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What did you see tonight?


Ags

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I have got the LZOS out tonight, and picked up Jupiter and Venus at about 5.40pm, albeit cheating using the Nexus having done a one ‘Moon’ alignment. Worked well! With the 17.5mm Morpheus I could see the bands on Jupiter already, no moons though obviously. Let’s hope the forecast is right, jet stream seems to be not overhead so seeing could be ok 🤞

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I started too late to catch Jupiter and Venus with the Mak, though they did look impressive naked eye.

I found the seeing to be average, not as good as the jet stream forecast would have suggested.

New doubles were HR 1442, 15 Mon and HD 47888, plus old favourites Beta Mon, Almach, Mesarthim, and 19 Lyn.

Finished with the moon, and the mountains around Sinus Iridum were showing very well on the terminator. Promontorium Laplace at the end of the Jura Mountains was throwing a lovely shadow onto the bay.

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Bit of a ‘meh’ session for me. Seeing was quite wobbly, too much for higher powers and Moon meant anything else was fairly unimpressive. I did enjoy the Moon for a while, caught a few Plato Craterlets, a bit of Hadley Rille and the Jura mountains looked beautiful. Other highlights were Copernicus, so much detail in the crater walls, Clavius, Proclus and Palus Somni; lovely contrast between it and the mare, and the dark spots in the crater Atlas. Could have been so much better with decent seeing though.

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Through my Zhumell Z130   venus  &  Jupiter to the  west (approx. 255 degrees), was my first viewing using the Dob.  I do believe I saw   the 4 gallieon moons  although inverted the moon Europa ( I believe) appears above  and the other three below.  Venus without any filter a very bright radiant star.

I managed to see the moons easily with  bco 10mm & both in the same view with a bco 18mm, before  both disappeared behind trees at just before 20.00hrs.

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All day long we have had beautiful blue skies.... the clouds started coming in about an hour before i would have pulled the scopes out.  Oh well 

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18 hours ago, Mike Q said:

All day long we have had beautiful blue skies.... the clouds started coming in about an hour before i would have pulled the scopes out.  Oh well 

Sod’s law my friend!

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5 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

CO was saying clear for here early this evening. Looking out the window I can say for certainty that's nonsense 😜

Clear outside is saying Tuesday is going to be green all night, and that'll be it for clear skies this week.   

Really looking forward to it because it means my Dob will be here on Wednesday.

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2 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Clear outside is saying Tuesday is going to be green all night, and that'll be it for clear skies this week.   

Really looking forward to it because it means my Dob will be here on Wednesday.

It will arrive Tuesday if you already purchased it from FLO.🤞🤞

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7 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

CO was saying clear for here early this evening. Looking out the window I can say for certainty that's nonsense 😜

I only installed the app a week ago but have to say it’s a bit hit and miss, mostly miss. I prefer to use the infrared satellite images because at least it current and factual.

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3 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Clear outside is saying Tuesday is going to be green all night, and that'll be it for clear skies this week.   

Really looking forward to it because it means my Dob will be here on Wednesday.

That's good news, then. When you check CO on Tuesday morning, the green will have moved to Wednesday.

The bad news is that on Wednesday it will have moved to Thursday.

Optical Illusion Hallway GIF - Optical Illusion Hallway Trippy GIFs

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Nice and clear here, if a little chilly at 0.9°. Big lad is out cooling. 
Already had a really good session on Venus before it disappears below the roof tops. With the 25mm ortho, TV x2.5 Powermate and variable polarising filter, there's some cloud detail on view. Very nice start to the night 👍

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Mars is still treating us despite its size- wonderfully clear view tonight at 300x- could see polar lightening and dark markings- lovely.

Venus was a bit low by the time I got out- I need to catch it earlier if we get another cloud break this week. My nebustar UHC is tantalising me with what could be some colour variation but its swimming all over the place so can't be sure. Anyone else tried a UHC on Venus? The nebustar has no red transmission so good for dealing with the colour smearing and Venus appears as an aquamarine blue gibbous disk with some low contrast greenish tempering with a similar feel to the Ha details my PST reveals on the sun that you have to look to see.

Mark

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Coffee break. Also known as an EQ platform reset (it only tracks for an hour)

Just eyeing a few doubles in Orion. It's a bit fuzzy, so tight ones aren't easy. Managed to split RST4782 at 0.7", x380 though.

Best so far Σ757/8 - a lovely quad +1 - The main pair (Σ757) are an even match at 1.5", with two brighter ones (Σ758) 42" and 51" away and 11.4" apart ; the +1 is an 11 mag star some distance away with the designation S493. Nearby PRT1 is a fainter, but nice, triple. 

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Brief outing with my much-favoured 8" Cat + Focal Reducer.  Full Moon rising in the east.

Started with C50 the Satellite Cluster in Mon. x36 - very pretty - loose, with several fairly bright stars.  Nicer at x73, with fainter stars appearing, and many in the cluster looking like "pairs".

Then, just 1deg east and at x36, a beautiful tight equilateral triangle of 8th/9th mag stars.  These are: ABH47 (a double), Sigma 939 (also a double), and SAO 114114.  The doubles are not in fact physical doubles.

Difficult to figure what's what.  ABH47's sec is a 12th mag D-star, so it was probably not seen.  So was the third star in the set the B- or C-star of Sigma 939?  Anyway, a most pleasing configuration, well worth taking a look at!

Short session, but nice to be out after a couple of weeks in inactivity.

Doug.

Edited by cloudsweeper
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Typical. When I went back out there was high cloud everywhere. Had a good look at Mars though at x304. There's so much detail on view it's hard to believe it's only 7.7". I must be seeing sub arc second detail.

Had a quick look at Castor as that shines through the cloud too. Sirius is its usual kaleidoscope... ooh pretty!

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I wore two hats to tonight . A Talk on astronomy to the Worcester Birmingham and Droitwich Canals Society (I’m a member) by Bromsgrove Astronomy Society (I’m a member). Those who arrived early were treated to Jupiter. We had a good reception and a reasonable amount of hands on viewing,

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The last four evenings have been cloudy, I missed the close conjunction. But a gap before it was dark on 7th March , a quick shot with the phone.

IMG_20230308_034600_(1800_x_2400_pixel).thumb.jpg.6ce983287d3e494bfdc5d9c56ed5c78b.jpg

Edited by scotty1
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I had just a short Cyclops session early evening (7-8pm) while the Moon was still low..

Had a quick first light with two additions to my Cyclops set, the Pentax XW7 and Celestron Xcel LX 18mm, on a few old favourites, M42, Alnitak and Sigma Ori.

No surprises with the XW7, already having the XL 10.5mm and previously owned an XW5..just lovely sharpness, comfortable ergonomics and neutral colour, with excellent light transmission.

If I had a surprise it was from the Xcel-LX 18mm..it was excellent! Also did well in the above areas, and Barlows well with my Hyperion zoom 2.25x Barlow to make a decent 8mm. Not quite as good transmission or sharpness as the XW but nevertheless a very nice viewing experience.

So my Cyclops set is for now complete..

IMG_20230307_200439985.thumb.jpg.02172d84b64c334f22b6b09c1f66f115.jpg

Back row from R to L..

Meade 4000 56mm, Celestron Axiom LX 31mm, Axiom LX 23mm..(both decloaked).

Front Row from R to L..

Pentax XL10.5mm, Celestron Xcel LX 18mm, Pentax XW7 mm

also showing Barlows 1.6x and 2.25x

Dave

 

Edited by F15Rules
Typo
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I got a surprise short session last night on multiple counts.

I did not expect to observe the forecast was dire as was the sky.
My daughter had come around for lunch and was now pitched up for tea as well, that normally stops play.
I was due to do other things.

Anyway a gap pulled out in cloud and gave some gaps, all be it with moving high cloud.
So plopped out the 80mm f6 and took out a mixture of LE and Plossle etc.
Daughter came out and we did Dad and Daughter time.

It was great, she loved Orion, amazingly the cloud kept away from the sword most of the time.
She loved the Pleiades and Heiades as much as I do, even though this was veiled in thin cloud.

We then did Lunar at full and she loved it, she uses binoculars now a lot from her home,
so the 80mm in her book and indeed mine was a winner.

The only downside, well it was a tad chilly and we stood, so I am paying the knees price today.

But what a great short session, these unplanned ones are often so rewarding.
 

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Great Stuff Alan..

After end to end cloud for the last week or more (and it's back again today!), last night's short reprieve was like food for the spirit!

And great that you could enjoy it with your daughter as well!🤗👍

Dave

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On 05/03/2023 at 22:08, Zermelo said:

That's good news, then. When you check CO on Tuesday morning, the green will have moved to Wednesday.

The bad news is that on Wednesday it will have moved to Thursday.

Optical Illusion Hallway GIF - Optical Illusion Hallway Trippy GIFs

Looks like the corridor on the cruise ship I went on😂

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