What did you see tonight?

[Zermelo]

HD 5938, HD 3396, 57 Cnc, 40 Sex, Algieba, Izar, HD 81670, Castor.

Yes, doubles again. Though I did add M3, Mars and the Cat's Eye nebula. I stayed out until the moon cleared the neighbour's roof, high enough to cause mischief, but too low to see over my fence.

The seeing was slightly better than last night, though I couldn't get the tightest doubles. I think the Mak needs a slight collimation. As @AstroNebulee reported from two counties down, there was a fair bit of high/mid whispy cloud at times. If it's in the East, it catches the moonlight.

Mars was a small orange mush, but M3 was OK and the Cat's Eye was a nice, extended, irregular blue-green blob.

The BBC says clear again tomorrow; CO says 100% cloud.  We shall see.

[AstroNebulee]

7 hours ago, Zermelo said:

M51 in an ST80 with a near full moon is a good bag

Thank you 😊. The moon was just beginning to rise so was my last chance to try but you could definitely see the smudge of it and the brighter core. The helios was zoomed right up to the max, definitely there though. 

I should of had my SM90 on the set up too on for the doubles. But as I didn't know what my plan was before setting up I just kept the ST80 on instead.

Lee

[Stu1smartcookie]

12 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Had a really enjoyable observing session tonight only a couple of hours with the ST80 on AZ5 and helios 7.2-21.5mm zoom lens. Hunting some doubles via sky safari in the Cambridge double star observing list. 

There was a lot of high cloud that kept coming in patches and waves that prevented the better seeing but still managed some doubles. I will attach a screenshot of the targets observed tonight as I'm to lazy to type it out and some long names. Yep done of the doubles are easy but it was a nice start to tick them off for me. 

Iota Cancri was the pick of the bunch, a beautiful golden and blue double, such contrast and a real jewel of the night sky. 

I could see the moon was beginning to rise so I hunted down M51 and was so chuffed to see it. Albeit a slight smudge with averted vision but it was there. I zoomed in a bit and with averted vision again could make out the cores just, with these being slightly brighter areas in the smudge of M51. This finished off a lovely starter session for me. 

Lee

Lovely report Lee . 
A really simple set up which sets a great example to all new members that Astronomy doesn’t need to cost thousands . I would call it inspiring and using the equipment to its potential . Really enjoyed reading it mate .

Stu 

[AstroNebulee]

3 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Lovely report Lee . 
A really simple set up which sets a great example to all new members that Astronomy doesn’t need to cost thousands . I would call it inspiring and using the equipment to its potential . Really enjoyed reading it mate .

Stu 

Thank you Stu, that's really lovely of to say. Yes I tottaly agree that you don't need stupid amounts of money to get started in astronomy and pushing to see wgat can he achieved. I am so pleased I got my ST80, it's such a joy to use and so forgiving on many many targets. Paired with the AZ5 gives me a sense of achievement in manually star hopping to targets. Super quick to set up and lightweight. Even though I like the imaging side of things, it's just a pure pleasure to observe objects with your own eyes instead of a photo of it. Such a thrill to know those photons went straight to your eyeballs.

Clear skies. 

 

Lee 

Edited April 8, 2023 by AstroNebulee

[PeterC65]

After no clear nights during March I've managed four sessions so far this month, all EAA with a different combination of scope / Barlow each night. I did also do some visual testing of widefield eyepieces.

Last night was the turn of the Explorer 150PDS with the Baader Classic Q Barlow (x1.7 without the extension tube when used with the Uranus-C). This is my small object setup, perfect for galaxy season.

I've been enjoying observing the objects suggested by the CN EAA Monthly Observing Challenge. I've been catching up on the March list and started on some of the April list (those sufficiently out of the way of the Moon). There are about a dozen objects suggested each month, all different types, and mostly not objects I would have considered. For each object there is a short description and an explanation as to why it was chosen.

Here is last nights selection:

• M51 - this is becoming a firm favourite, sitting as it does right next to NGC5195, although it's smaller than M33 I can still see lots of detail of the spiral arms.
• M101 - bigger than M51 but not as impressive, I resorted to 2x2 binning and it looked slightly better in monochrome (I'm considering buying a monochrome camera and so occasional observe with the colour camera switched to monochrome to see how it might feel).
• M63 - smaller than M51 but still I could see plenty of detail in the spiral arms.

Some objects from the March list:

• Leo Quartet (NGC3185, NGC3187, NGC3189, NGC3193) - much smaller galaxies and much closer together than the Leo Triplet, NGC3189 is the brightest and most impressive.
• NGC2903 - this is a beautiful little galaxy, I could clearly see its spiral arms and the bar.

Then on to the April list:

• SAO044317 - La Superba which is a carbon star, I wouldn't normally have observed a star but this one does have a nice colour.
• Quasar 4C+16.30 - OK, this was just a dot, but I was really chuffed to see it, at magnitude 15.7.
• NGC3842 - actually a mass of tiny galaxies in Leo, I counter 14 even in the small 30' x 17' FoV.
• Copeland's Septet (NGC3753 et al) - another compact cluster of galaxies in Leo, this time seven of them, with NGC3753 being the brightest, although they were all faint and just smudges even with EAA.
• Kick the Can Cluster (NGC4147) - no idea why it's called that, but this is a really small but quite beautiful cluster, like a tiny version of Caroline's Rose Cluster (NGC7789).
• M53 - much bigger than NGC4147 but still quite small, I preferred this with the UV / IR blocking filter (everything else I observed with no filter - well actually a Clear filter to keep things parfocal).
• Moon - this is also on the April list so I took a few snapshot, it looks best with the IR pass filter which noticeably reduces atmospheric wobble.

 

[Guest]

Nothing to report yet, it is supposed to be clear this evening so i am going for it.  The scope and eyepieces will be all cooled down and ready to go by dark.  This will be the first clear night i have been able to get out for more then a half hour since November.  Unfortunately i pulled the mirror out of the 16 inch for cleaning yesterday, so no big light bucket tonight 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Mike Q

[Ratlet]

16 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

Nothing to report yet, it is supposed to be clear this evening so i am going for it.  The scope and eyepieces will be all cooled down and ready to go by dark.  This will be the first clear night i have been able to get out for more then a half hour since November.  Unfortunately i pulled the mirror out of the 16 inch for cleaning yesterday, so no big light bucket tonight 

Looking forward to the report.  That looks like a fantastic observing spot.  Really like the wiring you have done on the dob.  What all are you powering?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Looking forward to the report.  That looks like a fantastic observing spot.  Really like the wiring you have done on the dob.  What all are you powering?

Those wires are for the dew heaters.  I run three of them.  

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Looking forward to the report.  That looks like a fantastic observing spot.  Really like the wiring you have done on the dob.  What all are you powering?

I should have mentioned something about the observing area.  I have a pretty decent view of the east and southern skies.  Everything else requires me to go up and over trees.  I have a wall up that breaks up the security lamps from 400 yards away.  All in all i am in Bortle 4 skies which is better then most. 

[Guest]

Well for the first time since November the skies were fairly clear, but for whatever reason they remained jacked up.   The transparency just wasnt all that tonight.  Started with Venus basically to get the setting circle aligned.... Yep big blob of light.  M81 and M82 showed up decently in the 20mm 80 degree Orion branded Long Perng.  I ended up bouncing around looking at clusters, and splitting a couple of doubles, but even they werent up to snuff.  I did manage to grab a fair image of the Orion nebula but i had to go early on it before i lost it behind the trees.   The one thing I did manage to get done was to do a head to head comparison of the 1.25 inch ES 14mm and the 2 inch 14mm Orion branded Long Perng.  I can't really say I am surprised by the outcome.  The ES was decent but the Long Perng was better by miles. I will use my wife and daughters description.  The stars were more defined, the nebulosity of the Orion Nebula stood out more and the image was definitely brighter.  Honestly it wasnt even close.  It was fairly chilly tonight, the temp was still forty but the breeze kicked up and the windchill went below 32 and that was enough for us.  The wife had the Stellina out basically to run the updates and try a couple things but she called it early as well.  Sorry this isnt much of a report but the Ohio skies, while fairly clear, just didnt come through tonight 

[cajen2]

That's a pity, Mike. You've been waiting so long.

I'm not very surprised that the Long Perng won the battle of the 14mil EPs. My 20mm from that range is very very good (StellaLyra in the UK).

Edited April 9, 2023 by cajen2

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

That's a pity, Mike. You've been waiting so long.

I'm not very surprised that the Long Perng won the battle of the 14mil EPs. My 20mm from that range is very very good (StellaLyra in the UK).

Yeah i dont know really want was going on up there.  It was just kind of blah.  As to the battle of 14s, well it really does only make sense that a two inch eyepiece would allow more light in the a 1.25 inch.  

[bosun21]

56 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

Yeah i dont know really want was going on up there.  It was just kind of blah.  As to the battle of 14s, well it really does only make sense that a two inch eyepiece would allow more light in the a 1.25 inch.  

It doesn't work like that. It's down to the field stop.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

It doesn't work like that. It's down to the field stop.

It may not "work like that" but the 2 inch is definitely brighter, for whatever the reason.  I don't think the average Joe.... like me, really care how it all works, we just like to know what is better, and that is what i achieved last night.  

Edited April 9, 2023 by Mike Q

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

It may not "work like that" but the 2 inch is definitely brighter, for whatever the reason.  I don't think the average Joe.... like me, really care how it all works, we just like to know what is better, and that is what i achieved last night.  

I live by the Keep It Simple Stupid philosophy.  Field stops, and all the other crap..... doesn't mean a thing to me.  What does mean something, everything looked better in the 2 inch then the 1.25, the whys dont matter.  Now it doesn't get any more simple then that 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Mike Q

[Epick Crom]

Autumn clouds spoilt my sessions last night, but there were gaps in the clouds, allowing me to view Venus close approach to M45 through my 10 x 50 mm binoculars.  Seperation 3° and a beautiful sight! 

I used my 10 inch dob to observe both Venus and Mars. Venus a nice fat gibbous at 522x and at the same magnification I could clearly make out dark markings at the centre of Mars tiny 6' gibbous disk. 

I also caught NGC 104 (47 Tucanae) down low. Best view was as 185x, a profusion of stars seen. 

This week looks like wall to wall clouds 😔

[Pixies]

Nice and clear here so far. Scope out cooling.

Mercury was obvious shining through the dusk. Got this phone pic out walking the dog. Visually it was easier to see.

[Ratlet]

An unexpected treat.  Met office had it clear after 2200.  Setup but seeing was pretty poor.  Improved massively as the night went on.  Sketched M51, M63 and M94.  Got a good look at M92, M13 and M3.  Lack the skills to know where to begin trying to sketch them!  M92 was phenomenal, a literal WOW! Moment when I looked through they eyepiece.

I know people go on about the aperture of dobs being great for nebulas, but on globs it puts them into another realm of existence.

[Pixies]

The moment I went out and sat down at the scope, the high clouds started to come over!  🤬

Anyway, they were still pretty thin, so I went on. After @Zermelo's advice about Lynx doubles, I gave them a shot. I actually didn't have SGL to hand, so ran an observing plan on Sky Safari: picking doubles in Lynx with separation 1-9 arcseconds and magnitude <8

Using the Vixen A105M

12 Lyncis (STF 948) (1.7" and 8.7")- despite the thin high clouds, seeing was good. I managed to split the tight pair at 100x. It's a bit like an easier Tegmine.

HR 2486 (STF 958) (4.5") - clean split at 50x. 2 very similar looking stars. Hard to make out any colour, perhaps due to the clouds,

HR 2644 (STF 1009) (4.3") - again split at 50x. A star slightly brighter than B. Again - hard to see colours

HD 75353 (STF 1282) (3.5") - split at 67x

38 Lyncis - (STF 1334) (2.6") dimmer B star not visible at less than 100x. At 167x the dimmer star appeared slightly grey/purple. Main star white

HR 3686 (STF 1333) (1.9") - split at 100x, but seeing was getting worse now. 

Wind picking up and thicker clouds arriving - so headed in.

[Stu]

Stunningly clear night down here, but yet again other commitments meant no observing. I popped out with some 8x42 binos at about 11pm for a scan around.

Melotte 111 was really clear, being obvious without binos and very nice with.

M81 and 82 were quite an easy find, but I failed with M101 and M51. I then went on an OC hunt across Auriga and Gemini, picking up M38, 36, 37 and 35 in that order. Totally forgot about the Beehive, doh! Will try that next time.

Finally I noticed Hercules appearing over the neighbour’s roof, so picked up M13 and 92.

The transparency seemed excellent last night, probably all the rain we’ve had. Quite windy still though, so no good for a larger scope.

[cloudsweeper]

ALGIEBA (Gamma Leonis) RE-VISITED

8SE Cat with Focal Reducer.  GoTo played up for some reason, so I went to Algieba directly since it is easily seen naked eye.

Its components are bright 2nd and 3rd mag stars, with an easy 4.6 arcsec separation.  But being so bright, they need more mag than you might expect to be sure of two stars, and I had to go to x191, 213 to be sure they were separated.  They get in each other's glare, and signs of rings also complicate matters.  Good split, close-ish match, nice orange/orange pair.

Served as a reminder of the variety and potential complications that can arise with double stars.

Doug.

 

[PeterC65]

There was no cloud just after sunset so I set up the EAA kit and let it cool. I managed a quick look at M51 and then the cloud banks came rolling in, increasing in frequency until the whole sky was obscured.

On the plus side I can now confidently identify the effects of increased cloud cover when I'm inside doing EAA, and SharpCap gave me a nice graph showing each cloud bank rolling by.

 

[Ags]

I have to rise early tomorrow so I didn’t have much time but I could not let the first clear night in two weeks to go to waste. Especially when I have an Svbony 3-8 Zoom nagging me for a first light. For simplicity’s sake, my 90mm was mounted tonight on my photo tripod with an AZT6 head - a wobbly setup, but it got me to go out.

I ran through a few quick doubles - Mizar, Cor Caroli and Polaris, and had a look at the carbon star La Superba. The zoom seemed to give sharp views at all magnifications - from 60x to 170x, but I needed to refocus significantly through the zoom range. I think that is more of a comment on my not so youthful eyes and my f5.5 scope than anything else. The color of La Superba was vividly red, and Polaris’ companion was easily seen, despite the extreme local light pollution tonight.

[Ratlet]

Did a cheeky wee session at 0400 with the dob. Managed to get M57 and my old favourite M27 in and another quick look at M13.  It was already getting light by this point with it being nautical twilight/dawn and the scope didn't have any time to cool so no sketching.

Not a complete waste though, the views were comparable to the 5" in brightness in ideal conditions.  Bodes well for moving in to summer as darkness becomes a rare commodity.

Also learned that the setting circles are pretty much useless if I don't properly level the dob lol.

[Captain Scarlet]

Forecast looks good for this evening. First combination of low wind, no Moon and no cloud for a couple of months. So in anticipation: