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What did you see tonight?

Ags

By Ags
in Observing - Reports

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Davesellars

Davesellars

Posted
Posted

Had 15 minutes on Jupiter with the 12" dob before it dropped behind the rooftop. (fortunately, that house is not occupied most of the time and doesn't produce much disturbance)  At 150x the colour of the bands really stood out with excellent clarity.  At 214x with the Pentax XW 7mm it was still pretty rock solid steady but the colour was now somewhat diminished although still the brown bands showing well with a reasonable amount detail in the lower (dob view) band.

Came back in for dinner.  Once we've got the kids sorted out for bed it's looking good for a session viewing the moon later!

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fwm891
fwm891

I had a go at the Crab nebula tonight 15x 300s OO VX10 f4.8 ASI2600MC Duo ASKar Ha/OIII 6nm NB filter... Cropped down just to make processing a bit faster!  

F15Rules
F15Rules

Hi Stu (and all), Sorry not to have done what Stu requested and I said I would do as above. It's been a tough week, especially for my dear wife. Her mum was desperately ill and we visited he

Epick Crom
Epick Crom

Hi all. I pulled over on the side of the road on my way from work last night, doing long haulage truck driving. A long 1,200km round trip. I was 500km from Perth, in the middle of our West Austra

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PeterStudz

PeterStudz

Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, Kon said:

Moon is looking even sharper tonight. No light haze as last night.

Yes, similar experience for me. I had a brief session last night, although after a hard day flocking I was tired and more concerned about testing and just seeing if everything was still OK. 

Been observing this evening and the moon does look great. Now in for dinner, back out soon :)

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tombardier

tombardier

Posted
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For me, the moon is exceptional tonight. Lots of time spent on Sinus Iridium and Gassendi. No idea what magnification, as I've been looking through my 254mm newt and Denkmeier Binotron on the high magnification setting, and 32mm Denkmeier plossls. 

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Kon

Kon

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@Nik271thanks for the tips earlier. The seeing is super good tonight that with my 6.7mm and 2x barlow I just managed to see the Gassendi rilles; nice fine lines within the crater. The more I observed, more little craters within were appearing. Gruithuisen domes looked great, and I agree they have a mushroom like appearance (a bit like the Nintendo Mario houses). Schiller is showing some interesting features around it as well.

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Alan White

Alan White

Posted
Posted (edited)

First light for the WO binoviewer and for the 26mm Astro Essentials Plossl pair as well.

All I can say is, I managed to get focus, merge images and then Lunar Observe.
I then had to collect my socks from across the road after they blew off!!
Amazed what a change it makes to a familiar target, very 3 dimmensional, easier on the eyes and more detail observed. AMAZING.... should have done this years ago.

I pondered this for a very longtime, asked questions of seasoned Binoviewer users and then took the plunge.

The Astro Essential 26mm Plossl were very good indeed, in fact stunning for the money.
 

Edited by Alan White
typos of course
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Stu

Stu

Posted
Posted

The Tak is out, but seeing a lot more variable tonight. Still plenty of moments of clarity though. 3 Plato craterlets (effectively 4 as two are close together), and very strong hints of the Alpine Rille; a broken white line showing when the seeing stills. Won’t do much tonight, but will pop out again before bed.

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Stardaze

Stardaze

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Just had an impromptu couple of hours. It’s still clear out there now. The forecast was total cloud so certainly not complaining.

Predominately spent time on the moon, not something I’ve really bothered with before as it hasn’t really floated my boat, but quite enjoyed it for a change. Pretty steady tonight, improving even more towards the end and so my highest mag (254x) was good later on. Had a hunt around Plato and was quite taken with montes Jura area. Also foundThor’s hammer as John mentioned yesterday. I could see it but for the first time, could have done with a bit more mag. Gassendi looked really striking and found a little stick man that now looks to be montes raphaeus? I have no idea, but it was a nice change. 
 

Had a dabble with Sigma Orionis and found all 4; E & F stars were the best I’ve seen at such high mag and briefly saw the pup too, so not a bad couple of hours with the XW 5.

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IB20

IB20

Posted
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Spent most of the tonight’s session in Orion again with the 76DC. Rigel split easily with the 7XW, always worth a visit. Betelguese’s colouration was mesmerising, a perfect deep gold disc with such tight diffraction rings. Sigma Orionis showing four brilliant stars. Visited M42 numerous times and tried to spot the E & F stars with mags ranging from 81-178x but couldn’t tease anything out. A-D stars were showing beautifully at 32x & above however.

Did leave Orion to gawp at the Christmas tree cluster, beehive cluster and after some star hopping, found the faint Eskimo nebula. Pretty washed out from the moon’s brightness but certainly visible. No doubt a good target for my dob next time I tear myself away from the Tak. Tried for comet 67P but again foiled by the moon I think.

Bashing my head against a brick wall I went for Sirius again, a relatively still night but chimney trails were making it dance and weave.

To finish the night I returned to M42, with the 7XW I could detect a really faint pinprick of light to the left middle between the A & D stars of the trapezium. Checking SkySafari the star was Struve 748, is this the E star?

The contrast and control in the Tak 76DC is mind bogglingly good. I’m falling more in love with it with each use - I’m finding I’m spending hours on very few targets. I didn’t even look at the moon tonight 🤣

 

 

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SuburbanMak

SuburbanMak

Posted
Posted (edited)

Stunning seeing down in Winchester & no sign of the forecast fog - a big haul of doubles in Orion & region with the highlights so far Eta Orionis at 1.7”, Theta Aurigae giving up its secrets and 32 Eridani a golden & green jewel. 
De-icing (mainly me) and heading out to spend some time looking at the moon’s amazing detail under silly magnification. 

Edited by SuburbanMak
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vineyard

vineyard

Posted
Posted

Done for the night.  Amazing.  Mostly the moon - imaging earlier, and then BV, and then monocular w Nag zoom.  The details & subtleties are mesmerising.  Pushed it to 600x (!) for kicks & it was steady as you like.  I preferred it at 300x best I reckon (at 600x the focus needs to be bang on, and was only using single-speed focuser).  M42 - E & F as well.  No chance of Sirius/Pup - low above roofs, loads of atmospheric dispersion I reckon (blue one side, red the other)?  Played averted vision games around M42.  Thought of printing off a sheet of double stars, but feet were freezing.  All packed away but a v nice last few days & nights.  Enjoy all those still out there.

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