What did you see tonight?

[John]

Rather blustery here this evening. I had some nice views of Venus despite this with my skinny 100mm F/9 refractor. Now it's dark I'm just browsing around. Best result so far is spotting 2 members of the Hickson 44 galaxy group up in Leo's neck area. NGC 3190 and 3193 I think and about 80 million light years away. M51 and NGC 5195 were looking quite contrasty as well. A 100mm frac is not a deep sky tool of course but it does surprisingly well really 🙂

[Spile]

One of the darkest and best observing nights apart from the wind. Split a number of new doubles and was delighted with the Ghost of Jupiter. Lovely green blue colour. I convinced myself that I managed to glimpse the difficult one of the Leo Triplet but NGC 3489 was a definite.

[Mr Spock]

Had half an hour on Venus earlier at x224 with the 4" - looked lovely.
Just had the last hour and a half (time flies when you are having fun) going though some Hydra doubles. A very unfamiliar region for me.

Then, a moment of insanity. Turned the scope towards Castor, stuck in the x2.5 Powermate and 3.3mm TOE for x561. Two lovely sharp globes with a hint of diffraction rings. Not entirely free of CA I have to say, but very satisfying. Excellent seeing conditions help though. Transparency is more poor than usual for here - I can barely see below mag 3 in the direction of Hydra, and Cancer is completely elusive 😡I know it's there somewhere...

I could go on for hours but I'm too tired, so, will call it a night. It's been a good one 👍

[rojay]

I did some wide field with the ST102. M44 was the highlight, a really good fit for the scope. Also a bit of cruising round Auriga, some nice star fields there.

[SuburbanMak]

It’s been a while so nice to get out for a “quick” session with the Tak 100 DC that turned into a pleasurable 2 hours. 
Switching between Baader Hyperion 24mm, Morpheus 12.5mm and Pentax XW 5mm. 
 Good seeing and transparency better than expected. 
Looked at M3, M13 both of which were looking sparkly. 
Some doubles: Polaris, Algieba, Iota Cancri, Porrima, Cor Caroli,  Epsilon Boo & the Double Double - loving the Pentax on these combined with the Tak’s tight, contrasty & colourful stars. 
Even bagged a few galaxies which from my light polluted garden is a testament to that contrast - M94, M63, M81, M82 & a slew of smudges in Markarian’s Chain. Fab! 

Edited April 20, 2023 by SuburbanMak

[Zermelo]

The good forecasts were almost borne out here. I've had over three hours of clear skies, and dark, of course, with no moon. I measured it at 20.94 when I finished, which suggests that the new LED street lights (with shields fitted) are affecting it barely, if at all. Transparency was OK (the main seven UMi stars visible, plus a couple of others), but the seeing was disappointing, compared with the forecasts (Metcheck said Pickering 9, but it was nowhere near).

Since it was dark I put the 150i out and had a mixed list of doubles, globs and galaxies in Leo:

40 Sex, HD 82355, HD 81670, HD 81212, Algieba, MX Hya, 15 Hya (1.2"), 17 Hya, Pi1 Boo, Porrima, Sarin
M13, M92, M3 (this was especially good)
M65, M66, NGC 3628, M95, M96, M105, NGC 3384, NGC 3389 (I was pleased with this last one, seen with averted vision in the Morpheus 9mm. I think it's the first time)

The Hamburger was quite obvious tonight, even with direct vision. Leo I eluded me though, as it always does.
The Svbony 3-8mm zoom performed well again, in particular on the globs.

[bosun21]

Well the clear skies held up last night and I managed the first light for my 12". I waited until it was properly dark before I went out but to my dismay I realised that I hadn't aligned my Starsense unit in daylight since modifying the finder shoe on the scope. I tried to align it with Arcturus but failed miserably. Oh well the RACI it is then. I started off with both M3 and M13. Both were nice and bright with so many more stars being seen especially around the periphery than my 4" frac. I then went to M81 & 82 which were also noticeably brighter and well defined. The difference without the moons influence was really apparent in the 12". I then decided to look at Markarians chain which produced a string of faint fuzzies which was very pleasing to me. A considerable number clearly seen with direct vision and a number of them popping into view with averted vision also. I spent a good 30 minutes taking it all in. Next i went up to M101 and friends and also gave them the time they deserved. I then hunted down the Needle galaxy in Coma Berenices which is becoming a favourite of mine. I viewed all the galaxies with a Morpheus 12.5mm apart from Markarians chain where i used a 40mm and 30mm. I called it a night due to the extra time needed to manoeuvre the 12" back indoors. Another point is that I will have to acquire a short two step ladder to enable me to use the EQ platform. I found the additional 5-6" needed to try and lift the tube on and off a real struggle. In hindsight I probably wouldn't have been able to use the Starsense unit as the wind was quite gusty at times causing the scope to move. All round an enjoyable evening and night. Time for a cuppa.

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

Well the clear skies held up last night and I managed the first light for my 12". I waited until it was properly dark before I went out but to my dismay I realised that I hadn't aligned my Starsense unit in daylight since modifying the finder shoe on the scope. I tried to align it with Arcturus but failed miserably. Oh well the RACI it is then. I started off with both M3 and M13. Both were nice and bright with so many more stars being seen especially around the periphery than my 4" frac. I then went to M81 & 82 which were also noticeably brighter and well defined. The difference without the moons influence was really apparent in the 12". I then decided to look at Markarians chain which produced a string of faint fuzzies which was very pleasing to me. A considerable number clearly seen with direct vision and a number of them popping into view with averted vision also. I spent a good 30 minutes taking it all in. Next i went up to M101 and friends and also gave them the time they deserved. I then hunted down the Needle galaxy in Coma Berenices which is becoming a favourite of mine. I viewed all the galaxies with a Morpheus 12.5mm apart from Markarians chain where i used a 40mm and 30mm. I called it a night due to the extra time needed to manoeuvre the 12" back indoors. Another point is that I will have to acquire a short two step ladder to enable me to use the EQ platform. I found the additional 5-6" needed to try and lift the tube on and off a real struggle. In hindsight I probably wouldn't have been able to use the Starsense unit as the wind was quite gusty at times causing the scope to move. All round an enjoyable evening and night. Time for a cuppa.

Galaxy season ... Fun times for big dobs and the chain is a beautiful sight my 38mm.  Can't wait until we get clear and stable skies here.  The 16 inch is way past the time to be used.  

[Guest]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

Well the clear skies held up last night and I managed the first light for my 12". I waited until it was properly dark before I went out but to my dismay I realised that I hadn't aligned my Starsense unit in daylight since modifying the finder shoe on the scope. I tried to align it with Arcturus but failed miserably. Oh well the RACI it is then. I started off with both M3 and M13. Both were nice and bright with so many more stars being seen especially around the periphery than my 4" frac. I then went to M81 & 82 which were also noticeably brighter and well defined. The difference without the moons influence was really apparent in the 12". I then decided to look at Markarians chain which produced a string of faint fuzzies which was very pleasing to me. A considerable number clearly seen with direct vision and a number of them popping into view with averted vision also. I spent a good 30 minutes taking it all in. Next i went up to M101 and friends and also gave them the time they deserved. I then hunted down the Needle galaxy in Coma Berenices which is becoming a favourite of mine. I viewed all the galaxies with a Morpheus 12.5mm apart from Markarians chain where i used a 40mm and 30mm. I called it a night due to the extra time needed to manoeuvre the 12" back indoors. Another point is that I will have to acquire a short two step ladder to enable me to use the EQ platform. I found the additional 5-6" needed to try and lift the tube on and off a real struggle. In hindsight I probably wouldn't have been able to use the Starsense unit as the wind was quite gusty at times causing the scope to move. All round an enjoyable evening and night. Time for a cuppa.

The dew shield on your 12 inch....is it just a shield or is it heated as well?  

[cajen2]

2 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Well the clear skies held up last night and I managed the first light for my 12". I waited until it was properly dark before I went out but to my dismay I realised that I hadn't aligned my Starsense unit in daylight since modifying the finder shoe on the scope. I tried to align it with Arcturus but failed miserably. Oh well the RACI it is then. I started off with both M3 and M13. Both were nice and bright with so many more stars being seen especially around the periphery than my 4" frac. I then went to M81 & 82 which were also noticeably brighter and well defined. The difference without the moons influence was really apparent in the 12". I then decided to look at Markarians chain which produced a string of faint fuzzies which was very pleasing to me. A considerable number clearly seen with direct vision and a number of them popping into view with averted vision also. I spent a good 30 minutes taking it all in. Next i went up to M101 and friends and also gave them the time they deserved. I then hunted down the Needle galaxy in Coma Berenices which is becoming a favourite of mine. I viewed all the galaxies with a Morpheus 12.5mm apart from Markarians chain where i used a 40mm and 30mm. I called it a night due to the extra time needed to manoeuvre the 12" back indoors. Another point is that I will have to acquire a short two step ladder to enable me to use the EQ platform. I found the additional 5-6" needed to try and lift the tube on and off a real struggle. In hindsight I probably wouldn't have been able to use the Starsense unit as the wind was quite gusty at times causing the scope to move. All round an enjoyable evening and night. Time for a cuppa.

Glad you had a successful first light with the new scope. I can imagine lifting a 12" dob on and off the EQ platform would be rather taxing....💪

[bosun21]

1 hour ago, Mike Q said:

The dew shield on your 12 inch....is it just a shield or is it heated as well?  

It’s just a standard Meade dew shield for a 14” scope as the 12” one was too small. Still cost me £115.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, bosun21 said:

It’s just a standard Meade dew shield for a 14” scope as the 12” one was too small. Still cost me £115.

Oh man that is pricey.  

[PeterC65]

Had a great EAA session last night. Quite unexpected as Clear Outside was saying no, but the Met Office cloud forecast was suggesting wispy cloud passing by so I thought I would give it a go.

I set up an hour before to allow things to cool and it looked like it might be windy. Not great conditions for the Explorer 150 on my 5kg load AZ mount, but I've now mastered the art of using the SharpCap focus filter to weed out the frames when the scope is wobbling in the wind.

The revelation from last night was dark frames. I'd been thinking I wouldn't need them for EAA but last night I thought I would try and they made a huge difference, less background brightness, and better colour rendition (less yellow) which I was not expecting.

This is the first galaxy season since I started EAA. Last year was quite disappointing as I struggle to see galaxies visually, even bright ones like M33, and at best they appear as a smudge. So last night I went for all the galaxies I couldn't see last year, plus some faint ones that I wouldn't even attempt visually.

I stared with a few easy ones, M101 and M51 (below).

Then a few galaxy clusters, around NGC3842 and Markarian's Chain, which still mostly appear as smudges even with EAA.

I couldn't fit all of the Leo Triplet in the same field of view but managed M65 and M66 together and NGC3628 separately. Last year I couldn't see the Hamburger Galaxy at all but this year ... well ...

Then a bunch of smaller single galaxies, M63, M100, M88, M91, M104, M90. Many of these had other tiny faint galaxies in the same field of view which I was able to see on screen and then confirm via Stellarium. The faintest of these was around magnitude 15.

To finish off I went for M5 which looked like a pile of white / blue diamonds.

The images above are as I saw them last night by the way, just cropped slightly.

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by PeterC65

[PeterStudz]

It seems like an age since I’ve had a telescope out and I’m clouded out now (might clear later) but had a pleasant early evening session doing solar and looking at Venus during the day - just finding it in daylight is fun! Got a quick smartphone snap which clearly shows the phase. 

Spoke too soon. Just as I was typing this a shower came through and I’ve had to quickly whisk my kit inside

[Epick Crom]

This is more along the lines of "what did you see yesterday morning", the partial solar eclipse from Perth!

Attached is my high tech photo from the event 😁

[cloudsweeper]

 

POPULAR DOUBLES - IZAR (Boo) & CASTOR (Gem)

Thursday.  Little ED80 Triplet Frac, grab 'n' go.

IZAR - Pulcherima, "most beautiful", triplet, visual double, 2nd and 4th mags, 2.9 arcsec of separation.  Sometimes said to be difficult because the primary is so much brighter, but I thought I had the split at x120.  It became very clear at x160, still quite close, primary distinctly orange, with diffraction rings, and appearing larger than the secondary on account of being so much brighter.  Not really difficult at all, and certainly a beautiful sight.

CASTOR - interesting, being a visual triplet comprising three pairs of inseparable stars, 1st (1.9), 3rd (3.0), and 9th (9.8) mags, 5.5 and 71 arcsec.  The brighter pair was easily split at x120 - close, good match, very pleasing, but I didn't spot the fainter, more distant third component, probably because it was clouding over by then.

Doug.

 

[Mr Spock]

After a clear sunny day it clouded over at sunset. We now have cloud and rain forecast for weeks ahead, so, normal service is resumed 

[wookie1965]

It has been that windy it was no use taking my scope out the scope would have been rocking and rolling 😄

[wesdon1]

11 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

It has been that windy it was no use taking my scope out the scope would have been rocking and rolling 😄

That wind played havoc with my setup a couple nights back. I was trying PHD2 for the first time and the wind kept ruining my subs. I was using my largest scope, the SW 200P mounted to my SW HEQ5 Pro. I should have used my tiny ALTAIR 66/400 ED Doublet Refractor, because I think that would have been much less vulnerable to the wind, being "over-mounted" on the big strong HEQ5. Never mind, I've learned my lesson! LOL

[John]

I was not expecting clear skies tonight but here they are, although the transparency seems rather murky.

I'm just playing around with my little 70mm F/6 travel refractor to see how it does on doubles and it is going rather well.

Gamma Leonis (Algieba) and Gamma Virginis (Porrima) proved quite straightforward at around 100x. I was pleased to split the more changing trio of Iota Cassiopeia and then Iota Leonis, which has a separation of 2.4 arc seconds combined with a 2 magnitude difference in the component stars and can be rather tricky in small apertures. For these last two I've upped the magnification to 140x. 

The scope took around 15 minutes to cool from a warmish house but Algieba was split as soon as the scope was put out - the star images just got a little tighter as the scope reached ambient temperature.

I'm looking forward to taking this little fellow away to dark skies later this year - I feel that it's a pretty good performer 🙂

Edited April 21, 2023 by John

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, John said:

I was not expecting clear skies tonight but there they are although the transparency seems rather murky.

I'm just playing around with my little 70mm F/6 travel refractor to see how it does on doubles and it is going rather well.

Gamma Leonis (Algieba) and Gamma Virginis (Porrima) proved quite straightforward at around 100x. I was pleased to split the more changing trio of Iota Cassiopeia and especially Iota Leonis which has a separation of 2.4 arc seconds combined with a 2 magnitude difference in the component stars and can be rather tricky in small apertures. For these last two I've upped the magnification to 140x. 

The scope took around 15 minutes to cool from a warmish house but Algieba was split as soon as the scope was put out - the star images just got a little tighter as the scope reached ambient temperature.

I'm looking forward to taking this little fellow away to dark skies later this year - I feel that it's a pretty good performer 🙂

Good to hear you enjoying smaller aperture refractors again, John. Be interesting to hear how you get on.

[Neil_104]

12 hours ago, wesdon1 said:

That wind played havoc with my setup a couple nights back.

Snap. Out of 2hrs 40 mins total imaging time I was able to use...........25 mins worth. I really should have packed up early but it was only the 2nd clear night since the end of Feb and I just wanted to get something....anything! 

It was still enjoyable though with Venus keeping me company, hanging low in the West 🙂

Edited April 21, 2023 by Neil_104

[dark knight]

Lovely clear sky here so far tonight, I got an imaging run going for M81, however plenty of satellites whizzing through my frames doh!

[John]

47 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Good to hear you enjoying smaller aperture refractors again, John. Be interesting to hear how you get on.

Thanks Jeremy. Despite the less than ideal transparency I've spotted a few of the brighter galaxies around Leo, Virgo and Ursa Major plus the Hercules and Coma globular clusters with the scope and now Bootes has risen above the conifers, I've managed a lovely split of Izar with the colour difference between the stars showing quite nicely despite the limited aperture. I've just had a look at Alkalurops (Mu Bootis) and managed to split the fainter, tighter pair of that triplet which are 7th magnitude with a 2.2 arc seconds split. I'm just going to wait a while longer before finding Epslion Lyrae, to allow it to rise above the Bristol "glow" before having a go at that famous quadruplet of stars. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by John

[Captain Scarlet]

I had a _superb_ night last night for a variety of reasons. Extraordinary transparency and a total redemption for my 12” after a thorough mirror-clean. Proper report to follow hopefully tomorrow. Mental-astro-health batteries restored 😄.