Nice session this evening

[F15Rules]

For the second night in succession the skies cleared nicely after dark here in Lincolnshire 👍.

Scope was Tak FS128, used with Morpheus (9mm & 17.5mm), TMB Burgess 5mm Planetary, Pentax XL 10.5mm and Axiom LX 23mm.

Transparency good, Seeing Good, declining to Fair.

Highlight of the session has to be the transit of Europa acoss the disk.. see image below (credit to Pete Lawrence ( just rotate the image to show the refractor view). The shadow was very clear, although strangely I could not clearly make out the GRS at all (seeing was very changeable and "wobbly" at times).

Also a good view of Saturn with Cassini partially resolved (at each edge only).

Other objects observed included Epsilon Lyrae, Vega (good view of it's 10th magnitude wide optical companion to the south south west - have you seen it?), and M13 globular cluster in Hercules, nicely resolved at 100 -150x.

A nice 90minute session, hope you had good skies too!

Dave

 

 

Edited September 25, 2022 by F15Rules

[wookie1965]

I was all eager to get out but I have a big stye which is affecting my vision plus come 12am clouded over. Cracking picture Dave really great capture.

[F15Rules]

40 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

I was all eager to get out but I have a big stye which is affecting my vision plus come 12am clouded over. Cracking picture Dave really great capture.

Thanks Paul, just to be clear, the photo wasn't mine, it was published online and credited to Pete Lawrence 😊.

Here is the Sky at Night article I quoted..

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/jupiter-moons-how-see/

I hope your sty clears up soon, they can be very painful!

Dave

[F15Rules]

Also, please note, I've corrected a couple of typos.. based on Pete Lawrence's article, I believe it was Io, not Europa, whose shadow I saw. And my view was inverted compared to Pete's, so I'm assuming his view was via a reflector, while mine was through a refractor. Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong though! 🥴😂

Thanks,

Dave

[Alan White]

Lucky you Dave, you got the cloud gaps and 90 good minutes.

I was due to lead a club darker site session last night, but forecast was so off I cancelled it, 
then watched the sky closely. 
We had nearly solid cloud and only small clear bit was later to the SE.

[Telescope40]

Hello Dave. I was looking forward to giving the transit a go last night.  2nd nite on the bounce for me too.  Friday night was nice and steady. A real calm evening. Great views between 9 and 10.30. 

Last night however everything was turning to jelly. Not even getting a couple of seconds of steadiness. Could not make out the GRS or transit.  Good that your session bore some fruit for you. Such is astronomy. 

John 

[Knighty2112]

Pete’s image of Io was from the Saturday morning, and the Europa transit was from the evening/night of the same day just to clear up any confusion. Seeing wasn’t great for me last night, but I could see Europa’s shadow easily although Jupiter was dancing like crazy when trying to in the seeing. In fact seeing made all but double stars worth looking at, although did manage to spot smaller Neptune easily in a sparse starfield.

[wookie1965]

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Thanks Paul, just to be clear, the photo wasn't mine, it was published online and credited to Pete Lawrence 😊.

Here is the Sky at Night article I quoted..

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/jupiter-moons-how-see/

I hope your sty clears up soon, they can be very painful!

Dave

Sorry Dave I only scanned through with this sty finding hard even blinking is stinging. I have never tried splitting Vega I must try that both Lyra and Hercules are high in the south for me I may be able to catch them about 1am if I can get out this week.

I bet that 128 would blow my Tal and Meade out the water, hoping for a session as forecast is for an artic blast that should make the skies good.

Paul 

[F15Rules]

Thanks Knighty..so, it was Europa I saw..my observations were made between c 10pm and 11.30pm..

Paul, no problem at all..and don't underestimate your refractors..I have owned both the Tal and 127L models and both will show Vega's faint optical companion, easily..it's not a close double, and through a refractor it's at approximately midway between the "5"  and "6" positions on the clock face, about 56 arc seconds from Vega itself, see following nquote from Wikiversity:

"At one time (1932), Vega was listed as a double star.[15]

In 1963, Vega is listed as a visual double star.[16]

In 1983, it was listed as a double star.[17] This was repeated in 1994.[18] It is still listed as a double star in 1996.[19] The update in 2001 also lists it.[20] The star with Vega is 56.41 arc sec away and is designated as BD+38 3238D of unknown spectral class. That these two stars are undifferentiated between double star or binary star for some 70 years at only 25 light yrs away is remarkable."

HTH 👍

Dave

[PeterStudz]

I saw the Europa transit last night too, both moon & shadow as it crossed the disc but seeing a little wobbly. 

Someone might have mentioned it before but there’s a good guide for Jupiter this week in Sky at Night Magazine…

https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/jupiter-moons-how-see/