What did you see tonight?

[John]

2 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

.....The Jet stream is clear tonight but the stars were twinkling earlier which isn’t a good sign. It sure is cold here 🥶

 

 

Same here and why I was a bit puzzled by the poor seeing 🤔

Cold here as well 🙄

 

[IB20]

The dob is out again but seeing isn’t great. Occasionally I can see some slight grey bruising on the underside of the NEB boundary. Have to be quite patient for the pockets of better seeing and it’s quite cold for that; all the neighbours’ chimneys are on currently so may be more local than atmospheric.

[Froeng]

10 minutes ago, Froeng said:

Seeing is good here. Three white ovals and the GRS appearing the equatorial belt. There is an odd dark spot next to the middle oval. Anyone seeing this also?

Correction! What I thought was the GRS was only a thickening of the equatorial belt. It remains interesting…

[Froeng]

Now some clouds have appeared out of nowhere. Going inside for a break…

result for now:

Edited November 30, 2023 by Froeng

[JeremyS]

I have done a couple of hours of variable star photometry in the dome and noticed how poor the seeing was. Quite challenging to actually focus the camera

Of course, it’s not good with the Mewlon on Jupiter. What a pity. I’ve been enjoying watching the GRS start its transit. The Leica Zoom is helpful for adjusting the magnification to suit conditions, but I’m having to hold it back this evening.

Edited November 30, 2023 by JeremyS

[SwiMatt]

Just finished a short and cold session searching for the open clusters in the Auriga. I only found (and sketched) M36, the whole constellation was very washed out by the Moon, but it was a lovely moment, in the snow

[Froeng]

The seeing here is still decent!

[Saganite]

Well, although Jupiter is much higher now the seeing has improved very little, but even at 85x I can just about see the GRS.  Neptune I can detect no colour, Uranus is showing at least, a soft disc of grey, and Saturn is, unmistakably Saturn, but no Cassini and nothing else, so I think I will watch Masterchef and hope Orion will have some delights for me, later.......

Edited November 30, 2023 by Saganite

[JeremyS]

29 minutes ago, Saganite said:

so I think I will watch Masterchef and hope Orion will have some delights for me, later.......

Don’t you mean Onion 🧅, Steve? 🤔

Edited November 30, 2023 by JeremyS

[jjohnson3803]

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Checked the Met Office app and they're forecasting more rain this evening, so am back indoors with the log burner🔥and a cuppa.

Sounds like an excellent back-up plan.

[Stu]

Cloudy here, but not too cold so not observing for me unfortunately. Sounds like the seeing is fairly rough but with the odd exception. Enjoy anyone who has good conditions 👍

[Saganite]

The seeing continues to improve little by little, and I can see a really dark elongated oval feature in front of the GRS that I have not seen before.  

[John]

It's been really mixed here. Some glorious moments, lots of clouds (a proper invasion now !), short wind gusts and quite a bit of seeing unsteadiness as well.

In the good moments Jupiter looks superb with so much detail it's difficult to take it in. Then there is a wobble and it's as if a wet sponge has been wiped across the planet, smearing the details. Then some cloud cover and then a brief few seconds of brilliant stuff again.

All this to take in while your warmth gradually seeps into the night air. And yet we stick at it !!! 😁

"You don't have to be mad to be a visual astronomer in the winter ....... but it does help !" 🤪

Edited November 30, 2023 by John

[IB20]

8 minutes ago, Saganite said:

The seeing continues to improve little by little, and I can see a really dark elongated oval feature in front of the GRS that I have not seen before.  

I see that too, a darker brown barge or elongated oval. There seems to be a lighter shell surrounding the GRS, I’m not sure I’ve seen it so noticeable before - perhaps an effect of the GRS receding in size? The south temperate belt is very noticeable too, again more pronounced than I’ve seen before.

[Froeng]

Jupiter disappeared behind the house, so that was it for today. Everything is inside and thawing! I just realised I must have seen the "Oval BA" or "Red Spot Jr.", as described in here: Atmosphere of Jupiter - Wikipedia

Fascinating stuff! Everyone who has some more good seeing tonight - enjoy while it lasts!

[F15Rules]

47 minutes ago, Saganite said:

The seeing continues to improve little by little, and I can see a really dark elongated oval feature in front of the GRS that I have not seen before.  

You're not drinking red wine at the moment are you Steve?🙂🙃😉

Dave

Edited November 30, 2023 by F15Rules

[John]

Clouded out here so I've bought things inside.

Probably for the best - the good stuff was getting very elusive and the cold was starting to bite 😬

 

 

[Captain Scarlet]

Tonight was Astronomy night for our fledging astro group. I took two scopes, my LZOS 105 on eqm-35, and my Skymax180 on skytee2. One other member brought his own scope, a 130p on eq3. About 8 turned up, but didn’t last long once outside as it was a bitter -2 and a 15mph unsheltered north-easterly. We all got to see Jupiter and Saturn through all 3 scopes though.

It was the first time I’ve had the Skymax 180 out for more than a year, perhaps even two. But tonight on Jupiter it was tantalizingly very very good indeed, GRS clearly on show with its change of SEB shade fore and aft, sitting within what I too saw as a pale surrounding ring; but I could only sit and look for brief moments before guiding the rest of the group. Lovely scope, I’ve missed it.

[Paz]

I went out for an hour tonight, with the SM125, binoviewers, and SLVs at about 169x, observing Jupiter initially. The seeing was mostly poor with but with good moments.

I then looked for Uranus and somehow it took me a long time to find it.

I then went back to Jupiter about 50 minutes after I first looked earlier. It was much better but still variable seeing. I got some very good views and a yellow filter beat no filter for showing details. The GRS was well past centre by now but was much clearer.

It was cold out but after years of gradual improvements I'm happy with my cold weather gear. I use Sorel boots with added sheepskin insoles and heat holder socks, and coming in after an hour my feet were cooking in their own heat because it can't get out! The same with my hands using Scott mitts.

[John]

6 minutes ago, Paz said:

...It was cold out but after years of gradual improvements I'm happy with my cold weather gear. I use Sorel boots with added sheepskin insoles and heat holder socks, and coming in after an hour my feet were cooking in their own heat because it can't get out! The same with my hands using Scott mitts.

There's another nice potential niche for FLO - tried and tested astronomy observing clobber ! 🙂

Edited November 30, 2023 by John

[John]

8 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

....but I could only sit and look for brief moments before guiding the rest of the group......

 

That is a challenge when doing outreach or leading a session - you don't get much time to observe yourself 🙄

Good for you and your accomplices for turning out though 🙂

[josefk]

Fabulous session last - a "best yet" Jupiter in the little GnG. Such a shame it was a school-night and i had had early evening plans because in my location it felt like it would have seriously rewarded a long session with bigger kit. Never-mind ~21:00 till 23:30 it was super enjoyable nonetheless both for the astro and for being out on such a lovely crips atmospheric evening.

I mainly watched the GRS transit the middle quarter/third over a period of about 90 mins. Great detail for a small scope, seeing felt very steady in deed for quite extended moments. Sketched over here: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/416550-jupiter-grs-transit-in-the-frost-301123/#comment-4437018

 

[Nikolai De Silva]

9 hours ago, Captain Scarlet said:

One other member brought his own scope, a 130p on eq3.

Was the 130p good? Because I have a Starquest 130p, haven't used long yet. Need to know just how it is. For what it is good for?

Hoping for a response😁

Nikolai.

[johnturley]

Had one of my best recent views of Jupiter between 9 and 10 pm last night, and was one of the relatively rare occasions when I could see more detail on the Jovian disc through the 14in Newtonian than the Esprit 150, the Great Red Spot being clearly visible through both instruments. My Neodymium filter helped with the view through the 14in, in particular reducing the glare from the very bright disc, which tends to mask out some of the surface detail. I really should have attempted some imaging with my ZWO ASI 462 through the 14in, but it was that bl**dy cold at -3 degrees, plus it started to cloud over at 10 pm. 

I was also able to compare the view with that through the recently acquired Tak 100 DZ, which put on quite a respectable display, and the GRS could just be made out, although to be honest it was some way behind the other instruments. However the difficulty in achieving precise focus with the standard Tak focuser put it at a disadvantage, and I'm going to get either a micro focuser (Tak or More Blue), or a Baader Helical Eyepiece focuser.

I've also rigged up my Skywatcher AZ-EQ5 mount in AZ mode so that I can mount both my Tak 100DZ, and my ES 127 simultaneously, and do a more detailed comparison between these two instruments. I am however finding that the tracking with the AZ-EQ5 is very poor in AZ mode, and I suspect that it is only moving the scope in Azimuth, unlike the Celestron CPC mounts, is anybody familiar with this mount.

John 

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by johnturley

[Mutley]

1 hour ago, johnturley said:

I suspect that it is only moving the scope in Azimuth, unlike the Celestron CPC mounts,

With my EQ6 there is an option under the utility menu to display actual motor position rather than RA/Dec or alt/az. If you also have this option on the az-eq5, it should give you an idea of what the mount is doing.

It's under Utility -> Show Position -> AX1/AX2 option 

(Assuming you're using a handset )

Edited December 1, 2023 by Mutley