What did you see tonight?

[SuburbanMak]

16 hours ago, Stu said:

I was about to post an audacious claim to have seen Mercury through my scope at only 2.5 degrees above the horizon, from my garden.

My doubts crept in when I saw that Mercury had, in fact, developed a beautiful ring system, very much like Satu…… DOH! 🤣🤣

I made a similar observation a couple of nights ago and after a time was surprised to note that “Mercury” had flashing red & green wingtip lights… 

[Kon]

After the rain we had earlier, the moon looked great tonight, really stable. I spent a good 1hr looking around and swapping EPs from low to high mag.

[cajen2]

9 minutes ago, Kon said:

After the rain we had earlier, the moon looked great tonight, really stable. I spent a good 1hr looking around and swapping EPs from low to high mag.

Yes, saw the moon looking clear through the window, rushed the scope outside and saw a bank of cloud approaching.... Some hurried views using my Hyperflex Zoom to see which mag looked best tonight, then my Pentax XW 14, followed by my BST 8mm. All were superb, even though the poor scope hardly had time to cool. One of the advantages of a Flextube...

By this time, the cloud was there, so a quick swivel to M42 and then back in. Hoping for more clear sky later (after the football)!😄

[John]

It's decently clear again tonight. E & F Trapezium are showing quite nicely with my 120mm refractor at 112x. Comet C/2019 L2 Atlas is also showing quite well up in Gemini, close the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower.

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by John

[mdstuart]

Yes very good transparency tonight John. I was looking at galaxies in Lynx.

Mark

[Stu]

More views through the FC76DCU with and without CQ Extender tonight which I will post about separately. I managed to find C/2019 L3 Atlas in Gemini tonight, one I was fully expecting to fail on. It was a fairly straightforward hop from Tau Geminorum using SkySafari. I found it in the 24mm Pan, quite faint but definitely there, and more obvious with the 12.5mm Morpheus. SkySafari says mag 12.1 which I’m sure is way too faint, anyone have an accurate figure?

I also caught the Eskimo nebula. Pretty tiny in this scope but quite obvious in the Morpheus. Showing a brighter centre with halo, all but disappearing with direct vision and popping into view with AV when I looked at nearby HD59087.

Two nice ones. Have had a long day today, up to Surrey and back so wasn’t expecting to observe at all.

Obviously the Moon looked great earlier too 👍

[John]

Good stability as well tonight. Got some regular glimpses of the Pup star with the 120 a short while ago.

As well as Comet Atlas I found comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko again in Cancer. A little fainter than Atlas I thought.

Nice night but a gusty wind would have played havoc with my 12 inch dob so I'm glad I chose to use a refractor tonight.

 

[SuburbanMak]

Headed out to the South Downs tonight. Seeing pretty good but a biting, steady wind didn’t support the list I had in mind. Hunted long and in vain for M76.  If I found that I’d planned to look for M77 & M74 but transparency was quite nasty lower down to SW so abandoned that idea. 
Might have seen M79, just, need to  check the charts.
Nice look at M41. Sirius was stable and got fleeting hints of the Pup between gusts.

Orion neb spectacular as always, played with OIII & UHC filters but concluded I prefer the view with the lighter Neodymium filter. 
Wind dropped a bit after midnight but as it did so mist started to roll in from the Solent. Packed up with numb fingers and rounded off with a 10x50 cluster tour lying back on the car bonnet.
Still, nice to be out under the stars… 

EDIT: Forgot to add I took a second look at M1 at the start of the session, still a grey oval this time bouncing about in the wind, but right where it should be  

Edited January 9, 2022 by SuburbanMak

[DhamR]

Spent a bit of time on Andromeda last night after a bit of moongazing which was great at 75x.

Re andromeda, could just about make out a dark band in the lower right portion, so stuck the camera on the scope to confirm my eyes weren't making it up. 

The attached shows pretty much what I thought I could see, plus a bit more. 

Then had a look at Orion's Nebula, split the trap quite easily and just tried to make out as much as I could outside of the central band of green. The dark shadow of the centre had some detail in it, but trying to follow it out wasn't doing anything sadly. 

Usual stop at Plieades for some twinkles, and then indoors to finish off watching Don't Look Up. 

[DhamR]

The moon's made a daylight appearance just now, and in a break through the cloud got a lovely view along the terminator. 

[Alex_]

39 minutes ago, DhamR said:

The moon's made a daylight appearance just now, and in a break through the cloud got a lovely view along the terminator. 

Just managed to catch a glimpse from the spare bedroom with my 3 year old. His “woah” was worth it!

[LaurenceT]

I managed to get a 20 minute window this evening while cooking dinner when the clouds disappeared over Surrey.

My Maksutov 127 was installed on my new AZ5 mount but the important factor was the first outing of the Baader neodymium filter my children bought me for Christmas.

What a revelation, 25mm BST eyepiece with an X-Cel 2x Barlow with the new filter, details of the lunar surface leapt out at me like never before, vary bright, probably too bright , so next time I'll use a variable neutral density filter.

Can't wait for my replacement AZ GTI to arrive and get that planetary camera out of the cupboard!

[Stu]

I saw @GavStar on the telly! Looking a little surprised here, but the boy did good 👍

[Saganite]

The forecast did not look promising this evening so I put the tripod out rather than use my pier, for what I assumed would be a quick look at the Moon. The atmosphere was not very stable but 60x was enough for an enjoyable 75 minutes before the clouds arrived. A break for a light meal and by 8pm the sky was clear and looked pretty good. The Moon was now taking 120x and so another 30 minutes passed. The seeing however was not as good as the 4th Jan because unlike that evening I could not get the  E&F stars and nor could I glimpse Sirius B, so back to Lunar.

This telescope, newly refurbished , has yet to have a long session because I have been unable to reach focus with my trusty binos until this evening, but the mods I have carried out worked and all is good.

A star test on Capella just before I finished at 10pm, gave a near perfect diffraction pattern, so I know for sure that the lens, made 50 odd years ago by AE Ltd  is a good 'un !!

[LaurenceT]

15 minutes ago, Stu said:

I saw @GavStar on the telly! Looking a little surprised here, but the boy did good 👍

What programme was that?

[Stu]

31 minutes ago, LaurenceT said:

What programme was that?

Sky at night which was on BBC Four at 10pm tonight, link here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0013c9c

[JDF]

Got an hour on the Lunar 100 last night, 150x with the Baader 10mm ortho provided the best views

[Mr Spock]

Moon is looking terrific. I have the 102 out cooling, so not at its best yet, but, Clavius has perfect illumination. The central peak of Rutherford is like a little point of light in the darkness.

 

[Mr Spock]

I'm no astro-photographer, but here's a single shot through the 102mm.

[Mr Spock]

It's a shame I can't convey how sharp the moon is through that little scope with an image. I've just been scanning the terminator at x200 and despite wobbly seeing it looks amazing. What a great hobby!

[JDF]

Had a half hour tonight, Rupus Altai and surrounding craters ticked off the list, 150x again was best, the 7mm Celestron x-cel at 214x isn't just as sharp.

The moon is stunning tonight 🙂

[Kon]

Star testing my 200P after my first ever collimation. Everything looked good. Then a look at the moon. Wow super sharp! The craters were showing nice features and the shadows were nicely distinguished. I think my collimation went well. This is an unprocessed image through the eyepiece.

 

[Mr Spock]

Seeing's going a bit now, plus my drive battery needs a recharge. I did manage to glimpse the pup at x202 before I finished. Nice to end on a good one.

[John]

E & F Trap, the Pup, Rimae Birt, The Hell H crater chain and Catena Davy, a couple of comets and assorted other gems. All with my 100mm refractor.

 

[Epick Crom]

Last night I was observing the waxing gibbous moon. Got my best ever views of the Apennine mountains using a very high magnification of 686x! Mt Huygens was a standout, I could clearly see it individually and it looked incredible. I could see it's height and long shadow. Sent shivers down my spine 🤯