What did you see tonight?

[JeremyS]

Seeing much better tonight. Could have driven a coach and horses between Rigel B and Rigel using the Tak FC 100 DZ. No luck on the Pup.

For a bit of a laugh, I brought the Tak FC 76 DCU out of the house, put it on the tripod and turned it to Rigel. Almost as good a view. And with no cool-down time 

Edited March 20, 2022 by JeremyS

[RobertI]

Two sessions today with the 102EDR, in part to see how it rides on my new AZ4. Some nice sunspot activity and some shadowed craters starting to emerge from the full moon. Very happy with the AZ4.

[NeonSpectres]

This evening's efforts: bits of Orion taken using Nikon D750 + Tamron 100-400mm (@300mm). 181 Lights at f8, ISO1600, 30s stacked in DSS then processed in Affinity:

[Ed the Fox]

After my second attempt to recollimate my scope I thought I'd give it a go between 7.30 and 9pm until the moon intervened. I was not disappointed. Started on Sirius to see how sharp it and it was crisp. Mission accomplished. 

I think i have a thing for open clusters as I never tire looking at them. So off I went looking at M44, M35, and M48 all looking really nice.

Also looked at some doubles. Kappa boo, Mizar, Iota Cancer to name a few.

I then stepped back from the scope , gazed at the sky and realised I was "Back in the game" after fixing my scope. Happy days.

[Mr Spock]

Just had an hour on the moon with the 12". Seeing is poor though, but, more fuzzy than wobbly. Decent enough at x190 in the 8mm LVW. A little bit better in the 7mm ortho at x217. The new 5mm LVW was way too much for the seeing conditions.

Very dewey too. Both the RACI and the Telrad were dewed up to being of little use.

Had a good look at Alhazen α which was quite prominent. Banding was noticeable but faint.

A quick look at γ Leo at x217 confirmed how poor the seeing was. A good split, but fuzzy.

[Stu]

Some white light solar during the day, followed by a gawp at the near full Moon this evening. Used the FC76DC for solar and actually tried the full range of FS60C, FS60Q, FC76DC and FC76Q on the Moon and M42 to see the difference ms, all quite interesting.

Pretty sure this was taken with the 76Q but I took loads so may be mistaken!

[Paz]

On 14/03/2022 at 22:37, OK Apricot said:

Could be, I don't know my way around the moon yet, not enough to know which crater this is anyway. This one that resembles a horse shoe. I left my moon map at home 😅

I find it very difficult to work out what I am looking at on the moon sometimes, you would think it easy but if you don't have a photo with exactly the same illumination angle then details close to the terminator can look completely different.

[Zermelo]

14 hours ago, Zermelo said:

Looking good here too ...

 

 

Well it looks like Meteoblue gets the bragging rights for last night.

It started with some very decent seeing: the Skymax comfortably split 57 Cancri at 1.5" and just teased apart Tegmine AB at 1.1".
Then the seeing seemed to fall off a cliff, and everything was much too jumpy to support any magnification.

I switched to open clusters: M35/37/39 were all decent, though the rising moon took out some of the contrast. I came in before 10 as conditions deteriorated further, but the evening had been saved by a first glimpse of M93, my 101st Messier, skulking along the southern horizon above our hebe bush, which I had trimmed for precisely that eventuality.

 

[Kon]

1 hour ago, Paz said:

I find it very difficult to work out what I am looking at on the moon sometimes, you would think it easy but if you don't have a photo with exactly the same illumination angle then details close to the terminator can look completely different.

I found this site very handy to orientate myself.

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4955

 

[SuburbanMak]

Looks clear out there, I have the very latest in mobile observatory technology ready to deploy…

[Mr Spock]

It's clear again. I'm having a night off though. I'm far too exhausted from all the other stuff going on.

[Astro_Dad]

Finally a rare observing session under clear skies last night. Using the Heritage 150p managed a quick view of M42 - rapidly receding from my vantage point so enjoying before it heads off… then my first observation of the Salt and Pepper cluster M37. So much more rewarding finding targets manually - this one forming an approximate right angled triangle with Pollux and Menkalinan. I’ll be having another look later and hopefully finding M35 and M36 also. M37 showed a nice faint but clear scattering of stars in the open cluster - using averted vision. (The moon was still low, so enabled a reasonable view of the cluster, not too washed out). Later (just past midnight) enjoyed a good clear view of the almost full moon using the 102mm Mak. 
Scope nights  suggests a good observing night ahead - finally a weekend opportunity!

 

[Stu]

9 hours ago, Kon said:

I found this site very handy to orientate myself.

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4955

 

That’s a great site, although I wish the feature labelling could be better/more detailed.

[Stu]

10 hours ago, Paz said:

I find it very difficult to work out what I am looking at on the moon sometimes, you would think it easy but if you don't have a photo with exactly the same illumination angle then details close to the terminator can look completely different.

If you have an iPhone then Moon Phase Photo Maps is a great app for showing you what is along the terminator. The same maps are available online here:

https://www.derekscope.co.uk/the-moon-20th/

[Stu]

It was my daughter’s birthday party today, and I’m a bit broken after all the prep needed to get ready for it so suspect I won’t observe tonight despite it being clear. Might pop the 76Q out for a quick squiz at the Moon though.

Perhaps this post should be in a ‘What might I look at tonight’ thread instead of this one? 🤪

[IB20]

Just had a look at M41 through the 76DC, I have a neighbours tv aerial obscuring the foreground but it still looks mesmerising through the Morpheus 17.5mm. Tiny white pearls on a twilight navy background, stunning. Another Messier object bagged. 

[PeterStudz]

The ISS just made a long bright pass as I was setting up. I must try and see it or even try and take a picture through the telescope. 

Edited March 19, 2022 by PeterStudz

[Stu]

21 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

The ISS just made a long bright pass as I was setting up. I must try and see it or even try and take a picture through the telescope. 

Yes, I watched it go over, nice pass.

Showed up as a short line on this handheld 10s phone pic.

[SuburbanMak]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

Yes, I watched it go over, nice pass.

Showed up as a short line on this handheld 10s phone pic.

Great pic.
Top R , is that nebulosity or tree? 

[Stu]

9 minutes ago, SuburbanMak said:

Great pic.
Top R , is that nebulosity or tree? 

Tree! 🤣🤣

[Kon]

49 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

The ISS just made a long bright pass as I was setting up. I must try and see it or even try and take a picture through the telescope. 

I was out with my nearly 5 year old daughter trying to photograph it through the telescope. Awful images since it was too low in the sky and too much atmospheric disturbance, but made for a great 'night out' with her guiding me where it was. I loved it! Wed is a W to E at 86 degrees Passover so that's your best bet for nice pics.

Edited March 19, 2022 by Kon

[Davesellars]

Had a bit under an hour with the dob taking advantage viewing before the Moon came up taking in M1, M42, Plieades (thought I could make out a touch of nebulosity), NGC 2903 and double cluster looking fantastic. Good transparency tonight.

[Astro_Dad]

Great observing session tonight so far - took out the big gun this time (10 inch Dob - happily stable with no obvious wobble and great optics 😉 ). Enjoyed a lovely hour or so touring the open clusters in Auriga. M36, M37 and M38. All looking good in a very clear Bortle 4 sky with good transparency.  Best views provided by the 2” ES 28mm.  Moon still relatively low and obscured by trees so not overly hindering the deep sky views, but will be heading out later to view the waning gibbous at high magnification. 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Astro_Dad

[NeonSpectres]

This evening's target was Pleiades taken using Nikon D750 + Tamron 100-400mm (@400mm). 196 Lights at f8, ISO1600, 30s stacked in DSS then processed in Affinity (yep, it's very 'teal' but my processing skills are still rather limited but I like it artistically 🙃😞

I'm finding the 'PolarFinder Pro' app really useful for excellent tracking just using 'Quick Align' on my CG-5 Mount as there's just a camera and lens attached. I'll have to go back to 'proper' multi-star alignment for the next session as I'm back using the C8 and imaging fainter objects...

[Davesellars]

Had 10 minutes viewing the Moon but the seeing is terrible with the 12" dob...  Probably better with the refractor tonight.  Brought everything in as have had a long day!