What did you see tonight?

[Mr Spock]

Heavy rain here unfortunately.

[Ratlet]

 

1 hour ago, Captain Scarlet said:

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

 

You should post this to that thread asking what nothing looks like.  Pretty sure it looks like the inside of your scope!  That is dark.  What size tube is that monster?

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Captain Scarlet said:

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

 

That mirror looks beautiful Magnus, fingers crossed it stays clear. Cloudy here 😔

[bosun21]

Raining here in Oxford also 🌧.

[Captain Scarlet]

2 hours ago, Ratlet said:

 

You should post this to that thread asking what nothing looks like.  Pretty sure it looks like the inside of your scope!  That is dark.  What size tube is that monster?

It be my 300mm OO mirror in a partially-flocked Helmerichs tube. Surprisingly light at ~20kg inc rings eyepiece etc, so less of a monster than it looks for a 12”. Still clear, and about to go out, though at 10:07 pm it’s still 30 minutes to astro dark.

[Ags]

Took the Svbony out for a quick peek at Lyra. Epsilon Lyra split well at 4 mm zoom, but going to 3 mm degraded the view. Not sure whether 3 mm on the 3-8 zoom is somewhat poorer than the other settings or the scope itself doesn’t hold up at 170x. Zeta was a lovely split in the finder scope and in the main scope. I admired Beta for a bit and then tried to find M57. Unfortunately it is still a bit low and it was only glimpsed with averted vision - unusual for such a bright nebula.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Ags

[StarDuke82]

It’s rained here for almost a week and despite a wet morning and afternoon full of clouds the sun came out and the clouds broke apart just before sunset so I took my telescope out on the back deck and did some observations of Venus as I have been excited about having a telescope again and have been tracking its phases the past few months for the first time ever. I have to say tonight Venus looked like a bright glowing lemon drop shaped jewel in the sky. 

[Froeng]

A few planets and some hazy planetary nebula tonight. The forecast did look mixed, but after what feels like a loooong time, I thought I would grab this opportunity to put the scope out and see if anything could be glimpsed.

Started off with Mercury at around 20.30, which was boiling away at low altitude. I could hardly see the phase in the C8 (this had been out for the best part of three hours by this time).

Then Venus, dazzlingly bright, but also extremely wobbly and distorted due to the terrible seeing.

Uranus was very faint in the fading daylight and very small.

Next up was Mars. Although still quite high in the sky, a general fuzziness prohibited any details from showing themselves.

Castor was an easy split, but, again, the general view was like looking through a boiling mess.

By 22.00, it was just dark enough to have a peek at the Eskimo-Nebula in Gemini, which showed a nice blue-ish colour.

A later attempt to photograph NGC2403 was then quelled by the appearance of high mist and more and more clouds. Packed up at 22.45.

Anyway, it was good to be out and using the kit after a long while!

[cajen2]

What did I see tonight? A lot of cloud and a very fuzzy Venus, which I focused on as I was desperate to try out my new rig. By the time I'd sorted it all out, Venus was almost invisible. It then disappeared completely. It had been sunny for most of the day and I'd been so looking forward to my first light...😥

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

What did I see tonight? A lot of cloud and a very fuzzy Venus, which I focused on as I was desperate to try out my new rig. By the time I'd sorted it all out, Venus was almost invisible. It then disappeared completely. It had been sunny for most of the day and I'd been so looking forward to my first light...😥

Such a familiar story.  Where have i heard this before

[Froeng]

18 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

What did I see tonight? A lot of cloud and a very fuzzy Venus, which I focused on as I was desperate to try out my new rig. By the time I'd sorted it all out, Venus was almost invisible. It then disappeared completely. It had been sunny for most of the day and I'd been so looking forward to my first light...😥

Wellcome to the club!

[Epick Crom]

Yep, it's cloudy over here as well😭. Last night I just managed to view brilliant Venus with it's gibbous shape as well as Mars and Mebsuta 24' apart before the sky completely clouded over..

[Stu1smartcookie]

Had a brief spell of clear weather last night and decided to have a play with the dwarf Labs scope . I took dark frames first and then attempted to set up in EQ mode which wasn't that successful so i went back to Alt-Az . 

After callibration i chose the leo triplet as my target . Ufortunately this is where the "brief spell of clear weather " came to an abrupt end , although i managed 10 x 15s exposures at a gain of 80 . The photo wont win any awards but for 2 1/2 minutes i think it was ok . Edited the photo on the phone .

Edited April 18, 2023 by Stu1smartcookie

[maw lod qan]

Walked out this morning to see an amazingly clear sky.

Being another work day, I only had a few minutes just to stare at the sky.

Scorpio really stood out above the trees. The milkyway was faint, but would have imaged nicely.

Then from the NNE a really fast meteor headed directly at Scorpio. 

Had me wanting to stay home!

[Stu1smartcookie]

5 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

Walked out this morning to see an amazingly clear sky.

Being another work day, I only had a few minutes just to stare at the sky.

Scorpio really stood out above the trees. The milkyway was faint, but would have imaged nicely.

Then from the NNE a really fast meteor headed directly at Scorpio. 

Had me wanting to stay home!

Lovely isnt it ? ... the early morning when everything is quiet (ish) .. it seems we have the whole sky to ourself 

Edited April 18, 2023 by Stu1smartcookie

[Les Ewan]

Just packed up due to constant fog banks drifting over my site from the North Sea and the mouth of the Forth. Even when it is was clear I spent as much time in anti dewing measures than actual observing🤬!

Last night 17th was much more successful with ideal conditions for both double star and DSO work until thick fog rolled in at 3am. 

At 1:09 am I just happened to raise my head from my eyepiece while viewing a faint galaxy when I caught part of the track of a bright green meteor (around magnitude -5). I didn't see the the start of this event just as it disappeared behind the house shooting westwards through Gemini.

Just pure luck I witnessed it. 

[Guest]

I see near to perfect skies ..... and i have to get up at 0430.  Ugh

[maw lod qan]

18 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Lovely isnt it ? ... the early morning when everything is quiet (ish) .. it seems we have the whole sky to ourself 

Definitely!

The small town I live in is still very quiet at night. Being next door to a fire station I get the occasional sound of them going on a call.

Mostly what noises I do hear are barn owls talking to each other and with there being a few circus families nearby, the sounds of lions roaring.

Even with all the growth happening,  I consider myself very lucky living in what I call the country.

Edited April 19, 2023 by maw lod qan

[wesdon1]

9 hours ago, Les Ewan said:

Just packed up due to constant fog banks drifting over my site from the North Sea and the mouth of the Forth. Even when it is was clear I spent as much time in anti dewing measures than actual observing🤬!

Last night 17th was much more successful with ideal conditions for both double star and DSO work until thick fog rolled in at 3am. 

At 1:09 am I just happened to raise my head from my eyepiece while viewing a faint galaxy when I caught part of the track of a bright green meteor (around magnitude -5). I didn't see the the start of this event just as it disappeared behind the house shooting westwards through Gemini.

Just pure luck I witnessed it. 

@Les Ewan Les I totally understand your frustration with fog and dew probs. I too am constantly battling dew! I was outside imaging last night, having a near perfect evening, when out of nowhere the clouds rolled in. Gutted. So long story short I packed all my gear up and started heaving it all up all the stairs to my 2nd floor flat, and when I got inside, I looked out window and the damn clouds had disappeared!!?? And it remained clear until sunrise, I'm told!! I was fuming! LOL. I was actually doing guided images using laptop and PHD2 for the first time ever, and was so happy seeing pin-point stars after 2 minute subs ( I dared not push my luck with longer subs, I've had too many disastrous nights when I've tried to push the envelope and messed everything up! LOL ) 

Never mind, I just cannot wait for my next opportunity to do guided subs again! 

Clear Skies!

Wes, Liverpool UK ( Bortle 7 )

 

*Here’s my setup outside. Because we have a drug addict theif who stole my brother’s bike, living in our flats, I literally have to carry everything you see in this picture, except for the chair, all the way up 3 flights of stairs IN ONE GO, because of my fear of my neighbour stealing something from my very expensive setup! It’s infuriating Les! 

Edited April 19, 2023 by wesdon1

[johnturley]

Observed Venus while it was still quite high up in the early evening yesterday, and which was displaying a nice gibbous disc.

Whereas Venus at magnitude -4 was quite easy to find in daylight with my old fashioned setting circles and sidereal clock, I was unsuccessful in trying to spot Mercury at magnitude +1.4. I put the failure down to insufficient contrast with the bright early evening sky before Mercury went down behind a neighbouring house. I find Mercury fairly easy to pick up in daylight when it is brighter than zero magnitude, it becomes progressively more difficult between zero and +1, and very difficult to find when fainter than +1, although I have managed it on previous occasions depending on sky transparency.

John  

[Mr Spock]

Switching from night to day, the sun looks really good right now. Some very intricate sunspots on view. 

[Bogmonster]

Not quite last night but my last observing session was Friday. I had a very clear night and no clouds or moon. According to the Good To Stargaze app it was Bortle 2.3 Friday. It was the first time in a long time that I couldn't find the Big Dipper for a few minutes as the sky was pretty packed. Had a similar night last night but didn't make it out.

I'm still figuring out my scope but I did see Venus before it disappeared behind the trees. It's a bit underwhelming but still very cool to see. Looked like a white shiny disk but kind of slightly dark on 1 side like an almost full moon. It's usually the first star up every night now so it's easy to find. It's extremely bright through the scope too. I think there might have been some atmospheric disturbance as it seemed like it was behind steam or something. A bit wobbly maybe? Not sure if this is normal. My scope was outside for over an hour before I went out so it should've been cooled down. Everything else I saw was pretty solid.

Also saw Mars but it's still too far away to really see too much detail.

I was very taken by a few double clusters (I need to check my notebook to see which ones they were). It's pretty strange to point at a dark piece of sky with no visible stars and then see 2 big clusters of stars. Very cool!

Also got the Whirlpool Galaxy, Crab Nebula and Dumbell Nebula (I think). I'm still getting used to seeing them since they're just gray smudges but it's extremely impressive to actually see them and look at a diagram and it's exactly the same without the colour.

I pretty much go through "Tonights Best" in the Celestron app and I always see something cool and visit a few things multiple times just to see if I notice more.

Bonus was when I saw 2 shooting stars pass through my field of view in the scope and one shooting star when I was just looking up 😁

[Coco]

Last night we were rarely blessed on the Lancashire coast, I had 4 hours of clear sky the only reason to stop was work today.

NGC 4565 Needle Galaxy - fantastic !!!
M51, M3, M53, M37,M51, M81 & M82
Leo Triplet
a Leo
Procyon  
NGC 2392

[Mr Spock]

Having a really good solar session. Seeing is ranging from very blurred to wobbly, but, with fleeting glimpses of steadiness. Enough to briefly support the 3.3mm TOE at x224 - every now and then the spots would snap into focus. Brief, but worth it.

[westmarch]

Superb session last night - cloudless, slight wind to keep off the dew and moonless - a perfect galaxy session. Went up to the N York Moors at Sutton Bank and set up the 10” dob by 9pm.  When star hopping, I tend to use a 40mm plossl as a seeker and found that a 15mm Explore Scientific EP consistently gave me the best resolution and contrast in this Bortle 4 sky.

There were a few DSOs I specifically wanted to do having missed out on previous sessions.

Antennae Galaxies  NGC 4038 and 4039 - by the time I had set up these were frustratingly just edging down into the tree line.

M61 - struggled with this but it was entering the Vale of York light pollution arc. Picked out in averted vision.

NGC 4526 - lovely oval galaxy nicely framed in a crux of surrounding stars.

M85 - Nice elliptical galaxy, easily found with the bonus of adjacent NGC 4394 popping into view in averted vision.

M64 - oval galaxy with dark irregular patches - intriguing.  I spent a fair bit of time trying to tease out detail.

M49 - brightly nucleated  oval galaxy.

NGC 4565 - classic edge on, needle profile with central bulge and long extended arms.

I tried and failed on the Whale Galaxy NGC 4631 - this was towards the end of the session and was almost vertically above in a relatively star free zone. Dobs are not the easiest to manoeuvre in this position and I sometimes felt that I was in a lovers embrace with the OTA as I moved from RACI to EP. 

As I was packing up, I had a chat with a chap who had been taking light readings for the National Park. We both bemoaned the continued presence of a stud stable that had erected all-night floodlights, on gantries, immediately adjacent to the park to protect their racehorses from theft. Despite the Sutton Bank site having dark sky status, there is apparently nothing to prevent this! 🤬

That apart, a very enjoyable night.

John