What did you see tonight?

[josefk]

5 hours ago, Davesellars said:

Nice!  Glad to see you also took advantage (no time off for me unfortunately, but not doing too mad this morning... ) The transparency increased considerably during the morning (at the start it was pretty bad).  By the time I got to Orion around 3am it was crystal clear and the stars in the sky were much brighter.

Orion was just fabulous last night wasn't it - sharp and dramatic!

Edited October 18, 2022 by josefk

[Mircea]

Last night I made observations with my old Swarovski ''Habicht'' 10x40mm binocular.

My friend Attila is visiting often the local Flea Market. He already bought a Swarovski ''Habicht'' 7x42mm for very little money. When he found a cheap 10x40mm ''Habicht'' he gave it to me as a present.

The binocular is really old. It show signs of extensive use. Part of the decorative leather on the body start pealing off. But the former user was very careful with the optics which look and behave wonderfully.

 

Oh, boy, what a binocular !

It is resolving hand held Zeta Lyr, Albireo, Psi Dra, 61 Cyg, 16 Cyg while Theta Ser and Omicron Cyg are resolved as  triple stars. 

Jupiter was showing a disc, without any details of course. Last night at about ten o'clock p.m. I saw only three Galilean moons.

Saturn was like a luminous grain of rice.

M13, M92, M27, M11 were big and bright. 

At the  ''Binocular Double Cluster'' in Ophiucus, NGC 6633 was well visible while IC 4756/ ''Graff's Cluster'' was visible only with averted vision but it was there.

The binocular showed well M52 and I believe I have spotted also M32, at the limit of detection, forming a triangular asterism with two nearby stars to the West of it.

 

What impressed me most was the resolving of Beta Lyr. The much dimmer companion was visible to the left of the main star. I noted in my logbook the companion was seen in the second quadrant.

Checking Stelle Doppie I learned the companion is at PA= 149 degrees ,with a separation of 45.7''.

Theta Ser seem to be a much tougher double star at the separation of 22.4''.

But Beta Lyr has three magnitude difference between the main and companion star.

I found always such stars much more difficult to resolve.

I finished with Pleiades showing at least thirty stars.

 

Until now, the Alpha male of my binocular pack was Fujinon ''Mariner'' 7x50mm but I believe his position will be challenged.

Mircea

[markse68]

Bit hazy this evening but worth popping the scope out to catch the Io transit. It cleared up to good seeing for first contact and about to pop out again for the shadow, GRS later if it stays clear. It must be the improved altitude but i’ve been getting some of the best views i’ve had of Jupiter and it’s moons, and it’s only a dinky 6” shaving mirror! I correctly identified the moon alignment as i can clearly tell them apart now too- well usually. 

Mark

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

2030 to 2230 with the 4" f7 ED refractor and a 15 min break half way. A very milky sky with thin cloud accentuating the murky light pollution, accompanied by a gusty breeze. Transparency did improve a little toward the end of the session. I did not particularly notice thermals rising from the neighbouring houses. I don't know if the breeze helped or people just cannot afford to put their heating on!

On Saturn higher powers were not useful, but the new to me Vixen 6mm proved its worth, punching through the murk to reveal a hint of Cassini and atmospheric shading at 119x.

Jupiter was not much better, but slightly more magnification with a Vixen 5mm for 143x did make observing the Io shadow transit easier. The shadow observed just after first contact to approx. 30% on its journey across the planet. During brief moments of better seeing and calmer wind, I was *almost* sure I just about spotted the GRS. This was confirmed after checking Sky Safari.

Not spectacular but better than the telly!

Edited October 18, 2022 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[SzabiB]

Early morning start for me. Dragged the Dob outside at 3 o'clock and I was peeping in the eyepiece 3:30 already.

Clear sky, but not ideal conditions. All neighbours decided to put the heating on (looks like energy price crisis still didn't touch them).

Jupiter was quite low already when  I started, got maybe 2 seconds of good view, tried to take some video, nope.

Mars next. Super bright, I need some filters.

Spent some time on the 7 sisters than moved to my current favourite subject, moon.

1 hour alternating between just enjoying the view and playing with the phone holder and Camera Pro setup on my phone.

It was pretty cold outside, so my Raynaud's started to kick off and my fingers turned to be frozen frankfurters. 

Edited October 19, 2022 by SzabiB

[MalcolmM]

Lucky enough to catch the start of the Io transit between the clouds which were rolling in in waves.

It was lovely to see Io kiss the disk followed by it appearing as a bright spot against the SEB. I had lost Io itself by the time it's shadow appeared. Soon after I had complete cloud cover

Was using a combination of eyepieces and Binoviewers in a 100DC and FOA60Q. Interestingly, it was easier to merge the images in the Binoviewers in the longer focal length scope (900 FOA as opposed to 740 DC) using the same eyepieces in each. I wonder is there physics behind that?

Couple of pics. If you squint hard you can just see a hint of the belts on Jupiter as well as Io kissing the disk! I've a way to go yet with planetary photography

Malcolm 

[Ags]

I was watching the transit on my laptop screen. Some really great seeing last night. I didn't see Io approaching Jupiter, so I was quite surprised to see a shadow appear!

[josefk]

15 hours ago, Mircea said:

Last night I made observations with my old Swarovski ''Habicht'' 10x40mm binocular.

My friend Attila is visiting often the local Flea Market. He already bought a Swarovski ''Habicht'' 7x42mm for very little money. When he found a cheap 10x40mm ''Habicht'' he gave it to me as a present.

The binocular is really old. It show signs of extensive use. Part of the decorative leather on the body start pealing off. But the former user was very careful with the optics which look and behave wonderfully.

 

Oh, boy, what a binocular !

It is resolving hand held Zeta Lyr, Albireo, Psi Dra, 61 Cyg, 16 Cyg while Theta Ser and Omicron Cyg are resolved as  triple stars. 

Jupiter was showing a disc, without any details of course. Last night at about ten o'clock p.m. I saw only three Galilean moons.

Saturn was like a luminous grain of rice.

M13, M92, M27, M11 were big and bright. 

At the  ''Binocular Double Cluster'' in Ophiucus, NGC 6633 was well visible while IC 4756/ ''Graff's Cluster'' was visible only with averted vision but it was there.

The binocular showed well M52 and I believe I have spotted also M32, at the limit of detection, forming a triangular asterism with two nearby stars to the West of it.

 

What impressed me most was the resolving of Beta Lyr. The much dimmer companion was visible to the left of the main star. I noted in my logbook the companion was seen in the second quadrant.

Checking Stelle Doppie I learned the companion is at PA= 149 degrees ,with a separation of 45.7''.

Theta Ser seem to be a much tougher double star at the separation of 22.4''.

But Beta Lyr has three magnitude difference between the main and companion star.

I found always such stars much more difficult to resolve.

I finished with Pleiades showing at least thirty stars.

 

Until now, the Alpha male of my binocular pack was Fujinon ''Mariner'' 7x50mm but I believe his position will be challenged.

Mircea

That’s very evocative set of descriptions Mircea. I know you were using the 10x but the 7x42 Habichts have hovered on my “would really like them but can’t really justify them” list for years. I wish I had a local flea market like yours!

[josefk]

Is that frost already @SzabiB? Oh dear. 

[SzabiB]

3 minutes ago, josefk said:

Is that frost already @SzabiB? Oh dear. 

oh yes, long winter is coming...

[allworlds]

Nothing identifiable except for Saturn. I made a trip out to Barr Beacon. I thought the gates were closed to cars at night but they obviously weren't so after someone parked up directly facing me with their headlights blaring I left in disgust. I was trying and failing to find M13 at the time, but the combination of the mirror image and not really knowing the finder's FOV did my head in. Might be a decent location in general but the picnic tables are a no-go for astro, I'll need to get well away from the tarmac if I go again.

[Stu1smartcookie]

Gave my little Sharpstar 61 version 2  it’s first light this evening , a quick session on the nexstar mount . Beautifully sharp stars and a great view of M31 , onto the double cluster and the owl cluster and then to Jupiter . The planets are obviously not this scopes forte but with the 8-24 EP it was clear with two main bands visible along with the 4 moons . Neptune and  Uranus were tiny but I could make out the colour of the discs .

[sorrimen]

Brief session with okay transparency and pretty good seeing. Most importantly first ever (albeit very very diffuse and dim) viewing of the Veil. Bortle 7 with only 8” dob!!! You need good eyes to make it out but it’s certainly there. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by sorrimen

[Froeng]

Just came in after a short observation of Saturn and Mars. The seeing was decent, probably 7/10! The C8 with binoviewer at 2x9mm LV showed the cassini division and ring shadow. Also saw Titan and Rhea. Then the clouds covered the planet. Over to Mars, which was also quite steady, showed its phase as well as a polar cap and dark markings. Everything was dripping! 94%RH, so decided to end here…

[josefk]

you begin to question your own sanity when you spend 30 minutes trying to tease out as much as possible from this pair:

 

while this pair is only four degrees away:

It was a short grab and go session in Burghley Park last night working up into Cassiopeia from Melotte 20. Other clusters grabbed on the way up or in the neighbourhood were Karchenko 8 (on the edge/perimeter of Stock 2), Trumpler 2, IC 1848, IC 1805 (the cluster not the nebula) and Czernik 12. 

Over to the West Jupiter was pretty steady (at low magnification) and it was an easy three or four degrees hop west from Jupiter to Neptune. A clear star field for ID on Neptune but was "just a dim star" in the scope i was using. 

Cheers

Edited October 21, 2022 by josefk

[PeterC65]

Had a shortish EEVA session with the 72mm APO and Uranus-C camera last night before the clouds came rolling in. The main purpose was to test a new StellaMira x0.6 Reducer / Field Flattener. I was very impressed! Not perfect, but I now understand why people spend a fortune on field flatteners for what should already be perfectly good APOs.

Mostly took in widefield targets ...

M31 - The best I've seen it, with M32 and M110 also clearly in view.

SAO36699 - A bright star near to M31 which I chose as a good example of a star field to test the Field Flattener. Kemble’s Cascade was another possibility but was orientated wrong and I didn’t want to rotate the camera.

M45 - Nicely framed but still no obvious nebulosity even with the UHC filter.

M33 - Too small a target really, but I love that I can always see its spiral arms with EEVA.

NGC7000 - The first time I've actually observed some nebulosity in the North American Nebula. It needed the UHC filter and even then, only the brighter parts could be seen, and only just.

NGC6992 - The East Veil Nebula has become a firm favourite since I started doing EEVA. I keep trying to see more detail and more colour.

 

[Stu1smartcookie]

4 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

M31 - The best I've seen it,

Agree about M31 , i have never seen it so clearly as i did last night . 

[starhiker]

It's the log for yesterday. There will unlikely be any clear sky in a week time.

Even yesterday, I only managed to have about less than one hour before the clouds cover everything. The time was most spent on getting used to my new StellaLyra dob. I only managed to observe Jupiter and its four Galileo moons, and M31. Jupiter is amazing as always. I saw the color bands the first time. Also it is the first time I saw four moons. I spent quite a while to look for M31, so that it has almost been fully covered by clouds when I found it. I will need more time to get used to star hopping using the dob. It is not as straightforward as the binocular.

[Guest]

Tonight was not a great night but it was far from the worst night.  We had winds 25 to 30 mph all day and with harvest in full swing dust was in the air.  By night fall the winds calmed to 10 to 20 mph.  At least the 10 inch dob wouldnt be a sail now.  Just for grins i tossed in the 8 to 24 variable and aimed it at good old M31, yep right where i left her.  A swing to the south and there was Jupiter and Saturn, both revealing three or four moons. Off to the Nebula of the low southern sky with my 20mm LHD and a Narrowband filter.  The Omega, Lagoon, and Triffid still looking good even though they were low to the sky.  The Ring and Dumbbell rendered the best images through the turbulant Ohio skies.  On a whim I went after the Little Dumbbell and nailed it.  Its a mag 10 and was little more then a fuzzball, but there it was.  Finally the Pleadies came up.  Out came a 38mm Q70 and coma corrector.  That view reminded me why I bought those eyepieces to begin with.  Dropped to the 32 and zeroed in on the Herc Cluster.  By 2130 I had been up 17 hours and the fine single malt i had been sipping on had started to have the desired effect, so it was time to end the night.  Every once in a while Ohio will give you a marginal night that despite its faults turns into something special.  

[Mr Spock]

What did I see?

Nothing but the rain...

[Mr Spock]

It's clear now though. Moon looks lovely and about an hour ago had my first look this season at Orion.

[scotty1]

During the last two nights I've tried to see the Orionids. Alot of cloud around and very humid, a few short clear spells also. Managed to see three Orionids, one of them falling in the west was orange and visible through gaps in the clouds. The Orionids have never been very bright, or prolific from my experience.

Mars is a nice hue now that reminds me of an orange boiled sweet, or tree sap.

[SzabiB]

Absolutely nothing, zero, nie ma nic....

We have so thick fog at the moment, I couldn't see the dog the end of the 10m lead... looks like the next 7 days are going to be the same, so no meteor showers and no solar eclipse for me.

I think it is time to buy a new telescope to make my mood better 🤣

Edited October 22, 2022 by SzabiB

[Astro_Dad]

22/10

First telescopic viewing of Mars this year. Mostly cloudy but cleared sufficiently late evening for an unexpected quick session.
Out with the six inch experimenting with a range of magnifications on the red planet. Good to be reminded of its extremely bright signature shade of red/orange, the view took me straight back to the winter opposition of 2020. 
As expected struggled to discern any detail up to 107x using my 7-21mm zoom but moving up to 187.5x  (8mm BST plus Barlow) could see “hints of” surface shading - but seeing wasn’t ideal and there was a fair degree of wobble. 

Managed a reassuring  view of Jupiter which was looking very clear intermittently. Looking forward optimistically to the double shadow transit next week. 

I haven’t been out with a ‘scope for what seems like ages due to work travel and weather so great to have an albeit brief Saturday night out last night! 😀

Edited October 23, 2022 by Astro_Dad
Formatting

[Les Ewan]

Although I've had some clearer spells recently lately observing conditions have been very poor for Jupiter not managing to go over 120X before the image degrades into a shimmering mess. I don't know why my local conditions are so bad so often for planetary work maybe I'm under the jet stream more here in Central Scotland.😡