What did you see tonight?

[John]

6 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Some clear sky here but occasional showers and 45+mph winds put me off. Next few nights look promising though.

Tonight looks quite good here, after 9:00 pm 🤞

Edited April 16 by John

[John]

4 hours ago, John said:

Tonight looks quite good here, after 9:00 pm 🤞

Only just managed to get the ED120 outside now after a busy evening. Hope it stays clear for a while longer 🙂

The moon looks pretty splendid and it's pretty much right overhead so the seeing is good and steady.

 

[Stu]

Clear skies here too. Seeing was bad earlier but seems to have settled down now. Solar earlier, with a very busy Sun but it wasn’t a ‘wow’ because of the poor seeing.

Later on I switched to Astro mode and had a look at the Moon. Looking good, Hyginus Rille and Treisnecker Rilles particularly of note.

[Ratlet]

I've got tomorrow off.  Hoping it stays clear and I can get out with the 102.

Also hope it stays clear for the rest of you.  Strong aurora tonight.  Still to bright up here tho

[John]

Superb lunar views at the moment 😁

Lovely fine detail such as the Rima Hadley cutting across the plain beneath Mons Hadley. The area of the landing site of Apollo 15 clearly on view.

I'm working on the basis that the Svbony zoom at 3mm is really giving around 3.5mm so that's 257x in the ED120 and sharp, sharp, sharp 🙂

Edited April 16 by John

[lunator]

I have the joys of an early start but had a quick at the Moon and a variable R Virginis. It is due to increse in brightness  from 8th to 6ish mag over the next few weeks. So I am going to try and follow it.

Cheers

Ian

[Mr Spock]

After some heavy showers the sky has cleared and the 12" is now out cooling. It's in a cold shed but still has some tube currents to settle. I'll give it half an hour or so. Radar looks clear of rain now so I think we are good to go 👍

[JeremyS]

Clear from dusk until just now when light cloud arrived.

A nice time with the variables.

First time out for a couple of weeks due to eclipse travel and weather. Very noticeable how the sky has “moved on”

[Paul M]

Via my remote allsky camera I saw a (still active as at 23:15) aurora:

 

[DirkSteele]

Monthly Baker Street Astronomers meeting in Regent’s Park. Saw some lightning and a few rain showers but did manage some lovely views of the moon during breaks in the cloud. Sadly, sucker holes abounded tonight so not much else was seen.

Edited April 17 by DirkSteele
Typo x2

[Littleguy80]

Was out observing the Moon when I noticed the Red Aurora alert. Couldn’t see anything visually but picked it up on camera. First time for me! Well chuffed!

[cajen2]

2 hours ago, John said:

Superb lunar views at the moment 😁

Lovely fine detail such as the Rima Hadley cutting across the plain beneath Mons Hadley. The area of the landing site of Apollo 15 clearly on view.

I'm working on the basis that the Svbony zoom at 3mm is really giving around 3.5mm so that's 257x in the ED120 and sharp, sharp, sharp 🙂

Likewise, great views with the Starfield and the Svbony zoom at 3mm. Sharp as a tack.

[geoflewis]

3 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Was out observing the Moon when I noticed the Red Aurora alert. Couldn’t see anything visually but picked it up on camera. First time for me! Well chuffed!

Well done Neil, I got it from South Norfolk too…. iPhone 14 10s handheld

[Littleguy80]

4 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Well done Neil, I got it from South Norfolk too…. iPhone 14 10s handheld

Thanks Geof! Wow! Love your photo. Great colours!

[Mr Spock]

It's still clear but seeing isn't that good. Trying out the Svbony 3-8 in the 12" alongside an 8mm LVW, 7mm and 6mm orthos and 6mm SLV. At all settings the Svbony shows marked field curvature. Not what I was expecting. It's sharp in the centre, no more so than the others. Best view was with the 6mm ortho - Ptolemaeus M looking very crisp.

[mcrowle]

Having fun with the aurora here in Cornwall  - pink glow visible to the eye for a while a little earlier, despite the gibbous Moon, and pillars caught on camera. Heading out for another look shortly.

Regards, Mike.

[andrew63]

Also managed to catch a lovely Aurora glow with iPhone -  glad it was clear for us tonight! 

[Mr Spock]

Show's over - cloud has arrived 😡 Better night than I expected though.

No verdict on eyepieces yet other than the sharpest view was with the 17mm LVW and x2.5 Powermate. Surprisingly that combination does have some yellow 'CA' towards the edge. Not a characteristic of either on their own.
There's a round 'dimple' below Ptolemaeus M, with M attached to the top and another, smaller crater, on the bottom. That smaller crater was very sharp in the 17mm + Powermate - that's x224. I'll need better seeing for a more thorough comparison.

Had a look at Castor too but that was a fuzzy mess.

[mcrowle]

Actually I haven't been out again, as indications are that activity has fallen away. The following image was taken about 11:30pm.

Regards, Mike.

[AstroNebulee]

The Aurora put on a great show last night. I nearly packed up around 10.45pm but glad I stayed out for the main show even though I was frozen to bone when I left my usual Aurora spot to trudge home. 

Taken off the back of the dslr this was around 23.30. Here in North Cornwall. 

Lee 

[SwiMatt]

No aurora for me here in Sweden (I went to bed way too early anyway), but I caught some marvelous views of the Moon and sketched Ptolomaeus et al. from my balcony. Each night feels like it could be the last of the season - as I seldom can stay up very late to observe...

[Knighty2112]

Got the C8 out yesterday evening hoping to nab comet 12P again after sunset. Sadly clouds piled in right as it was getting dark enough for this, so no chance to see it again just as it was getting dark. Managed to see Jupiter and Uranus in the twilight. But the star of the night was the Moon, where I had some superb views of the moon, looking at the area around the lunar X (which could still be made out quite easily in my 24mm EP), and craters up and down the terminator, along with Mons Pico and Montes Spitzbergen up near the Alpine Valley.

[Knighty2112]

9 hours ago, lunator said:

I have the joys of an early start but had a quick at the Moon and a variable R Virginis. It is due to increse in brightness  from 8th to 6ish mag over the next few weeks. So I am going to try and follow it.

Cheers

Ian

 Thanks. If weather permits I’ll see if I can observe it too! 👍🏻

[Paz]

I've had a number iof recent observing opportunities called off at the last minute so I got my 8x42 binoculars to hand last night because even the clouds can't move in faster than I can walk 5 paces out of the door and hold up my bins!

The moon was what I was looking at but I could immediatley see something nearby. I hadn't checked the map before I went out so I wasn't sure what it was initially. It turns out to be M44! Anaemic and washed out with only rhe brightest  of its members visible but clearly there, right next to and in the full glare of the moon, but it looked more like a handful of field stars than  than a cluster.

Inspired, I looked across to Leo for the triplet, why not?... no chance!

[lunator]

2 hours ago, Paz said:

I've had a number iof recent observing opportunities called off at the last minute so I got my 8x42 binoculars to hand last night because even the clouds can't move in faster than I can walk 5 paces out of the door and hold up my bins!

The moon was what I was looking at but I could immediatley see something nearby. I hadn't checked the map before I went out so I wasn't sure what it was initially. It turns out to be M44! Anaemic and washed out with only rhe brightest  of its members visible but clearly there, right next to and in the full glare of the moon, but it looked more like a handful of field stars than  than a cluster.

Inspired, I looked across to Leo for the triplet, why not?... no chance!

M44 can look really good in binoculars when not washed out by the Moon🙂