What did you see tonight?

[Kon]

39 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

The ES 24mm is my favourite and most used eyepiece. That eyepiece started me on the expensive road to a set of ES eyepieces, mostly the 82 degree range. I like these too, especially the 14mm and 6.7mm.

Same here. I agree they are excellent EPs. I bought the ES 82 series, 6.7 ,8.8 and 14mm, soon after I got my ES24 (68degrees); i prefer to stay with the 1.25" format. And now I am contemplating the 100degrees but cannot justify the cost, yet 🤣.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, PeterC65 said:

OK, OK! I've copied this report to a new thread in the 'Observing Reports' section. I always write a report like this for my own benefit after a session and then post a slightly edited version on here. I'll post them in the 'Observing Reports' section from now on!

Tee hee. I’d better get over there and comment on it, after all the fuss I made 🤣

[HollyHound]

18 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

The sky seemed bright tonight despite the Moon being below the horizon so the seeing wasn’t great.

Same here in Thornbury... however, this was my first full session with my newly adapted grab and go setup (the FC76Q), so enjoyed a good hour taking in more doubles in Orion, then M42, Pleiadaes, Hyades and general cruising around 😀

Adding the CQ 1.7x Extender (which I moved from the FS-60CB) has turned this from an already great grab and go scope, into a fantastic grab and go scope.... field has been flattened (even when using the notorious XW14) and stars seem to have become just that little bit sharper, all at the expense of the scope being a tiny bit longer and minimal weight gain.

Rigel and others were easy of course... I did try Sirius but no joy, but no surprise given the sky conditions... I have no doubt this scope will split it when it's better conditions 🤞 

 

[Marc1964]

A late night in the garden last night led to me sighting the beehive cluster for the first time. Exciting for me as it is one of those that I have somehow never found before... Went to Birling Gap tonight which I can confirm has lovely dark skies, but a chilly wind tonight! 

Orion was glorious, the dust was so clear. Best sighting ever. Pleiades were gorgeous in the BST 12 mm, which is undoubtedly my favourite eyepiece. I do want a 6 or 8mm now though... 

Sweeping around Orion was fun, enjoyed Lambda Orionis and the three HD stars below. Then went across to 'Hail Hydra' and tried unsuccessfully to see all the stars along the body. Had a good look at the stars around Mirfak in Perseus which were startlingly clear. Finished up back at the beehive because having found it once I wanted to prove to myself that I could find it again... 

Evening curtailed by youth in cars with headlights on and loud music... Sometimes being on own stargazing is a pain, 15 minutes after they arrived I felt that I had to pack up and go. C'est la vie I suppose... 

Edited March 23, 2022 by Marc1964
Spelling....

[F15Rules]

It was a lovely clear, transparent night last night but sadly I couldn't observe..

Tonight I could observe but of course the sky wasn't at all great, our weather forecast said clear but with poor air quality, likely mist or fog later.

I did pop out though, and to start with the sky wasn't too bad..M42 at low power (x45) was nice, but I couldn't get beyond x115 magnification and transparency was poor..no sign of E or F at all.

So I spent a half hour looking at a few Orion favourites, since it will be effectively gone this time next week, and also at the double cluster, which was nice but showing far fewer faint stars than usual.

I did, however, get to use my new Tak tripod, and it proved, at seated height, to be very solid, with vibrations damping down in 1 to 1.5 seconds..very happy with that..

Dave

Edited March 23, 2022 by F15Rules
Photo added

[wookie1965]

Clear here but milky can only see brightest stars could not even see Orion's Sword. 

[Ags]

Finally got Messier 46 and 47 together in the same view in reasonably dark skies. Magical sight!

[Mr Spock]

No observing for me despite the clear skies. My back is out again. Don't laugh - I did it getting out of bed...

[SuburbanMak]

Another sneaked hour while my lad did laps in the pool last night. 
ST80 + Baader Hyperion 24mm & Neodymium filter giving a 4 degree FoV, great combo. 

Transparency 2/5 so mostly sweeping clusters -  The sword of Orion (M42, NGC1980/81), M41, M44, M45, Hyades, Coma Cluster, Mizar, Alpha Persei cluster, DC (NGC869/884), M34/35/36/37 & 38. 
The wider clusters best. 

Nice hour. 

Edited March 24, 2022 by SuburbanMak

[wookie1965]

7 hours ago, Ags said:

Finally got Messier 46 and 47 together in the same view in reasonably dark skies. Magical sight!

I have never tried for these so thanks for posting.

[MalcolmM]

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

No observing for me despite the clear skies. My back is out again. Don't laugh - I did it getting out of bed...

My sympathies! My back is only just back to normal after 4 weeks. My mistake was to pick 'Turn Left at Orion' off the floor! 

Malcolm

[Ags]

2 hours ago, SuburbanMak said:

ST80 + Baader Hyperion 24mm & Neodymium filter giving a 4 degree FoV, great combo.

Funny how different eyes see different things. I had the same combination and couldn't get on with it at all! To my eyes the combo just gave a blur off axis. Issue solved for me with Explore Scientific 24/68. Up until I got the ST80 I loved the Hyperion.

I always blamed the eyepiece, but it looks like the issue was more with my eyes!

[Captain Scarlet]

All set up ready for a clear night.

… when I realized on going out to observe that all my power supplies for this mount are in Ireland. And I’m in London. 🤦‍♂️.

Transparency is the worst I’ve ever seen it here. Nominally clear but I can’t even discern Pherkad, just by Kochab, so probably not too much of a lost session. And my brightness reading ought to be around 19; it’s in fact 18.4.

Magnus.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Captain Scarlet

[Pixies]

Clear tonight (for now) and transparency look much better than the rest of the week just gone. Seeing looks pretty poor, though - with everything twinkling away.

No moon - so faint fuzzies tonight!

[Kon]

The transparency is awful again tonight. I could barely see the Leo triplet. I spent half an hour at the Auriga clusters and finished off with the Persei double cluster. Not worth the frustration under these conditions.

[Davesellars]

I guess the warmer days are causing an issue...  Last two nights the transparency has been absolutely awful (worse than tonight).  Tonight not great but at least I can actually see Ursa Major and Leo unlike the last couple of evenings!   I'll have a look closer to midnight to see if it's worth a session.

[F15Rules]

Here in the Linclnshire Wolds, tonight is much better than Wednesday night.. transparency is no better (see phone shot of Orion, not easy to see the Belt, although easier with the naked eye), but seeing is very good.

I've just come in after a nice hour with the Vixen SP102 F10 achromat on Super Polaris mount in altazimuth mode.

The stellar airy disks were very steady tonight, ideal for doubles in particular.

The Vixen is absolutely rock solid on my old wooden tripod..I couldn't make it vibrate for even one second! I had a minimalist session with just the scope and 4 eyepieces.. Axiom LX 82 Deg 23m, Morpheus 17.5mm, Nagler T2 12mm and Baader Genuine ortho 6mm.

Highlights:

Sirius: Pup suspected but not confirmed.. using the BGO and moon filter, two or more diffraction rings were clearly seen (rather than the more usual mush)..

Theta Aurigae: not the easiest pair to split, this was a superb sight at 166x, with the faint close companion sparkling just outside a single, steady diffraction ring, and averted vision showing the very faint (mag c11?) 3rd component with averted vision.

M42: I couldn't resist one more look, given that Orion will be lost in the twilight once the clocks go forward on Sunday🥴. Not transparent enough to see E or F, but the good seeing meant a lovely, sharply defined Trapezium.

An enjoyable, "back to basics" hour of fun - with a noisy fox barking not far away for most of that time..two nights ago it was frogs croaking-and today I found a huge mass of frogspawn in our small pond!

Dave

[NeonSpectres]

Tonight I did my first Star Trails image (around 2.5 hours). Might process it a bit in Affinity tomorrow but here it is straight out of StarStaX:

[Zermelo]

Based on comments from previous evenings I was expecting poor transparency tonight, and went out armed with a list of doubles; but actually it wasn't that bad (I could see all seven stars in the little dipper). I saw M65 and 66 clearly enough, though not the other one. I did manage to see some galaxies new to me: NGC3521, NGC2903 and NGC3115 (the Spindle).

On the doubles, the seeing was really very good this evening. Favourites Tegmine, iota Cancri and 12 Lyncis all looked splendid, and I added some new ones: Σ1245, HD 79127, HD 79872, and 25 Canum Venaticorum. The standout eyepiece this evening was the ES 6.7mm, which was giving crisp discs, good contrast and minimal scatter.

[Kon]

Transparency improved around midnight and I managed a nice session with some galaxies in Leo and Coma Berenices, and open clusters in Hercules. I will write a report in the morning.

[SuburbanMak]

Just in from a lovely long session with the ST80 on an AZGTi & Manfrotto 55 - a much more bikeable rig! 
Transparency a mixed bag, better overhead than of late though I’d say.
Hunted in vain for a few UM galaxies and then gave in to a favourites tour. Looked at lots but M13, M3 M81/2 & M57 the highlights tonight. 

Took out the BCO 18mm and 10mm plus a 32mm Plossl & 2.25 Barlow.  All worked really well in the ST80, especially the 18mm which is a cracking eyepiece giving a 2.25 degree field & 22x in the 80mm f5. 

Racked up the magnification on M57 and was able to resolve the inner ring at 90x with the Barlowed 10mm BCO. 

Rode home through the woods with Hercules & Bootes looking stunning through the branches. 

One of my teenage sons had failed to finish his American Hot pizza - results all round! 

 

[OK Apricot]

It's 0345 and I've just got home and packed up from my best visual session yet! Had a field day around Leo, Coma Berenices and a few targets elsewhere. Can't wait to write my report and relive this night, it really was one to remember 😁

[spacegalaxy]

1 hour ago, SuburbanMak said:

Just in from a lovely long session with the ST80 on an AZGTi & Manfrotto 55 - a much more bikeable rig! 
Transparency a mixed bag, better overhead than of late though I’d say.
Hunted in vain for a few UM galaxies and then gave in to a favourites tour. Looked at lots but M13, M3 M81/2 & M57 the highlights tonight. 

Took out the BCO 18mm and 10mm plus a 32mm Plossl & 2.25 Barlow.  All worked really well in the ST80, especially the 18mm which is a cracking eyepiece giving a 2.25 degree field & 22x in the 80mm f5. 

Racked up the magnification on M57 and was able to resolve the inner ring at 90x with the Barlowed 10mm BCO. 

Rode home through the woods with Hercules & Bootes looking stunning through the branches. 

One of my teenage sons had failed to finish his American Hot pizza - results all round! 

 

This is the favorite observation report I have ever read! The idea that you can see many thing in that small scope, which is ultra portable is really good. I am looking forward to seeing more observation reports from that ST-80, it inspires me to bring my 70mm out and observe! and finally nicely written post!

 

Starry nights

Edited March 26, 2022 by spacegalaxy

[Stardaze]

Haven’t had too many sessions with the dob these last few months and so a weekend evening finally arrived that was clear and looking excellent. Seeing wasn’t great early on, but it seemed to improve later. I had an hour early evening just trawling around the usual open clusters that have been my bino targets for weeks now. The Auriga clusters and M35 popping in the scope. Eskimo neb looking pretty cool too.
Following a power nap, was back out in the hunt for a few galaxies just after 11. Familiar old favourites first, with M81/M82, M51 all having an extra fed view to help the eye settle. Had another hunt for M101. I just can’t seem to see this from my garden and I’m not sure why. Later on I view much fainter galaxies but this one has always evaded? The sky did seem to have some glow last night as someone mentioned, although the moon wasn’t up?

M65/M66/NGC 3628 were great to drop by on. The triplet was only a duo, with NGC3389 not playing ball.

Virgo was finally positioned perfectly above the house and so the run towards the chain, consisting of M60/M58/M89/M90, were the first stops before finally drawing sight in the chain for the first time this year. 
Decided to drop by M3 as the final stop, my first glob of 2022. 
Hoping I can drive out to a darker spot tonight and settle the score finally with that elusive pinwheel. 

Edited March 26, 2022 by Stardaze

[F15Rules]

17 minutes ago, Stardaze said:

The sky did seem to have some glow last night as someone mentioned, although the moon wasn’t up?

The seeing here was very good last night, but the  transparency was poor. I find that often you get one or the other, but rarely both - at least where I live.

So, however much I might plan a session and it's targets, in the end the actual conditions on a given night determine what I can go after, more often than not.

Last night it was almost as though there was a thin "film" across the sky, blocking out faint stars etc..but the air was very steady, and so stellar images were great.

It's just a pity that there were no major planets available last night!

Dave