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What did you see tonight?


Ags

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50 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Setup the FC-100DZ and Mewlon 180 on AZ100, earlier this evening and allowed it all to cool properly.

Just been out for 30mins and taken in some fantastic views of Mars and Jupiter 🙂

Mars is the clearest and most detailed I've seen it, in both scopes... plenty of dark areas very visible and I thought I saw some white at one of the poles, but it was very faint, so not sure (certainly nothing like the very distinct and clear ice I saw in 2020 with my StellaMira).

Jupiter has given me the best view yet with my Mewlon... combination of very cold and relatively clear night, plus the MaxBright binoviewer.... I watch Ganymede very close to Jupiter and then disappeared as it started it's transit across the face 😁 Loads of belt detail in both the DZ and Mewlon.

One thing is for sure... the Mewlon really does need an hour for it to give it's best... anything before that (without active cooling) and it's better to stick with the DZ. But once it's cooled, then the extra details is visible against the DZ, although it's quite close 🤔

Left everything covered up again now and slowly freezing out there, so I can eat, watch a bit of TV and then once M42 is up I'm hoping to give that a go... see what the extra aperture of the M180 does 🤞

Amazing isn’t it Gary? I’ve also been enjoying superb views of Jupiter and Mars.

Cant feel my toes or finger topics after being out there 1.5 hours. Warming up a bit sitting next to the radiator 😊👍🏻

Edited by JeremyS
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12 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Amazing isn’t it Gary? I’ve also been enjoying superb views of Jupiter and Mars.

Cant feel my toes or finger topics after being out the 1.5 hours. Warming up a bit sitting next to the radiator 😊👍🏻

Yeah, I was really enjoying just flitting back between the two planets... awesome views 😁

Same, fingers freezing 😬 

Back in now... my wife (still find it odd calling her that, even after almost four weeks since our wedding 😆) has just made chilli and then we'll watch some TV and I'll go back out bit later for M42 etc 🤞

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11 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Yeah, I was really enjoying just flitting back between the two planets... awesome views 😁

Same, fingers freezing 😬 

Back in now... my wife (still find it odd calling her that, even after almost four weeks since our wedding 😆) has just made chilli and then we'll watch some TV and I'll go back out bit later for M42 etc 🤞

Congratulations on your wedding Gary. I knew is was coming up, but had realised when. I wish you a long and happy life together.

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18 hours ago, JeremyS said:

Congratulations on your wedding Gary. I knew is was coming up, but had realised when. I wish you a long and happy life together.

Thanks @JeremyS… it was Saturday 19th November… we had the most amazing weather, beautiful church service and great party 🎉

Finally after almost 10 years together we’re glad to have finally tied the knot 😃

I believe your daughter has/is also getting married 👍

Edit: Warning, off topic photo attached… but at least you finally get to see the face behind @HollyHound🤣

D9780579-49A6-4E7B-8B68-71C9B9FD9843.jpeg

Edited by HollyHound
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6 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Thanks @JeremyS… it was Saturday 19th November… we had the most amazing weather, beautiful church service and great party 🎉

Finally after almost 10 years together we’re glad to have finally tied the knot 😃

I believe your daughter has/is also getting married 👍

Edit: Warning, off topic photo attached… but at least you finally get to see the man behind @HollyHound🤣

D9780579-49A6-4E7B-8B68-71C9B9FD9843.jpeg

What a fantastic photo of a great looking couple. Must have been a wonderful day.

Yes my eldest daughter will celebrate her first anniversary in a couple of weeks.

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8 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Thanks @JeremyS… it was Saturday 19th November… we had the most amazing weather, beautiful church service and great party 🎉

Finally after almost 10 years together we’re glad to have finally tied the knot 😃

I believe your daughter has/is also getting married 👍

Edit: Warning, off topic photo attached… but at least you finally get to see the man behind @HollyHound🤣

D9780579-49A6-4E7B-8B68-71C9B9FD9843.jpeg

Congratulations sir! 🙂

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Congratulations Gary! :)

I'm just back inside thawing my toes in front of a fan heater after about an hour in "feels like -5". Back out in a bit. Gonna be full thermals tomorrow night for a Blackheath common Flamsteed meetup if the forecast holds 🥶!

Great seeing so far tonight- caught Ganymede as it passed onto the disk by chance and just noticed GRS should be central now so better hurry up and thaw out!

Mars looking very good too- need to spend a bit of time on it tonight as Valles Marineris is bang central right now

Right- I'm off back out

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Congrats.

Mostly Mars for me. Mostly at 150x, I wasn't really getting much at 250. (I could use a good 7.5 mm EP for 200 but haven't got one yet). An albedo feature in the south with a somewhat fuzzy north edge and another in the north just south of the polar cap, and sometimes they seemed to connect in the ... east (on Mars) I think. The rim of the planet seemed kind of bright. Overall quite reminiscent of the lunar maria to the naked eye, and a change from previous nights when I only saw the dark markings in the south.

Tried my filters. They won't screw in so I had to rest them on top of the EP. The green and light blue *maybe* helped a bit, but really I think more time at the eyepiece brings more benefit than filters,

I checked Stellarium to see if Jupiter was up to anything and saw the Ganymede transit was happening so diverted to look at it. Little dark dot on the planet clear as you like when the seeing wasn't blurring the whole thing. With a bit more time at the EP I made out the GRS, but fairly shortly back over to Mars.

For me a night's observing isn't complete without at least one DSO, and a bit of back and forth between Stellarium and the telescope and I found M36. A bit sparse but a nice cluster with a prominent close pair of stars in it.

All in the ETX 105 which I still haven't got the drives repaired on.

Then in to warm my fingers. I was wearing some fingerless gloves so easy to handle the eyepieces and focuser but the cold does nip.

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9 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

Some nice views of Jupiter, the GRS and Ganymede. Also lovely views of Mars with the North Polar Hood and albedo features clear and obvious. Possible clouds to the south too. Nice seeing for once! 

Ah, that Polar Hood must have been what I saw earlier then… thanks 😀👍

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10 minutes ago, HollyHound said:

Ah, that Polar Hood must have been what I saw earlier then… thanks 😀👍

Basically clouds over the pole. From my limited experience it’s not as bright as when you see ice at the poles. I managed to catch that back in the summer and even though Mars was very small the ice at the South Pole almost glowed. 

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2 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

Basically clouds over the pole. From my limited experience it’s not as bright as when you see ice at the poles. I managed to catch that back in the summer and even though Mars was very small the ice at the South Pole almost glowed. 

That explains it… I saw an area of white, but it was faint, nothing like when I saw the (very distinct) polar ice cap in 2020 👍

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The 102ED & AZ5 went out at 7pm tonight. The sky was slightly milky but I enjoyed good views of Jupiter up to 150x.

I came in after an hour and went out again at 10pm. The sky improved consistently until I decided to thaw out and prepare for bed at 1130pm. The latter half of the evening I observed the same targets as last night to be honest, just with the scope rather than the binoculars. The Auriga clusters, m31, m42, m45, Hyades, Uranus, and finally my best observations of Mars this season. Seeing improved so much Mars albedo features and shading were very distinct at 187x with the Vixen SLV 4mm.

It's quite chilly out... 🥶

IMG_20221215_232953960.thumb.jpg.043fa60f99bb28d56fa4585fc6e5827e.jpg

Edited by ScouseSpaceCadet
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One more session completed this evening (the fourth, between keeping warm 🤣).

Some more awesome views of Mars… probably the best I’ve seen too, with distinct markings and the albedo features mentioned above (not sure if I’ve seen these before).

M42 awesome as always, Rigel double easily seen… tried for Sirius but no joy. Had a stroll around Pleiades and Hyades too 😃

Jupiter was too low by now, but am content to have seen Ganymede close and pass over the planet, the GRS and banding with great detail.

I’ve also proved that once fully cooled (over an hour), the Mewlon is sublime on Planets, giving just that edge over the FC-100DZ 👍

But yes, it was, and still is… absolutely freezing out there 🥶

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Just packed up and come in. Definitely some clouds to the south east edge on Mars. Faint but I’m sure that’s what it was. Amazing when you think about it. 

Had a moment when a couple of my eyepieces dewed up but at least I kept the dew and ice off the mirrors. Also had a look at M42, the 3 clusters in Auriga (these are my favourite), M44 and M45. 

In this weather my 8” Dob takes about a hour to fully cool. You can really notice it on Mars and Jupiter. 

Edited by PeterStudz
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Not last night but the night before. A view through binoviewers at 152x. i think the smudges are Valles Marineris (bigger smudge) and Acidalia Planitia (smaller smudge). The bright ring was as observed not a sketch artefact.

IMG_3403.thumb.jpeg.4e1e246bae1997f10ebdc81f4222a73e.jpeg

Last night Mars wasn't working for some reason so took advantage of the pre moon hours to observe M74. VERY difficult. And Mirach's Ghost. Very cool!

...and cold.

 

Cheers

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1 minute ago, josefk said:

Not last night but the night before. A view through binoviewers at 152x. i think the smudges are Valles Marineris (bigger smudge) and Acidalia Planitia (smaller smudge). The bright ring was as observed not a sketch artefact.

IMG_3403.thumb.jpeg.4e1e246bae1997f10ebdc81f4222a73e.jpeg

Last night Mars wasn't working for some reason so took advantage of the pre moon hours to observe M74. VERY difficult. And Mirach's Ghost. Very cool!

...and cold.

 

Cheers

What an amazing drawing 👍🏻

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4 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

What an amazing drawing 👍🏻

Thankyou - full disclosure - its not the EP version. The one at the EP version is a scruffy mess with multiple thumbnail sketches and text and arrows etc. So it's "honest" but done in the daylight :-). Cheers

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The first time observing for a long time last night. Started with Jupiter and Mars but I found them both disappointing and untypically lacking in features. Lots of turbulence so moved on to my saviours - Doubles!

In Auriga STF 698 was a lovely Y+B rated at 4*

In Taurus the visual pair Theta 1 and 2 were nice in the telescope as it was interesting to compare the colour and magnitude difference 2*. Theta 2 was a difference kettle of fish, extremely close and very difficult to split. I needed maximum power of the zoom but managed it. 2*

Finished off with Eridanus 32 (STF 470) and the definitely the best of the night. Quite close but a wonderful Y+G (actually Gold and Green). 5* 

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Viewed Mars again last night, but under significantly better atmospheric conditions compared to the previous evening, which allowed a smaller capture area of 360 x 292 giving a larger image .

Attached is what is possibly my best Mars image of this apparition , taken through my 14 in Newtonian, ZWO ASI 462 Camera, and 2.5 x Powermate giving f12.5,  2 minute exposure, approx 16,000 frames at 130 fps, processed in AutoStakkert (stacked best 25%), and Registax, plus a bit of polishing in Lightroom. 

Incidentally, I always like to display images of Mars in the traditional astronomical format with South at the top, as I am used to seeing the features that way up, with Jupiter and Saturn it does make so much of a difference. I think it was only after they started sending imaging spacecraft to the planets, they started displaying erect images with North at the top.

John 

 

Mars 4  Reprocessed.jpg

Edited by johnturley
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Ashamed , but Warm 

Last night the skies were as clear as i've seen them for sometime , but , for me it was "no way Pedro" ... 

I did have a short stay in the garden looking up ! 

The trouble is , and i'm sure i am not alone in this , i felt quite guilty knowing that others have braved the cold , but also knowing the equipment wasnt used . 

Anyway ... i am "hoping " to get out tonight . 

Edit

so , even colder last night but i managed about an hour taking in the usual sights of the winter sky . Orion remains quite low early evening but it's still a favourite .. I used my sharpstar 61 as a widefield low mag sky scanner . I still can't believe how clear and dark my skies are now . The number of stars seen through this little scope is almost overwhelming. Just nice to be out again , and tonight is forecast to be 0 degrees as opposed to the  -6  last night . 

Edited by Stu1smartcookie
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