What did you see tonight?

[Captain Scarlet]

5 hours ago, Nikolai De Silva said:

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.

It is a good scope, all the more so because on my advice he upgraded his eyepieces to BST Starguiders. The mount he has with it is not good though, especially as he has wrestled it into as close to alt-az mode as he can by tilting the RA axis as far over as it will go. With the counterweights consequently tangled up in the tripod, he was changing azimuth for different targets by picking up the tripod and re-placing it! There was only so far I could go in giving there-and-then advice without becoming a bore. Herewith the perils of a beginner being given an eq mount. Luckily his enthusiasm remains undiminished and for now I’ll lend him my stellarvue M-2 mount, far more intuitive.

Others were in fact impressed by the views of Jupiter through his scope. I was even more impressed when, after everyone else had been driven away by the cold, we discovered he had had his lens-cap aperture-mask on the whole time 🤣🤣. Again luckily, he saw the funny side to it. His wife, who was there with us for a time, apparently still hasn’t stopped laughing.

Anyway, yes the scope is remarkably good, but it needs decent eyepieces and a more sturdy mount than the eq-2.

Magnus

[johnturley]

1 hour ago, Mutley said:

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 )

Yes, the AZ-EQ5 does have this function, though not sure whether it will help with the tracking.

John 

[Nikolai De Silva]

Thanks @Captain Scarlet for your advice. Very helpful!!

[Mutley]

46 minutes ago, johnturley said:

Yes, the AZ-EQ5 does have this function, though not sure whether it will help with the tracking.

John 

No, it won't fix the tracking. But it will tell you if it's just tracking in azimuth, like you suspect . Knowledge is power 

[SwiMatt]

Just went out for a short session, with good transparency but abysmal seeing. Jupiter showed basically no detail except two bands getting in and out. 

So I sketched Andromeda, because why not but with -13°C outside I'll just keep going in and out of the house!

[JeremyS]

Taking Dizzy for a spin tonight (FC 100DZ)

[John]

I've chosen the ED120 (un-named) this evening and it's eyeing Saturn already 🙂

 

[John]

The seeing seems better than it was same time last night, judging by the views of Saturn at 225x and 300x. 

[andrew63]

I just saw a meteor under Pegasus, possibly an Andromedid.

[IB20]

I am under a blanket of cloud, sadly. 

[Franklin]

Just back in from an hour with the ED102S F9. Saturn was showing well earlier with a hint of a white equatorial belt, shadow from the rings on the globe and shadow from the globe on the rings, CD just visible at the edges. Jupiter was excellent at around 200x, the GRS had just left the meridian and the Io shadow transit had begun. Some darker patches on the NEB and also above in the N Temperate area (zone/belt?). Hoping to get out later to carry on where I left off last night on the Moon but there appears to be a freezing fog descending, should still be able to follow Jupiter through the haze as it culminates.

[SwiMatt]

Second session (and possibly last for tonight, since it's so cold outside): clouds are covering part of the sky but I managed to catch and sketch M13 between the trees and M15 between the clouds. I was beyond excited

I tried some views of Jupiter again, but this seeing is terrible. No details at all...

[PeterStudz]

Just come in after having a look at the Io shadow transit. Seeing rather naff but I could easily see the shadow, GRS and banding, but sadly not much detail. Best at around x170. Will give it another go later.

[John]

39 minutes ago, Franklin said:

....there appears to be a freezing fog descending.....

Yes, I have that as well. Jupiter seems to be just above it, Saturn though, more or less a lost cause now.

Being close to the estuary we do get these fogs that rise up from the river (Severn) even though our house is 300ft above sea level 🤨

When I can hear the fog horns sounding in Avonmouth docks I know that my observing is soon going to be cut short 🙄

[JeremyS]

Been in the dome since 17.15, -2C. Seeing not as bad as last night, but not the best.

Come in to warm up, before venturing outside for some visual observing 

[PeterStudz]

Better now. I can make out some “knots” in the NEB plus a couple of Blue Patches leading off into festoons. There’s also a strong thin band along the top of the S. Temperate Belt. 

[JeremyS]

2 hours ago, John said:

I've chosen the ED120 (un-named) this evening 

Are you open to suggestions, John?

[Froeng]

The C8 had been chilling outside since 4pm this afternoon. When I finished work at 6.30, the previously blue sky was just a grey mush of dampness…

[johnturley]

Had an excellent view of the end of the Io shadow transit, conditions were not as steady as late last night, but not bad, although the Esprit 150 was giving a slightly better view than the 14in Newtonian. I was fortunate in so much that it didn't cloud over until the end of the transit.

John 

Edited December 1, 2023 by johnturley

[Froeng]

Has anyone seen any Andromedids tonight?

https://britastro.org/section_news_item/the-return-of-a-lost-meteor-shower

[johnturley]

4 minutes ago, Froeng said:

Has anyone seen any Andromedids tonight?

https://britastro.org/section_news_item/the-return-of-a-lost-meteor-shower

Looked up for a few minutes while I was observing Jupiter, but didn't spot anything, apparently they are only expecting at best a ZHR of around 200 meteors per hour (about twice the rate of the Perseids and the Geminids), not the meteor storm that some were predicting. 

John

Edited December 1, 2023 by johnturley

[JeremyS]

Seeing has settled down a bit now and getting some good views of Jupiter. The SvBony zoom is doing rather well 

[Stu]

Talking of names, I’ve had Geoffrey and Basil out this evening 😉, although not had long at either eyepiece. I just caught the end of the shadow transit with the FC-100DC but wasn’t getting too much detail. I somewhat optimistically put the 8” f8 out to see how it compared. The seeing is quite variable, so I was getting moments when it was sharp and showed a fair amount, but lots of less good views too. As you would expect, it shows more detail when the seeing settles, but you have to wait longer for those good moments to arrive.

[John]

I've packed in for tonight. There are still a few patches of clear sky around but mostly I'm surrounded by banks of freezing fog. Some pleasant views of Jupiter and the moon as it is rising but the seeing is not too good now even in the clear patches.

Hope others get a longer session 🙂

Edited December 1, 2023 by John

[IB20]

4 hours ago, John said:

I've chosen the ED120 (un-named) this evening and it's eyeing Saturn already 🙂

 

EDith?