What did you see tonight?

[Mark at Beaufort]

I decided to use my Helios Apollo 15x70 binos again tonight and started with Mercury. It was very bright but so low down. I had to observe it from the back bedroom to gain some height.

About 8.30pm I decided to hunt down Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks which again was just above the trees. I was able to pick it up but again no tail.

 

[John]

Astro society meeting this evening so I didn't get the scope out until after 10:00 pm. So far I've been using my Tak 100mm to compare different high power eyepiece / eyepiece + barlow combinations on Iota Leonis, which is fun 🙂

Not proving much though - they are all providing very similar views tonight 🙄

Seeing is decent however - even a rather silly 450x is giving a quite nicely defined split of this uneven brightness pair. 300x is razor sharp with text-book looking airy disks. 

I picked up an old Parks 2x 3-element barlow a few days back. Nice Japanese glass in this one - same as the Celestron Ultima 2x I believe. These are supposedly 2.2x in reality. 

[SuburbanMak]

I was heading to bed but noticed the sky hereabouts looked really quite good - having taken a moderate helping of wine, I plumped for the Canon 10x42 IS rather than a ‘scope & enjoyed a super hour on a sun-lounger, pyjama and NorthFace clad. 
 

Meandered around a distinctly spring-like sky. Highlights were M13, Lyra generally but spotting M57 in AV.  Rich fields through Cygnus for the first time this year, taking in M39 & picking up M29. A rewarding steady  split of Alberio.
Delighted to accidentally land on the coathanger asterism 

Tonight’s stand out view though would be Melotte 111, the Coma Star Cluster - a perfect wide field binocular object & really quite stunning. 

 

 

 

[lunator]

It didn't clear here until 8.30 last night. I only had a short session as I had been up since 5am. Saw a few more doubles in Hydra and then several galaxies in Leo. A mixture of Messier and brighter NGC ones.

Despite the fairly bright waxing cresent Moon I got down to galaxies of around 10.5 mag. Fairly happy with that. 😀

Cheers 

Ian

 

[mikeDnight]

 I had an unexpectedly great night last night 15/3/24. The fritters drove past and shortly afterwards the clouds cleared. The Moon was well over in the west by this time and normally from my location the seeing is poor towards the west. This night was very different from the norm', as the atmosphere was as steady as I've ever seen it. I had an 18mm UFF & 10mm UFF to give a proper test run. I was using my FS128 and the Moon was breataking in both the 18 & 10mm. Intricate detail was easily seen as sharp as sharp gets in the floor of Theophilus even in the 18mm at 58X. The 100mm giving  104X was spectacular as its field encompassed the entire Moon with room to spare, but giving nothing up to the laser etched detail on show. This eyepiece in the FS128 would make a wonderful addition to any outreach eyepiece collection, but also will hold its own alongside any top end eyepiece costing considerably more.  As the seeing was so amazing, I moved onto the SVBony 3-8 zoom to see how it performed with the Moon being at such a relatively low angle. It did not disappoint! At every focal length the 3-8 zoom gave sharp and comfortable views. I like the fact that I could fine tune the magnification by using the focal lengths between the click stops. Eventually the Moon dropped behind the tree line and so I changed target.

 Hercules was rising on his side in the north east, and looking through the scopes finder I saw M13 was looking good. Starting with the 30mm UFF the Starfield surrounding M13 was littered with tiny diamonds. Through the 18mm UFF M13 was a misty ball covered with a dusting of tiny stars. Even at this relatively low power, I could see variations in the placement of the globulars stars, giving the impression of uneven brightness and a dark lane cutting through the cluster slightly off centre. Then changing to the 10mm UFF the whole cluster came to life in almost 3D. I was observing from inside my observatory and from under a blackout hood so the only thing I could see was the starlit field through the eyepiece and the cluster of tiny stars set against a misty backdrop. It was gorgeous, and it had me looking forward to viewing M13 when its at an even more favourable angle. Again I had to try the 3-8 zoom and it delivered admirably, showing a sharp, contrasty view at every click stop. I'd only observed these two targets this evening but had spent about one and a half hours doing so. By this time I was pretty chilled as I'd been observing in my PJ's, and so called it a night. 😨

 

Edited March 16 by mikeDnight

[Mr_Cat]

Had checked the forecast and was expecting nothing so had settled down with my better half.. But about 2030 I noticed the moon / Jupiter and Sirius were visible albeit it through cloud. After mentally pacing around for 30 mins (and waiting for the program we were watching to end..) I took another look - not any better but figured it was worth taking a chance and getting out.
10 mins later the C925 was out, dew shield on and warming up..
There was no way I was going to get any star alignment so I just manually slewed over to the moon and even with a thin layer of cloud it was totally worth hauling everything out onto the terrace.
With the poor seeing I used the time to line the RDF and finder scope up properly.
Then started with a 22m eyepiece but stepped up to a 6.5mm. At that magnification not having tracking was a pain but I still enjoyed the view.
Then swapped to a 22/8mm zoon and tried the .63 reducer out.  It was nice to be able to frame the entire half moon in the eyepiece. 
Kept the session to an hour (inc setup / break down) but after 10 days of nothing it was nice to get a little time to test things.
Loving the C925, even with the cloud layer it was still incredible  

[SwiMatt]

This week I'm in Umeå, Sweden, for a conference, and I brought my binoculars to go do some astronomy, hoping to catch some Northern lights. In terms of astronomy I glimpsed Andromeda and possibly 12P/Pons-Brooks (!), but the Moon was really washing off everything, and they were on the side of the sky above the city (B6-7). I also located M3 on the other side but again - quite pale. 

On the aurora side, I maybe glimpsed it once by naked eye, but the (terrible) pic leaves no doubt. It was there and I "saw" it!

[Littleguy80]

Skies cleared up unexpectedly around bedtime so ended up staying up a bit later with the Moon for company 

[Froeng]

Around 7pm the clouds gave way to a - partially - clear sky! I went outside with just my eyes and I managed to see Mercury low above the houses in the West. A few minutes later I used an old 6x30 finder to scan the sky for P/12 - Pons Brooks which I did manage to find in the end. Washed out due to the moonlight, but it must have been fairly bright. I did not see a tail, but only a small round coma. Soon after, the clouds were back…

[mikeDnight]

It was a glorious day here yesterday, but come late afternoon the clouds rolled in. I phoned my mate Paul just for a chat and he told me it won't be clear over night.   As luck would have it however, it did clear sufficiently for me to have an hour and a half observing the Moon and so, because he was clouded out and because I'm a true friend, I sent him this: (I think he hates me!)

 

 

I spent my time playing with my ultra flat's and a Barlow,  as well as my amazing SvBony 3-8 Zoom. The following pic's are through the zoom using a hand held phone camera. The camera lens may not have been perfectly clean and there was an annoying thin cloud covering the sky that varied in thickness. All things considered however, I think it turned out not too bad.

Edited March 21 by mikeDnight

[paulastro]

48 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

 It was a glorious day here yesterday, but come late afternoon the clouds rolled in. I phoned my mate Paul just for a chat and he told me it won't be clear over night.   As luck would have it however, it did clear sufficiently for me to have an hour and a half observing the Moon and so, because he was clouded out and because I'm a true friend, I sent him this: (I think he hates me!)

 

 

I spent my time playing with my ultra flat's and a Barlow,  as well as my amazing SvBony 3-8 Zoom. The following pic's are through the zoom using a hand held phone camera. The camera lens may not have been perfectly clean and there was an annoying thin cloud covering the sky that varied in thickness. All things considered however, I think it turned out not too bad.

I'm glad you had a session Mike, it was almost like seeing you in person - lucky me 😊.   Nice pics, I almost felt I was there!

I'd practice a bit though before you launch your channel on u-tube - unless it's a comedy channel 😅

[Mr Spock]

It's, it's, it's... the moon! Well, I think what that bright blob is behind the cloud... 

Could easily be aliens though 

[Stu1smartcookie]

Lol it could be the moon, although nobody really knows what it looks like anymore. 

[JeremyS]

11 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 It was a glorious day here yesterday, but come late afternoon the clouds rolled in. I phoned my mate Paul just for a chat and he told me it won't be clear over night.   As luck would have it however, it did clear sufficiently for me to have an hour and a half observing the Moon and so, because he was clouded out and because I'm a true friend, I sent him this: (I think he hates me!)

 

 

I spent my time playing with my ultra flat's and a Barlow,  as well as my amazing SvBony 3-8 Zoom. The following pic's are through the zoom using a hand held phone camera. The camera lens may not have been perfectly clean and there was an annoying thin cloud covering the sky that varied in thickness. All things considered however, I think it turned out not too bad.

Has Netflix signed you yet, Mike? Cillian Murphy has nothing on you.

Your agent should contact the Takahashi marketing department.

[jock1958]

11 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

 It was a glorious day here yesterday, but come late afternoon the clouds rolled in. I phoned my mate Paul just for a chat and he told me it won't be clear over night.   As luck would have it however, it did clear sufficiently for me to have an hour and a half observing the Moon and so, because he was clouded out and because I'm a true friend, I sent him this: (I think he hates me!)

 

 

I spent my time playing with my ultra flat's and a Barlow,  as well as my amazing SvBony 3-8 Zoom. The following pic's are through the zoom using a hand held phone camera. The camera lens may not have been perfectly clean and there was an annoying thin cloud covering the sky that varied in thickness. All things considered however, I think it turned out not too bad.

Some great pics there Mike, think I can see a glimpse of Hadley Rille 🤔

Love the video as well, have you thought about doing your own You Tube channel?  😉😉🤞

Edited March 19 by jock1958

[Nyctimene]

Just came in after a very pleasing hour, observing the moon with the 18" Obsession. Some high haze, but the seeing was rather good, and the Docter 12.5 mmf/82° gave at mag 164x crisp views (the whole moon fits in the field of view!). Hesiodus A showed it's concentricity distinct and permanent, the Rima Hesiodus was easy, the same with Rima Birt, close to Rupes recta, the Straight Wall. E of the crater Kies, the dome Kies Pi was distinct, even the summit craterlet. (Lunar 100 No. 60). Copernicus and Bullialdus crater wall terraces were marvellous. No sign of "Gruithuisen's City", even when adding the 2x Abbe Barlow to give 328x.  Plato's floor showed the four "largest" craterlets (was too lazy to try for the smaller ones). The Alpine Valley remained invisible. Very satisfied  - no hassle with "floaters" even at high magnifications, and a smoothly tracking Dob - hard to beat.

Thanks for reading

Stephan

 

Edited March 29 by Nyctimene

[mikeDnight]

26 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Some great pics there Mike, think I can see a glimpse of Hadley Rille 🤔

Love the video as well, have you thought about doing your own You Tube channel?  😉😉🤞

I suppose it could be a money earner. They'ed pay me not to do it. Plus some might demand sub-titles! 😂

[JeremyS]

16 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Love the video as well, have you thought about doing your own You Tube channel?  😉😉🤞

You mean you’ve not seen it yet?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXYGUeekJCrBpM32yaJpjRw

[Mr Spock]

There might be a few clear patches on Saturday according to CO. It may not be a record 100% cloudy March after all...

[maw lod qan]

I was leaving at 5:45 for my GGgrandson's birthday so it was dark as I loaded the car.

First really clear sky, no fog or high thin clouds. I hadn't seen a meteor for days, but got lucky to look up at the right time today.

Driving by myself gave me time to let my mind wander. 

How often do you really enjoy a beautiful sunrise?

I watched the sky go from black, to a little orange tint in the East.

Then it progressed thru dark blue, finally light blue as the Eastern sky filled with sunlight.

At last, the sun appeared, bringing on total daylight.

It's been going on for billions of years. So many don't give it any thought at all.

Thanks, I'm here to witness another day!

[John]

6 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

There might be a few clear patches on Saturday according to CO. It may not be a record 100% cloudy March after all...

There are clear patches here this evening, some quite big. I hoped the cloud gods would not notice if I put this pipsqueak out 😀

Edited March 20 by John

[andrew63]

I had a view of Comet 12P in 8x42s this evening. It's coma is bright, almost stellar like with perhaps a hint of an elongation. Not the best of conditions though, but looking rather good. I also caught a nice pass of the ISS, very bright tonight even through the clouds! 

[John]

3 hours ago, John said:

There are clear patches here this evening, some quite big. I hoped the cloud gods would not notice if I put this pipsqueak out 😀

 

The cloud gods were vigilant tonight. They spotted my little scope and the clear holes have been small to say the least. The moon through clouds has been my staple diet so far tonight. Maybe it will get better later ? - probably not, looking at the forecast 🙄

[PeterStudz]

Just come in after a clear evening/night - totally unexpected. Nice relaxing time observing the moon. Seeing also decent too. However, work tomorrow so couldn’t spend too long. Mind, Good to brush away those cobwebs at last! 

[Stu]

27 minutes ago, John said:

The cloud gods were vigilant tonight. They spotted my little scope and the clear holes have been small to say the least. The moon through clouds has been my staple diet so far tonight. Maybe it will get better later ? - probably not, looking at the forecast 🙄

Same here John. I put the 60mm out and managed a 5 minute look at the Moon before it clouded over!

I did catch Mercury low down between the houses though which I wasn’t expecting.