Finally, Clear Skies Again

[MalcolmM]

This observation was a few days ago. Stupidly neglected to put down the date in my notes! On a four in the morning toilet visit I looked out the window and saw my first star for two months! Too good a chance to miss, so out came my FOA-60Q on a Giro Ercole on an Innorel tripod and me in my dressing gown!

First up was Saturn, before it dropped below the trees. With a 9mm Abbe giving x100 it was wonderfully sharp despite being quite low. The shadow of the planet on the rings was obvious, as was a dark band covering the northern third of the planet. I thought I could see/sense the Cassini division, which really surprised me, due to the rings current inclination and a small scope, so this may have been wishful thinking!

Next up was Jupiter. Five belts on display and the most contrasty I have ever seen it. Again using the 9mm Abbe, 6mm being too much. No GRS but the 2 equatorial bands were distinctly irregular with definite shape. Also the N and S polar hoods (?) and a thin dark belt between the NEB and the N polar hood were obvious. 

It's now about 05.00 and I turn to the half illuminated moon. Still can't get more power than the 9mm Abbe. But the moon was fab. Very contrasty views. Hadley crater was easy. Was able to make out one of the craters easily on the Hyginus Rille. Also, for the first time, I saw some of the Triesnecker Rilles. Triesnecker itself was very detailed; half it's floor was in shadow, there was a thin shadow on the floor at the base of the 'lit' wall (West, refractor view) and another shadow at the top of the same wall. Tried to look for any craterlets in Plato, but saw none. This may be asking too much of a 60mm scope!

Fast forward to last night and I find myself back outside at 3.30 in the morning, again in my dressing gown, this time with a new heavy duty video fluid head and the 100DC. I was keen to see if the fluid head could cope with the 100DC at x180. It could but unfortunately the seeing couldn't! The air was very steady, but the views were ever so slightly fuzzy so I was limited to the 9mm Abbe giving ~x80. Disappointingly the views were less sharp with less contrast than the smaller scope a few nights previously. Still, it was lovely to be out again under the skies, a wren singing in the garden and the new (to me) fluid head coping well with the DC, even swapping between a light Abbe and a big Pentax XW 5.

Malcolm