What did you see tonight?

[paulastro]

10 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Single shot with the D500 and Tak.

Nice one Mr Spock, excellent detail. Thanks for posting.

[paulastro]

May 26th/27th, 10.40pm to 00.50am, 8inch Starsense Dob, 17.5 and 12.5 Morpheae and x2 Celestron X-Cel LX barlow. 

I spent most most of the time on the Moon. An abundance of intricate lacework-like detail along most of the terminator. Montes Haenus and Caucasus were right on the terminator framing the W edges of M Serenitatis, with Eudoxus and Aristillius just to the N. Very striking.

With Julius Caesar on the terminator,  Rimae Ariadaeus, Treisnecher and Hyginus were very well placed. When the poor  seeing lessened its grip I could use a mag of x136 to good effect. 

The sky became increasingly hazy but I had time to observe a few more tolerant deep sky objects.  These included globulars M13, M92, M10, M12 and M5, and open clusters the ET/Owl and the Double Cluster. I couldn't resist  planetary M27, though it was extremely subdued in the haze and moonlight.  I put the Orion Ultrablock on the 17.5 and it really popped.  Better than I expected, and a suitable finale to a fine evening.

[Mr Spock]

With all the other things going on last night I forgot to mention I saw the supernova 👍 The 4" picked it up easily with just a faint smudge beside.

[Mr Spock]

Out now with the 12". There's a lot of tremor in the seeing, so not so good on the moon at x217. Same magnification isn't too bad on Venus with a mix of the variable polariser and 80A filter bringing out some detail.

[Ratlet]

52 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Out now with the 12". There's a lot of tremor in the seeing, so not so good on the moon at x217. Same magnification isn't too bad on Venus with a mix of the variable polariser and 80A filter bringing out some detail.

Much the same up here.  Not sure how much is the atmosphere and how much is the moon being above the house.

Had the 130pds and azgti out.  Might not get on with the goto, but the tracking is ace.

Going to leave it an hour and head back out when it's "dark".  Want to try and get the veil and the supernova.

[Mr Spock]

Called it a night. The moon has gone below some trees and there's too much high cloud for me to take pics of other stuff.

[Ratlet]

I've also thrown in the towel.  Clouds have started to roll in and struggling to see much at all the sky is so bright.

[Astro_Dad]

Only a brief session late afternoon and into the night yesterday with the new SS Dob - having my brother over reminded me how amazing a first view through a telescope was - we spent a long time on the moon from late daylight into the night- he was awestruck by the clarity of the craters and general features along the terminator, and later asked “What star is that?” pointing to Venus. Again was similarly inspired when saw through the ‘scope it was a crescent shaped planet - not a star. I imagine running outreach sessions would be a lot of fun !

[cloudsweeper]

Moon position better!  8.15pm Sunday - Moon (1 day past 1st qu,) better placed than recently, being further east, and somewhat lower.  Sun very low; lovely clear sky.  AR102S frac in use.  

Plato near terminator, Archimedes, Apennine Mountains.  Going in steps from x24 to x68, the two craters in Cassini's floor stood out.

x90 - good view, but poor contrast because of light.

8.35 - Alpine Valley sprang into view, x75.

8.55 - x60 - the view with the 10mm Hyperion was beautifully sharp.  Still a little yellow fringing.  x100, 120 - less sharp, less depth of focus.

x75, bit more mag with the 8mm Hyperion and 0.91deg of field..  Nicely framed, beautiful sharp view again.  Southern highlands good - packed with detail - the dark line of Rupes Recta, the floor of Clavius was dark except for the rims of its two largest craters which glowed like two silver rings.

9.25 - more fine detail, tiny craterlets/pits, a fine view before getting too bright.  x90 - still very good.  

9.40 - back to x100, sharper now - sadly, still no pits visible in Plato's floor.  More aperture would help.

9.50 - finished a very pleasing lunar session.  I do find that changing mag by small amounts gives noticeable nuances of view, and can highlight best views and limits for decent views.

Doug.

[John]

All lunar stuff so far this evening with my 100mm refractor at 225x and 257x.

Rima Birt below the Rupes Recta is showing nicely including it's elongated "tadpoles head" shaped basin at end of the rille and the pit at the other end (the Birt end)

The crater chain Catena Davy is also well defined crossing the Davy Y basin. The largest 3 craterlets in the chain (3km in diameter) are clear pits and the smaller ones show as a bright line joining those up.

I think, I'll have a look at the Hadley Rille next and see how much of it's length can be resolved.

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by John

[Stu]

Some good views this evening, although frustratingly the seeing had a kind of small high frequency wobble to it which took the edge off the detail a lot of the time. Was much better last night.

Anyway, I caught Hadley Rille coming and going in the seeing, have seen it better. Rupus Recta and Rima Birt looked great though, as John said, the head of Rima Birt was clear, plus the little crater nearby.

Plenty more to see. Proclus and Palus Somni looked pretty striking.

[Ratlet]

I was going to have a quick session tonight just because I've managed to get the moon for the past 3 nights.  That was an hour and a half ago.

Threw the dob at it and my 3-8mm zoom.  In the end I threw my BST 2x Barlow at it and it sat happily with x600 power!

Even though there was some persistent wispy high cloud it was incredible.  Craters on the fully illuminated side that felt like they were to size of pin heads and walls of craters that looked like layers on a vienetta ice cream.  Incredible.

[RobertI]

A quick dash out tonight with the 102EDR fitted with the new Starsense phone module. Despite a bright moon the Starsense app worked flawlessly, guiding me round some lovely doubles in Hercules. Starsense seems very good in these conditions, as star hopping is tricky under the bright moon especially with a RDF. Anyway, using a 17.5mm Morpheus at 40x, I bagged the following: 

• 100 Hercules - a pretty pair of equal magnitude white stars separated by 14”
• 95 Hercules - very similar to the above but slightly brighter and half the separation
• Alpha Hercules - lovely bright yellow primary with a magnitude 5 companion 5” away
• Delta Hercules - a bright primary with an tiny eighth magnitude secondary 12” away
• Rho Hercules - two fifth magnitude stars separated by 4”

I also managed to squeeze in a couple of carbon stars, but they were faint and underwhelming in the conditions. 
 

Edited May 28, 2023 by RobertI

[Mr Spock]

I was about to get the scope out but it clouded over again. Very frustrating.

[SwiMatt]

I can certainly not compete with many observations on here, but yesterday I went out with my binoculars in the not-quite-dark night and saw M13 for the first time. Considering that in my couple of months of observations so far I could only make out the "obvious" stuff like Beehive and Pleiades, this feels like a big step into something more!

I did not expect to see it, really, it wasn't even in the list of things I wanted to check out yesterday. But Hercules was high in the sky and I thought "why not?" and lo-and-behold, there it was. I made out the "spot" with direct vision, but used averted vision to confirm it was there, and it was absolutely an incredible feeling.

Sorry, I just wanted to share my noob excitement!!!

Edited May 29, 2023 by SwiMatt
typo

[John]

45 minutes ago, SwiMatt said:

I can certainly not compete with many observations on here, but yesterday I went out with my binoculars in the not-quite-dark night and saw M13 for the first time. Considering that in my couple of months of observations so far I could only make out the "obvious" stuff like Beehive and Pleiades, this feels like a big step into something more!

I did not expect to see it, really, it wasn't even in the list of things I wanted to check out yesterday. But Hercules was high in the sky and I thought "why not?" and lo-and-behold, there it was. I made out the "spot" with direct vision, but used averted vision to confirm it was there, and it was absolutely an incredible feeling.

Sorry, I just wanted to share my noob excitement!!!

Nice report - thanks for sharing !

In my experience those "I did not expect to see it, really..." moments are some of the very best in visual observing and the ones that stick longest in the memory 👍

[Merak]

Had a crack at taking some pics of the ISS a couple of nights back - only just got around to messing about with the images.      I reckon I can improve on this - just more practice and mucking about with settings!

Meade LX90 8"
ISO1250
1/1250s
Processed in digital photo pro.

[John]

This evening my 130mm refractor is giving lovely views of the moon at 400x and beyond 😁

I've been examining the Fra Mauro area and spotted the interesting crater pair of Fra Mauro H. These co-joined craters are around 5km in diameter and have a sharp narrow ridge separating them, which is well illuminated this evening. 

A great deal of other detail to be enjoyed as well 🙂

 

[John]

Another nice lunar feature spotted - the dome Kies Pi with it's pit on the top:

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by John
I before E in Kies :-)

[Stu]

Thanks for those @John. My seeing is not great tonight unfortunately, x208 is plenty here in the 128mm, a bit frustrating, the central pit on Kies Pi is pretty vague I must say.

Hortensius domes are looking good though, plus the various Hortensius craters, worth a look if you haven’t already.

[Mr Spock]

Just been looking with the 12". Seeing isn't so good here, everything is smeared and has a low level wobble. Occasionally the central crater in Plato stands out in etched relief, but it's only for a moment. Contrast is startling though.

Transparency is good though. Transparency and seeing seem to be the inverse here - when one is good, the other isn't 

[Stu]

1 minute ago, Mr Spock said:

Transparency is good though. Transparency and seeing seem to be the inverse here - when one is good, the other isn't 

Quite often the case I find.

[John]

26 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thanks for those @John. My seeing is not great tonight unfortunately, x208 is plenty here in the 128mm, a bit frustrating, the central pit on Kies Pi is pretty vague I must say.

Hortensius domes are looking good though, plus the various Hortensius craters, worth a look if you haven’t already.

Thanks Stu - I'll take a look at those.

My seeing is good here - 600x on Zeta Herc and the best split I've ever had of it by far !

Very similar to this sketch by John Nanson from 2014:

 

Some thin cloud and blustery wind gusts though so I have to wait for the moments of calm to get the best out of the scope.

I'm hoping to have a look at the M101 SN but it's right overhead and the 130mm is a long scope so some crouching will be inevitable - must mind my back ! 😬

 

 

[Stu]

16 minutes ago, John said:

Thanks Stu - I'll take a look at those.

My seeing is good here - 600x on Zeta Herc and the best split I've ever had of it by far !

Very similar to this sketch by John Nanson from 2014:

 

Some thin cloud and blustery wind gusts though so I have to wait for the moments of calm to get the best out of the scope.

I'm hoping to have a look at the M101 SN but it's right overhead and the 130mm is a long scope so some crouching will be inevitable - must mind my back ! 😬

 

 

Sounds great! Amazing how different it can be in the same county, albeit a big one! x200 was plenty here tonight so I’ve packed in.

I struggled with the SN for the same reasons, too much like gymnastics for my liking, probably easier with the 8” f8 despite the dob hole. Good luck 👍

[Ratlet]

Man alive I'm enjoying the moon.  Going to have to get that duplex book.  Seeing wasn't quite as good as yesterday at x200 but it was very enjoyable none the less.  Seems to be a bit less going on along the terminator today than yesterday, but it's surprising how much is still changing on the illuminated side.

Edit:  changed the image as the background was a weirdly glowly dark gray.

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Ratlet