What did you see tonight?

[Orange Smartie]

My first session in ages, and I took out my Heritage 150p because I wasn't anticipating being out for long. We'd had some friends over for a barbecue and I wasn't expecting them to be interested, but as it happened, they wanted to see whatever I could show them.

We looked at the moon briefly, then as the sky darkened, some doubles (polaris, Almach, the double double), the owl cluster, M13, Andromeda galaxy and the ring nebula. The adults left and my son turned up with his mates and then THEY wanted to see it all. Highlight of the evening was when one lad asked if we could see any planets. I told him no, because they're all a bit low, but 5 minutes later, Saturn popped up over some trees. The reaction to seeing that was priceless.

[Davesellars]

2 nights in a row the sky transparency has been off the scale!  Had a fantastic session last night from midnight to 4:30am with both the 4" refractor and the 12" dob.  I had a stunning view of the Veil nebula with incredible structure to it.

[Astro_Dad]

7th/8th August

In our second Scottish holiday destination near Kirkcudbright and looking forward to to more great weather and hopefully clear skies as the week progresses. 

Battling the cloud for some of last nights brief session so focussed mainly on naked eye views which were stunning in our location with a near 180 degree vista. 

The Milky Way looking particularly impressive. 

Took the 6 inch Newt out for a brief look at some old favourites including spectacular Albireo and impressive M3. 

Saturn was looking beautifully sharp at 94x power but was trickier at 150x. Titan clearly visible to the SE and Rhea to the NW. 

Jupiter was looking very promising - before cloud spoiled the view I was able to see the most surface detail yet this year. 

Tonight is looking promising so fingers crossed !

Edited August 8, 2022 by Astro_Dad

[PeterC65]

Finally had some success with EEVA using the astro camera (Altair GPCAM2 327C).

Full Report

I managed to see colour and detail in M27 and saw the East Veil and the Jupiter GRS for the first time.

I was hoping that EEVA would be close to live which I don't think it is. I could see smudges in real time and these were better than the smudges I can see with straight visual, but to get a good image took a minute of live stacking and some fiddling about with the histogram control. It's also harder to find things I think as I can't just pop in a low magnification eyepiece to get a wider field of view. Overall I'd say it's just a different experience but it does have advantages (you can stay in the warm, no issues with light pollution and dark eye adaption, and you do see much more colour and detail).

[fwm891]

Had a mixed night. Imaging rig worked reasonably well last night so while that chuntered away I got the 16 inch dob out to play to 'look' at some M's and 'NGC's.

Always amazed how M17 looks like a swan visually but imaged there's so much more around it the basic swan gets lost. M16 even with a nebula filter didn't show much more than the cluster. M57 and M27 both favourites at this time of year were superb. So too both main halves of the veil. Some galaxies too were enjoyed: NGC7331 and some faint blobs nearby. NGC891 was easy(ish) now I've learned the route to it from M34.   M52 the bubble and NGC7380 (Iris) being high overhead were very pleasing.

Bring on the longer nights.

Edited August 8, 2022 by fwm891
Text added

[Mr Spock]

Had a great solar session earlier with the 102mm. The 102mm has retired to the indoors for the evening, because...

...the big lad is out 😜

 

[Davesellars]

Looking superb at the moment...  Absolutely pristine sky (fingers crossed it stays that way!).   The very low down Moon looks very nice naked eye (too low down to the scope to it from by back though!)

My 12" dob is still out from last night ready in anticipation of a big session DSO hunting...

 

[Mr Spock]

Sky looks really clean tonight. I'll still have too much LP for serious deep sky but I've got 12" and I'm going to use it 😜

[Astro_Dad]

Looking good here in Scotland too - all set up for some more holiday astro …

 

[Pixies]

Cloudy here tonight. Brief views of some brighter stars. However, saving myself for the rest of the week which looks like it's going to be clear.

Until 12th! Cloudy at the peak or Perseids meteor shower! 🙄

[cloudsweeper]

9.00 - 10.35, AR102S frac on AZ4.

MOON: 3 days past 1st quarter, very low, east of south, looking quite yellow.  It eventually lifted itself above some trees.  Slight shimmering and a little CA on the limb.  Herschel looked good at x34, but lacked sharpness at x100.

ALBIREO: Always a treat.  Clearly orange/blue (fainter component was blue).  Good split at just x17.  In a busy field of fainter stars.

ARY 48 (Cyg): A new double for me - 8th mag pair, very wide at 53".  (Proper, physical double, SAO 070298.)  An easy hop from Aljanah.  Easy split (but still quite close) at x17.  Well matched, stars side by side.  Pleasingly, there is a very similar (slightly fainter) pair very close by, but with an up-down orientation.  

DOUBLE CLUSTER: Never ceases to delight.  The cluster NGC869 (closer to Cas) has a grainy centre, not unlike a glob.

Nice variety of targets!

Doug.

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by cloudsweeper

[Mr Spock]

12" flexing its muscles on doubles in Lyra. Three in a row, in the same field at x117, looked better at x190. 

Ho 89 - 8.89 + 12.90, 5.2"
Bu 137 - 8.69 + 9.02, 1.5"
Ho 90 - 8.72 + 12.70, 3.6"

[Mr Spock]

Finished the night with a look at Saturn. Still poor conditions locally that low down but with the 7mm ortho (x217) the view was still spectacular. Occasionally I got brief glimpses of what the 12" is capable of with some nicely shaded belts.

[Davesellars]

Pulled another 4 hour session!  The transparency wasn't quite like the previous couple of nights and was quite variable but still bagged quite a few DSOs.  The seeing was pretty rough at times but watched the double shadow transit. So fun having Jupiter back in a decent position again!

Edited August 9, 2022 by Davesellars

[Astro_Dad]

The forecast and apps of course don’t always get it right… Scope Nights in particular I’ve found to be uncharacteristically less than satisfactory recently but that maybe due partly to the harder to forecast microclimates I’ve been in over the past few days. So the planned deep sky session was aborted due to quite heavy cloud. Jupiter was still clearly visible having risen above the Eastern horizon - so an opportunity to refocus the late evenings plans. Seeing was quite poor - Jupiter appeared as a shimmering blob at times through the six inch Newt but did present quite sharply with interesting banding detail intermittently. The best views using the SvBony 7-21mm zoom were achieved at the 11-12mm focal length position (approx 68x power). Good colour and contrast could be seen on the two main belts and zones but no GRS visible. Contrast and detail was enhanced to some extent using an 80A blue filter, but I preferred the natural hues shown without. 

The moons were in an interesting formation with  Ganymede and Io apparently “paired up “ to the SE of Jupiters disc. Europa and Callisto in particular flanking a good distance either side.

Europa featured prominently in the astrobiology video on show yesterday at the planetarium in Kirkcudbright, emphasising the salt water ocean beneath the moons surface and speculating on the possibility  of primitive organisms (single cells) residing there, along with the slightly more “ambitious” ideas of elaborate reef structures/ colonies thriving around black smokers (hydrothermal vents).  All speculation of course (and well put together in a CGI based sequence), but fascinating then to ponder these ideas with a fuelled imagination whilst observing Europa telescopically last night. 

The clouds were rolling in thick and fast by 12.30 or so, unfortunately completely masking Saturn which was going to be the next target having been shining prominently slightly early in the evening. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by Astro_Dad
Typo

[wookie1965]

11 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

9.00 - 10.35, AR102S frac on AZ4.

MOON: 3 days past 1st quarter, very low, east of south, looking quite yellow.  It eventually lifted itself above some trees.  Slight shimmering and a little CA on the limb.  Herschel looked good at x34, but lacked sharpness at x100.

ALBIREO: Always a treat.  Clearly orange/blue (fainter component was blue).  Good split at just x17.  In a busy field of fainter stars.

ARY 48 (Cyg): A new double for me - 8th mag pair, very wide at 53".  (Proper, physical double, SAO 070298.)  An easy hop from Aljanah.  Easy split (but still quite close) at x17.  Well matched, stars side by side.  Pleasingly, there is a very similar (slightly fainter) pair very close by, but with an up-down orientation.  

DOUBLE CLUSTER: Never ceases to delight.  The cluster NGC869 (closer to Cas) has a grainy centre, not unlike a glob.

Nice variety of targets!

Doug.

 

ARY 48 in Cygnus is a new one for me thanks for posting this.

[johnturley]

I had a nice view of both Saturn and Jupiter early this morning. Cassini's Division on Saturn was the clearest I've seen this year, plus could make out Titan, and a couple of other moons.

In addition I had a nice view of the shadow transit of Ganymede on Jupiter, before I went to bed at around 2 a.m. I only realised when I looked at Astronomy Now Magazine this morning, that had I stopped up another half hour, I would also been able to see the shadow of Io begin to cross the Jovian disc. 

I also attempted some photography with my ZWO ASI 462 Planetary Camera through the Esprit 150 (which usually gives sharper planetary images than the 14in Newtonian) using a 2x Barlow, and stacked and processed in Registax. Not that great (I was able to make out more detail visually), but at least you can make out Cassini's Division, and Ganymede's shadow, plus I think Ganymede and Io to the left of Jupiter.

John 

Edited August 9, 2022 by johnturley

[SuburbanMak]

A cracking holiday session from Port Isaac, Cornwall last night.  Enjoyed the company of eldest son to look at Jupiter & noted close pairing of Io & Ganymede. Main equatorial bands about the limit of the ST80/Barlowed Hyperion zoom combo giving clearest views around 80x. 
Saturn also nice & crisp, shadow of the rings & younger eyes claimed the Cassini division plus banding & a couple of moons, I could only make out one moon & nothing on the disc, age creeping up I guess.  
 Holiday garden is elevated but faces NE so no Sagittarius goodies on offer but the double cluster & M31 were looking good until recurrent dew set in and I abandoned the ST80.

Number one son retired (he had put in an impressive shift with his brothers at the Golden Lion so did well to be out at all tbh…) and I settled in on a lounger with the 10x50s.  Once the moon was down transparency was as good as I have ever seen - Andromeda galaxy visible with considerable extent naked eye and incredible in the bins - dense core and really wide outer nebulosity visible over more than half the 5.5 degree field. The double cluster jumping out naked eye and rich in the bins.  Pleiades popped up over the horizon and gave a terrific show.  

Best of all M33 was an easy find! Haven’t seen it with so much contrast before and loved sweeping back to it and picking up its diffuse oval cloud time after time, just in case it never happens again! 

Turning the lounger round I ogled the Milky Way through Cygnus without really identifying features, just boggled at it - amazing dark lanes naked eye and staggering density of stars in the the 10x50s.   Picked out M13, M57, M27 and M81/2 along the way.  Quite a few bright meteors in evidence too all accompanied by the sound of the sea below.  

Could have stayed out all night but had kayaks and coasteering booked for the morning so called it a day at around 3:30. CO says it’s Bortle 3 SQM 21.7 here and it certainly makes a difference! 

[Astro_Dad]

24 minutes ago, SuburbanMak said:

A cracking holiday session from Port Isaac, Cornwall

Lovely spot down there and clearly a great evening of holiday astro !

[Ags]

Well done on M33! It must have been pretty dark.

 

[Astro_Dad]

Attractive waxing gibbous moon (illumination 90%) set against sunset sky.  Impressive by naked eye and even more so using 10x50 binocular. 

[cajen2]

Just come in after a 90-minute session with the 8" dob. I wanted to see as many targets as I could but first had to fine-tune my finder. With transparency a bit iffy (not sure mathematically!) and the seeing slightly wavery, not to mention the nearby moon, I wasn't expecting much. I got Saturn in the StellaLyra 20mil and adjusted the finder, but it looked so beautiful that I decided to stick around. Started with my Morpheus 9mil....mmmmm! Still very small, though, so on to the 6.5 Morph - even more mmmmm - and finally the Pentax XW 5 (240x). The image wasn't perfect with some thin high cloud but still beautiful. Got some banding on Saturn and what looked like three moons, which seems very unlikely. Must have been at least two field stars. For a laugh, I tried barlowing the Pentax, but of course that was way too much mag.

Fired by this, I panned over to Jupiter, which looked even better (because it was higher and larger). Plenty of banding detail and the four moons gathered to the left (newt view). 

it was getting late so gave up on everything else but thoroughly enjoyed the gas giants again.

Edited August 9, 2022 by cajen2

[Guest]

1 hour ago, cajen2 said:

Just come in after a 90-minute session with the 8" dob. I wanted to see as many targets as I could but first had to fine-tune my finder. With transparency a bit iffy (not sure mathematically!) and the seeing slightly wavery, not to mention the nearby moon, I wasn't expecting much. I got Saturn in the StellaLyra 20mil and adjusted the finder, but it looked so beautiful that I decided to stick around. Started with my Morpheus 9mil....mmmmm! Still very small, though, so on to the 6.5 Morph - even more mmmmm - and finally the Pentax XW 5 (240x). The image wasn't perfect with some thin high cloud but still beautiful. Got some banding on Saturn and what looked like three moons, which seems very unlikely. Must have been at least two field stars. For a laugh, I tried barlowing the Pentax, but of course that was way too much mag.

Fired by this, I panned over to Jupiter, which looked even better (because it was higher and larger). Plenty of banding detail and the four moons gathered to the left (newt view). 

it was getting late so gave up on everything else but thoroughly enjoyed the gas giants again.

The wife is happy that the gas giants are back too. 

[scotty1]

02.30 -03.45 I observed six moderately bright meteors, five of those seemed to be Persieds. One in the north east, and the others were between West and Northwest.  

[ED Splitter]

Wonderful reports from all. Last few nights have been great nearly a full week.  Not had time to write up properly but in summary. 
saturn, Cassini division and four moons 

Jupiter looked wonderful as ever great detail in cloud banding

ring nebula looking resplendent at 9mm. 
dumbell nebula looked faint and rather disappointing but was observed on a poorer night of seeing. 

M31 on one particular great night of seeing with accompanying M32 never seen together before or since. 
 

all in all an incredible week or so, it really lifted the spirits to see so many sights particularly deep sky objects that Bar M31/M42 hadnt found previously. Many thanks to all who publish their observations it really is an inspiring read and makes you want to get out there and find things for yourself. 
clear skies all.