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WOOHOO It's Clear

TopHouse

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TopHouse

TopHouse

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Just had a huge rump steak with onions & mushrooms, been outside for alook, it's crystal clear! Think we've just seen an iridium flare too! Going getting my baby out now and that's me for the night, got my brand new SW 32mm panaview to test, orion nebula and pliedes are lovely and clear with the naked eye.

It don't get much better than this! Report later.

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russ

russ

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Clear here but the railway yard have turned on their lights at the back of the garden. The sky is so bright now i can't even see Mars naked eye....and to think the council assessed the lights and judged them not to be a problem. :) Just packed the scope away.

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Brendan of Borg

Brendan of Borg

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Clear skies nearly in Norfolk with rolling high cloud! Checked out Mars -very nice and clear. Tried for M42 but not sure if I'm in the right area? See a smudge but close up all I see are a traingle of stars = . .

.

Wondering if I'm in the right place or... is my 60mm just not up to it or is it... darned light pollution?????

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Mr Spock

Mr Spock

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I've already been busy.

The Perseus double cluster looks a fine sight tonight, though I can only take in one at a time.

Pleiades is just toooo big

M42 is full of detail - yummy! Six stars of the trapezium easy at x98. Sky looks very transparent tonight - will try for the 14 mag G & H later when the scope is fully cooled.

Mars will be on later too...

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Sam Kennedy

Sam Kennedy

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With a set of 20x50's I saw the orion nebula... AMAZING! I didn't even know you could see them with telescopes let alone binoculars!

I also saw the 7 sisters (but there were like 40 stars in a tight cluster, about 9 were a lot brighter than others)

I tried looking at Saturn but I was too shakey to get a good view.

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orionhunter

orionhunter

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mars pretty good here as is M42. saturn is a bit iffy for some reason?

(114mm helios).

will try the 150mm SW dobby later on.

tried a new (to me) eq1 mount on the helios tonite. shaking all over the place. gonna order 5 tons of concrete tomorrow!

my homemade (pipe) alt/az is better.

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acharris77

acharris77

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Here up high in the S Wales valley, I have had a lot of clouds rolling in, then clear. By the time I get the scope setup the clouds come back, and now the full moon is washing the sky out, so I have packed the scope away and hope to catch saturn again soon on the next clear night :)

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orionhunter

orionhunter

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doh!

no wonder i had wonky views of saturn earlier, it would help if i was actually looking at saturn! think i was looking at arcturaus.

found it now, brilliant tonite. im sure i saw 2 moons? (titan & rhea)?

the moon is amazing too. very bright though. i can see why some use a lunar filter now.

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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Lovely clear skies here the last 3-4 nights. I have gotten some quality time with Mars over the last few nights. It really does get easier to see the more you observe. The "seeing" has been sooo good. Also had a good while observing Praesepe/M44/Beehive cluster tonight. It is just so stunning.

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Jove

Jove

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doh!

no wonder i had wonky views of saturn earlier, it would help if i was actually looking at saturn! think i was looking at arcturaus.

found it now, brilliant tonite. im sure i saw 2 moons? (titan & rhea)?

the moon is amazing too. very bright though. i can see why some use a lunar filter now.

Hah, yes I ended up looking at Arcturus instead of Saturn for a minute too! I hadn't realised how much later I'd gone out than usual. Did get a nice Airey disc from it, though.

I got some great views of Saturn from London - some shadow and a hint of variation in colour. I think I saw two moons too - a brighter one relatively far out (Titan?) and a much fainter one closer in, which Stellarium reckons would be Rhea. Some of the other moons aren't thant much dimmer than Rhea - Dione was close by Rhea at May 10.78 versus Rhea's 10.11 so I reckon it at least ought to be doable.

I also, finally, started to see some detail on Mars last night too - a definite fuzzy white area near the south pole and some darker regions too. I tried stacking up two x2 Barlow lenses, and so was getting magnifications around 600x - way beyond what I would expect my 5" Mak to handle - I couldn't bring them to sharp focus, but found the larger image helped me pick out regions of different colouration.

After a look around on the moon (always beautiful!), and cursing myself for not charging my DSLR battery some clouds rolled in shortly after midnight so I decided to call it a night, though I was tempted to set my alarm for 4am and try and track down M13 - I've not yet seen a Globular cluster and they always look great in the photos.

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yeti monster

yeti monster

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doh!

no wonder i had wonky views of saturn earlier, it would help if i was actually looking at saturn! think i was looking at arcturaus.

He he, I did that too last night, but I'm keeping quiet about it. Once I had realised my mistake, I spend over an hour following Saturn (with 3 moons visible).

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michael.h.f.wilkinson

michael.h.f.wilkinson

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It was brilliant yesterday in the Netherlands! Looks like another good night coming up. Mars was stunning, my new Radian really came through tonight. I actually think my verdict that on-axis the old LVs I had were a close match, and that the difference in performance was mainly at the edges needs revision. I have never seen Mars this sharp. I could not check because I sold the LVs to a colleague.

M42 was great as ever. Had problems with condensation on the corrector plate later.

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TopHouse

TopHouse

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Did anyone else get the impression last night that those rings had gone even more 'edge on'? Last night was only my second saturn, first was about a week ago but I'm sure i could see a little more 'ring' last week, although this time I could pick out the planets 'stripes' like very subtle different contrasting fuzzy stripes.

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Astro Adj

Astro Adj

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Likewise, I was able to discern some detail at Saturn's equator. Looked like bands of colour (oranges and yellows) but I was unable to observe it properly due to some teething issues with my new scope.

The moon was incredible, if a tad bright - I came away from the eyepiece wincing after about 30 secs of studying the surface detail. That was my dark adaption gone for a good 20 minutes too!

COuldn't get a good look at Mars as it had a strange orange glow surrounding it that washed out all detail. Not encountered this effect before, it looked like the halo the moon exhibits except it was 'filled in', from the centre of the planet all the way out to about 5-6 times Mars' diameter.

Unfortunately I was unable to see M42 or M13 as I'd hoped due to houses blocking the view throughout my observing session. Something for next time!

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