’ve figured out to adjust the histogram mid-level when observing faint nebulae. The bubble shape is really obvious and this nebula well named.

NGC7789 Caroline’s Rose Cluster doesn’t seem to get mentioned much but it’s one of my favourites, a round mass of yellow stars within a rich starfield.

NGC663 A new one to me, a nice star cluster with two smaller clusters, NGC659 and NGC654, just fitting into the field of view and making the target more interesting.

M45 Finally I managed to see plenty of the nebulosity by winding the histogram mid-level to the left. I prefer The Pleiades widefield so that there is some context around the large star cluster.

M35 & NGC2158 This must be the perfect pairing of clusters, with M35 dominating the centre of the field of view and the finer yellow stars of NGC2158 making a definite appearance alongside.

NGC2174 I was expecting the Monkey Head Nebula to look better with the reduce and the faster scope but it looked better at F6.0 and was better framed.

M42 Always a delight to observe, the widefield view included the Running Man and the Lost Jewel, but I preferred the view without the reducer and just the L2 visual filter. Probably the best I’ve seen M42 so I resorted to reading glasses to study its details on the 4K monitor. I’ve been capturing RAW frames for some targets to check whether stacking later is better than on the night (so far it isn’t), so here is the final live stack from last night, with just a little image processing …

 

[bosun21]

26 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

The new Dictaphone also proved very useful and resulted in a much more detailed written observing report today.

I never ever thought of that! Dictaphone going into the shopping cart 🛒.

[bosun21]

28 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

I’ve been banned from visual sessions until the thermal base layer arrives so the last two evenings I’ve been doing EEVA, Thursday night with the x0.6 reducer for widefield and last night without.

Last night's session I planned using a Stellarium Observing List which really helped and meant I could start with targets about to set behind the house in the North and finish with those rising in the South, moving between nearby targets without darting all over the sky. The new Dictaphone also proved very useful and resulted in a much more detailed written observing report today.

Highlights from the two evenings were …

IC434 & NGC2024 I can always reliably see the Horsehead Nebula with EEVA and with the reducer giving me F3.6 it appeared right away with the details of the Flame Nebula leaping out. Much better with the reducer making for a faster scope, and relatively disappointing without.

IC417 & NGC1931 The Spider and Fly Nebulae, new to me and an interesting widefield pairing. Not enough field of view without the reducer though.

IC1805 The Heart Nebula lived up to its name. With the UHC filter and shifting the histogram mid-level to the left I could make out the heart outline, just fitting into the widefield field of view, and the structural detail of the bright centre.

M81 & M82 One of my favourite targets for both visual and EEVA, I could see colour and lots of structural detail in M82 alongside the more delicate structure of M81.

NGC7635 The Bubble Nebula really popped out now that I’ve figured out to adjust the histogram mid-level when observing faint nebulae. The bubble shape is really obvious and this nebula well named.

NGC7789 Caroline’s Rose Cluster doesn’t seem to get mentioned much but it’s one of my favourites, a round mass of yellow stars within a rich starfield.

NGC663 A new one to me, a nice star cluster with two smaller clusters, NGC659 and NGC654, just fitting into the field of view and making the target more interesting.

M45 Finally I managed to see plenty of the nebulosity by winding the histogram mid-level to the left. I prefer The Pleiades widefield so that there is some context around the large star cluster.

M35 & NGC2158 This must be the perfect pairing of clusters, with M35 dominating the centre of the field of view and the finer yellow stars of NGC2158 making a definite appearance alongside.

NGC2174 I was expecting the Monkey Head Nebula to look better with the reduce and the faster scope but it looked better at F6.0 and was better framed.

M42 Always a delight to observe, the widefield view included the Running Man and the Lost Jewel, but I preferred the view without the reducer and just the L2 visual filter. Probably the best I’ve seen M42 so I resorted to reading glasses to study its details on the 4K monitor. I’ve been capturing RAW frames for some targets to check whether stacking later is better than on the night (so far it isn’t), so here is the final live stack from last night, with just a little image processing …

 

That’s very similar to the view I get from a 17.5mm Morpheus in my SCT 8”. Minus the colors of course apart from the usual monochrome green hue.

[ukskies]

I was out last night with the little Tak DF quite early on. My location is poor in a housing site with houses on all sides meaning my seeing is affected by the heat rising from my neighbours until after midnight and light pollution is quite bad with 2 street lamps almost above me.

Out early, first target Jupiter. I caught the Ganymede shadow crossing on the SEB and watched as it slowly moved off the planet's disc. Whilst observing and as the seeing fluctuated I realised I could also glimpse Ganymede itself further south and west from the shadow. I've never seen a moon in front of Jupiter before so I was quite excited and kept watching as the moon left the edge of the planet exactly where I expected it to prove to myself it was really what I had seen. There was quite a lot of detail on the equatorial belts swimming in and out as i watched, I could see some darker barges and swirls plus occasionally a few other belts. I do love Jupiter.

By the time Ganymede had moved away from the planet Jupiter was getting lower in the sky  so I turned to Mars. I could easily make out some darker markings but no polar cap, by now Mars was quite high but above a rooftop.

I went in for a quick warm and a cuppa before coming out to see Orion was now in view. Had a quick look at Rigel, the star looked beautiful and bright in the refractor, somehow prettier than I remember in other scopes. The diffraction rings were broken due to the atmosphere but the companion was easy to see. I then spent some time with a 30mm UFF just cruising over the belt and sword. I've had more detailed views of the nebulae from darker skies in the past with bigger scopes but the little Tak didn't disappoint me, I could see 4 stars in the Trapezium at 150X. I popped in the Baader zoom and filled the eyepiece with M42 and it was a very nice view. By now I thought I'd take a look at Sirius, quite low in the sky so I didn't expect much, the super bright stars diffraction rings were dancing about at 231X but I watched it for a few minutes and suddenly thought I glimpsed the pup off to the right tho it disappeared immediately so i kept looking and I saw the same faint dot appear twice more and again disappear immediately. I later checked online the current position of the pup and it was off to the left so as my diagonal swaps left and right I'm still thinking I may have glimpsed the pup. What do you guys think, is it possible?  If it is it's a first for me as I've never seen it before.

After a bit I swung up to the Pleiades and again had a pretty view of the cluster.

Back to Mars to finish but tho now very high in the sky and not over the rooftop the red planet didn't show me any more detail than my earlier look.

3.5 hours viewing and feeling cold I called it a night.

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by ukskies

[markse68]

20 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Just come in for a break and coffee. Next door's dog is out yapping 😡

Jupiter's a but fuzzy for me, snapping in and out of focus. Got some belt detail at x217.

Things are better higher up, still a bit of fuzz, but steadier. It allowed me to get up to x380 on a couple of tight doubles - HU1036 at 0.5" and HU807 at 0.6". Got both of them in steadier moments.
Ʃ229, 9.21 and 10.29, 2.5", looks lovely in the 12". Spectral class says A but the primary looks blue to me. Having a 2.5" double look bright and wide with pin prick stars at x217 is what we have large scopes for 

now you're just showing off Michael  I thought I'd have a go- is Ʃ229 the same as STF229? If so then I got that one but it was very faint. The other 2 I could only guess at as averted vision specks in the finder and way too dim and close for my 6" aperture lol. Mars was nice again though

Mark

 

[PeterC65]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

I never ever thought of that! Dictaphone going into the shopping cart 🛒.

The one I bought is the Sony ICD-PX470. It works well, with sensitive microphones and a simple user interface for one click operation. I mainly bought it for visual as I find it very distracting to write notes. Now I can just comment on what I'm seeing as I'm seeing it.

 

[bosun21]

2 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

The one I bought is the Sony ICD-PX470. It works well, with sensitive microphones and a simple user interface for one click operation. I mainly bought it for visual as I find it very distracting to write notes. Now I can just comment on what I'm seeing as I'm seeing it.

 

That’s what so appealing to me. Will have a look at your Sony model.

[PeterC65]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

That’s very similar to the view I get from a 17.5mm Morpheus in my SCT 8”. Minus the colors of course apart from the usual monochrome green hue.

That's interesting to know. I haven't been able to get anywhere near to this EEVA view just using visual. I've acquired an Explorer 150PDS since Orion was last visible and am looking forward to trying that visually, perhaps with the Binoviewer (the required thermal clothing arrived today but it is currently foggy here).

Your recent purchase of the 12" Dob is making me wonder about that route again ...

[bosun21]

7 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

That's interesting to know. I haven't been able to get anywhere near to this EEVA view just using visual. I've acquired an Explorer 150PDS since Orion was last visible and am looking forward to trying that visually, perhaps with the Binoviewer (the required thermal clothing arrived today but it is currently foggy here).

Your recent purchase of the 12" Dob is making me wonder about that route again ...

Even the scale of your image is what I see in my eyepiece. With the Astronomik UHC I could see virtually the same amount of nebulosity and 5 trapezium stars visible. But no colors like yours. I have a couple of mods to do on the 12” and then it’s ready for it’s first light.

PS: Where did you source your thermals from? I was cold to the bone being out there for 4 hours.

[cloudsweeper]

INSTANT GRS!

Took the ED80 Apo out at 5.15pm - great one-piece set-up - and looking at Jupiter immediately saw the GRS right in the lower middle of the SEB as expected.  Maybe it comes with experience - it took me 2.25 years to see the thing for the first time.

And viewing around twilight is helpful for such targets too.

And that's enough - fingers frozen, in for a tasty beer!

Doug.

[PeterC65]

5 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

PS: Where did you source your thermals from? I was cold to the bone being out there for 4 hours.

I went for Peter Storm Thermal Baselayer Top and Pants from Go Outdoors (they have an offer on them currently). They seem good but I haven't yet braved the cold. I already have a balaclava, snow boots, and thermal cycling gloves so the extremities are already covered!

[PeterStudz]

There should be a section “what did you see in the day?” as I packed up over an hour ago. Going out socially tonight (it doesn’t happen often) and of course it’s crystal clear

My daughter had a couple of friends over so did some solar with the 200p Dob. The sun is magnificent at the moment with the biggest sunspot I’ve seen. loads of detail too and it could take a surprising amount of magnification give how low it is. One of Alice’s friends was far more interested than the other but that’s kids.

They were leaving at 5:30pm but not to be outdone I strapped the phone to the OTA and located Jupiter in the afternoon - at about 3:50pm. Surprisingly easy to do and a surprising amount of detail inc the GRS which soon showed itself. It was fun watching Jupiter show more detail as it got darker, the moons appear and the GRS move across the disc. Best views just before and just after sunset. In fact the best views I’ve had of Jupiter for a couple of months. And my daughters friends were actually impressed. 

 

 

 

[markse68]

Got out earlier than usual tonight- just after 5 and glad I did- what a treat!  Venus was there super bright above the west horizon, and up to the left of it a tiny spec. Through the finder I was surprised to see Saturn- haven't seen it in ages. It was surprisingly sharp given how low it was. Venus as expected was a glowing set of traffic lights. On to Jupiter and what a fine view. The seeing is excellent again (though there was a brief passing patch of jetstream or plane contrail that destroyed the view for a while) and Jupiter looked fantastic. Watched an etched GRS as it made its way from close to middle off towards the limb. 2 extra belts in the south and darkening to the north. All 4 moons easily identifiable. Then on to Mars- again a wonderful view  I should be out there now it's so clear. Acidalia to the north along with a line of light cloud I guess and the dark mass of  Erythraeum to the south with a light patch (Argyre?) Fantastic start to  along evening I think- if it stays like this maybe 🤞 for Sirius

Mark

 

[JeremyS]

6 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Hi Stu (and all),

Sorry not to have done what Stu requested and I said I would do as above.

It's been a tough week, especially for my dear wife. Her mum was desperately ill and we visited her in her midlands care home on Thursday..

We are so glad we did, as she passed away on Thursday night, we were told by phone call early yesterday morning. She died peacefully in her sleep after a good life and at the age of 89.

Clearly, for now I have to focus on my wife's needs and all the "stuff" that kicks in following a bereavement .

We have to go back to the Midlands for a couple of days to help with arrangements, funeral, etc etc, but I will do that post as soon as time permits, and I hope that many of you have had wonderful sessions during the amazing week of clear skies that we have had, certainly here in the east of England👍.

Best wishes to you all.

Dave

 

My sincere condolences Dave. I wish you and your wife strength in the days and weeks ahead.

Jeremy

[Zermelo]

I just managed to get aligned here, looked up - sky full of clouds.

But the forecasts are still optimistic.

[Mr Spock]

1 hour ago, markse68 said:

is Ʃ229 the same as STF229?

Yes