What did you see tonight?

[Stu]

Sorry to be spamming the thread….

Cloud stopped play on M81 and 82.

I caught M11 just as a fuzzy patch, no stars resolved as it needs higher power and more aperture. M27 was a clear oval glow though, and I think I also spotted M57 as a slightly fuzzy star in the right place.

NGC457 showed its ‘eyes’ clearly, and averted vision showed the body. The DC was fairly unimpressive, not so many stars although again, averted vision began to fill it out a bit.

Lastly Kemble’s Cascade was beginning to show well. Perfectly framed in the fov, and the double in NGC 1502 split beautifully.

Amazing just how much you can see in a pair of binos, whilst the stabilisation really increases the amount you can see with only 50mm objectives.

[The60mmKid]

I enjoyed this year's first view of the Double Cluster. Welcome back, old friend! Observing it felt bittersweet, though. I'm so happy to see it, but it makes me miss the darker skies I used to enjoy.

[SwiMatt]

Skies here are still quite lit even in the middle of the night, but last night the cat didn't let me sleep until past midnight, so I looked out and saw Arcturus in the sky (and even that was hard to see with the naked eye, due to it being summer, light pollution and street lights below). I haven't used my telescope since I got it, so I thought that at least I had a chance to point it at a star. I didn't get out on the balcony for fear of waking up my partner so I set it up behind the window, thinking of it as an "exercise". Because the view from my window is limited, the only thing I could attempt to do was splitting Izar, which I know is difficult, but why not try? 

I find it easily and start working on magnification. From 60x to 100x one starts to see some orange tone popping out, and there is little change moving up to 150x. But I start observing some "oval" shape to the star and I'm unsure whether it's just that I cannot reach focus or whether it's the double that starts showing but doesn't split. I try with the barlow to crank the magnification up to 200x and 300x (this last one is well beyond the capability of my Mak 127) but still: all I get is an orange, unfocused elongated object. No split.

But I'm happy as is. I look around for other things (M3 is theoretically in the field of view of my window) but even stars are difficult to spot in these conditions. I go back bed, happy that I could at least manage this little observation!

 

Edited July 15, 2023 by SwiMatt

[Epick Crom]

16 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

Skies here are still quite lit even in the middle of the night, but last night the cat didn't let me sleep until past midnight, so I looked out and saw Arcturus in the sky (and even that was hard to see with the naked eye, due to it being summer, light pollution and street lights below). I haven't used my telescope since I got it, so I thought that at least I had a chance to point it at a star. I didn't get out on the balcony for fear of waking up my partner so I set it up behind the window, thinking of it as an "exercise". Because the view from my window is limited, the only thing I could attempt to do was splitting Izar, which I know is difficult, but why not try? 

I find it easily and start working on magnification. From 60x to 100x one starts to see some orange tone popping out, and there is little change moving up to 150x. But I start observing some "oval" shape to the star and I'm unsure whether it's just that I cannot reach focus or whether it's the double that starts showing but doesn't split. I try with the barlow to crank the magnification up to 200x and 300x (this last one is well beyond the capability of my Mak 127) but still: all I get is an orange, unfocused elongated object. No split.

But I'm happy as is. I look around for other things (M3 is theoretically in the field of view of my window) but even stars are difficult to spot in these conditions. I go back bed, happy that I could at least manage this little observation!

 

Good job, it's the little observing victories that count!

[Epick Crom]

Just came in after trying out my new Wratten 23a red colour filter on Venus using my APM 9mm eyepiece and 10 inch dob. Wow, I'm impressed! Subtle shadings in the Venusian clouds popped out better, and it's glare was cut nicely. Interesting seeing Venus in red light. 

This is my first foray into colour planetary filters, after this satisfactory performance from the red filter, I've gone ahead and ordered the green, yellow, blue and orange Wratten filters. I think I've been converted!

 

Clear Skies

Joe

Edited July 17, 2023 by Epick Crom

[bosun21]

12 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Just came in after trying out my new Wratten 23a red colour filter on Venus using my APM 9mm eyepiece and 10 inch dob. Wow, I'm impressed! Subtle shadings in the Venusian clouds popped out better, and it's glare was cut nicely. Interesting seeing Venus in red light. 

This is my first foray into colour planetary filters, after this satisfactory performance from the red filter, I've gone ahead and ordered the green, yellow, blue and orange Wratten filters. I think I've been converted!

 

Clear Skies

Joe

Funny you should say that as I tried my wratten #82a light blue on Venus as well, and I was that impressed I bought all of them. The #23a you used is actually light red and the #25 is red. I’m looking forward to trying them out with the return of the planetary season. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.

[Epick Crom]

G'day bosun21! 

I decided to try #23a light red first incase #25 red was too dark. Well my fears have been allayed so I will also order #25 red now. 

#82a light blue is among the ones I ordered, nice to hear you are getting good results with it! Yeah it's impressive hey, can't wait to try them on the Moon and planets. Even though Mars is tiny currently at 4", the #23a improved that too!

[Ratlet]

The apps said no and so did the met, but it looked clear enough.  Not the best session but managed to split Zeta Lyra. 

There was some thin high cloud which washed everything out of the already somewhat illuminated darkness at 56 degrees North.

The dew was horrific and ultimately stopped play long enough (whilst I gently held a hand warmer to the secondary to clear it) for the cloud to roll in.

I think I should have taken the binos out again.  Still it was nice to get the dob out.  Gave me chance to get used to using the magnet as a counterbalance.

[PeterC65]

I've not been out properly observing since mid May on account of the lighter nights and my need for sleep, but last night, while waiting for the cat to make an appearance before we retired to bed, I finally got to see the Milky Way.

I'd just stepped outside and spotted the Summer Triangle overhead, looking very clear, then after a few minutes of getting dark adapted, the fuzz of the Milky Way appeared from just to the left of Denib to just above Altair, with the brightest part just to the right of Sadir. I checked with Stellarium which confirmed the shape and position so it was definitely not clouds.

There was cloud and light pollution nearer the horizon so I couldn't see the brighter central part of our galaxy, but it was great to see some of it with just the naked eye and from home.

 

[josefk]

Picked up Venus tonight in the pale blue sky - a few minutes later (than 20:15 BST) and I would have missed it. Just less than 10-degrees altitude so boiling a little but what a wonderful thin crescent it is now. Less than 10% illuminated. Unfortunately I got a bit greedy attempting to “cloud hop” to Mercury which should have been just about 4 or 5 degrees to the North north west but couldn’t find it and then couldn’t re-find Venus afterwards - I think it must have been sinking it into the glare along the horizon and quicker than I had anticipated. Still a charming few minutes with a planet that has been brilliant these past few weeks. 

[RobertI]

Scudding clouds and so-so conditions called for something a little different tonight. Out came the 2x constellation binoculars and SkySafari. I spent a pleasant 30 minutes re-acquainting myself with the some of the dimmer constellations such as Vulpecula and Equuleus, and the less familiar constellation shapes such as Sagittarius, Capricornus and Aquarius. Spotted a few interesting open clusters along the way, despite the poor conditions. 🙂

[Gonariu]

I bought used a Skywatcher Maksutov 90/1250 with I saw the moon thise last nights. I am amazed for the contrast of this scope putting X208 (6mm Plossl) and X250 (5 mm orthoscopic) too. Of pure curiosity I put X313 (4 mm Vixen LV) but the image started to become poor, there was the mistral wind. Day before yesterday Montes Carpathi were very beatiful to X250, one could perhaps glimpse some very small craters inside Clavius. Yesterday to X250 one saw well  Gassendi whom I noticed a rima to left. There wasn't wind, this time X313 gave a good image. I Observed Saturn too to X250, but it was disappoint, the ring was little open and on its disc I didn't see anything. I'm curious of observing Jupiter with this scope.

Edited July 29, 2023 by Gonariu

[Froeng]

A quick test of my new 72mm Plössl in the C8 tonight. “A 72mm Plössl?” you ask, “what is that useful for?”

just for fun really. It is 2” and about 45deg fov. Interestingly the “field stop” is not working as intended as the clear aperture of my 2” diagonal (and probably the C8’s baffle tube) restrict the view further to about 35+ deg.

Nonetheless , the view is sharp. I will need to get a soft eyecup printed - the measured distance between the top of the eyepiece and my glasses is about 43mm!

The purpose of this eyepiece is to create a maximum exit pupil (without the 6.3 reducer) of 7.2mm, which should be useful under dark skies…

I bought this quite cheaply from the States (shipping was the same as the eyepiece!) at Surplus Shed, a very interesting and friendly shop.

I also almost got blown over by the wind, so left it at the quick test.

[JeremyS]

1 minute ago, Froeng said:

A quick test of my new 72mm Plössl in the C8 tonight. “A 72mm Plössl?” you ask, “what is that useful for?”

just for fun really. It is 2” and about 45deg fov. Interestingly the “field stop” is not working as intended as the clear aperture of my 2” diagonal (and probably the C8’s baffle tube) restrict the view further to about 35+ deg.

Nonetheless , the view is sharp. I will need to get a soft eyecup printed - the measured distance between the top of the eyepiece and my glasses is about 43mm!

The purpose of this eyepiece is to create a maximum exit pupil (without the 6.3 reducer) of 7.2mm, which should be useful under dark skies…

I bought this quite cheaply from the States (shipping was the same as the eyepiece!) at Surplus Shed, a very interesting and friendly shop.

I also almost got blown over by the wind, so left it at the quick test.

I need to change my glasses. I thought I read 72mm 🤣

Any pics?

[Froeng]

it is quite a humble little piece. Also no lens edge blackening and the coatings are not multicoloured. But hey - for less than 40USD I won’t complain 🙂

 

[Ratlet]

On holiday in Aviemore and as a last-minute effort I chucked the ST80 that has been languishing, unloved since the start of the year, over shadowed by the dob.

This is the first refractor I've looked through in a decade.

In terms of observing it was a bit of a bust.  Setup the azgti the wrong way round.  The focuser is, to be frank, awful.  However the image was phenomenally sharp.  Albireo was phenomenal.

This is going to do nothing to help with the number of times I go the Starfield 102 site on flo.

[Ratlet]

I should have gone to bed...

An impromptu BBQ at a friedns filled me with melancholy as the skies were pretty poor but the cold chased us inside and by the time we had walked home I was greeted with the familiar horizon spanning field of stars.  The only thing affecting the view was 7 cans of hazy IPA.

I risked setting up the ST80 and azgti in manual mode.  I had already managed to set off the car alarm and didn't want to risk the coffee grinder slews of the azgti and trialled M13.  The view was probably on bar with my first observation last year with the 130pds.  Better than nothing but making me long for the dob. 

M31 was similar: a fuzzy blob and not much else.  Perhaps I could see a satellite galaxy, perhaps it was brewdog.  

A bit 'nor good but good enough' alignment got me on m57 and despite the lack of detail, I was still happy with it.  This was the first time in months that the sky has been clear enough and big enough and dark enough that I've felt familiar and been able to eyeball the scope with an red dot.

I decided to check round the side of the house and clocking a lone bright dot I didn't need skysafari to know what was there.  The 32mm plossl showed a bright oblong.  I skipped the 12mm BST and went for the 3-8mm svbony.  I went for broke and wrapped it right up to 3mm.

Saturn in all its glory.  The angle isn't the best and a 400mm focal length scope isn't going to show much of detail but man I've missed the planets.  The seeing was great (considering the equipment) and it looked almost like a star trek badge. Bloody marvelous.

The weather has been dire for so long but it's amazing how quickly you forget about the gaps in observing and focus on the observing.  I just wish I had thrown the observing chair in the car.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Ratlet

[wesdon1]

On 28/07/2023 at 00:33, RobertI said:

Scudding clouds and so-so conditions called for something a little different tonight. Out came the 2x constellation binoculars and SkySafari. I spent a pleasant 30 minutes re-acquainting myself with the some of the dimmer constellations such as Vulpecula and Equuleus, and the less familiar constellation shapes such as Sagittarius, Capricornus and Aquarius. Spotted a few interesting open clusters along the way, despite the poor conditions. 🙂

@RobertI May I ask, Rob, are you a school teacher or university professor? The reason I ask is you dealt with the weather problem so constructively and positively, unlike myself ( I'm a builder! LOL ) who just starts whining and complaining! LOL.

I've wanted to buy Bino's for a while, so after reading this i'm going to finally take the plunge! Thanks Rob!

[RobertI]

4 hours ago, wesdon1 said:

@RobertI May I ask, Rob, are you a school teacher or university professor? The reason I ask is you dealt with the weather problem so constructively and positively, unlike myself ( I'm a builder! LOL ) who just starts whining and complaining! LOL.

I've wanted to buy Bino's for a while, so after reading this i'm going to finally take the plunge! Thanks Rob!

Thank you for your kind words, I wish I had the dedication of a school teacher or the intellect of a university professor! I do have some patience though and that helps. 🙂 I’m so glad you are taking the plunge with binoculars, get a good pair and you will have an observing companion for life. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by RobertI

[Ratlet]

4 hours ago, wesdon1 said:

@RobertI May I ask, Rob, are you a school teacher or university professor? The reason I ask is you dealt with the weather problem so constructively and positively, unlike myself ( I'm a builder! LOL ) who just starts whining and complaining! LOL.

I've wanted to buy Bino's for a while, so after reading this i'm going to finally take the plunge! Thanks Rob!

Constellation binos are the dogs danglies.  It's like having bionic eyes.  They're not something you would use every night, but they're one of those things that you'll be glad you had if you had them.

[SwiMatt]

My cat woke me up at what I believe was the only moment last night without full cloud cover. I'm so desperate for some views that a few days ago I set up my telescope by the window just in case some stars were visible when waking up (but the environment out of the window is quite lit, so it feels like a fool's errand).

I barely had the time to point at Mizar and Alcor (only thing visible in the lit backyard) and then when I wanted to try for Hercules the clouds came back to cover the whole sky. The whole "session" left me more frustrated than anything else... 

I can't wait for summer to be over and take my time to stay out for a real session!

[wesdon1]

11 hours ago, RobertI said:

Thank you for your kind words, I wish I had the dedication of a school teacher or the intellect of a university professor! I do have some patience though and that helps. 🙂 I’m so glad you are taking the plunge with binoculars, get a good pair and you will have an observing companion for life. 

@RobertI You're most welcome Rob. 

Yes after reading your comments, it finally convinced me that Bino's deserve their place alongside all my other gear. I'd hesitated for some time thinking the money was better spent on some other astro related gadget, but your comments finally convinced me they have many more uses than I thought. Thanks again Rob! I'll go for a pair of Celestron 20x70's, or similar. If you think that's a poor choice then please let me know thanks Rob!

[wesdon1]

10 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Constellation binos are the dogs danglies.  It's like having bionic eyes.  They're not something you would use every night, but they're one of those things that you'll be glad you had if you had them.

@Ratlet Thanks for the heads up Ratlet! I will check them out! 

I also thought, after reading @RobertI comments, that I could use Bino's to scan and learn more of the night sky while sat outside with my rig imaging. 

[wesdon1]

3 hours ago, SwiMatt said:

My cat woke me up at what I believe was the only moment last night without full cloud cover. I'm so desperate for some views that a few days ago I set up my telescope by the window just in case some stars were visible when waking up (but the environment out of the window is quite lit, so it feels like a fool's errand).

I barely had the time to point at Mizar and Alcor (only thing visible in the lit backyard) and then when I wanted to try for Hercules the clouds came back to cover the whole sky. The whole "session" left me more frustrated than anything else... 

I can't wait for summer to be over and take my time to stay out for a real session!

@SwiMatt My friend, over here in UK, we've had nothing but rain and clouds since late June! So I truly understand your frustration about the weather over in Sweden. I am guessing you are also having to deal with much less dark nights, being even further north than UK? 

Edited August 4, 2023 by wesdon1
grammatical error

[bosun21]

If you are going to buy Celestron binoculars then get the pro version. They are far superior to the standard models. I’ve recently bought a pair of Helios Apollo 15x70 but due to the incessant cloud cover I haven’t managed to use them yet.