What did you see tonight?

[fozzybear]

thunder/lightning and heavy rain at the moment sending it North to SW UK Cornwall/Dorset

 

 

[badhex]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Hope you are back on an even keel soon, but enjoy the skies in the meantime 

Thanks @JeremyS - actually as it's stress related I can genuinely claim that astronomy - which is when I'm at my most Zen - is part of my recovery! 

[badhex]

Managed to get out of bed ✅

Perfect sky ✅

Moon disappearing behind buildings 19 mins before actual eclipse ✅

Let's look at Jupiter for the first time this year instead ✅

[Stu]

16 hours ago, fozzybear said:

thunder/lightning and heavy rain at the moment sending it North to SW UK Cornwall/Dorset

Yep, thanks for that…. 😉🤣

[fozzybear]

we had it bad yesterday here a local church got hit and the lighning ripped slates off the spire and hit the bell in turn blew the automatic chime board off the wall and the consumer unit in the cupboard according to the local news 33k ground strikes yesterday

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by fozzybear
added text

[Stu]

2 hours ago, fozzybear said:

we had it bad yesterday here a local church got hit and the lighning ripped slates off the spire and hit the bell in turn blew the automatic chime board off the wall and the consumer unit in the cupboard according to the local news 33k ground strikes yesterday

 

Sorry to hear that fozzy. The number doesn’t surprise me, looking at the lightning detector websites they were hitting at an amazing rate at times. A lot of the stuff I saw was cloud to cloud, great to watch.

[badhex]

2 hours ago, fozzybear said:

we had it bad yesterday here a local church got hit and the lighning ripped slates off the spire and hit the bell in turn blew the automatic chime board off the wall and the consumer unit in the cupboard according to the local news 33k ground strikes yesterday

 

Oof. That sounds intense! 

[badhex]

In the end this morning, I managed:

Saturn - which was reasonably high up and looked pretty good.

Jupiter which was still in the murk, bands were visible but just barely, and tight focus was note really possible.

Venus - extremely low on the horizon and diffraction through the atmosphere was so bad looked like three brightly coloured blobs badly stacked on top of each other. 

Mars was nowhere to be seen, perhaps due to something blocking it on the horizon or too much light at that time. 

Still - great to see all three marching across the sky in one vista. 

[Mircea]

On 15/05/2022 at 21:10, cloudsweeper said:

Great report @Mircea, and fine sketches.  Always good to see a double with <1 arcsec of separation.

Doug.

 

Thank you Doug !

I fully agree with you, it is so pleasing to resolve a subarc double star.

Sunday, while reobserving the stars in the ''Necklace of Smaug'' I found another one : STF 2438.

Other name of the star is HR 7184, it is close to Omicron Dra. So it lie in the den of the Dragon.

It have a separation of 0.86'' and it consist of two white stars of about 7mv.

STF 2438 was resolved at 240x on the ten inch dob with Radian 5mm eyepiece.

Clear sky, Mircea

[Captain Scarlet]

On 15/05/2022 at 17:38, Mircea said:

 

 

 

 

Friday May 13: the evening sky was hazy, the moonlight was intense, thin clouds.

Only the main stars of the Big Dipper, those of the Leo were well visible from my yard.

And the Moon at four degrees above (blue) Spica.

Reminding the color of Spica triggered the rest of the observation session.

I took a chair, my 8x30mm binoculars and turning toward North-East I started looking for star colors.

There are many colorful stars in the Spring sky.

From the straw yellow Arcturus, to deep yellow Izar, golden yellow Algieba and Alpha UMa. 

Next was what we may  call ''The Gang of the Spring Oranges'':  Eltanin/ Gamma Dra - Kochab/ Beta UMi- Rasalgheti/ Alpha Her, gang led by Delta Lyrae.

(The blue hue of Spica was washed by the strong moonlight but in a moonless night one can admire the blue cast of this star against the pasteled white of Vega , with Regulus somewhere between them.)

 

At this point I observed with the 8x30mm binocular Delta Lyr, Epsilon 1-2 Lyr, Alcor- Mizar, Nu Dra, 16-17 Dra  as double stars and counted 18 stars in Mel 111.

I did not met yet an instrument not capable of resolving Nu Dra. I had a 2.5x Galilean spyglass, even that resolved it.

 

Next I took my three inch ''Optus'' Newtonian and observed some double stars :

-Algieba - OMG how beautiful golden yellow Airy disks and bright, perfect difraction rings.

-Alcor-Mizar , an image worth to be put in a photo album. 

-Alula Australis/ Xi UMa, resolved-split at 117x.

-This time I gazed to only Nu Dra+ Arrakis/ Mu Dra+16-17 Dra. Of course, Nu Dra was already resolved by the 6x30mm finder but also the other two stars were split at 117x with 16-17 Dra seen as a beautiful triple star.

I said ''only'' because if we look at the head of the Dragon we will notice these stars make a ''necklace'' with 39 Dra and Omicron Dra.

I use to call these chain of double stars, made up by (16-17 Dra + Mu Dra+ Nu Dra+ 39 Dra+ Omicron Dra) as ''Sigil Smaug'' or ''The Necklace of Smaug'' to honor the writings of JRR Tolkien that I like so much.

(I must admit, beside my strange night habits (noticed by some of my neighbours), I'm also a LOTR fan, I have all his books which were translated in my mother tongue.)

-Psi Dra and Zeta Lyr , Rasalgheti, Albireo, Epsilon 1-2 Lyr resolved at 70x and split at 117x

-M13, M92, Steph 1 as a cluster of eight stars 

At the end I searched the double star 16 Cyg , more because is a beacon to planetary nebula NGC 6826.

At 70x, the planetary nebula was more a hazy star. At 117x, a small, hazy, minute hazy patch become visible.

 

Saturday, May 14 : the sky was even worse. I used my SW Classic 250 P Dobsonian to see some double stars.

-While adjusting the finders ( RACI 8x50mm and Radiant 1x) on Zeta UMa, I noticed the star Sidus Ludoviciana to have a companion.

Did somebody know that star had any role in the story of the ''exo-planet'' of 1722 of Johann Liebknecht ?

-I split at 150x/ Mark III zoom eyepiece the double stars  STF 1495, STF 1544.

- At 480x , I observed and made a drawing of STT 235 which have a separation of 0.97''.

- 36 UMa or LDS 2863 is a very wide double star with a separation of about three minutes.

-I failed again at resolving Dubhe/ Alpha UMa or Bu 1077 AB. I saw again just AC, a binocular double.

-I recovered some motivation by reobserving Zeta Her at 300x/ Lacerta UWA 4mm+ Skyglow filter and Delta Cyg.

- The last object observed was the central star of NGC 6826 at 300x. 

Below is my drawing of STT 235 + ABT 8 AB/C , with some details. 

 

Clear sky, Mircea

 

 

 

 

Superb write-up and what sounds like great sessions. May I make a suggestion? Copy it into its own separate Obs Report so we can comment on the lots of interesting things you’ve said here…

Cheers, Magnus

[SuburbanMak]

Lovely night out there with my trusty 127 Mak - seeing nice and stable and transparency good for a time, eventually succumbing to widening cloud bands. 

Many targets observed - globulars, planetary nebulae, galaxies & a couple of favourite doubles - report to follow but did add one “new” Messier - M80, concentrated glob in Scorpio, 23 to go!. 
 

Report to follow when I am less sleepy….

[Geoff Barnes]

Allow me to blow my trumpet if I may. 

A rare clear calm evening, just after sunset, not fully dark yet but Sirius shining brightly in the pale blue twylight and shortly to disappear behind the trees for another year. 

I quickly whipped the 12 inch Dob out of its outside cupboard onto the patio and without allowing any cool down (it's been pretty cool today anyway) I centred Sirius in the Baader zoom and did a quick star test. Slight fine tune adjustment completed and swap for higher power of a 5mm SW planetary for 300x.

I was expecting to have a struggle but no,  there was the Pup clear as day at 9 o'clock to the dazzling main star. 

A 12 inch Dob and a clear steady sky must take a lot of beating I  reckon. 

I really must look through a decent ED frac one day for comparison. 😀

[Kon]

I imaged the Boeing Starliner chasing ISS see imaging wide field forum) and I had my first look of the Veil and NAN for this season (OIII filter and ES 24mm). The Veil showed the nice delicate filaments. I am so excited to have the summer nebulas coming back again.

[Nik271]

A few classic and relaxing doubles in twilight (10pm) yesterday. All with Skymax 127 on manual EQ, so part of the fun was finding the stars in the bright sky.

Started with Izar, (my spring 'start of session test' double) and then moved to Xi Boo, then Pi Boo, followed by Alpha Com. A brief look at M53 nearby which was barely visible in the twilight. I finished with Rho Herc and Rasalgethi. The latter will be my summer starting double as it is very pretty with an orange/green contrast.

[Stu1smartcookie]

5 hours ago, Nik271 said:

A few classic and relaxing doubles in twilight (10pm) yesterday. All with Skymax 127 on manual EQ, so part of the fun was finding the stars in the bright sky.

Started with Izar, (my spring 'start of session test' double) and then moved to Xi Boo, then Pi Boo, followed by Alpha Com. A brief look at M53 nearby which was barely visible in the twilight. I finished with Rho Herc and Rasalgethi. The latter will be my summer starting double as it is very pretty with an orange/green contrast.

Nice report Nik

I found last night a bit of a frustrating one as finding stuff in a clear , quite bright sky , is proving to be rather tiresome .. Of course things will change a bit when the sky starts to darken earlier in the evening ... Better not wish the summer away though  lol ☺️

 

[rojay]

Just a short session for me last night, partly to wind down after a busy afternoon/evening. Leo was further over to the west, where the sky is a bit darker, compared to last time I looked, so I made another attempt on M65/66, and did manage to see one of them, I think M66. Possibly glimpsed the other, but even one is quite a result...

Then on to M13, which was really nice, it's hard to take in how many stars you're seeing. 

I was getting tired by this point, and heard a clock chiming 12 (and an owl hooting away, which was fun) , so has a quick look at epsilon Lyrae before packing up. Didn't manage to split the individual doubles, telescope hadn't cooled enough probably. Anyway a nice way to end the day!

[Ags]

It's was too late on a work night but the sky was soooo clear and dark and the C6 was cooled so took in the double double, zeta lyrae, Albireo (strong colors tonight) and M57 - the famous ring bright and clear. Tried to find the globular between Albireo and Lyra, but no luck somehow. But I had to call it a night after less than 20 minutes. A thousand curses on the capitalist rat race.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Ags

[Mircea]

My PC was under refurbishment since Friday until yesterday. It was a slowly dying device.

Now I'm back with a computer better then like it was new due to SDS card clone. 

Armand, my observation buddie is the hero who helped me by saving my PC with the many things I collected there over the time.

 

Magnus

Thank you for the very good suggestion, I will do so.

Please keep on making suggestions any time you think they will help me to accommodate with this forum which I like very much.

Thanks in advance !

 

Agnes

I downloaded your book about double stars.

Thank you very much for your generosity !

I choose the all-sky version because I don't think I will have the chance in this life to see the Southern stars. At least I will read about them in your book.

 

Maybe it will be of help if I will show how I find the globular cluster M56.

First, I point the cross of the finder at the middle of the distance between  Gamma Lyr/ Sulafat and Albireo / Beta Cyg.

Looking in the main eyepiece, one should see a small ''Y'' shaped asterism.

Near the feet of the ''Y'' , to the South of it, there is the orange star  HR  7302.

If I see HR 7302 - easy to recognize because of her intense orange color ( CI= 1.67) - than M56 is for sure ''somewhere'' in the field.

With the new to me Windows 10 I don't know yet how to capture screenshots from Stellarium.

 

I bought on the Romanian forum a  second-hand Skywatcher Planetary 4mm eyepiece.

Last night I made a short test to check it, using my 200mm Dobsonian : many stars were resolved across M13 and M3 at 308x.

STT 235 in UMa and STF 2054 in Dra were split.

But what delighted me most, and won a definitive place for SW4mm in the eyepiece tray, was the very fine resolving and split of Zeta Her.

 

Clear sky, Mircea

 

Edited May 25, 2022 by Mircea

[Ags]

I was trying that approach with M56, but failed at the first hurdle. Unfortunately I couldn't make out Sulafat. It's  mag. 3.3 and I said it was a dark night (relatively speaking) but still lost in light pollution. What I will do next time is find Sulafat in the finderscope, and then use the RDF as a virtual Sulafat to estimate the location of M56. Oddly I can easily make out Albireo even though it's about the same brightness as Sulafat???

What SW 4mm were you using? I've been thinking of picking up the Nirvana type.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Ags

[Captain Scarlet]

After a total fog white-out this morning, the evening turned into a night of beautiful transparency. And the forecast seems to suggest the same for 3-4 nights! So this night I quickly set up my nearly grab-n-go set-up: LZOS 105 on AYO2 mount, with Nagler 31 and Ethos 13, giving me 21x and 50x. definitely a wide-field session! I also had a pair of 10x50 binoculars.

The 21x allowed me to take in the whole of Kemble's Cascade, though I couldn't get any colours (the stars are supposed to be a mixture of colours). Kemble's Cascade "ends" in NGC 1502, a rather lovely small open cluster which at 50x was very nice indeed. It contains a "ladder" of several pairs of stars that I couldn't tear my eyes away from. I spent most of my time looking at NGC 1502. Also M52 funnily enough was more visible in the 10x50s and at 50x than at 21x. Odd. A quick tour also of M13, M92, M27, M57, M44, M103, Double Cluster (mesmerising at 21x and 50x), Algieba and Castor, both last just about split at 50x. Bright stripe of MW too across the East. And nice to see little Delphinus rising in the South, along with Altair in Aquila: Summer is coming!

Looking forward to getting the 12" out over the next couple of nights.

Magnus

Edited May 27, 2022 by Captain Scarlet

[Astro Noodles]

Guided by Clear outside, I waited up until midnight waiting for some clear weather so I could grab a few more images for my Cygnus project. It was, of course cloudy.

I couldn't sleep so I came down stairs at 3:15. Glanced out through the French doors and it was as clear as a bell. There was Cygnus flying majestically across the sky. Too light for imaging so I grabbed a pair of binoculars and spent a few minutes but came back inside because it was a bit chilly and I haven't got any socks on.

[badhex]

A few nights ago I had several hours of clear skies on the same evening as my Lacerta 40mm ED arriving! Wonders will never cease.

Decided to hunt some faint fuzzies, and I may have *just* picked up M66 at 41x / 71x but couldn't get M65 and NGC 3628. 
Similarly, M95, M96, M105, NGC 3384, NGC 3389 did not yield any fruit. Booo. 😭

Final attempt at a faint fuzzy was Caldwell 38, but still nothing, so I decided to spend the rest of my time on clusters. 

Coma Berenices cluster looked great in the 40mm. I also got M3, M5 and M53 (the latter two being new targets) at higher mags. 
I tried for NGC 5053 but didn't get it. As my last target I tried for M13 but it was too high up at this point without adjusting the tripod so I called it a night. 

[Zermelo]

11 hours ago, Astro Noodles said:

Guided by Clear outside, I waited up until midnight waiting for some clear weather so I could grab a few more images for my Cygnus project. It was, of course cloudy.

CO has been on usual form today too.

A few hours ago, it was showing 100% low cloud here for the whole of today and through to dawn tomorrow. Everywhere else I looked was saying clear.
MetCheck seems particularly bullish:

And just now CO has shown up late to the party, but did at least bring along a decent bottle:

No astro dark here now, but it should be worth a look.

 

[Astro Noodles]

10 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

CO has been on usual form today too.

A few hours ago, it was showing 100% low cloud here for the whole of today and through to dawn tomorrow. Everywhere else I looked was saying clear.
MetCheck seems particularly bullish:

And just now CO has shown up late to the party, but did at least bring along a decent bottle:

No astro dark here now, but it should be worth a look.

 

Fingers crossed. 

For me, Metcheck is saying yes, but CO is saying don't bother.

[Kon]

@Zermelo and @Astro Noodles if it looks clear outside you are good to go😉.

Nice blue skies here at the moment. I am looking forward to some observing on my t-shirt tonight.