What did you see tonight?

[bosun21]

5 hours ago, John said:

If my setup / take down times were more than a few minutes I doubt that I'd still be doing this hobby 🙄

For this exact reason I’m now looking to put together a quick grab and go set up for those quick stolen sessions between the clouds. My existing pair of scopes take a bit of time and effort to set up. I will go for a light Alt/Az mount and maybe my Starfield 102 or a smaller frac.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Last night Venus and the moon put on a nice sunset display. I took loads of pics with a DSLR and monopod but have yet to wade through them. A very pleasant evenin doing nothing much except enjoying the sunset, the aforementioned solar system delights and "The Bat" visiting every few minutes vacuuming the midges for me. 👍

Edited June 22, 2023 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Space Hopper]

On 18/06/2023 at 23:46, John said:

Yay !!!

Just managed to split Antares with my 100mm Tak at 225x. Did a little sketch and the position angle corresponds almost exactly with the Stella Doppie position angle. The separation is 2.62 arc seconds and the component magnitudes vastly different at .96 for Antares and 5.4 for the grey-greenish tinted companion star. Plus it's very low down from here. First time with 100mm of aperture. Very chuffed 🙂

Good, steady seeing currently, helps a lot with this sort of thing !

Well done on splitting this one 👏🏼

I've tried many times with it (and Sirius in the winter) but no luck.

I think in the Midlands Antares are just a bit too low to stand much chance.

[Paz]

I drove to the village hall for a quiet bit of lunar observing this evening, it was nice to get out and about. I took the C8, the scope that historically I have used the least but it's seen an increasing amount of action recently.

The moon was steady but a bit washed out with daylight. I noticed in Sky Safari that Venus was on the same declination as the moon  so it was easy to slide over and check out Venus. I saw some detail at about 200x with a nd1.8 filter, I think my eye/brain are at last tuning in to what is possible on Venus.

[John]

Out with my ED120 this evening. Seeing is OK but not as good as previous nights. I could not get a convincing split of Antares - too much unsteady air down that low. It has been a warmer day today so I think that is probably the cause. Zeta Herculis and Lambda Cygni were quite nice though, but they are significantly higher in the sky.

Over in Ursa Major supernova SN 2023xif was spotted gleaming on the edge of Messier 101 at magnitude 11.8 tonight I would say. Traces of the galactic core were also visible despite the twilight conditions.

The I went over to Camelopardalis and using the stars Pherkad and Kochab in Ursa Minor as pointers and then 5 and 4 Ursa Minoris as further stepping stones, I managed to find comet C/2023 E1 Atlas glowing faintly and forming a handy triangle with a couple of 6th magnitude stars. Some light still in the sky so I needed a little more magnification to tease the comet out in a definite manner. Not the most spectacular but it's my first sighting of this one so still nice to pick out 🙂

Shorts and t-shirt temperatures this evening here 🙂

[IB20]

A night of two crescents. Seeing is really quite wobbly but there were still splendid lunar views on offer, particularly around Fabricius (looking a bit like a clown’s face!) and the large gouge of Vallis Rheita.
 

Venus getting ever slimmer but its hard to make out any cloud or contrast detail as it loses altitude and heads towards the rooftops. 

Edited June 22, 2023 by IB20

[Marvin Jenkins]

21 hours ago, IB20 said:

A night of two crescents. Seeing is really quite wobbly but there were still splendid lunar views on offer, particularly around Fabricius (looking a bit like a clown’s face!) and the large gouge of Vallis Rheita.
 

Venus getting ever slimmer but its hard to make out any cloud or contrast detail as it loses altitude and heads towards the rooftops. 

I was going to mention my first little outing in months but you did all the writing and photography for me, thanks. I hope I don’t owe you anything for your effort😂

Edited June 23, 2023 by Marvin Jenkins
Missed a word ‘in’ months

[Andy ES]

Nice cool moon and Venus in the garden while tending my crops ( tomatoes).

Also big thing we will see tomorrow night!

 

[Stu]

Had the big Tak out last night, lovely views of the crescent Moon. Couldn’t get Venus from the position I was set up in though.

On the Moon, highlights were Messier and Messier A (as posted elsewhere), Posidonius crater and Rimae Posidonius, the central two peaks in Theophilus were just illuminated which looked cool. Further down we had Vallis Rhieita and also Rimae Janssen.

Plenty more on show, and I took the opportunity to get used to my new Duplex Moon Atlas which was a Father’s Day present. Really pleased with it 👍

[Stu]

On 22/06/2023 at 23:59, IB20 said:

A night of two crescents. Seeing is really quite wobbly but there were still splendid lunar views on offer, particularly around Fabricius (looking a bit like a clown’s face!) and the large gouge of Vallis Rheita.
 

Venus getting ever slimmer but its hard to make out any cloud or contrast detail as it loses altitude and heads towards the rooftops. 

Snap 👍

[Froeng]

Venus and the moon both look like you are observing under water tonight...

[cloudsweeper]

Not so much what I saw, rather what I saw it with.

6.00pm Saturday - couldn't resist the waxing crescent Moon, even thought the sky was bright, so I set up the lovely big 127L frac and the observing chair.

Theophilus et al were clear near the terminator, with a bit more detail at x100.  The pairs and line of small craters between Catherina and the faint Beaumont looked nice, being lit only on their western rims.

Time to compare views with different EPs.

The 20/100 Myriad  (x60) gave a lot of Ring of Fire at the prevailing light.  Not a great view.

The 20/82 Meade UWA was better, but the best view by far was from the 17.5/76 Morpheus (x69) - over 1 deg TFOV (less than the others mentioned), giving nice framing.  Detail was better than at x120 when I suppose some dimming would be taking place.  The Morpheus just gave what I can only describe as a nice, easy view, perhaps due to the 76deg AFOV being slightly easier on the eye than the higher values?

Later, the Moon had slipped behind trees, so I was pleased with the chance to make this comparison.

Doug.

 

[John]

Antares split with my 100mm refractor at 225x. Seeing not as steady as last time. Secondary star seen briefly but consistently during moments when the seeing settles then it merges with Antares diffraction effects during the less steady periods, which it has to be said outnumber the brief steady ones this evening🙄

I tried a couple of ND type filters which helped get a steadier view of Antares but the secondary star could not be seen with those.

A pretty challenging double star !

[John]

Also tonight, a rather neglected planetary nebula in Hercules - NGC 6210, The Turtle Nebula. Small so it needs 100x or more to clearly differentiate it from the stars in the same field. Pale blue tone perhaps ? Planetary nebulae like this make good targets in the summer skies even if the sky is not completely dark.

Nice piece from Stewart Moore on the British Astronomical Association website on this object:

v132i02ja (1) (britastro.org)

Here is the Deep Sky Corner page which shows how to find it:

Turtle Nebula (NGC 6210) | Deep⋆Sky Corner (deepskycorner.ch)

Edited June 24, 2023 by John

[StarDuke82]

No observing for me tonight one of my RJ12 cords snapped last night and I can’t get my telescope to track properly, 😭but last night before catastrophe struck I had a wonderful time testing out my new Baader UHC Ultra L Booster filter after I spent some time looking at the Moon and Venus  I began to test the filter by viewing the Catseye Nebula, then the Iris Nebula, then I waited a few hours and I viewed the Dumbbell Nebula and capped of the night with the Ring nebula which at 1:42am was near Zenith my cord snapped around 12:00am and my tracking was drifting badly by the time I found the Ring Nebula by the go-to getting close and then manually guiding the scope on target. Hopefully I won’t be down long and can get back out with my scope very soon 🤞🏻

Edited June 25, 2023 by StarDuke82

[Froeng]

After the “under water” moon and Venus last night, I slept through my planned Jupiter session this morning😴. Alarm clock was turned down in volume 😖Woke up at 4.30 and couldn’t see the giant anywhere. So, back to bed again…

[Stu]

I did some more lunar last night. Highlights were Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catarina, plus the illumination of Aristoteles and Eudoxus. These two were right on the terminator with very stark shadows cast.

Plenty more on show of course, though the seeing was t as good as the previous night.

[russ]

17 minutes ago, Stu said:

I did some more lunar last night. Highlights were Theophilus, Cyrillus and Catarina, plus the illumination of Aristoteles and Eudoxus. These two were right on the terminator with very stark shadows cast.

Plenty more on show of course, though the seeing was t as good as the previous night.

I did a good hour of lunar last night. Got 5 mossie bites to show for it. Moon was stunning last night and night before. Detail incredible and holding good magnification too. Pushed the little Starwave 70 to 250x and the 150 achro to 300x. A real treat. 

Also surprisingly good was Venus. I normally take a 60 second look at Venus and then move on. But it was so crisp, its crescent phase just snapped to focus and atmospheric conditions were favourable. Both scopes gave a great view. 

Then back up at 2:45am for Saturn, which was epic in both scopes again. Banding in the 150 was mesmerising. Using the DeLite 7mm was a dream view.

Wasn't expecting it but caught Jupiter in the dawn sky. Had to use the little Starwave 70 as couldn't move the 150 to a good position. Starwave nailed it though. 

Epic night. Mossies aside, I love summer viewing. 

[John]

38 minutes ago, russ said:

...... Had to use the little Starwave 70 as couldn't move the 150 to a good position. Starwave nailed it though......

 

I got one of the Starwave 70 ED's a few months back as a travel scope. I've not been that impressed by small aperture refractors that I've owned in the past but the Starwave 70 has changed my mind on such scopes. It really is a surprisingly capable observing tool 🙂

 

[JeremyS]

3 hours ago, John said:

I got one of the Starwave 70 ED's a few months back as a travel scope. I've not been that impressed by small aperture refractors that I've owned in the past but the Starwave 70 has changed my mind on such scopes. It really is a surprisingly capable observing tool 🙂

 

Better not try a Tak FOA 60Q then, John! 🤣

[Guest]

Last night was the first really decent night we have had in a long time and I spent it doing outreach with the club.   We started with Venus, its good it has phases or it would have no redeaming value at all.  Mars was small but i was just able to give the group of 30 people a glimpse of the polar ice caps.  I took a few minutes, gave the collimation a tweak and waiting about 15 minutes to let it get darker and then grabbed The Ring Nebula, Hercules Cluster, the Dumbell Nebula the moon and M81 and 82.  It was about 11pm and we were about to wrap stuff up.  I decided to go back to M13 one more time before we called it a night.  The 14mm 82 degree eyepiece went in and i centered the target, taking just a minute to enjoy the view before the group went through one last time.  Dew was an issue but the heaters did their job.  All in all it was a satisfying night even though i didnt actually get to do much looking.  

Edited June 26, 2023 by Mike Q

[Epick Crom]

It's been two straight weeks of clouds and rain here in Perth, so it was great to finally get a clear night last night.

I observed the waxing crescent Moon, Venus, Mars, M7, NGC 6388, IC 4651, NGC 6397 and NGC 6352. Also nabbed a new double star to me, 7 Leonis!

It was great to be back out observing 🙂

[John]

2 hours ago, Mike Q said:

Last night was the first really decent night we have had in a long time and I spent it doing outreach with the club........  All in all it was a satisfying night even though i didnt actually get to do much looking.  

That is the thing about outreach events - often your own observing has to take a back seat !

It's good fun though and the reaction of others seeing stuff, probably for the first time, is really rewarding 🙂

[John]

4 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Better not try a Tak FOA 60Q then, John! 🤣

No need Jeremy 😉

 

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, John said:

That is the thing about outreach events - often your own observing has to take a back seat !

It's good fun though and the reaction of others seeing stuff, probably for the first time, is really rewarding 🙂

Its always good to get a Oh wow from someone, makes it worth it.