First clear night for two weeks.

[Naz]

Well I set the scope up at 7.30 this evening, and took a couple of photos of the moon with the D70, Will have a look at them tomorrow. Tried a few afocally with a cheap Kodak digital, also look at these tomorrow.

it didn't really get dark until nearly 10 o'clock, and even then there was a faint trace of daylight in the NW.

The moon put paid to any real DSO seeking, as the sky was fairly bright, so concentrated on having a look at the moon, and trying to familiarise myself with the features. The detail visible at 120X was pretty impressive,(10mm + 2X Barlow), (must get a decent 3X barlow).

At full aperature the CA was evident along the edge of the moon, the full purple haze. But replace the cap minus the mask, crisp clear views of the edge.

Next I moved on to Saturn, slight CA at fully aperature, but it wasn't bad, at least I could live with it, but again with the mask, crisp sharp image. Made out Cassini and traces of two bands

on the surface, and only one moon.

Tonight was the first night I have managed to use the scope, instead of playing with it, or rushing in and out between the weather. Still impressed with the 120 f5, but with a decent driven EQ mount, 3x barlow and a few filters, this should see me through until next week :shock:

Well I am heading back out for a look at Jupiter shortly, and see if I can find the comet.

wish me luck folks

naz

[geppetto]

Best of luck with the comet Naz

Sounds like your having a good night

[tom.yates]

Enjoy mate cos ya never no when the next 1 is gonna come along.

[lunator]

Naz

Congrats, glad you got out.

As Tom says make the most of it.

Cheers

Ian

[FLO]

Nice report Naz

[Naz]

Just gone 12.30, and I have done a fail to find the comet, moonlight has swamped the sky and fainter objects are just not visible, and this site is probably on of the darkest sites.

I have noticed that even at midnight, the northern sky has a faint lightness about it, I wish moon would get out of the way, cause I suspect that there is aurora tonight, and with the sky this clear!

Anyway just finish my nightcap, get warmed up and of to bed.

naz

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Sounds like you had fun anyway out there. I too like to look for faint stuff when the moons out and it's just not the time to find Messiers. Kind of strange when the big target is there, I go for something less obvious that probably won't work. It is good fun though and that came across in your post.

Captain Chaos