20/11/09 300p

[Theninjagecko]

Got the scope out last night. Sky initially seemed very clear. Let the 300p cool down for an hour then nipped out.

First view was Jupiter with the 25mm, 4 moons visible and 2 bands, tried to goto the 10mm but could see conditions weren't very good. Thought id go 2x barlow with 10mm just for fun. Couldn't focus very well still only 2 cloud bands visible.

I knew Neptune was very close to Jupiter from checking starmap pro on the iphone. So i searched. I found 3 stars in the field of view and i knew i was close, then bingo! A turquoise tiny disk with the 25mm. I immediately popped in the 10 mm. What a buety, a little low and some low cloud spoiled it a little, but still its so far away. First time viewing Neptune for me.

I moved onto the double cluster in Cassiopeia, buety in the 25, not totally framed, could see colors in the stars in both clusters. From there i scanned over to the ring, by now it was pretty dark, i noticed a hint of green in the ring and could see wisps in the nebula at 25mm and 10 mm.

From there i swooped over to Hercules and quickly found m13, by now a thin layer of cloud was ruining my night although at 25mm and 10 mm all stars into the core were resolved and could see white and orange colored stars.

Quick view at m31 was disappointing, quickly tried to find the Triangulum galaxy in Andromeda but failed.

Packed up because of the cloud and a dewed secondary.

Going to get a o2 and light pollution filter and a dew shield next week. Oh and a hotech laser coli.

[iamjulian]

Good stuff. I was looking at Neptune too. That line of three stars makes it quite easy to spot doesn't it. Interesting to hear a 300mm gives you a hint of colour in the ring nebula. I hope a 300mm scope will be my upgrade. One day

[Doc]

Lovely report and it made a really enjoyable read. Neptune is very easy to find at the moment and your description of the leading three stars is what I used.

M33 is very hard in a scope unless you have really dark skies, and I always see green in M57.

Try some of the more obscure planetaries if you like colour, such as Ngc7662 in Andromeda the blue snowball.

[Jupiter Martin]

Nice Report I haven't seen neptune Its on my list to find but theres just so much to see and by the time it get dark here its out of my sky view.

[Theninjagecko]

Seeing conditions i would have said were 3 out of 10 last night. The hint of green in the ring was a nice surprise. Cant wait for a good night. Going to start sketching while i save for my EQ6

[pvaz]

Great report. I'm gonna have a look at Neptune next time. Oddly enough I read once it wasn't much to see and that made me never feel the urge to find it.

After reading your report I felt dumb not to. Even if it's just a tiny blue dot it's worth a look!

Try some of the more obscure planetaries if you like colour, such as Ngc7662 in Andromeda the blue snowball.

What's the lowest power you can use to scan the sky and recognize it? Any tips on finding it with the telrad?

I tried to find the blue snow ball twice, both times it was at zenith witch make it very hard to point and I couldn't make it out while scanning the area at 37.5x.

[Doc]

Great report. I'm gonna have a look at Neptune next time. Oddly enough I read once it wasn't much to see and that made me never feel the urge to find it.

After reading your report I felt dumb not to. Even if it's just a tiny blue dot it's worth a look!

What's the lowest power you can use to scan the sky and recognize it? Any tips on finding it with the telrad?

I tried to find the blue snow ball twice, both times it was at zenith witch make it very hard to point and I couldn't make it out while scanning the area at 37.5x.

It's easily seen at x65 in my 28 Uwan. Appears slightly larger then a star but is a very vivid blue, can't miss it in my scope.