What did you see tonight?

[Stu1smartcookie]

Set up with plenty of time to spare , no dramas , no rushing . 

 

[RobertI]

6 hours ago, johnturley said:

Last Night was misty, but some of the most stable atmospheric conditions I have experienced recently, in fact one of the rare occasions the 14in Newtonian gave a better view of Mars than the Esprit 150. North Polar Hood stood out quite nicely and was easy to see visually.

Image taken using a ZWO ASI 462  Planetary Camera, 2.5x Powermate giving f12.5, 2 minute exposure, 13,000 frames @111 fps, processed in AutosSakkert and Registax. 

 

5 hours ago, Ags said:

I think we were snapping Mars at the same time. Here's mine, taken with a C6.

Outstanding shots, interesting to see what different scopes can do.

[Astro_Dad]

Great to see some very impressive reports from last night - steady seeing in some parts of the country and some outstanding images 👍🏻.  Not as successful here unfortunately with a general mix of haze, drizzle and thick fog at least for most of the night. The only viable astronomy on offer was a brief look at the waxing Moon, bright enough to shine through the prevailing conditions to provide an atmospheric, ghostly image through my 10x50’s. 
 

[JeremyS]

17 hours ago, Space Hopper said:

@JeremyS how does the µ210 compare with your refractors on the planets  ?

 

Tonight was a Lunar and Planetary session (5 outer planets, although Saturn is nearing the end of this years apparition.)

Despite ropey seeing, i had some nice views of Mars and Jupiter

Glad you had some good planetary views, Rob 👍🏻

Your question is one that my jury is out on. The truth is that I’ve not had the opportunity of doing much side by side comparison of the Mewlon 210 vs TSA 120. In recent weeks I’ve largely concentrated on the Mewlon as it’s new to my stable, after waiting nearly a year. I’ve wanted to understand how it works, how to collimate etc (cf the refractor which is always ready to go).

What I have learnt is that seeing is king whatever the scope. The Mewlon is nothing like as sensitive to seeing as I’ve seen claimed (in terms of cool-down). Nor is it difficult to collimate. I’ve also learnt that Ethos EPs are remarkably good planetary EPs - and allow decent run times before shifting an undriven mount.

Its also true that I’ve had some of the best views of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars that I’ve ever had. But never on nights when I have done a comp with the TSA. Tbh, nights of good seeing are so rare that I’ve wanted to concentrate on observing, not testing.

My head is telling me the Mewlon is an incredible scope. My heart is constantly reminding me that it is not a refractor.

Too early to say if one will eventually leave the stable….

Edited November 13, 2022 by JeremyS

[Epick Crom]

I had a good night of observing last night. Saw four galaxies in Fornax for the first time: NGC 1326, NGC 1399, NGC 1404 and NGC 1387. Ended the night by watching Ganymede slowly slip behind the disk of Jupiter. 

[Astro_Dad]

After the incredibly wet day it was surprising to find a dry spell with clear skies at around 9-10pm. Enjoyed a fun unplanned binocular tour around the sky, with M45 and M31 particular highlights. This was my first binocular view of the Andromeda Galaxy in fact. Quite impressive to see it stretch out across the wide FOV.   Encouraged - despite a few clouds rolling in - I headed back in for the Heritage 150 plus power tank and then did a quick 2 star alignment. Set the ‘scope to track M31 and enjoyed an impressively clear view, first with a 32mm Plossl and then slightly closer in with a 25mm. I decided to leave the ‘scope tracking whilst cooling, then popped in for a cup of tea and started to plan some more adventurous targets. Sadly a short time later - predictably - the Dark Skies app alerted me to drizzle. Quickly back outside to abort the mission - definitely more than drizzle…should have known but you have to grab your clear skies when you can at the moment !

 

[josefk]

Also a quick sky grab between clouds here. Three more doubles on the AL list observed and sketched. Its a great "training programme" for double star observing.

• Beta1 / Beta2 CAP, 
• Alpha1 / Alpha2 CAP (Though this is only an optical double pairing. They are each independent double systems but i didn't split them individually on this occasion), and
• 57 AQL.

All three are quite nice EP FOVs for sketching. 

Cheers

[Captain Scarlet]

Sudden evening rain squalls prevented any proper prior set-up tonight but it was forecast and actually became clear but very windy, so I sat out after midnight on my sheltered side with my Zeiss 15x56 bins. I promised myself I'd go back in on the first meteorite, which I gave up on around 12:30 after none turned up. Then just as I opened the door to go in, Whoosh! from zenith to West.

I enjoyed Orion; the Pleiades; the "S" around Mintaka; I Iooked for M1 Crab which I've seen through these bins before but not this time, I wasn't sure of the location; I noticed the Beehive become naked eye first time this season; Meissa ("Luger" asterism in my own parlance); I hunted around for M33 having forgotten where it was for a while then eventually found it, and in the process noticed a nice Open Cluster and bright wide double near Triangulum which I later ID'd as NGC 752 and 56 And. I finished off with M81/2 and just about found M51 in the lower-down murk.

Nice session with bins, same tomorrow without the rain or wind apparently so I hope to get my Helmerichs 300mm out for the first time in 3 months.

Magnus

[josefk]

Nice one @Captain Scarlet  should be pretty dark the first half of tonight as well. Fingers crossed for clear as well. Have a good one. 

[SuburbanMak]

Out looking at Mars with the Mak - got some nice views until the cloud rolled in. Enjoying the TV 15mm Plossl barlowed to 6.7mm giving 225x in the Mak. 127
Seeing at times good with the polar hood beautifully seen and darker Mare across the equator and into the Southern Hemisphere. Will have a warm and see if it clears again. 

[PeterC65]

Some nice surprises from the session tonight. Firstly, I managed to dodge the clouds and only came in after 3.5 hours because I was starting to freeze, but I also learnt some things about my Explorer 150PDS; it's good for the Planets, and for widefield!

Jupiter and Saturn looked almost as good as they do with the Skymax 127, both are still best with the Binoviewer. I'm still struggling to make out anything on Mars though, it stubbornly remains just a bright disc for me.

I tried a few clusters, M2, M15 and then the Double Cluster which looked great, then switched to the new Baader Hyperion Aspheric 36mm which I'd bought to see if the 150PDS can do widefield. I've been mulling over this eyepiece for ages and finally bought it in the current FLO sale. Well, it's great, and the 150PDS has now taken over from the Photoline 72 as my widefield scope.

With the BHA 36mm, M31 was the best I've seen it visually, with some proper shape to the central core and M110 and M32 easily visible in the same field of view. I've always been a bit underwhelmed with M31 but not tonight.

M45 was really well framed too with the BHA 36mm. Another target I normally only bother to observe with the Photoline 72.

I had a look at Hyades, which is still too big at 5°, and observed Kemble's Cascade for the first time visually. That was a Wow moment. I could see the small star cluster at one end and the line of stars leading to it, varying in brightness, nicely fitted into the field of view of the BHA 36mm.

OK, there is some distortion at the edges (bright stars become short tangential lines), but this was barely noticeable.

The full report is here.

 

[PeterStudz]

@PeteC65 I just come in because in Southampton it got cloudy (that wasn’t in the forecast!). 

With my 200p Dob I could make out the polar hood and some albedo features on Mars, but not as clear as last week. Surprisingly it steadily got worse as Mars got higher. Maybe there was some high cloud before the “heavy” clouds came in. But I do find that a variable polarising filter really helps bring out the features on Mars. And that avoiding getting my eyes dark adapted can make a difference. 

Edited November 19, 2022 by PeterStudz

[Astro_Dad]

Unexpectedly clear Friday night / early morning Saturday. Much better than the usual forecast apps were predicting - so a quick impromptu session with the Heritage 150p. Had it not been the end of a very busy week at work I’d have had a longer session exploring new targets, but tiredness kicking in I opted for simplicity - a nice view of M42, M45 and of course nearby Mars. Beautifully clear in the Southern sky but not so good in the North. Struggled to locate M81/82 this time as clouds became a problem in the Northerly direction, but good to be outside nonetheless! 
 

[josefk]

A game of two halves planned last night except cloud stopped play at half time!

I DID plan to spend a few hours before the moon was up chasing tricky targets i have failed on before at least once (but this time failing methodically for the AL-PNe programme) and then spend the second half of the night enjoying Orion amongst other things. As it happened i spent:

• 45 mins observing and sketching NGC 6894. A difficult Mag 14.4 (surface brightness 22.4) Planetary Nebula in Cygnus. O-III essential for me last night. A good start and good use of the darkness. Then...
• 45 mins NOT seeing the very faint PNe Jones-Emberson 1 but drawing the empty space nevertheless so i can count it as a definite negative observation.
• 30 mins NOT seeing Pease 1 the PNe in M15. Similarly sketching what i couldn't see to record i was looking in the right spot 🙂. M15 looked great.
• 45 mins NOT seeing ARO 205 / Abell 4 a dim PNe in Perseus and again sketching the empty space. M34 next door looked lovely though!

So 3 hours or so then it clouded over and stayed clouded over! 1 proper observation to show for the session.

Funny hobby this...

[bosun21]

11 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

Some nice surprises from the session tonight. Firstly, I managed to dodge the clouds and only came in after 3.5 hours because I was starting to freeze, but I also learnt some things about my Explorer 150PDS; it's good for the Planets, and for widefield!

Jupiter and Saturn looked almost as good as they do with the Skymax 127, both are still best with the Binoviewer. I'm still struggling to make out anything on Mars though, it stubbornly remains just a bright disc for me.

I tried a few clusters, M2, M15 and then the Double Cluster which looked great, then switched to the new Baader Hyperion Aspheric 36mm which I'd bought to see if the 150PDS can do widefield. I've been mulling over this eyepiece for ages and finally bought it in the current FLO sale. Well, it's great, and the 150PDS has now taken over from the Photoline 72 as my widefield scope.

With the BHA 36mm, M31 was the best I've seen it visually, with some proper shape to the central core and M110 and M32 easily visible in the same field of view. I've always been a bit underwhelmed with M31 but not tonight.

M45 was really well framed too with the BHA 36mm. Another target I normally only bother to observe with the Photoline 72.

I had a look at Hyades, which is still too big at 5°, and observed Kemble's Cascade for the first time visually. That was a Wow moment. I could see the small star cluster at one end and the line of stars leading to it, varying in brightness, nicely fitted into the field of view of the BHA 36mm.

OK, there is some distortion at the edges (bright stars become short tangential lines), but this was barely noticeable.

The full report is here.

 

Isn’t the 150pds pushing the limit on your alt/az go to mount? I ask because even my 127 once it’s adorned with it’s ancillary equipment like RACI, Telrad and electric focuser can struggle sometimes unless it’s well balanced.

[PeterC65]

4 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Isn’t the 150pds pushing the limit on your alt/az go to mount? I ask because even my 127 once it’s adorned with it’s ancillary equipment like RACI, Telrad and electric focuser can struggle sometimes unless it’s well balanced.

Yes! The mount is rated at 5kg, 6kg some say, and the 150PDS OTA weighs 5kg. I take care to balance it and try to avoid having anything heavy hanging well out of the (close to horizontal) focuser. I don't think it is putting undue strain on the mount axles or motors (there is no sound of them struggling). The scope wobbles a lot more than my other scopes if I touch it, and takes noticeably longer to settle, but it's still perfectly usable.

I bought the 150PDS as a bit of a punt to see if I could get to 6" aperture on my mount and I can. Anything bigger would mean a significant cash layout. After last night I'm thinking that the 150PDS will be my main scope for visual, with the Skymax 127 for the Moon and Planets and the refractor for EEVA.

 

[Ratlet]

24 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

Yes! The mount is rated at 5kg, 6kg some say, and the 150PDS OTA weighs 5kg. I take care to balance it and try to avoid having anything heavy hanging well out of the (close to horizontal) focuser. I don't think it is putting undue strain on the mount axles or motors (there is no sound of them struggling). The scope wobbles a lot more than my other scopes if I touch it, and takes noticeably longer to settle, but it's still perfectly usable.

I bought the 150PDS as a bit of a punt to see if I could get to 6" aperture on my mount and I can. Anything bigger would mean a significant cash layout. After last night I'm thinking that the 150PDS will be my main scope for visual, with the Skymax 127 for the Moon and Planets and the refractor for EEVA.

 

What mount are you using?

My 130pds wobbles like a civil servant at a Christmas party at 160x on my az5.  Not a major issue so long as I hover head but not ideal

[bosun21]

22 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

Yes! The mount is rated at 5kg, 6kg some say, and the 150PDS OTA weighs 5kg. I take care to balance it and try to avoid having anything heavy hanging well out of the (close to horizontal) focuser. I don't think it is putting undue strain on the mount axles or motors (there is no sound of them struggling). The scope wobbles a lot more than my other scopes if I touch it, and takes noticeably longer to settle, but it's still perfectly usable.

I bought the 150PDS as a bit of a punt to see if I could get to 6" aperture on my mount and I can. Anything bigger would mean a significant cash layout. After last night I'm thinking that the 150PDS will be my main scope for visual, with the Skymax 127 for the Moon and Planets and the refractor for EEVA.

 

That’s good to know. I am actually thinking about dipping my toes into EEVA as well. I am undecided wether to buy an HEQ5 or a 12” dobsonian. I already have my Starfield 102 to use for it. Decisions, decisions.

[PeterC65]

1 hour ago, Ratlet said:

What mount are you using?

My 130pds wobbles like a civil servant at a Christmas party at 160x on my az5.  Not a major issue so long as I hover head but not ideal

I use a Sky-Watcher SynScan AZ GOTO. Sky-Watcher don't recommend anything bigger than a 130mm Newtonian, but they sell a 150mm Newtonian with this mount, albeit a weight reduced OTA, and clones of the mount are rated up to 6kg.

[PeterC65]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

That’s good to know. I am actually thinking about dipping my toes into EEVA as well. I am undecided wether to buy an HEQ5 or a 12” dobsonian. I already have my Starfield 102 to use for it. Decisions, decisions.

I was suffering from aperture fever and did masses of research into the options. My conclusion was to go for a Sky-Watcher Skyliner 300P FlexTube GOTO (I would miss the GOTO with a manual Dob) but that's expensive. I bought the 150PDS partly to see how I get on with a Newtonian as prep for buying a big Dob.

But then a good camera came up second hand on here for £140 and I decided to give EEVA a try.

It's been quite a revelation and has cured my aperture fever. I've since bought a better camera and some other EEVA related bits and pieces. Your Starfield would be great for EEVA. I use a 72mm APO and even at that aperture I can see way more with the camera than I can visually.

It's still nice to get out under the stars though!

 

[Telescope40]

Hello all.  Just had a very unexpected session with Jupiter. Was not thinking a window of opportunity at all. Forecast looked mixed at best.  Stuck my head outside abut 90 mins ago. Wall to wall light cloud but Jupiter was managing to shine thru nicely.  No other stars to be seen.  Should I risk setting up ??  Jupiter app showing a Io shadow transit due / commencing followed by the GRS transit in about an hour. 

Tak FS 128 set up on the Rowan.  Very surprised.  Maxbright BV's showing the shadow very nicely.  GRS a different matter.  Popping in and out of view as the cloud rolled past.  Twas rather a nice hour for sure. Able to test a new red light I've purchased and have now worked out a pretty foolproof way to mount the scope into the Tak clamshell.  Still thinking of switching to some tube rings. We shall see. 

John 

[Ags]

Had a brilliant view of Syrtis Major tonight with my Long Perng 90. The feature was sharply delineated and unmistakeable. I am using pretty low magnification - 102x - but it seems ample nonetheless.

Also had a look at Jupiter. It seemed a little washed out and the SEB was hardly to be seen. The GRS was initially undetectable, but became clearer with extended observation.

But it is COLD!

[Stu1smartcookie]

Nothing but cloud cloud and more cloud over the last few nights zzzz . Nice to read that others are having better luck though . You are my eyes on the sky !   

[bosun21]

I set up last night with a clear sky forecast, so I did just that and mounted my Starfield on my EQ5 synscan. I was just in the process of polar alignment when the clouds appeared. They then proceeded to spread to about an 80% coverage. I was peeved, but decided to leave everything set up incase the clouds receded. They didn’t 🥲

Edited November 19, 2022 by bosun21
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[dobbyisbest]

Very grateful for having a clear night after two or so weeks of constant clouds and rain in Norfolk. Most of the night had considerably lower humidity than normal - cue the chill factor, but it was so worth it.

Had the best views of Jupiter (with Io shadow transition + GRS) and Mars to date (I’ve only been in the hobby for about 13 months now), and saw Stephan’s Quintet and the Blue Snowball Nebula for the first time. Old favourites included the glorious Veil, always decadent Albireo, the Ring, M36, M37, M38, M31 and associates, M27, M81, M82, and a few NGC open clusters that I’ll have to do more research on.

I observed with a 14.25” f5.4 dobsonian, and it performed well. I kept pushing until M42 was at a decent altitude to close off my five hour session… at which point my hands didn’t want to cooperate anymore. 

The pic shows the frost that formed on my shroud and the dew heater cable. That explained what my hands were complaining about. Two cups of tea and some chemical handwarmers quickly wear off  This was also the first time I used a dew heater, and it worked wonders. 
 

 

Compared to a few weeks ago where the humidity was so bad that it might as well have rained whilst observing, this really was a good night.