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Early bird

russ

By russ
in Observing - Reports

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russ

russ

Posted
Posted

Set the alarm for 4.30am in anticipation of seeing a great sky this morning. Peered out the window but something was wrong. For some reason i thought the moon set at 4am but i had made a serious error somewhere with my calculation. Damn moon was lighting up the sky even though it was well over to the West. Decided to reset the alarm for 5.45am and try again. Just do the planets instead :icon_eek:

So up at 5.45, straight outside and 30mins of planet watching. Well worth it, in fact, wish i had just gone out at 4.30 like i planned :mad:

Mars was very well placed and the sky super steady, especially that far up. Just piled on the magnification it was that good. Decided 300x was a good balance of sharpness and image scale. Even without a filter there was plenty to see. The polar caps just jump out, first thing you notice. The dark features are more subtle but easily seen. And it pays to stay at the eyepiece for as long as possible. The detail just becomes more apparent the longer you look.

Tried the filters again. Defintely red and yellow do the best job. The red really boosts the contrast between the light and dark regions but the polar caps all but vanish.

Saturn was also a sight for sore eyes. Wow it looks good!!!! The rings were pin sharp at 200x and a few bands visible on the disk. A lovely sight.

And the sunrise was spectacular :hello2:

My favourite time of day.....love it!!!!

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dark knight

dark knight

Posted
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Nice to see you back Russ. The dob comes into it's own for those quick moments of observing, zero set up time...

PS I still have the eq5 sysnscan and find it great, I've now mounted the head on a pier (you are the Russ I bought it from aren't you)

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russ

russ

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Carl, yes i am the same Russ :icon_eek: Really pleased to hear the mount is still working and being used. Likewise your EQ5, plain EQ5 was all i needed.

I'm enjoying the hobby as much as i have ever done now. Imaging wasn't for me.

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pvaz

pvaz

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Thats dedication Russ, I can never get out of a warm bed at 04.45 to go and observe a planet, I know call be a observer :icon_eek:

I don't like setting the alarm for that early but sometimes I wake up by chance and I take the opportunity to rush outside.

Mars is really on top of the ecliptic at that time and it's a great site and well worth a few less hours of sleep. You go to work half awake but with a smile on your face. :hello2:

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