What did you see tonight?

[Gonariu]

3 hours ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

At this time of year i , like most of us who work , are limited to about an hour at best in the summer (lol) evenings ... but the one saving grace is the moon . So , my AZ Pro got its first introduction to a Witchford sky . In my haste i didnt properly level the tripod ( schoolboy error ) but in the event the scope slewed to target . With the mount there is a sync command enabling the correction of slewing errors anyway . 

Viewing the moon at 24mm ( 85x mag ) the seeing was ok , and despite some whispy passing cloud the views in the C8 didn't disapoint .

I also tend to see the moon more than anything else, but both because the seeing here is not the best I prefer to use C8 instead of optics (I have a Nexstar 8 SE) or an old half-vintage achromatic 80/400 (the Konus Vista ) or a Maksutov Skywatcher 90/1250 that I connect to the Nexstar mount. Yesterday it seemed to me that the air was quite calm, I put the C8 out around 8pm but, between one thing and another (a couple of glasses of wine at the bar in the village in the company of a very dear friend), I started observing our satellite which was still at a certain altitude at half past midnight. The vision was also satisfactory at . I then decide to put the C8 back in and do a hit-and-run observation with the Vista which was already mounted on its tripod. Looking at X174 with a 2.3mm Xcell eyepiece the image, although with less detail, seemed more contrasted than that given by the C8. I usually also use an orange W21 filter which gives a better image, the Semiapo and the Contrast Booster haven't been satisfying me lately because they introduce traces of green which I don't like.

[Mr Spock]

I've got the 6" CC out looking at the moon. It's been in the house so needs to cool down. Views of Gassendi quite good though despite that.

[Stu1smartcookie]

I’ve got the cheapo Celestron 70mm out on the moon with the 3-8 svbony zoom .. considering it wasn’t meant to be clear this evening I’m delighted to have the opportunity to just put this little scope out at a moments notice.. love impromptu mini sessions like this. 
 

[sheffieldsunwatcher]

Spent a very enjoyable hour or so viewing the moon - I need to sink some money into a moon atlas, though, to make for better-informed viewing.

Edited June 17 by sheffieldsunwatcher

[Mr Spock]

Feeble attempts at photographing Izar with the D500 and 6" CC at 1836mm and ISO 3200. Exposures of 1/2 second and 10 seconds.
All very blue. I've adjusted the white balance on the 1/2 second exposure. The 10 second one goes down to mag 14...

Not enough focal length to split it.

[Epick Crom]

I enjoyed a good observing session last night observing the moon with my 10 inch dob. Crater John Herschel looked great, half lit by the rising lunar sun.

But the highlight was spotting Phecda (Gamma Ursa Majoris) for the first time using my 10x50mm binoculars. It just peeks over the horizon from here briefly, it was 4° up when I saw it. 

 

Clear Skies 

Joe

[Mr Spock]

Moon is low now and looking like jelly - I can hardly see any detail. Here's the best I can do for a snap 

Shame as there's some good features on show. Turning my efforts to doubles now. 

[Mr Spock]

Studied ζ Her with the Tak for ages. In moments of steady seeing I glimpsed a blob at x211 in the right position but right on the diffraction ring. No wonder it's so difficult. I'll have another go when the seeing is better - spent far too long on it tonight.

Nearby Σ 2098 is a lovely triple. 

[Mr Spock]

Transparency is good tonight. I've managed to see (easily) C in Σ 2165 at 10.75. Normally 10.1 is the limit for me with the LP here.

[Stu]

Very Quick Look at the Moon in the 76mm tonight. Seeing pretty wobbly, but Schröter’s Valley well illuminated and a very distinct shadow on the wall of Sinus Iridium which is quite cool.

[John]

Similar views here of the moon with my little 70mm frac this evening, plus some doubles. Izar, Epsilon Lyrae (both pairs) and Delta Cygni all split at around 150x.

Just loafing around with the small scope really 😁

 

[Mr Spock]

Thunderstorms here 

[Bivanus]

The Moon , the Cat and me had a wonderful hour testing the newly acquired AZT6 mount. No surprises , it works like a charm, since I still have to get the end screw for the counterweight bar I went without - not an issue really , it hold itself very well even with the bino it just moves a tad clunky (with the weight balanced I can move it with a finger)   

Oh , and about a gazillion mosquitoes had a late dinner... 😐

 

Edited Friday at 22:07 by Bivanus

[Gonariu]

Yesterday I came to terrace to 23.30 for seeing if I could observe somebody with the full moon but I saw not very; then I observed the moon with my acro 80/400 wich is beatiful althought you can't see the craters. I took a photograph bringing my old smartphone closer the eypiece (a Vixen zoom 8-24, put at 8 mm) wich I share here (the photograph was elaborated few a little).

[Mr Spock]

No observing, but I took a couple of snaps of ε Boö with the 6" CC at 1836mm and Nikon D500 the other night. I wanted to see how deep I could go in my heavy light pollution. Also what image scale I'm getting. Not aesthetically pleasing but meant to be for practical purposes.

First attempt at processing and annotated. Got down to mag 15.

Reprocessed it today and managed to dig out mag 16...

The intention, eventually, is to record faint variable stars.

[josefk]

Super enjoyable night last night. Relatively mild temperatures and dry enough (till just before dawn) to attempt to manage two scopes side by side. I was observing double stars primarily and a couple of these were in or “next to” the open cluster IC4665 in Ophiuchus. IC4665 had caught my eye a few weekends ago as a striking OC full of steely blue stars and reading about it afterwards it seems it’s one of the brightest OC that didn’t get included by Messier in his catalogue. Last night I had the pleasure of keeping the big picture of this cluster in view in one scope at low magnification and zooming in a bit in the other one for a couple of doubles of interest. They weren’t too difficult and they were perfectly observable in the lower mag view as well - very pretty as tiny little pin pricks too. 
 

Edited Sunday at 03:58 by josefk

[IB20]

A fantastic pleasant light night with the StellaMira 125mm. Bagged M56 and M71 and revisited some old favourites in M57, M11, M13 and M27. Cruised Cygnus and its starfields with both scope and bins.

A full report is here 

Summer nights are still a great time to observe. 

[Merak]

Earlier last week I chose sleep instead of staying up, so last night I made the effort to stay up and observe.

Even though I always promise myself to make a modest list of objects to observe, I never do!     

A few Messiers, including but not limited to M3, M10, M12, M27, M56 and M57.   Lots of open clusters, a few globulars and some doubles observed.    I didn't make a list of what was observed either- perhaps next time!

For the future, some sort of hood may help block out some of the external light.  I'm fairly sure binoviewers would make things more immersive too, so they're on the to get list....

[John]

I've managed to split Antares this evening using my ED120 refractor. Clearest view was at 257x (Nagler zoom @ 3.5mm).

Antares was subject to some scintillation but for moments it's airy disk and 1st diffraction ring popped into view along with the greenish-grey secondary star sitting at around the 10 o'clock position to the NE of the primary. I did a quick positional sketch of what I seemed to be seeing, then confirmed it again, before consulting Stelle Doppie and checking the current PA of the pair. My sketch does not seem far off, I was pleased to see.

My sketch posted below together with the PA diagram from Stelle Doppie tweaked to put it into the refractor orientation with added north and south labels (in red) for clarity. Actual view quite a bit "messier" than my sketch of course - I was just trying to capture the positions of the stars as I saw them.

First time with the ED120 for this split. 

 

Edited Sunday at 22:31 by John

[Littleguy80]

No scopes out but did enjoy a nice display of Noctilucent clouds 

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

As of Friday, I'm the proud owner of a Takahashi FS-102. I decided to take it up to the rooftop this evening, hauling up all of the associated gear and getting a decent workout in the process. And I only got to observe for 25 minutes before the clouds claimed the entire sky. But wow, was it worth it.

The Takahashi FS-102 is a phenomenal telescope. Knowing my time was short, I pointed it at a few prominent favorites. On Izar, it easily and beautifully split the pair at 130x. I think it would have been an easy split at a lower magnification, but I only had 3 eyepieces with me, and I was using the Nagler Zoom at 6mm. What a lovely view. Just for fun, I popped the zoom into a 2.2x barlow and twisted it slowly up and up until I hit 3mm. That's ~600x. And still a perfectly sharp, vivid view with textbook diffraction rings. The scope wasn't even trying!

Yesterday, I got in 90 minutes with my FC-60, which I also adopted on Friday. Again: a phenomenal telescope. I was able to split Delta Cygni, which I've been trying for about 2 years to accomplish with a 60mm scope. Amazing that I never pulled it off with an FOA-60Q, but the FC-60 undoubtedly did it. I was regularly using the same Nagler Zoom & 2.2x barlow combo to yield ~360x. Not even slightly a problem for this scope; it could have taken more.

The clouds are back, but I made the most of the spaces in between them!

[josefk]

9 hours ago, John said:

I've managed to split Antares this evening using my ED120 refractor. Clearest view was at 257x (Nagler zoom @ 3.5mm).

Antares was subject to some scintillation but for moments it's airy disk and 1st diffraction ring popped into view along with the greenish-grey secondary star sitting at around the 10 o'clock position to the NE of the primary. I did a quick positional sketch of what I seemed to be seeing, then confirmed it again, before consulting Stelle Doppie and checking the current PA of the pair. My sketch does not seem far off, I was pleased to see.

My sketch posted below together with the PA diagram from Stelle Doppie tweaked to put it into the refractor orientation with added north and south labels (in red) for clarity. Actual view quite a bit "messier" than my sketch of course - I was just trying to capture the positions of the stars as I saw them.

First time with the ED120 for this split. 

 

Excellent John. You can't beat a good EP sketch/plot for certainty!

[Stu1smartcookie]

A very short stint of about 1hour as i am usually up at 5am , so my targets were Alberio and M57 ... always less contrast at this time of year due to the lack of true darkness but i was pleasantly surprised seeing M57 . Double stars though are always a good watch and Aberio didnt disapoint . 

[John]

3 hours ago, josefk said:

Excellent John. You can't beat a good EP sketch/plot for certainty!

Thanks. I find it important to make sketches / notes etc BEFORE consulting further sources on positions etc to minimise the possibility of "averted imagination" 😉

[josefk]

47 minutes ago, John said:

Thanks. I find it important to make sketches / notes etc BEFORE consulting further sources on positions etc to minimise the possibility of "averted imagination" 😉

absolutely - if i'm feeling strict i observe the same regime for Saturn's moons. I don't really pursue double stars that are close enough to need this discipline but what i have started doing recently is sketching more context stars next to nominal "double stars". Several times in recent weeks when i've consulted StellaDoppie the next day i have been able to "claim" extra C D E... companions because i have them recorded on my sketch. Very satisfying when it works. A bit annoying if I've sketched A, B, -, -, interloper, F,  ...etc, 😂