What did you see tonight?

[Pixies]

Seeing OK here but not outstanding. At least unexpected clear skies! Looks like those down south had more stable conditions:

 

 

Theta Aurigae was just split, the dim secondary popping in and out of view. Iota Cas was OK but not the usual 3 pin-pricks. Almach was as lovely as ever, though.

I spent some time on the moon, after everyone had been raving. Tried for the rille in Vallis Alpes, but nothing. However, I think I found Danger Mouse in Mare Humorum! Quick phone snap at EP:

 

 

[catburglar]

Had a pretty good night here in North Wales...best seeing for months. The previous two evenings have been cut short because of dew on the corrector of my SCT so I spent an hour or so today insulating it, and it seems to have worked a treat. I've only turned now in because there's sooo  much dew on the scope and laptop that something will spark if I stay out any longer...but my corrector is still clear!

Seems like my targets were similar to many posting here tonight:

I started off at Ceres currently in Taurus on my way to the moon (I think I went the long way around 😉 )- nothing much to see.

I managed 4 Plato craterlets (counting the pair as one only until I can split them) convincingly, with another two if I'm being easy on myself. Plato rilles, Alpine Valley- with the central rille, Hipalus and Doppelmeyer.

Then on to some multiple stars - Sigma Orionis, Castor- I love this one- It's an easy split at low magnification and the stars are just so well defined with no seeing related shimmer at all- I'm sure I can see the spherical nature of them the view is so steady. Wasat, Rigel and Trapezium- I could see F but not E tonight.

And then onto the nights big challenge- Sirius and the pup. The first time I've been able to split this - used an 18mm ortho at about 138x mag. I used a polarising filter to reduce the glare from Sirius but it still allowed the pup to show through- it made the split seem almost trivial and I'm not sure why I've never tried it before. Having seen it with the 18mm  and the filter I was tempted to try and find the minimum mag that would split it- 100x with the 25mm plossl and I think it was still there, but 78x with a 32mm was not quite enough mag.

 

 

[John]

10 minutes ago, catburglar said:

Had a pretty good night here in North Wales...best seeing for months. The previous two evenings have been cut short because of dew on the corrector of my SCT so I spent an hour or so today insulating it, and it seems to have worked a treat. I've only turned now in because there's sooo  much dew on the scope and laptop that something will spark if I stay out any longer...but my corrector is still clear!

Seems like my targets were similar to many posting here tonight:

I started off at Ceres currently in Taurus on my way to the moon (I think I went the long way around 😉 )- nothing much to see.

I managed 4 Plato craterlets (counting the pair as one only until I can split them) convincingly, with another two if I'm being easy on myself. Plato rilles, Alpine Valley- with the central rille, Hipalus and Doppelmeyer.

Then on to some multiple stars - Sigma Orionis, Castor- I love this one- It's an easy split at low magnification and the stars are just so well defined with no seeing related shimmer at all- I'm sure I can see the spherical nature of them the view is so steady. Wasat, Rigel and Trapezium- I could see F but not E tonight.

And then onto the nights big challenge- Sirius and the pup. The first time I've been able to split this - used an 18mm ortho at about 138x mag. I used a polarising filter to reduce the glare from Sirius but it still allowed the pup to show through- it made the split seem almost trivial and I'm not sure why I've never tried it before. Having seen it with the 18mm  and the filter I was tempted to try and find the minimum mag that would split it- 100x with the 25mm plossl and I think it was still there, but 78x with a 32mm was not quite enough mag.

 

 

That is a really amazing result on Sirius 😀

I've never been able to get the split with less than 225x and much more usually 250x - 280x is required even with my 12 inch dobsonian. I've found filters simply reduce the glimmer of the Pup star to the point where it no longer shines through the glare from Sirius A.

Your SCT must be in really excellent shape and your skies (and eye) right on the nail tonight - congratulations !

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by John

[SuburbanMak]

Packed up now as the fog rolled in - 5 hours late thank goodness as that was a truly memorable session. Thanks @Nik271 for the tips on the G-domes & rilles in Gassendi - the moon was as several have said mesmerising in its detail but I often find there’s so much to see so it’s great to get tips on what’s showing well tonight. 

 Couldn’t resist going back to the doubles and among many memorable views I got the best split of Tegmine I’ve had - rock steady trio with a defined black line between the close pair. This is right on theoretical limit of the Mak 127’s (121 in reality) performance at around 1” separation. Best view with a 15mm TV Plossl Barlowed to 6.67mm giving 224x . Chuffed! 

Finished on one my all time fave’s Algeiba, looking in the gathering mist halo for all the world like a pair of golden owl’s eyes peering back at me. Time to thaw out - TGIF. 
 

Edited January 14, 2022 by SuburbanMak

[catburglar]

19 minutes ago, John said:

That is a really amazing result on Sirius 😀

I've never been able to get the split with less than 225x and much more usually 250x - 280x is required even with my 12 inch dobsonian. I've found filters simply reduce the glimmer of the Pup star to the point where it no longer shines through the glare from Sirius A.

Your SCT must be in really excellent shape and your skies (and eye) right on the nail tonight - congratulations !

 

To say I was surprised is an understatement...I've always approached it with a "get as much magnification as the seeing allows" mentality...and I usually start with a 10mm for 250x...But usually I just get a bigger view of the atmospheric dispersion that comes with observing at approx 20 degrees of altitude.

I'm not sure where I'd read about the use of filters, but I thought I'd give it a go tonight, so I popped it in and had a look- it was quite a modest reduction in brightness but definitely tightened up the image of the primary. I kept seeing something that looked like it might be the pup, but was in the "wrong PA" . I'd rotated the diagonal so I could get a comfier position to observe from and I'd become confused with the orientation of the field. So I put it back into the vertical position so I was getting a laterally inverted view again, and blow me if it wasn't in the right place after all. It was sometimes obscured by the scintillation of the primary, but it was definitely visible in the steadier moments. I didn't try it with the 10mm and the filter but I think I might next time.

But- just thinking a bit more- the mag is probably a bit more than 138x- I've got the electronic focuser, filter wheel and diagonal hanging off the visual back- so quite a lot of back focus...I've not done the maths, but in this configuration with the primary mirror moved closer to the secondary the effective focal length is probably a fair bit longer than the specced 2500mm...

Still- I'm chuffed- a bit like when I saw the whole of the veil nebula in and 80mm frac... I've just had a little tot of whisky to warm myself up before I head off to bed. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by catburglar
Added comment re backfocus

[John]

I've tried filters and occulting bars over the past decade but eventually found that good seeing, lots of trying and around 260x with a low light scatter eyepiece eventually enabled me to spot the Pup star glimmering, on and off, faintly through the glare halo from Sirus. That glare can often extend outward from Sirius A for 20 arc seconds of more so, with an 11 arc second split, the Pup star has to be spotted through that. I would never call it an easy target though even after having observed it quite often over a few years. It's a very hard thing to see IMHO, even with the wider split today than when I first went for it.

It's worth doing a sketch so that you can check the position angle and other field star positions, just to be sure.

This is an excellent article on spotting Sirius B and seems to match with the experiences that I have had trying to do it:

https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/how-to-observe-sirius-b/

 

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by John

[John]

Here is another good article:

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/sirius-b-a-new-pup-in-my-life/

[Stardaze]

8 hours ago, John said:

Here is another good article:

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/sirius-b-a-new-pup-in-my-life/

I’ll fess up having read that, I’m now not certain that I saw the pup. I could have sworn I saw it pop out a couple of times, but looking at positioning, it should have been somewhere around 4 o’clock in my dob but I was studying around 8 o’clock position as per a picture I saw (I don’t think I flipped it) schoolboy error 😂

What moon books are worth buying? I was going to buy the moon atlas from the classifieds recently but no response. I only have a little beginners guide.

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Stardaze

[JDF]

2 hours ago, Stardaze said:

.

What moon books are worth buying? I was going to buy the moon atlas from the classifieds recently but no response. I only have a little beginners guide.

 

I have Moongazing,Beginners Guide to Exploring the moon on Kindle, it's a great resource, the moon is broken down into 16 sections with maps and plates etc.

[Nik271]

9 hours ago, John said:

I've tried filters and occulting bars over the past decade but eventually found that good seeing, lots of trying and around 260x with a low light scatter eyepiece eventually enabled me to spot the Pup star glimmering, on and off, faintly through the glare halo from Sirus. That glare can often extend outward from Sirius A for 20 arc seconds of more so, with an 11 arc second split, the Pup star has to be spotted through that. I would never call it an easy target though even after having observed it quite often over a few years. It's a very hard thing to see IMHO, even with the wider split today than when I first went for it.

This has been my experience too, the Pup appears briefly next to the glare of Sirus in moments of good seeing. I managed to see it again last night - just  a couple of brief glimpses during 20 mins of looking. My problem is that there are many of houses and a road just south of my garden, so in winter the heat plumes from them create a mess at low altitude. 

Last night I split Eta Geminorum (Propus). The separation is 1.7'' , position is west of the primary and with big magnitude difference. (3.5 and 6.1). Used x300 with Skymax 180. This is one of Burnham's discoveries, so quite pleased to manage one more from his catalogue. The separation was smaller when Burnham discovered it in 1880s and keeps increasing. The orbit is somewhat uncertain, I've seen at least two different plots, with periods 400 years and 1000 years. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Nik271

[Stardaze]

1 hour ago, JDF said:

I have Moongazing,Beginners Guide to Exploring the moon on Kindle, it's a great resource, the moon is broken down into 16 sections with maps and plates etc.

That's the little book I've been using too. 

[Nik271]

Just watching the sunlight starting to touch the floor of Schickard, if you can take a look, from now on until about 10pm the whole crater will gradually get illuminated.

[JDF]

Way to much cloud here to do anything other than a quick look at the moon, Gassendi and Aristarchus off the list, probably leave the moon now until it's waning.

Hopefully get some clear skies over the weekend to look at some doubles.

[johninderby]

Fog, fog and more fog. Can’t see across the street let alone the moon or anything else.😢

[John]

My first target with the 130mm refractor tonight was 7 Tauri, inspired by @Nik271's post here:

Good result from the 5.1 inch refractor I thought. Tough way to start a session though

[Zermelo]

Seems all clear here.

7 Tauri at 0.8" will be too much (or little) for the Skymax, but I might see if I can at least get an oval out of it.

[Xgaze]

2 hours ago, Nik271 said:

Just watching the sunlight starting to touch the floor of Schickard, if you can take a look, from now on until about 10pm the whole crater will gradually get illuminated.

Was just looking at this also; the small triangular shaped sunlight starting to stretch out between shadows on Wargentin next to Schickard.

Stunningly crisp in my 150 Dob using 8mm BST E.P.

[Stu]

Looking grand 👍

[Stu]

16 minutes ago, Xgaze said:

Wargentin next to Schickard.

Isn’t Wargentin still beyond the terminator? I can see Naysmyth next to Schickard.

[HollyHound]

Fog cleared here almost as soon as it got dark, so I've had a most enjoyable two hours, almost exclusively looking at the moon, with a tiny diversion onto M42 and Rigel.

This is the first time I've had the FC-100DZ and Mewlon 180C together, and also I've moved the AZ100 onto the iOptron Tri Pier (so freeing the Uni 28 for the Vixen GP which I haven't yet used very much!). This combination is absolutely rock solid, even pressing my eye fully onto eyepieces and focussing or moving the slow motion controls... barely registers any adverse movement on the scopes 👍

Was comparing the moon between the two scopes and of course the DZ cooled much more quickly, to give lovely sharp, contrasty and white views (zero colour anywhere except from the atmosphere on low down stars). Mewlon took well over an hour before the "boiling" view settled (I think actually it's still cooling even now). Pentax XWs in both scopes... XW14 to 3.5 for the DZ and the Mewlon is equipped with a pair of XW20s in the binoviewer.

Just a joy, the longest I've spent just cruising around on the moon, just stopping at objects of interest and comparing the views... I'd have to say there's not a lot in it really, but there's a tiny bit more detail on the Mewlon, which could due to the super relaxed view through the XWs on the binoviewer (need to check this on the DZ sometime). I even popped the Vuxen HR 2.0 and 1.6 (their first light) and gobsmacked how much detail is still coming through on the DZ... this is a seriously impressive lunar scope 😀

Checked out Rigel and even though still a bit low and not ideal conditions perhaps, the DZ split it easily with an XW7 (I think 🤔), although there was some colour visible (low and atmosphere).

Had a quick look at M42... Trapezium lovely in both, some nebulosity visible in the DZ (but hampered by the moon) and this is where the Mewlon shone through, showing plenty of nebulosity (even without averted vision). Surprisingly I'm really enjoying the binoviewer for this kind of viewing too, so just left that on the Mewlon throughout.

Finally my fingers where starting to go quite numb (note to self to locate suitable gloves for observing) so have popped back indoors to warm up and have some food... planning to pop out a bit later and do a little more, but really happy to get these two scopes out together and finally have a really really good go on the moon 😁

Edited January 22, 2022 by HollyHound

[HollyHound]

19 minutes ago, Stu said:

Looking grand 👍

These mirror (no pun intended) my views through the Mewlon (and DZ) so far this evening.... lovely indeed, thanks 👍

Edited January 14, 2022 by HollyHound

[Xgaze]

14 minutes ago, Stu said:

Isn’t Wargentin still beyond the terminator? I can see Naysmyth next to Schickard.

ooh, perhaps you're right!

Thanks Stu!

I'm very new to this (and astronomy in general!) so much to learn - so exciting!

[Mr Spock]

I'm taking the night off. Three in a row has made my back a bit stiff and sore. No need to push it too far 

[Stu]

23 minutes ago, Xgaze said:

ooh, perhaps you're right!

Thanks Stu!

I'm very new to this (and astronomy in general!) so much to learn - so exciting!

We all learn things all the time, even us old timers!

Here are some charts of the area which might help.

[Stu]

35 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Fog cleared here almost as soon as it got dark, so I've had a most enjoyable two hours, almost exclusively looking at the moon, with a tiny diversion onto M42 and Rigel.

This is the first time I've had the FC-100DC and Mewlon 180C together, and also I've moved the AZ100 onto the iOptron Tri Pier (so freeing the Uni 28 for the Vixen GP which I haven't yet used very much!). This combination is absolutely rock solid, even pressing my eye fully onto eyepieces and focussing or moving the slow motion controls... barely registers any adverse movement on the scopes 👍

Was comparing the moon between the two scopes and of course the FC-100DZ cooled much more quickly, to give lovely sharp, contrasty and white views (zero colour anywhere except from the atmosphere on low down stars). Mewlon took well over an hour before the "boiling" view settled (I think actually it's still cooling even now). Pentax XWs in both scopes... XW14 to 3.5 for the DZ and the Mewlon is equipped with a pair of XW20s in the binoviewer.

Just a joy, the longest I've spent just cruising around on the moon, just stopping at objects of interest and comparing the views... I'd have to say there's not a lot in it really, but there's a tiny bit more detail on the Mewlon, which could due to the super relaxed view through the XWs on the binoviewer (need to check this on the DZ sometime). I even popped the Vuxen HR 2.0 and 1.6 (their first light) and gobsmacked how much detail is still coming through on the DZ... this is a seriously impressive lunar scope 😀

Checked out Rigel and even though still a bit low and not ideal conditions perhaps, the DZ split it easily with an XW7 (I think 🤔), although there was some colour visible (low and atmosphere).

Had a quick look at M42... Trapezium lovely in both, some nebulosity visible in the DZ (but hampered by the moon) and this is where the Mewlon shone through, showing plenty of nebulosity (even without averted vision). Surprisingly I'm really enjoying the binoviewer for this kind of viewing too, so just left that on the Mewlon throughout.

Finally my fingers where starting to go quite numb (note to self to locate suitable gloves for observing) so have popped back indoors to warm up and have some food... planning to pop out a bit later and do a little more, but really happy to get these two scopes out together and finally have a really really good go on the moon 😁

Sounds excellent Gary. I enjoyed my Mewlon 210, but it did take some cooling, despite the open front!

The Taks really are amazing lunar scopes for their aperture, wonderful views. I’ve been doing the same, just surfing around the Moon, mainly the terminator, identifying things as I go.

I’m really enjoying my new XWs too. It’s funny, the other night I was heading out to observe, and thinking I was ‘stuck’ with my little Ortho set for high power. I completely forgot the four XWs sitting in their case! The 5mm in particular is proving a great option for a range of observing.