What did you see tonight?

[peanutcol]

Just managed to observe M3 with my heritage 130p. Very faint I may add but definitely M3. Found with 32mm then 25mm but couldn't quite get it with 10mm. Still ticked off though 👌

[Mr Spock]

Frustrating. The scope is out cooling because there's clear sky on the radar just to the north. However it's moving so slowly I think I'm going to give up. I can see Capella, and I can see the moon just peeking over the hill. Apart from that it's just cloud 😡

[Epick Crom]

I got my first sightings of comet 12P/Pons Brooks last night using my 10x50mm binoculars in the fading twilight. It was 11° above the horizon near the star u Tauri. 

This really is a bright comet as I did not expect to catch it in my bino's so low down plus the sky was not completely dark yet! It appeared a distinctive light blue colour. Fantastic 😍 

[paulastro]

10 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

I got my first sightings of comet 12P/Pons Brooks last night using my 10x50mm binoculars in the fading twilight. It was 11° above the horizon near the star u Tauri. 

This really is a bright comet as I did not expect to catch it in my bino's so low down plus the sky was not completely dark yet! It appeared a distinctive light blue colour. Fantastic 😍 

You had me worried for a moment, until I checked your profile and discovered you don't live in the UK 😊.

Edited April 27 by paulastro

[SwiMatt]

First light for my solar filter! (And first ever solar session) ☀️

I looked at a beautiful group of sun spots and tried to tease apart detail at 100x and 162x (the latter without success). Can't wait to do more and sketch it!

[Captain Scarlet]

I noticed a beautifully clear sky just before bed last night so went outside for 20 minutes or so with 15x56 bins. I saw _something_  exactly where C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) should be, but that comet is mag 10.8 . Theoretically that is just within the potential of such a pair of binoculars, plus it was incredibly transparent, mag 22.0 measured at zenith, and the comet coincides with another rather faint star SAO 139411 at mag 10. Jury out therefore on whether I got the comet.

M101, 51, 81 & 82 were all there, M44 and the Coma Cluster Melotte 111 naked eye, its shape quite clear. It was cold though so bare hands lasted only the 20 minutes.

Clear again tonight so the 12” may come out.

Magnus

[Captain Scarlet]

Just in again from a session outside with only the naked eye. I’d intended to get my 12” out but it was cloudy and rained earlier so I baulked. In spite of that, even without scope it seemed a privilege to be stood out under such a sky. Lyra was stark whereas Bootis was almost drowned, such an odd comparison. Ursa Minor stark too. M13 naked eye. I measured 22.05 on my meter, the highest I think I’ve ever recorded. Just gawping.

Magnus

Edited April 28 by Captain Scarlet

[SwiMatt]

Again outside to take a look at the Sun and in particular and a sketch of region 3654, which earlier today flared up. Cool stuff!

Edited Sunday at 15:51 by SwiMatt

[Stu1smartcookie]

So after a day of rain the weather forecast said clear from 9pm ... Well they got it right , for 10 minutes and then a huge bank of black cloud descended and in the distance more rain ... End of Big red 2's first light ... Did manage to see a roof top though !!!! 

[John]

Nice and clear here at the moment. ED120 takes a turn tonight. Well known doubles currently the targets. Maybe more ambitious targets later 🙂

[paulastro]

1 hour ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

So after a day of rain the weather forecast said clear from 9pm ... Well they got it right , for 10 minutes and then a huge bank of black cloud descended and in the distance more rain ... End of Big red 2's first light ... Did manage to see a roof top though !!!! 

That's a nice looking setup Stu.  How are you getting on with the StellaLyra tripod?  I'm considering buying one for the same mount.

[Mr Spock]

Looks good for a couple of hours here. So I'm going have a double session in UMa.

[Stu1smartcookie]

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

That's a nice looking setup Stu.  How are you getting on with the StellaLyra tripod?  I'm considering buying one for the same mount.

Hi Paul , it's very good ,quite heavy but I see that as a bonus . It lacks a spreader tray which really would help but I like the tripod . 

[John]

Still nice and clear here 🙂

1st decent view of M57 this season, which was nice.

Pleased to catch M13 and the mag 11.8 galaxy NGC 6207 in the same field of view with the ED120. Galaxy rather challenging but M13 is well resolved (for the aperture) at 150x.

The "Cats Eye" planetary nebula NGC 6543 was looking quite bright in Draco. 

Had a few glimpses of the brighter Markarian Chain galaxies in Virgo as well. Caught a touch of aperture fever with those, recalling the views I used to get with my 12 inch dob of the chain - 10/11 galaxies in a single field. Still, the 120's doing it's best 🙂

[Mr Spock]

All done. Some high cloud has crept in so not much to see now.

[AlcorAlly]

Half an hour on NGC 1502 and Kemble’s Cascade at low magnification just before it clouded over. Fascinating sight. Somewhere nearby in Camelopardalis there was an unusually geometric small cluster with 5 bright stars, I couldn’t identify it as it quickly disappeared behind the clouds. can’t find it in the charts. Any help identifying would be appreciated. It looked like this at 36x magnification in small refractor.

[John]

Still very nice here but I'm a bit tired so I've packed in now. Finished my very pleasant session with a 3rd planetary nebula, NGC 6826, the "Blinking" planetary in Cygnus. It wasn't blinking this evening so the transparency must be quite good. Central star nicely seen.

Still got a touch of aperture fever though - it would be a good Virgo / Coma galaxy night here with 10/12 inches of aperture 🙄

[Orange Smartie]

It was quite good for us yesterday evening, with only a few high wisps of cloud. I was out even before it was properly dark and didn't stay out late.

Couple of globular clusters were seen - M53 in Coma Berenices and M3 in Bootes. The latter was really quite stunning.

Leo triplet of galaxies popped out quite easily - M65/66 were dead easy to spot, NGC 3628 less clear, but obviously there.

Finally, I star-hopped from a large scalene triangle of stars in the region of NGC 4394, down to M99 and to M100. I guessed the jump from M99 to M84 and enjoyed a quick sweep along Markarian's chain. 

I probably should have spent longer in Virgo, but it was very cold!

[Mark at Beaufort]

Total clear night so decided to use my StellaMira 125mm ED Doublet.

Started with M104 (Sombrero Galaxy) then moved back to NGC3115 (Spindle Galaxy) and then NGC3242 (Ghost of Jupiter). I used my 13mm and 6mm Ethos EPs.

I then decided to view the Leo Triplet and although M66 and M65 was easy NGC3628 was more difficult although in the end I could see it.

I ended the night with Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). I used my Stellarium software to locate it and although faint I could see it quite well.

 

[johnturley]

Had a quick observing session last night at around 22.30, first I had a look at M44 The Beehive Cluster in Cancer, which showed very nicely through the Esprit 150 using my Vixen 42mm LVW eyepiece giving 25x.

I then had my first attempt to look for Comet Tsuchinsham-Atlas, I think that I could just make it out as a faint fuzzy patch through my 14in Newtonian (but was was not visible through the Esprit 150), in the predicted position. It should hopefully gradually brighten up over the next few weeks, before being lost in the summer twilight, and then re-appearing as a (hopefully) naked eye evening object in the autumn.

John 

[John]

I completely forgot to look out for Comet Tsuchinsham-Atlas when I was browsing around Virgo last night 🙄

I'll have to pop a post it note on my eyepiece case to remind me to look for it next time out !

 

[Bugdozer]

Daughter and I were galaxy spotting in Leo last night. Small patches of cloud seemed to materialise right over the M95/96/105 area every time I tried to star hop around there, but eventually managed a positive ID on them all. M95 was VERY hard to see. Because of wind, I just stayed in my garden and there was quite some light pollution in the Leo direction. I really should have driven over to a darker site. When I swung the scope round to look at M81 and M82, there was much better contrast with a darker sky, and even more so towards Hercules where I got a good view of globular M92. With Bootes high in the sky, I took a look at Izar, splitting it easily at around 250x. The yellow/blue colour contrast was great. Seeing was actually really clear and steady - last time I observed this star the atmosphere was so soupy that they just looked like a slightly pear shaped single star. 

[paulastro]

15 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

Hi Paul , it's very good ,quite heavy but I see that as a bonus . It lacks a spreader tray which really would help but I like the tripod . 

Many thanks Stu. I'd noticed the weight it's a kilo more than the EQ5 steel tripod which is 5.6k  and nearly 3k more than the Berlebach Report 272 which is a mere 3.6k.  On the other hand it still looks good and its nice to know it works well.  Thanks again, I'll give it some thought.

[Captain Scarlet]

19 hours ago, AlcorAlly said:

Half an hour on NGC 1502 and Kemble’s Cascade at low magnification just before it clouded over. Fascinating sight. Somewhere nearby in Camelopardalis there was an unusually geometric small cluster with 5 bright stars, I couldn’t identify it as it quickly disappeared behind the clouds. can’t find it in the charts. Any help identifying would be appreciated. It looked like this at 36x magnification in small refractor.

I had a quick SkySafari browse of the area around Kemble’s Cascade and the star HR1242 and friends looks very like your sketch.

Magnus

[AlcorAlly]

4 minutes ago, Captain Scarlet said:

the star HR1242 and friends looks very like your sketch.

That’s the one, thank you!! 🙌🏻