What did you see tonight?

[John]

Some cloud patches but not too bad here this evening. Some nice views of Venus 62% illuminated earlier with my 100mm refractor.

Same scope is now starting to pick off some double stars. Seeing seems quite stable with 300x plus delivering very well defined stellar disks of pairs such as Gamma Virgonis and Iota Leonis. The former looked like 2 almost identical "car headlights" at 450x 🙂

Seems a while since I've been able to get out but I've managed to remember which end of the scope to peer into ! 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by John

[cajen2]

About 70% clear here, so, optimistic as ever, I dragged the Starfield out....and the chair, power supply, EP case, etc. Left to cool. Focused on Venus to align the finder and.....you guessed it: over came the clouds. All I could see was Venus and then only occasionally.

This is the third time running this has happened.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

About 70% clear here, so, optimistic as ever, I dragged the Starfield out....and the chair, power supply, EP case, etc. Left to cool. Focused on Venus to align the finder and.....you guessed it: over came the clouds. All I could see was Venus and then only occasionally.

This is the third time running this has happened.

Are you sure you arent in Ohio? 

[cajen2]

9 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

Are you sure you arent in Ohio? 

Not unless my satnav is seriously out....😉

[John]

17 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

About 70% clear here, so, optimistic as ever, I dragged the Starfield out....and the chair, power supply, EP case, etc. Left to cool. Focused on Venus to align the finder and.....you guessed it: over came the clouds. All I could see was Venus and then only occasionally.

This is the third time running this has happened.

I was clouded out about 30 minutes ago. Just getting into the swing of things again as well .........🙄

[Epick Crom]

Same thing happened to me here in Perth. Perfectly clear at sunset so I put out my 10 inch dob to cool with a broad grin. Finally after a week of wall to wall clouds I will get to observe!

Come out an hour later and back to wall to wall clouds! 😠

[Mr Spock]

Nothing but cloud here 

[Zermelo]

Currently just one or two low clouds about, and the Mak is cooling.

CO, Meteoblue and BBC all saying that the (non-existent) cloud will clear by about midnight!

[John]

It's been nice and clear to the west so Venus has shown well. Not too good to the NE though with ominous cloud bank spreading from that direction. 130mm refractor is out but not sure for how long.

 

[Zermelo]

Yes, I just about got aligned and now that cloud bank has come in from the East and covered most of the sky.

Instead, I've been watching our local hedgehog eating the treats we left out, joined briefly by a bemused neighbour's cat.

[John]

12 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

...Instead, I've been watching our local hedgehog eating the treats we left out....

We have one of those. Nice little chap. I hear him (or her) snuffling through the flower borders quite often on a summer night 🙂

[Stu]

Couldn’t resist putting the Big Tak out for a first light. Wasn’t much to see with all the cloud, but I liked what I did see. Izar, Castor, Algieba and the Double Double, all lovely. Venus looked good too once the scope cooled. I also caught M81/82, M57 and what was the star of the show for me, M13. Beautifully resolved deep into the core I was surprised how good it looked. I even got hints of the propeller, not bad given a total lack of dark adaptation and a not particularly dark sky.

[John]

1 hour ago, John said:

It's been nice and clear to the west so Venus has shown well. Not too good to the NE though with ominous cloud bank spreading from that direction. 130mm refractor is out but not sure for how long.

 

Completely clouded over and looked set in so I bought the scope back in. Now there are quite a few "sucker gaps" in the cloud of course and stars are showing very nicely in them 🙄

Might dig out the 11x70 binoculars for some quick peeps.

 

[Epick Crom]

This is so frustrating! 

Last night at sunset was wall to wall clouds. "No point bringing out the dob, these bloody clouds are here to stay" I thought. Come out later and it's clear as a whistle! Oh well, at least I identified some stars of Ursa Major low on the northern horizon for the first time in my 10x50mm binoculars.

 

Joe

[John]

6 minutes ago, Epick Crom said:

This is so frustrating! 

Last night at sunset was wall to wall clouds. "No point bringing out the dob, these bloody clouds are here to stay" I thought. Come out later and it's clear as a whistle! Oh well, at least I identified some stars of Ursa Major low on the northern horizon for the first time in my 10x50mm binoculars.

 

Joe

I've just been looking at the same constellation with my 11x70mm binoculars, right overhead here !

Messiers 81 and 82 were quite clear. The two bright globular clusters in Hercules looked v.nice as well. 90% clear sky now after 100% thick cloud 90 minutes ago.

14,000 KM between us but similar challenges Joe 🙂 

Edited May 11, 2023 by John

[Epick Crom]

19 minutes ago, John said:

I've just been looking at the same constellation with my 11x70mm binoculars, right overhead here !

Messiers 81 and 82 were quite clear. The two bright globular clusters in Hercules looked v.nice as well. 90% clear sky now after 100% thick cloud 90 minutes ago.

14,000 KM between us but similar challenges Joe 🙂 

Hi John, yeah it always amazes me to think as I'm looking at those stars grazing the northern horizon here, they are culminating for you in the other side of the world! Astronomy sure is amazing!

M81 and M82 sound like amazing galaxies, I would love to observe them one day.

I hope you get more clear skies over there John🙂

[Zermelo]

Well it was worth sticking with it.

The early cloud went away eventually and it turned into a decent evening (morning??).  The seeing was mediocre, improving slightly after midnight, but it was darker than I've measured here before (21.02).

Doubles included 20 Dra, HD 75353, HR3686, HD136176, and three with only a 0.9" separation: HR5550, HD124757 and HD148734. These required extended viewing to catch an occasional split.

Also visited M57, M92, M53 and M64.

Mid-level cloud moved in again about 01:00, much as forecast.

[Zermelo]

The BBC says clear tonight, everyone else says no.  We know where that's going.

So the Mak isn't cooling tonight, these are instead.

[cloudsweeper]

6 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

The BBC says clear tonight, everyone else says no.  We know where that's going.

So the Mak isn't cooling tonight, these are instead.

Well Paul, I've got the right glasses, but nothing to put in them!!  ☹️

Doug.

[Zermelo]

1 minute ago, cloudsweeper said:

Well Paul, I've got the right glasses, but nothing to put in them!!  ☹️

Doug.

 

Impressive -  I don't have an Erdinger glass, the one in my picture gets called on for any wheat beer.

I need a larger glasses cabinet, but then I'd just get more glasses.  Sounds a bit like my eyepiece case.

[Captain Scarlet]

Just come in from a decent session with the 12”. Did a few usual suspects then a tour of NGCs mostly faint galaxies and some PNs a few degrees around Alphecca (Coma). Also first light for my Evoguide 50 deluxe finder which worked beautifully. Full report a more adventurous session-photo to follow tomorrow I hope.

Just winding down with a Franziskaner.

Magnus

[Froeng]

9 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

Well Paul, I've got the right glasses, but nothing to put in them!!  ☹️

Doug.

Are these made out of zerodur? And how do you collimate them?

[Mr Spock]

Sun is magical at the moment through the 4". Seeing is hit and miss, but when it sharpens... 

There's a couple of spots near the limb surrounded by a spider's web of faculae with a spaghetti lump on the limb. There's a group of dozens of spots near the centre. Two large and a small spot forming a triangle group on the other side with one of the larger spots having intricate detail.

[Xgaze]

Looking gloriously clear here, if a little hazy, hope that doesn't spoil the viewing. Haven’t been out for so long. Going to get setup soon and plan a browse of the southern sky.

Clear skies🤞

[Zermelo]

21 minutes ago, Xgaze said:

Looking gloriously clear here, if a little hazy, hope that doesn't spoil the viewing. Haven’t been out for so long. Going to get setup soon and plan a browse of the southern sky.

Clear skies🤞

Yes, the omens are good in the South West.
CO, Meteoblue, Metcheck, BBC, Nightshift and GoodToStargaze are all predicting some clear skies.
The moon is out of the way, and the seeing is forecast to be good.
Dew shouldn't be a problem, and it won't get too cold.

And it's not even a school night.