What did you see tonight?

[John]

21 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Had a look at the Southerly pole of the moon. I’m amazed at how good it looks in the Tak, the undulations, hills, cliff faces, recesses, valleys and features present with such definition, they are truly striking. Almost feels like I could walk along them. Two features stood out marked on the 2nd image. Any lunar experts help identify them as I’m struggling to find out what they’re called?

Was extremely cold out so had a quick look at M42; sure I could see the E star pop out on occasion but it wasn’t as easy as a few nights ago. Back inside now 🥶🧊.

I'm not a lunar expert but I think the humps and bumps are the Leibnitz Mountains and the crater is Hausen. But wait for someone who really knows their lunar features to confirm (or otherwise) this !

Thanks for the "heads up" on this region - I'm looking at it now with my Tak 100

Edited January 17, 2022 by John

[SuburbanMak]

More Orion Doubles tonight. Seeing good, slight slow swimming - not quite Thursday. 
Rigel, Sigma, Iota (superb star field), Eta all warming up to try something at the limit of the Mak 127. 
Spent quite a while trying to split 55 Orion, before remembering the correct 0.99” star is 52 Ori! 
Was seeing this as notched at 224x (TV 15mm Plossl, 2.25 Barlow) and deeply notched at 341x (10mm BCO, 2.25 Barlow). A thin-waisted peanut swimming slightly in the seeing - one to come back to on the next perfect night. 
Looked at 32 Ori which is just below the res limit for the Mak and could see notched at the highest Mag as above. 
Finished with a couple of Carbon stars - BL & W Ori. W in particular is a beautiful ruby red. 
Lovely out there in the moonlight. 

[HollyHound]

Clear again, so just did a couple of hours out… but this time with the little FS-60CB (sans extender). Forgotten how amazing this scope really is 😀

A few craters on the very edge of the moon were a good test for the Vixen HR2.0 and 1.6, still giving great detail at 177x and 222x, and CA only when not quite I’m focus.

The Masuyama 26 works perfectly as a wide field “finder” eyepiece and matches the XWs both for balance and focus. Also tried all the Ethos (13 thru 3.7) on M45 and M42 and gave very impressive views, but perhaps excessive for this scope 🤣

The moon wasn’t helping, but there was a bit of nebulosity visible on M42, which is impressive for 60mm, although this isn’t a scope for DSOs.

Was happy to see that I was able to easily split Rigel, and it’s little companion was quite visible in both the XW5 (71x) and XW3.5 (101x)… faint, but nicely visible just outside the diffraction rings… quite a difference in both size and magnitude😮

Seems almost a shame to keep this scope mainly as a “finder” on the AZ100 alongside a “main” scope… it really is a very capable instrument. I’ve decided to keep it configured without the extender again for now, as I miss those super wide views 👍

 

[HollyHound]

35 minutes ago, IB20 said:

Had a look at the Southerly pole of the moon. I’m amazed at how good it looks in the Tak, the undulations, hills, cliff faces, recesses, valleys and features present with such definition, they are truly striking. Almost feels like I could walk along them. Two features stood out marked on the 2nd image. Any lunar experts help identify them as I’m struggling to find out what they’re called?

Thank you… these are exactly the group of craters I was exploring with my FS-60CB… such an interesting little area 😀

Time for me to hit the lunar atlas too and do some exploring too 👍

Edited January 17, 2022 by HollyHound

[Zermelo]

Worth braving the frost this evening. As others have said, there was a hint of mist about that muddied some of the views, but the seeing was very good here.

So it was doubles all the way with the Mak. 18 of them. Some first timers included Gamma Ceti, Nu Ceti, Eta Orionis, Alpha Piscium, 35 Piscium and Epsilon Arietis. Had a look at 7 Tauri after some comments in another thread, and although 0.8" was too tough for the Skymax it did show a definite elongation in the correct direction.

Finished off on the moon but by then all my eyepieces were steamed up and anything left on the table had frozen stuck. I was happy that the dew shields had coped for so long.

[Nik271]

Sadly the fog has descended now and hid everything except the Moon. So  finished my session with the moon. Drygalski and Hausen are indeed very prominent on the southern limb.

Edited January 17, 2022 by Nik271

[John]

I snapped similar pics to the ones @IB20 caught with my mobile and I'm now trying to ID some of the features. The bright crater in the wider view is Tycho:

 

[Saganite]

The seeing tonight is nothing short of astounding !

I have the Vixen out tonight with single UO Orthos and the 7.2 to 21.5mm zoom and barlow.  I have only been out an hour and the Trapezium stars presented as lovely diffraction rings with E& F clearly visible so I soon moved on to Sirius.  I was shocked when Sirius focused down to a tight Airy disc with diffraction rings almost complete circles, intermittent sightings of the pup, quite regularly. It appears to be between the 2nd and 3rd diffraction rings. It is hard to be certain since the diffraction rings are scintillating .  I don't think I have ever seen Sirius so tight before tonight.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Saganite

[John]

1 hour ago, Saganite said:

....I don't think I have ever seen Sirius so tight before tonight.

I agree Steve, it was the same from here

 

 

[Nik271]

This is what Nasa's simulator gives at 22:00 yesterday (17 Jan):

 

The mountains next to Drygalski (on the right of it in this image, and on the left of it in John's image) are not identified. Are these the Leibnitz mountains I wonder? I'll be thrilled if they are - it's L96 from the Lunar 100. (and crater Drygalsky is L94 🙂)

Edited January 18, 2022 by Nik271

[Mr Spock]

As I get up for work the moon is just setting 

[IB20]

46 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

This is what Nasa's simulator gives at 22:00 yesterday (17 Jan):

 

The mountains next to Drygalski (on the right of it in this image, and on the left of it in John's image) are not identified. Are these the Leibnitz mountains I wonder? I'll be thrilled if they are - it's L96 from the Lunar 100. (and crater Drygalsky is L94 🙂)

Superb @Nik271 thanks for this! I’d forgotten to flip my original image, I’ve lined it up with the simulator too. Pretty chuffed at seeing these craters! 😀

[badhex]

First clear night in a couple of weeks last night and I'm struck down with suspected COVID! 😭😭😭

[Saganite]

Get well soon  Joe !

[Nik271]

I just watched this video: 

 On the basis of it (the slides around 12:00min in the video) it appears that the peaks in the foreground which are casting shadows, from Drygalski all the way to Faustini, are indeed the Leibnitz mountains 🙂:

 

 

And the pair of peaks beyond them on the lunar limb are further inside the the SouthPole-Aitken basin. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by Nik271
added an annotated photo of the Leibnitz mountains

[Stu]

Those edge craters were looking amazing weren’t they? I was out having a futile hunt for the asteroid (needed more aperture) but had a nice time getting to know these two old dames again. Through the Vixen they looked wonderful, very sharp and no CA at all. Hausen in particular looked really good.

[badhex]

33 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Get well soon  Joe !

Thanks! Less worried about COVID (already had it once and fully boosted plus I work fully remote), more worried about missing a clear night! Looks like it might be clear again tonight too!

I've always got this thread to cheer me up though 🙂

[badhex]

16 minutes ago, Stu said:

Those edge craters were looking amazing weren’t they? I was out having a futile hunt for the asteroid (needed more aperture) but had a nice time getting to know these two old dames again. Through the Vixen they looked wonderful, very sharp and no CA at all. Hausen in particular looked really good.

That twin ion-cannon setup really looks fantastic @Stu ! 

 

[Saganite]

9 minutes ago, badhex said:

Thanks! Less worried about COVID (already had it once and fully boosted plus I work fully remote), more worried about missing a clear night! Looks like it might be clear again tonight too!

I've always got this thread to cheer me up though 🙂

Yes, the skies here look good most of the week.  If the seeing will be as good as last night, I can't wait.

[IB20]

38 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

I just watched this video: 

 On the basis of it (the slides around 12:00min in the video) it appears that the peaks in the foreground which are casting shadows, from Drygalski all the way to Faustini, are indeed the Leibnitz mountains 🙂:

 

 

And the pair of peaks beyond them on the lunar limb are further inside the the SouthPole-Aitken basin. 

Seems I’m starting backwards on the L100!

Have just noticed Lacus Timoris or the ominously sounding Lake of Fear, just to the left of Tycho, that was visible too. 😱 
 

[F15Rules]

11 hours ago, Saganite said:

The seeing tonight is nothing short of astounding !

I have the Vixen out tonight with single UO Orthos and the 7.2 to 21.5mm zoom and barlow.  I have only been out an hour and the Trapezium stars presented as lovely diffraction rings with E& F clearly visible so I soon moved on to Sirius.  I was shocked when Sirius focused down to a tight Airy disc with diffraction rings almost complete circles, intermittent sightings of the pup, quite regularly. It appears to be between the 2nd and 3rd diffraction rings. It is hard to be certain since the diffraction rings are scintillating .  I don't think I have ever seen Sirius so tight before tonight.

Steve, 

Your reporting plus others posted tonight really underline the crucial importance of seeing conditions, and the rarity of such conditions, sadly, over the UK.

I think all of our scopes are performance limited far more by seeing conditions than by any other factor..perhaps this is why we sometimes get obsessed with wanting the very very best optics, when perhaps we should just be wanting the very very best seeing?

After all, most of us own scopes nowadays that, however modest, are far better optically than those used 150 years ago to make many exciting observations and discoveries🤔👍..

Let's hope the rest of this week delivers more good seeing, so more of us get treats such as described here tonight, very motivational!

Dave

[Saganite]

Absolutely correct Dave. 

Seeing last night how the Vixen can really perform given the best conditions has made me cherish this scope even more, though I knew it was very capable.  I will be out every night this week if the sky is clear hoping for more like last night.

[cajen2]

Seeing last night was excellent....while I was waiting for complete darkness last night, I turned the scope on Jupiter. I wasn't expecting much, as a month ago, it was higher in the sky but not much more than a fuzzy ball. Last night, the edge of the planet was pin sharp and I could see some bands, even at only 50x mag.

Then to spoil it, the mist came rolling past, of course...😥

Edited January 18, 2022 by cajen2

[vineyard]

An other-worldly night last night sitting under the luminous Wolf Moon, w the STF7 and going on a double-star trail across Auriga.  Used an old Nalger 12T2 for much of the time until about 3" separation & then switched to a 9 Delite or Nag zoom.  The 12T2 was just lovely - a real porthole feel and pin point stars.  Gave a more intimate feel at the EP vs the Delite.  Seeing must have been v good indeed as managed to resolve 0.9" separation, a first for me.

PS @Nik271 thanks for that video link - those must be the Leibnitz mountains I caught in the second image here then (I was wondering whether they were mountains or just crater rims).

[HollyHound]

9 hours ago, Nik271 said:

On the basis of it (the slides around 12:00min in the video) it appears that the peaks in the foreground which are casting shadows, from Drygalski all the way to Faustini, are indeed the Leibnitz mountains 🙂:

And the pair of peaks beyond them on the lunar limb are further inside the the SouthPole-Aitken basin. 

 

11 hours ago, Nik271 said:

The mountains next to Drygalski (on the right of it in this image, and on the left of it in John's image) are not identified. Are these the Leibnitz mountains I wonder? I'll be thrilled if they are - it's L96 from the Lunar 100. (and crater Drygalsky is L94 🙂)

Oh wow, so without realising it, pretty much going to the only real area of interest on an otherwise too bright lunar surface, me and the little FS-60CB managed to bag a couple of really interesting Lunar 100 targets... I thought they looked particularly beautiful 😁

Thanks for that really useful information👍