What did you see tonight?

[rojay]

Taking a cue from some of the comments from other members here, I decided to spend some time looking at the Auriga clusters, paying attention to the character of each one (rather than just 'ticking them off' as I tend to do). And it was a very enjoyable session, much better than not finding M81/82 and cursing the poor transparency like my last time out! I was surprised that at low power they were actually quite hard to pick out against the bright sky. (I'm using an 8inch  F6 Dob). So I put in a zoom eyepiece and turned up the magnification to darken the background, looking for a sweet spot of crisp stars and dark background, but it was just getting better with higher power, so I ended up swapping in the 7.5mm TMB Planetary. I'm sure that's not what it's supposed to be used for 🙂

Anyway, they are indeed three noticeably different clusters, well worth my taking the time to appreciate them.

PS I have a DIY azimuth circle and a digital inclinometer, which helps a lot with finding things when the sky is bright and there's not much naked eye or in the finder to star hop from.

[wookie1965]

I had a fantastic night not very good transparency but I got every double more magnification than I should because of it. 

Edited March 26, 2022 by wookie1965

[SuburbanMak]

4 hours ago, spacegalaxy said:

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

What a lovely thing to say thank you. 
The brighter globs in particular were fab last night.  

[Stardaze]

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

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

Stars seemed to not be pin sharp last night for me. Collimation was perfect. Izar didn’t split very well at all at 237x but galaxies were showing up ok. There was something a little amiss but enjoyed just getting out there again. It’s going to be a rush tonight to get off to the darker spot. 

[Pixies]

Have been suffering from poor transparency all week and last night was no exception - although it was an improvement from the previous nights. Tried the Leo triplet in the dob, but saw nothing. So  then pointed it at Theta Origae and could only just make out the faint secondary as it came and went in the pretty mediocre seeing. The  Jetstream was supposed to be well away, so I guess it was local conditions. It had been warm all day and the temp was dropping rapidly.

In the 80mm F10 refractor, I tried the same double star, but nothing was seen. 

So then on to some other doubles around Cancer, Leo and Bootes. It was obvious that the poor seeing had less of a detrimental affect on the little 'frac. For example, Izar (epsilon Boo) showed the secondary in the 80mm at 120x as an obvious bright spot in the first diffraction  ring, but in the 8" dob, it was a fuzzy mess although visible at 100x - not the usual "hot-air balloon".

2 more clear nights coming up.  Hopefully some better conditions soon.

[Astro_Dad]

Similar to many here, enjoyed a super Friday evening into Sat morning under clear skies - the seeing the best it has been for some time. 
The 10 inch Dob was out early as the forecast looked strong here in the Yorkshire Dales- rare for this to happen on a Friday just when a late night is a realistic option!

Enjoyed what must surely be one of the last good views of M42 this year, didn’t go in for high mag this time just stuck with the 2” 28mm ES taking in the whole view with a sharp resolution of the main trapezium stars A,B,C and D. Then spent longer than usual on M81 and M82, really trying to see what structure I could tease out this time, pushing the mag using the Baader Zoom (whilst reminding myself that those photons have travelled for nearly 12 million years before hitting my retina… ). Then a quick look at the always impressive M44 and concluding with my first view of M67, the open cluster in Cancer. Impressive, but certainly more to go back to and see here after I’d consulted Turn Left at Orion today. 

I’m not using GOTO at all now, and enjoying the manual approach albeit complemented by the trusty digital inclinometer!

Tonight looking good again so looking forward to more. 

[NeonSpectres]

Currently doing a wide-field imaging session (D750 + 50mm Lens @ f/8, ISO 1600, 30s exposure) centred around M81.

Whilst that's clicking away outside for the next couple of hours I restacked (and removed loads of plane trails! 😡 ) and processed (in Affinity Photo) last night's Star Trails shot:

[Geoff Barnes]

A nice still early autumn evening down here and quite warm with very steady seeing, so I took great  delight in the opportunity to have a first look this year at some favorite doubles. 

Tegmine just coming into view although a bit low in the sky,  I was still able to get the triple split with the 6.5mm Morpheus, quite a challenge the tighter two so pleased to bag that one. 

Iota Cancri also coming into view for the first time and pretty as ever, distinct orange and pale blue coloring. 

Sirius B always a good test of the seeing and an easy split this time. 

Castor, Beta Orionis, Alnitak and Rigel all bagged comfortably, as were Trapezium E and F. 

I then switched to the southern sky where some old favorites are now clearing the tree tops. 

Top of my list to see was Omega Centauri the biggest GC in the heavens, still partially obscured by a few branches and leaves but enough to lose myself in a million stars filling the eyepiece completely. If only it had a brighter centre like 47 Tucana  it would be mind boggling. 

The Jewel Box with its central traffic lights in Crux  one of my favorites, and just nearby the Blue Planetary glowing eerily as a dim blue/grey disc. 

Seeing this got me to check out the Ghost of Jupiter which I hadn't seen for a long time and luckily it had just risen above the trees. 

Similar looking to the Blue Planetary but slightly larger if anything and still with that ghostly glow to it. 

Not a bad haul for one nights  viewing and nice to still be able to do it in comfort and just a tee shirt, won't be able to do that for much longer! 😀

 

[Space Hopper]

A lovely bright meteor from the north, heading west, passing beneath the Pleaides, covering a large portion of the sky.

Spotted at 21:07hrs on 27 March 2022. It was a corker....!!

[Stu]

2 hours ago, Geoff Barnes said:

A nice still early autumn evening down here and quite warm with very steady seeing, so I took great  delight in the opportunity to have a first look this year at some favorite doubles. 

Tegmine just coming into view although a bit low in the sky,  I was still able to get the triple split with the 6.5mm Morpheus, quite a challenge the tighter two so pleased to bag that one. 

Iota Cancri also coming into view for the first time and pretty as ever, distinct orange and pale blue coloring. 

Sirius B always a good test of the seeing and an easy split this time. 

Castor, Beta Orionis, Alnitak and Rigel all bagged comfortably, as were Trapezium E and F. 

I then switched to the southern sky where some old favorites are now clearing the tree tops. 

Top of my list to see was Omega Centauri the biggest GC in the heavens, still partially obscured by a few branches and leaves but enough to lose myself in a million stars filling the eyepiece completely. If only it had a brighter centre like 47 Tucana  it would be mind boggling. 

The Jewel Box with its central traffic lights in Crux  one of my favorites, and just nearby the Blue Planetary glowing eerily as a dim blue/grey disc. 

Seeing this got me to check out the Ghost of Jupiter which I hadn't seen for a long time and luckily it had just risen above the trees. 

Similar looking to the Blue Planetary but slightly larger if anything and still with that ghostly glow to it. 

Not a bad haul for one nights  viewing and nice to still be able to do it in comfort and just a tee shirt, won't be able to do that for much longer! 😀

 

You are teasing us Geoff! Easy split of Sirius and T shirted observing, whatever next 🤣. That said, I’ve just come back in after a session in shorts and crocs so it is pretty mild over here. Would love to see 47 Tucana and Omega Centauri, must be amazing.

[SuburbanMak]

Definite post-session buzz here after 3 hrs on the South Downs with the Mak 127. A couple of Messier firsts and a big thank you to @OK Apricot for inspiring me to go after M104 the Sombrero - full report to follow but a cracking night despite the odd sky glow! 

[Davesellars]

Had a nice relaxing couple of hours out (just come in) with the 120ST viewing galaxies as the transparency seemed to improve considerably after midnight decided it was too good not to get a session in!   Clouds have just started to come in though...

[PeterC65]

I had a great session with the Mak last night. The full report is here.

A real mix of clusters, galaxies, doubles and a couple of planetary nebulae, mostly new to me. I do need to try for closer doubles next time though as the ones I saw last night were too easy and not enough of a challenge.

I've read that planetary nebulae are a good target for the Mak and so it was nice to check this out. They are just tiny fuzzy blobs but quite a challenge to find. My method is to use a widefield eyepiece, detecting the PN by the fact that it doesn't come to a point focus while the surrounding stars do, then checking that it isn't significantly diminished in magnitude by the UHC filter.

[StephenRh]

A nice clear night here so I took the opportunity to test drive my new acquisitions - a Telrad finder and a Baader Hyperion Zoom. Very pleased with both!

Orion was very prominent around here. I was very impressed with the Baader Hyperion and the Telrad made finding the Leo Triplets (almost) a cinch.

[Epick Crom]

Last night I just managed to observe M 95 and M 96 in Leo for the first time. Happy with the results as seeing and transparency was bad due to a rapidly approaching thunderstorm. Had to grab the scope and rush inside as lightning bolts started getting to close for comfort😱

Joe

[Ags]

Took a bus trip up to the La Palma observatory today. There was a storm last night and the bus driver had to keep stopping to roll boulders off the road. When we hit the cloud layer it started sleeting and blizzarding and the precipitous mountain road was white with ice. The guide said we were aborting the mission but there was nowhere to turn so we kept going up. Eventually we were at the top of the mountain and I caught a glimpse of a telecope dome through the howling snow, but that was it. We beat a retreat down the other side of the mountain which was thankfully free of ice. I did feel sorry for some of my fellow travellers who were wearing shorts and sandals despite all warnings.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Ags

[MercianDabbler]

A couple of nights with clear dark skies in North Norfolk today and yesterday. The forecast was poor so I only brought the ST80 but it has done surprisingly well. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the nearby village has no street lights. Bonus! 

Last night I started off with the Leo triplet. No bother at all with two of them.  The third was more of a hint.  While Orion was still around I headed over to M42 and also stopped by the Pleiades before heading indoors to watch the F1. Back outside later I decided to take a punt at M104. It was very low and I had to move the tripod a couple of times to see past a nearby barn but then...  there was that fuzzy slash in the sky close to two groups of three stars. Finally I wanted to try for M101 for the umpteenth time. I tried plenty but no dice. 

Tonight the forecast was very iffy but I went after M101 again. Rather than using the tablet to check Stellarium I used the 10x50s to find my way around and keep my dark adaptation - the spot is easy enough to find.  I also popped over to M51 to get my eye in.  No problem at all finding that and I upped the magnification to see how that went. I am pretty sure that I could see enough shape to suggest the second galaxy with 9mm or shorter. I switched between M51 and 101 repeatedly but still no dice.  By now some clouds were moving in but I kept at it when it was clear.  Eventually with the 26mm Meade S4000 and some deep breaths a fuzzy blob popped into view in the right place. It was also visible with the 15mm SLV but not so much with the 32mm Plossl but this could be the clouds. After that the I was well happy and the clouds were getting thicker so I headed indoors. 

[Ags]

It is a foggy night on La Palma but some stars shone through. During a clear patch I stole a few glimpses M46 and M47. I was particulary trying to spot the little planetary hiding in M46 but got nothing definite. I hoovered up M41 and M93, just practicing their locations. M42 was very bright too, the outer loop was clearly visible. Running Man was visible as a formless glow in averted vision.

[StephenRh]

The night started out promising but then cloud began to encroach. Had a fair view of Procyron and Canis Minor. Unfortunately Leo wasn’t playing ball. Regulus was clear enough but Chertan and the Leo Triplets were obscured by cloud. Ah well

[SuburbanMak]

Noticed it was clear very late last night, transparency better than of late but seeing quite twinkly. Was about to roll the ST80 out when I spotted the trees bending in the wind - opted for a quick 10x50 tour instead. The wind was bitter so it was a short session! 

Looked at M44, Berenices Hairclip in Coma B, M13, M3 (which took me a bit of time to find in the bins), Double Cluster - all lovely. 

Looked for but failed to spot M101, M65/6, M57 and even M81/2 eluded me, I'm blaming the cold as I abandoned at that point and headed in to warm up. 

[Ags]

Also looked at M44 last night - so much better under dark skies!

[NeonSpectres]

Got my money's worth out of M42 last night as it's almost gone by testing various exposure length and ISO settings using Nikon D7200 and Tamron 100-400mm lens (@400mm). Although it was lovely and clear there was a chilly wind gusting across the back garden which didn't help so I'll have to do some more at the weekend when it's hopefully clear AND calm... Processed a 2 minute exposure (ISO 400) in Affinity and quite pleased with the result considering the most I've previously done is 30 seconds at ISO 1600:

[Pixies]

Stopping overnight in a little campsite in Penrith, on the way down to Astrocamp. The stars are out and so are nextdoor's motorhome's led lights! 🤬

[Ags]

I saw a nice sunset. Counts, doesn't it?

[ONIKKINEN]

Cygnus, and with it the summer milky way is rising again, had a look naked eye and with my 7x50 Nikons just cruising through the endless starfields. Nicely visible from a bortle 4 location without the moon in the way, but the feeling is bittersweet as Cygnus rising signals the end of the season is at hand.

M13 and M3 were also quite nice from these skies with the binos, if a little small. Usually have trouble finding them but not this time from much darker skies than i am used to.