What did you see tonight?

[Astro_Dad]

 

Just a brief gab and go before work, the waning crescent moon looking striking over the hills in the South. Sun coming up but managed some nice detail along the terminator. 

[PeterStudz]

Just come in after an off and on session on Mars in Southampton, Hoped to do a bit more but had high cloud coming and going. Now total cloud cover. 

After inspiration from a member on here I tried a quick smartphone video capture. Despite seeing being rather average and after a very quick look at a best frame I got this. You can actually recognise it! The north polar hood stands out well. 

Off to bed now. I’ll have a better look at the video tomorrow.

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by PeterStudz

[Ratlet]

Probably my last chance at a dim sky for a while so went out for a quick blast for an hour with the 130PDS.  I used Sky Safari for star hopping and found it excellent once I dialled in the settings.  Also the first time taking the AZ5 out with the Skywatcher Tripod rather than the carbon fibre.

Rosette Nebula:  I kicked off with this, but I suspect I could have done with some more time for my eyes to adapt.  Couldn't discern any definite nebulosity but could see some bits that were for sure darker than others in the outer portion of the FOV.  I suspect this is a target that will get better with a repeat viewing.

Christmas Tree Cluster:  Again, no nebulosity, but I suspect you need a beefy scope for that.  Quite nice when I eventually saw the shape (it's correct way round in a Newtonian, pointy end at the top).

Eskimo Nebula:  A very rewarding target in the 8mm.  Probably the star of the show.  I threw in the UHC filter as well for this one.  I you want to train your adverted vision, this is the target.  The difference in brightness between looking directly at it and with averted vision is astounding.  When you get it in the sweet spot it is very bright.  Periodically could see the central star flicker in and out of the nebulosity.

Beehive Cluster:  Another great target.  Very much a diamonds on black velvet affair.

M42:  Not sure if it was the tripod or better seeing than usual, but great views tonight.  With the 8mm I could see texture in the nebulosity where as before it was just a white blob.  With both the 32mm and 8mm the nebulosity seemed to extend further than I've observed before.  I'd like to have sketched it, but tonight was about quantity not quality!

I also had a very quick look at mars to check how the new tripod was performing.  The views were more stable with the 8mm than I've had previously with less of the infuriating vibration the carbon fibre tripod showed.  I hada very quick look with the 2x barlow and it was definitely better (I could touch the eyecup without the view going wild).  However the clouds did what they do best so I packed up and came inside.

All in all a good night of observing!  Very glad I snuck out, even if I have to pay for it by going to do ironing now!  The Tripod is a definite improvement and has made the whole assembly more pleasant to use.  I think I've hit a very good (for me) configuration with SkySafari for starhopping.  I might get some ND film to cover the screen to dim it more so I don't periodically blow my retinas. 

Edit:

Good news!  I finished the ironing and got out and did some more observing about 05:30.

Conceptually I understand that the sky moves but on some level I'm bamboozled by the fact that everything moves so much in 5 hours.  Leo was up and and a decent height to the south so I went galaxy hunting and found M65, M66 which were both incredibly dim and small the 32mm plossl but were definitely there.  I would be confident I saw M96 but less so with M95.  I did however see some fuzzy patches North of M96 and would sya I made out 3 patches there, possibly M105, and NGC 3389 and 3384.  There were an astounding number of satellites going through at this time as well.

Was going to try and find Markarians Chain, however the star hopping to it filled me with dread.  M13 had made a reappearance so went over there and I'm happy to report it was a much better view than the first time I saw it about 5 or 6 months ago.  Delightful in the 8mm.  I suspect it's a combination of the tripod making things more stable and me getting better at observing.

Once the new year rolls in I'm going to have to get going and build an observing chair!

 

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Ratlet

[Telescope40]

Hello. Single I phone shot - 7.45 am- Moon over my local church. 
Not the best but a shot at least. 
John 

[josefk]

5 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Probably my last chance at a dim sky for a while so went out for a quick blast for an hour with the 130PDS.  I used Sky Safari for star hopping and found it excellent once I dialled in the settings.  Also the first time taking the AZ5 out with the Skywatcher Tripod rather than the carbon fibre.

 

Rosette Nebula:  I kicked off with this, but I suspect I could have done with some more time for my eyes to adapt.  Couldn't discern any definite nebulosity but could see some bits that were for sure darker than others in the outer portion of the FOV.  I suspect this is a target that will get better with a repeat viewing.

 

Christmas Tree Cluster:  Again, no nebulosity, but I suspect you need a beefy scope for that.  Quite nice when I eventually saw the shape (it's correct way round in a Newtonian, pointy end at the top).

 

Eskimo Nebula:  A very rewarding target in the 8mm.  Probably the star of the show.  I threw in the UHC filter as well for this one.  I you want to train your adverted vision, this is the target.  The difference in brightness between looking directly at it and with averted vision is astounding.  When you get it in the sweet spot it is very bright.  Periodically could see the central star flicker in and out of the nebulosity.

 

Beehive Cluster:  Another great target.  Very much a diamonds on black velvet affair.

 

M42:  Not sure if it was the tripod or better seeing than usual, but great views tonight.  With the 8mm I could see texture in the nebulosity where as before it was just a white blob.  With both the 32mm and 8mm the nebulosity seemed to extend further than I've observed before.  I'd like to have sketched it, but tonight was about quantity not quality!

 

I also had a very quick look at mars to check how the new tripod was performing.  The views were more stable with the 8mm than I've had previously with less of the infuriating vibration the carbon fibre tripod showed.  I hada very quick look with the 2x barlow and it was definitely better (I could touch the eyecup without the view going wild).  However the clouds did what they do best so I packed up and came inside.

 

All in all a good night of observing!  Very glad I snuck out, even if I have to pay for it by going to do ironing now!  The Tripod is a definite improvement and has made the whole assembly more pleasant to use.  I think I've hit a very good (for me) configuration with SkySafari for starhopping.  I might get some ND film to cover the screen to dim it more so I don't periodically blow my retinas. 

 

Edit:

 

Good news!  I finished the ironing and got out and did some more observing about 05:30.

 

Conceptually I understand that the sky moves but on some level I'm bamboozled by the fact that everything moves so much in 5 hours.  Leo was up and and a decent height to the south so I went galaxy hunting and found M65, M66 which were both incredibly dim and small the 32mm plossl but were definitely there.  I would be confident I saw M96 but less so with M95.  I did however see some fuzzy patches North of M96 and would sya I made out 3 patches there, possibly M105, and NGC 3389 and 3384.  There were an astounding number of satellites going through at this time as well.

 

Was going to try and find Markarians Chain, however the star hopping to it filled me with dread.  M13 had made a reappearance so went over there and I'm happy to report it was a much better view than the first time I saw it about 5 or 6 months ago.  Delightful in the 8mm.  I suspect it's a combination of the tripod making things more stable and me getting better at observing.

 

Once the new year rolls in I'm going to have to get going and build an observing chair!

 

 

 

 

Sounds like a great double header. Sky Safari is just brilliant for navigation isn't it - i use it with a correct image view for GnG and it feels like cheating :-). 

[Ratlet]

20 minutes ago, josefk said:

Sounds like a great double header. Sky Safari is just brilliant for navigation isn't it - i use it with a correct image view for GnG and it feels like cheating :-). 

I use it with my Newtonian.  I just turn off the auto rotate and use it right way up for finding a star or target and then hold the phone upside down for star hopping.  Much easier than stellarium.  

[johnturley]

Managed a brief session on Mars last night before it clouded over, conditions were rather unsteady with a breeze causing some movement of the telescope.

The image of Mars below was taken through my 14in Newtonian, ZWO ASI 462 Planetary Camera, 2.5x Powermate giving f12.5, 2 minute exposure, Capture area 320 x 320, 14,000 frames @ 122 fps. Processed in AutoStakkert and Registax, plus a little polishing in Lightroom. 

Edited December 22, 2022 by johnturley

[Astro_Dad]

9 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

Just come in after an off and on session on Mars in Southampton, Hoped to do a bit more but had high cloud coming and going. Now total cloud cover. 

After inspiration from a member on here I tried a quick smartphone video capture. Despite seeing being rather average and after a very quick look at a best frame I got this. You can actually recognise it! The north polar hood stands out well. 

Off to bed now. I’ll have a better look at the video tomorrow.

 

That's an impressive capture - was it with iPhone in standard video mode, or an Android device? Something I keep meaning to try.

[Astro_Dad]

7 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Probably my last chance at a dim sky for a while so went out for a quick blast for an hour with the 130PDS.  I used Sky Safari for star hopping and found it excellent once I dialled in the settings.  Also the first time taking the AZ5 out with the Skywatcher Tripod rather than the carbon fibre.

 

Rosette Nebula:  I kicked off with this, but I suspect I could have done with some more time for my eyes to adapt.  Couldn't discern any definite nebulosity but could see some bits that were for sure darker than others in the outer portion of the FOV.  I suspect this is a target that will get better with a repeat viewing.

 

Christmas Tree Cluster:  Again, no nebulosity, but I suspect you need a beefy scope for that.  Quite nice when I eventually saw the shape (it's correct way round in a Newtonian, pointy end at the top).

 

Eskimo Nebula:  A very rewarding target in the 8mm.  Probably the star of the show.  I threw in the UHC filter as well for this one.  I you want to train your adverted vision, this is the target.  The difference in brightness between looking directly at it and with averted vision is astounding.  When you get it in the sweet spot it is very bright.  Periodically could see the central star flicker in and out of the nebulosity.

 

Beehive Cluster:  Another great target.  Very much a diamonds on black velvet affair.

 

M42:  Not sure if it was the tripod or better seeing than usual, but great views tonight.  With the 8mm I could see texture in the nebulosity where as before it was just a white blob.  With both the 32mm and 8mm the nebulosity seemed to extend further than I've observed before.  I'd like to have sketched it, but tonight was about quantity not quality!

 

I also had a very quick look at mars to check how the new tripod was performing.  The views were more stable with the 8mm than I've had previously with less of the infuriating vibration the carbon fibre tripod showed.  I hada very quick look with the 2x barlow and it was definitely better (I could touch the eyecup without the view going wild).  However the clouds did what they do best so I packed up and came inside.

 

All in all a good night of observing!  Very glad I snuck out, even if I have to pay for it by going to do ironing now!  The Tripod is a definite improvement and has made the whole assembly more pleasant to use.  I think I've hit a very good (for me) configuration with SkySafari for starhopping.  I might get some ND film to cover the screen to dim it more so I don't periodically blow my retinas. 

 

Edit:

 

Good news!  I finished the ironing and got out and did some more observing about 05:30.

 

Conceptually I understand that the sky moves but on some level I'm bamboozled by the fact that everything moves so much in 5 hours.  Leo was up and and a decent height to the south so I went galaxy hunting and found M65, M66 which were both incredibly dim and small the 32mm plossl but were definitely there.  I would be confident I saw M96 but less so with M95.  I did however see some fuzzy patches North of M96 and would sya I made out 3 patches there, possibly M105, and NGC 3389 and 3384.  There were an astounding number of satellites going through at this time as well.

 

Was going to try and find Markarians Chain, however the star hopping to it filled me with dread.  M13 had made a reappearance so went over there and I'm happy to report it was a much better view than the first time I saw it about 5 or 6 months ago.  Delightful in the 8mm.  I suspect it's a combination of the tripod making things more stable and me getting better at observing.

 

Once the new year rolls in I'm going to have to get going and build an observing chair!

 

 

 

 

Nice report, with some reminders of targets I should seek out again like The Christmas Tree Cluster! Good to see M13 again, a favourite.

[PeterStudz]

49 minutes ago, Astro_Dad said:

That's an impressive capture - was it with iPhone in standard video mode, or an Android device? Something I keep meaning to try.

Thanks, although I didn’t do much. It was through my Skywatcher 200p Dob, using a Starguider 5mm. I used a standard (not Pro) iPhone 12, which is obviously over 2 yrs old now, but upped the video to 4K at 60fps. Had to take the brightness right down using the slider in standard video mode - no fancy app. There’s a guy on here who used an Android phone with similar results. 

I was in a rush as I could see clouds coming in. The video was just 12 seconds long and all I did was crop the video and then manually select what looked like a good frame, screen shot it, adjusting contrast a tad using the stock iPhone video editing app. That’s it. Getting a better result is surely possible and why I haven’t given it a go before I don’t know!

[IB20]

Surprisingly OK seeing despite a silly amount of dew forming. Only really observing Mars as it will start to recede soon. Some nice albedo markings and that polar hood still very prominent. Having a play with a new digital sketching app as want to start sketching more of my observations too.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by IB20

[Nakedgun]

~

Tuesday night I set up to observe the planets with my Borg 90FL on a non-goto CG-5, after some earlier trauma with another scope (a report I'll post elsewhere).

Seeing was forecast as fair, with some moments of poor thrown in just for irritation.

Saturn: getting low but able to sustain powers up near 200 when things settled.

Neptune: at highest power (217x) still just a blue dot, but I don't go after it regularly so it was good to see, again.

Jupiter: all four big moons seen, and some patterns in the equatorial belts easily discerned, no GRS till much too late this evening.

Uranus: I spent quite some time under my light-polluted skies with 6.5x32, then 10x50 binos putting together the star-hopping patterns to be followed in my 24mm ep to arrive at this pale blue/green dot. It has been poorly placed, of late.

Mars: by now, the cold is penetrating my clothing so I was glad for an easy target, though my 90mm had not the light-grasp to make features more than guessed at, and some brightening by clouds at the pole.

That's it, I'm done. 

 

 

.

[bosun21]

I managed to squeeze in a quick hour tonight between cloud banks. I was limited to the E & SE sky so it had to be the planets. I just hurriedly grabbed my SW 127 Mak and quickly placed it on the markings for my tripod legs. I didn’t bother leveling the tripod as speed was of the essence. I also skipped the alignment procedure and just used it manually in tracking mode. Jupiter first and I was pleasantly surprised by my view. Distinct Northern equatorial bands as well as in the South. I coaxed the magnification up to 166x with my 9mm Morpheus which was the seeing limit on the Jovian giant tonight IMO. Watching the ever advancing clouds marching their way towards me, I quickly slewed over to the God of War. Once again I started with the already in the diagonal, the  9mm Morpheus. I was disappointed to see just a pinkish disc due to the fact that the sneaky high altitude clouds had beaten me to Mars😭. Oh well I said to myself, was that effort worth getting to view the one planet? You bet it was!

 

[cloudsweeper]

MYSTERY DOUBLE - Is it 65 Psc or 65 And??

65 Psc (Sigma 61) – matched 6th mag pair, 4.4 arcsec separation.  Little else in the field, although it was not very dark!  Going from x36 to x73, got the split – close, perfect match, secondary at 11 o’clock.

This one took a bit of working out!  It is in Haas, but in the Cambridge Atlas, it is given as 65 And. It is right on the boundary of the constellations, and despite the title, it can be classed as a star in Andromeda.  To add to the confusion, its SAO number is 74296, but CDSA and Stellarium have it as 74295.  (Other sources list 65 And as a completely different and non-physical double, with the number 23319.)

I mention this here as the puzzle added extra to the observation.

Full report with four more doubles and other things is in the Observing Doubles section.

Doug.

[Astro_Dad]

11 hours ago, IB20 said:

Having a play with a new digital sketching app as want to start sketching more of my observations too

Which app are you trying ? Sounds interesting. 

[IB20]

7 minutes ago, Astro_Dad said:

Which app are you trying ? Sounds interesting. 

It’s called Sketchbook on iOS but it’s available on Google Play. It’s free to download but I paid £1.79 to access all the tools/styles although there was plenty in the free version too. Enjoying it so far!

[F15Rules]

13 hours ago, IB20 said:

Surprisingly OK seeing despite a silly amount of dew forming. Only really observing Mars as it will start to recede soon. Some nice albedo markings and that polar hood still very prominent. Having a play with a new digital sketching app as want to start sketching more of my observations too.

 

 

You've got a lot of detail there👍..what scope were you using?

Dave

 

[IB20]

1 minute ago, F15Rules said:

You've got a lot of detail there👍..what scope were you using?

Dave

 

Skywatcher 200P, despite the dew formation there were some brief pockets of stable seeing. The 5XW and the dob work amazingly well together on Mars. 

[Peter Drew]

My first telescopic view of Mars this apparition due to various circumstances, around 6pm Wednesday evening.  For convenience I dug out my 1980's orange C8 equipped with a Baader zoom eyepiece.  At the 8mm setting 250x Mars looked small and the brightness swamped the detail, surprised anyone can see anything at less magnification?  Replaced the Baader with a TV 6-3 zoom and at around 350x Mars looked a lot better, various albedo markings became obvious and the polar hood was evident.  Very brief observation due to health considerations but glad to have an opportunity before Mars recedes.   🙂 

[F15Rules]

I went out delivering cards around the village last night, around 6.30pm, and was struck by how (unexpectedly) clear it was. 

So I hurried back and got out Trinity the FS128 Tak turning her to Mars. Sadly, the seeing was poor, although transparency was pretty good. Using an orange red 23a filter did help a bit, and I could see some rather vague darker areas, but the north polar hood which was so prominent in last week's -7 deg freezing skies was almost invisible this time. I couldn't get anything like a decent view much past c100x (Pentax 10.5XL), whereas last week I was getting over 300x with reasonable image quality.

It was a strange evening: the temperature dropped quickly to freezing, and condensation(not ice) began to form on the scope tube, and my RACI finder began to fog up more than once..but the objective stayed clear!🤔🥴.

I checked out Alnitak, couldn't split it, then Rigel, (I could split that at 7" but a mushy sight), and M42 (nice tendrils and contrast of the Bat Wings, but only the 4 main Trapezium stars were visible, with E&F only suspected once or twice).

General transparency was still quite good, but deteriorating, so I abandoned thoughts of further higher power views and just went over to the Pleiades. Out came my Celestron Axiom LX heavyweight UWA pair: 23mm 82 deg and 31mm 82 deg, the latter a hefty 1.4kg😱. So, a little rebalancing of the scope was called for, but Oh My, the views!

Using the 23mm first, the whole field was littered with dozens and dozens of scintillating pure white points on a jet black background..but I couldn't quite get the whole cluster, which is almost 2 degrees across framed comfortably (this was at 45x, with the 23mm giving a 1.81 Deg fov in the Tak), so I popped in (well, heaved in😱😂) the big 31mm to give 33x, and this did the trick..I now had a 2.41 Deg fov, so the whole cluster was beautifully framed, with the long tail from Alcyone of c7 fainter stars standing out like mini beacons.. (does this "mini asterism" have a name? If not, it should!).

All in all I was out for about an hour or so..not by any means a great session, but those Pleiades views made it so worthwhile👍. Isn't it just great to have so many varied targets to look at, in all types of seeing and transparency?😊.

Dave

Edited December 23, 2022 by F15Rules
Typo and additional text

[RobertI]

2 hours ago, IB20 said:

It’s called Sketchbook on iOS but it’s available on Google Play. It’s free to download but I paid £1.79 to access all the tools/styles although there was plenty in the free version too. Enjoying it so far!

Will have to give that app a go, I think you've captured the eyepiece experience brilliantly there. 👍

[Pixies]

On 21/12/2022 at 08:25, Ratlet said:

I use it with my Newtonian.  I just turn off the auto rotate and use it right way up for finding a star or target and then hold the phone upside down for star hopping.  Much easier than stellarium.  

I used to do this, until someone pointed out the option in SkySafari to flip the view. 

Apologies if you know and just prefer the 'manual' method.

[F15Rules]

Is Sky Safari a free or one of payment or a subscription service? And does it work well on Android devices?

Thanks!

Dave

[Mick H]

18 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

Is Sky Safari a free or one of payment or a subscription service? And does it work well on Android devices?

Thanks!

Dave

There are three versions Dave, SkySafari $2.99, SkySafari Plus $9.99, SkySafari Pro $24.99.

SkySafari Plus is a good buy.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simulationcurriculum.skysafari5&hl=en_GB&gl=US

[F15Rules]

Many thanks Mick, much appreciated 👍.

Dave