What did you see tonight?

[SuburbanMak]

A super session tonight - my first on the Downs with the Tak FC100 DC.  Almost completely still up there which is rare and for a couple of hours transparency was good above about 30 degrees. Packed up in the end due to rising mist and numbing extremities.
 Full report to follow but some spring galaxy firsts and revisits plus a host of favourites and a bonus fireball through Cassiopeia as I started to pack away. Magical night. 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Used the Dwarf to capture a solar image this morning through the clouds,a couple of sunspots visible 

[wesdon1]

On 21/04/2023 at 22:59, Neil_104 said:

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 🙂

@Neil_104 My goodness all that data and you only had 25 minutes left that wasn't ruined! And SNAP! I totally understand your desperation to get something, anything, because I too felt the same way, after not seeing clear skies for so long! LOL. Next time I'm not even attempting to use my big 8 inch newt if it's very windy, atleast I won't do until I get a much bigger stronger mount, like a Skywatcher NEQ6 or EQ6R-Pro. The HEQ5 Pro I currently own is at it's imaging/payload capacity limits with my big 'newt, especially in high winds. Atleast that's my personal opinion about it anyway.

Yes Venus is looking beautiful at the moment.

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Out last night with the Dwarf for a quick photo of the crescent moon , … reckon I could have nailed the focus slightly better but it’s so simple and quick to set up and use . 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Up to now a lovely sunset as the tide rolls in, accompanied by a Lunar and Venus conjunction.

Fingers are crossed the clouds stay away for possible aurora and the Lyrids peak tonight.

[Neil_104]

12 hours ago, wesdon1 said:

like a Skywatcher NEQ6 or EQ6R-Pro

Snap again 😄 I think the same way about my AVX. Some nights I can get 0.6" guiding out of it, other nights 2" at best. I'd like something a bit more consistent, but the weight of the EQ6R pro puts me off a bit. Oh, and the cost! There's something about trying to eek the best of a mount though, and when it works well it's quite satisfying.

[MercianDabbler]

So four nights ago rather than 'tonight' but precious little suitable conditions since then. On Wednesday evening I was out with the FL102. I was hoping to do some AP but was in two minds about it due to the windy conditions but I was close enough to the yew hedge at the end of the garden so I decided to give it a go on the Leo Triplet. This is the first time I've tried AP with the FL102 and the first AP for perhaps a year so I was a bit rusty with my technique.

What I've found out is that I get a really strong vignette and using flats in the stacking produced some odd looking rings. Instead I adjusted the vignette manually using a circular mask in Darktable. I think it will be best to stick to the circular area inside the vignette in future. I was quite unhappy with my first attempts at processing the image but I'm now a bit happier. The top left galaxy is up against the edge of the vignette (hence the arc where the background glow falls off) so I'll probably stop messing with it now...

FL102 with EOS 70D at prime focus. 65 20 second frames at ISO 3200. 14 darks. Stacked 90% best frames with DSS and processed with Darktable.

 

[Captain Scarlet]

I've never seen the Aurora before, and never really expected to from the very southernmost point of Ireland. But incredibly, tonight, having received a warning from my Aurora App, I went outside once it was suitably dark and waited for my eyes to adapt. After about 20 minutes, I was thinking skeptically "is that a greenish tinge? Can't really tell", when suddenly the northern sky erupted into vertical streaks and there was absolutely no doubt. I could even see the colours naked eye from time to time on especially bright moments. I rushed inside to grab my camera (6D):

 

[Stu]

13 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

I've never seen the Aurora before, and never really expected to from the very southernmost point of Ireland. But incredibly, tonight, having received a warning from my Aurora App, I went outside once it was suitably dark and waited for my eyes to adapt. After about 20 minutes, I was thinking skeptically "is that a greenish tinge? Can't really tell", when suddenly the northern sky erupted into vertical streaks and there was absolutely no doubt. I could even see the colours naked eye from time to time on especially bright moments. I rushed inside to grab my camera (6D):

 

Incredible Magnus 👍👍

[Epick Crom]

34 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

I've never seen the Aurora before, and never really expected to from the very southernmost point of Ireland. But incredibly, tonight, having received a warning from my Aurora App, I went outside once it was suitably dark and waited for my eyes to adapt. After about 20 minutes, I was thinking skeptically "is that a greenish tinge? Can't really tell", when suddenly the northern sky erupted into vertical streaks and there was absolutely no doubt. I could even see the colours naked eye from time to time on especially bright moments. I rushed inside to grab my camera (6D):

 

WOW 💥

[Pixies]

Yep, we were seeing aurora from South Wales tonight, at Astrocamp.

 

[Mr Spock]

Sky is clear and the moon looks lovely in the 4". The new 4mm and 2.5mm TOEs are performing as expected 👍
Just having a coffee break then it's on to Venus for a while.

[Mr Spock]

Single shot - 1/200th @ ISO1600 

[mikeDnight]

It clouded over here this afternoon and along with the cloud came strong winds. Still, as the Sun set below the high tree line to my west, the sky cleared and a lovely crescent moon stared down at me. I set the 4" up and took a look at the Moon against a blue sky, but although there was a promising amount of detail, the bright background lowered the contrast. To pass some time I decided to find Venus and doodle a sketch or two. As it happened Venus was troubled by a stream of fast moving air, but at only 128X through the binoviewer it was quite tolerable. At times the turbulence subsided momentarily and a beautiful , approximate 69 - 68% phase was sharply defined. I made a sketch but haven't yet had time to make a cleaned up version. There was some light cloud still floating about, which interestingly filtered and steadied the view of Venus and aided in detecting the wispy Venus cloud detail.

Back to the Moon and an attempt to sketch the floor detail of Petavius, which was full of beautifully defined detail, but was unfortunately brought to an early end as clouds returned cutting short the observation. Still it was a great sight showing some fascinating detail, and gave me my astro fix, so I'm happy.

[Mr Spock]

Just been doing some Gemini doubles. Scope position is getting awkward for sitting so I'm going to switch to Leo. Lovely clear sky and steady seeing.

[Mr Spock]

Called it a night. It's 0.8° and my headache is back - need my meds and off to bed.

Great night though finishing in Leo with Σ1399, a lovely subtle orange and blue pair. I should add prior to that I had a very clean split of OΣΣ215 at 1.5" with the 4mm Nirvana for x185, and a closer view with the 2.5mm TOE at x296.

[Stu1smartcookie]

So , first night with the new 102 ED starwave and would you believe it , first light too . Just an hour but enough time to look at Venus , the moon , beehive cluster , castor and Pollux . The highlight was using the SVBony 3-8 zoom on the moon … absolutely amazing . Even down to 3mm (x374 ) the moon was clear and showed no false colour . Finished off looking at Capella . 
A great start for the new scope 

[Ags]

Went out with my puppy Wurzel to look at the Moon with my grab and go contraption - Artcise C60 tripod, AZT6 head, Long Perng 90 frac and Svbony 3-8 zoom.

Firstly I don't think Wurzel will make the grade as an Astronomy Dog. I had barely aligned the telescope on the Moon and Wurzel was already at the back door squeaking to go back in. Possibly the thin coat and smaller bulk of a Jack Russell makes them more sensitive to the cold than my usual companion, our Westie Ohmsie.

With the dog returned to the warmth of the family hearth, I turned my attention back to our neighbouring ball of rock. It's the first time I have really had a chance to look properly at the Moon with the new zoom, and it was a pleasure watching detail emerge as I zoomed in, although the zooming effect was somewhat undercut by cloud intermissions between each zoom increment. I found the Moon was best around the 5-6 mm marks, but 3 and 4 gave great views too. At the 3 mm in particular I was admiring a large crater with a fractured floor which I think might be Posidonius. 7 and 8 were also great giving nice sharp whole-Moon views. I am glad the view held up well at 3 mm on the Moon as I have not found double stars to focus as well at this setting.

 

Edited April 25, 2023 by Ags

[Stu1smartcookie]

11 hours ago, Ags said:

Went out with my puppy Wurzel to look at the Moon with my grab and go contraption - Artcise C60 tripod, AZT6 head, Long Perng 90 frac and Svbony 3-8 zoom.

Firstly I don't think Wurzel will make the grade as an Astronomy Dog. I had barely aligned the telescope on the Moon and Wurzel was already at the back door squeaking to go back in. Possibly the thin coat and smaller bulk of a Jack Russell makes them more sensitive to the cold than my usual companion, our Westie Ohmsie.

With the dog returned to the warmth of the family hearth, I turned my attention back to our neighbouring ball of rock. It's the first time I have really had a chance to look properly at the Moon with the new zoom, and it was a pleasure watching detail emerge as I zoomed in, although the zooming effect was somewhat undercut by cloud intermissions between each zoom increment. I found the Moon was best around the 5-6 mm marks, but 3 and 4 gave great views too. At the 3 mm in particular I was admiring a large crater with a fractured floor which I think might be Posidonius. 7 and 8 were also great giving nice sharp whole-Moon views. I am glad the view held up well at 3 mm on the Moon as I have not found double stars to focus as well at this setting.

 

Hi Ags ... the 3-8 Svbony is a very nice EP isn't it . And such a reasonable price . I was extremely happy with its performance on the moon last night . BTW , liked the report on the dog(s) . So , maybe its a chance to start a thread on "hard core dogs for astronomy nights " 😂

[Zermelo]

35 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

So , maybe its a chance to start a thread on "hard core dogs for astronomy nights "

Apart from the nocturnal companionship, and perhaps their willingness to see off undesirable visitors at dark sites, some of their capabilities might be of practical value to the observer.
e.g. give them a quick sniff of an eyepiece, then get them to find where it was in that field that you dropped its missing dustcap.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Zermelo

[maw lod qan]

The sky was fair after yesterday's really intense thunderstorm to my East.

I stood just looking at the sky for a bit, then took some single images of a scorpion crawling out of a river of milk.

At 30 sec exposure the stars stretched a little, but it brought the milkyway out better.

[wesdon1]

14 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

So , first night with the new 102 ED starwave and would you believe it , first light too . Just an hour but enough time to look at Venus , the moon , beehive cluster , castor and Pollux . The highlight was using the SVBony 3-8 zoom on the moon … absolutely amazing . Even down to 3mm (x374 ) the moon was clear and showed no false colour . Finished off looking at Capella . 
A great start for the new scope 

@Stu1smartcookie Hi Stu. I have the Altair Lightwave 66/400 ED Doublet Refractor, which I believe has the same optics/glass as your larger Starwave? ( I could be mistaken? ) I have found the optics to be great quality and little CA that I can see either visual or photographic/astro. I am actually looking for a larger aperture refractor because I need more "reach" and light gathering ability for certain smaller DSO's like Planetary nebs and small galaxies etc. I would love to get the same model 'scope that you just got, obviously because I know the optics are great.

I look forward to seeing any reports you post about your future adventures with the new 'scope!

Clear Skies!

Wes, Liverpool UK ( Bortle 7 ) 

[Mr Spock]

Moon looks good at the moment in the 12". Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catherina are well placed. The markings and rille on the floor of Catherina P look crisp. Put the frac away - the 12" smokes it...

[Mr Spock]

Quick one-shot snap with the 12"

[Ags]

2 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Moon looks good at the moment in the 12". Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catherina are well placed. The markings and rille on the floor of Catherina P look crisp. Put the frac away - the 12" smokes it...

I had a careful look tonight - there was a prominent linear structure near the middle of the terminator. I believe it was Rima Ariadaeus - a quite massive structure!

Assuming I have identified the structure correctly, this snapshot from Apollo 10 gives an idea of its scale.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Ags