Albireo and Jupiter!

[Castor]

Last night my sky was completely cloud-free, good seeing too, so I decided to take down my telescope. My main targets would be M81 & M82, Albireo, and maybe M57.

I found a pretty dark spot, though with a little bit of light pollution caused by the street lamps, but I guess it was ok.

Started out by locating Vega, Deneb and Altair, the Summer-triangle. In the middle of the Triangle lies Albireo, but there didn't seem to be any bright star "inside" the Triangle.

Looked like this: O <--- Deneb O <---- Vega

-------------------------O <---- Albireo (or Altair?)

I thought that it was Altair in the bottom, and so I kept searching for a relatively bright star in the middle, but nothing was to be seen.

I then thought to myself... what if Altair is blocked by the neighbours house, and that the star I mistaken for Altair actually is Albireo? My telescope was set up, ready to use, 25mm EP 'n all .

I located this star in my red-dot finder, looked in my eyepiece, and there it was! Certainly! I saw Albireo! A little blu-ish star at the bottom right, and a bigger and more yellow-ish at the bottom left. How beautiful! I switched to the 10mm eyepiece, also popped in a Barlow x2. My magnification would then be around 150x. Things just got more beautiful. A big, yellow star and a bottom blue, surrounded by a completely black background.

After this amazing sight, I got greedy and wanted to see some more. I located Ursa Minor, found Dubhe to be in the middle of my finder, and began to browse the area. I wasn't quite sure where to look, but no galaxies were to make their appearence that night, unfortunately.

I was tired and about to go home, when some very bright and firm light hit my eyes, close to the horizon: Jupiter! (I've seen this fellow before ). Popped the 25mm eyepiece, locating with the finder, I quickly found myself starring at the beautiful giant, surrounded by 3 moons, Io being behind the planet itself. Amazing sight, but way too bright, so I took out one dust cap from the big cap-thing (the one you put over the lens) and then put the big cap on (with the dust-cap removed) to get much less light in. This gave me a very pleasent and relaxing view, though the moons were hard to spot .

I switched to a Barlow and the 10mm eyepiece, and WOW! I could clearly see about three brown cloud-bands, the sky was completely steady. What a moment. I was awe stuck.

I took away the eyepieces, put on the lens cap and took the telescope on my shoulder, on my way home - thinking it's been a damn good session.

Thank you for reading.

[Beyond_Vision]

Sounds like you had a great night here's to a few more

Regards

Kevin

[Talitha]

Well done! It's always a thrill to see details on Jupiter.

Btw, there's an Albireo look-alike in Lyra.. the colors are just as intense, and it's pretty easy to find.

[Castor]

Yeah, true, thanks Talitha.

I'll have a look at the Alibreo look-a-like

[albedo0.39]

Nice, simple report. I liked it. Also, the image of you hunting for prey (so to speak) and then dropping the 'scope on your shoulder and wandering off into the night conjours up a nice spirit of discovery ! - Well done on tracking down Albireo, such a beautiful double don't you think ?

[ashenlight]

Lovely report, very enjoyable reading

Be sure to check out the double Carol mentions - I had a (very quick) look the last time I was outside - such a little jewel

[Castor]

Thank you, Albedo. Yes, indeed the most beautiful double I've seen so far

And I've seen TWO doubles!

[Castor]

Thanks to you too, Ashenlight! I'll go for a look on that double the next time it's clear. Unfortunately there is a cloudburst atm :'(

[Doc]

Lovely report and your enthusiasm is fantastic.

M81 & M82 are not that easy to find. There's not that many bright stars to star hop with. But once found they are easy to locate again.

[Castor]

Thanks Doc! Glad you liked it!

Yeah, starhopping in that area is pretty difficult, but I guess as you say, they'll be easy to find once located. Same with M31

[ncjunk]

I want to add to the praise....very good report and the enjoyment really comes through in the writing.

Great read

Neil C

[Castor]

Thank you Ncjunk, I'm glad you think so!

It's appreciated

[Vega]

I remember stumbling by that double look a like in Lyra myself a couple summers ago. Glad you pointed it out.. will get another look at that one when clouds go on holiday lol.