Light hearted Observing Report - 18th May 2010

[Moonshane]

Observing Report 18th May 2010

Location Stockport, England Latitude: +53.42 (53°25'12"N)

Longitude: -2.17 (2°10'12"W)

Equipment – f5.3 300mm Orion Optics UK Dobsonian, TV Radian and Panoptic /Powermate

Main Target: None specifically

Well, last night looked OK for a brief session but there was some high cloud which retained some of the brightness of the local towns' light pollution. Therefore by the time I packed up (about 11.30pm) it was still quite light - the clouds also rolled in.

It was not a particularly productive night but all I can say is that there were four people at the 'session', there was red wine involved and lots of blankets and hats etc. YES - amazingly I was joined by not only my wife Julie but also my two girls, Ellie and Hayley!!

It's a shame really that the sky was so poor as it would have been nice to show them some of my faves a little better than I could. However, they all saw Saturn - and were amazed as expected - "That's amazing" (no sarcasm) and "That looks fake Dad, like in a book" (I see what they mean) also, "why is is moving so fast??" the answer "it's not moving fast - it's the Earth turning" (blank silence). Julie even spotted three moons and described positions (of the moons! ).

That said, the biggest thing that impressed Julie was that whilst looking at Polaris and explaining while she was looking at it why it was not moving, a meteor shot across her field of view to cries of "woahh, a shooting star - amazing!!!!!!". I then showed her M13 and M57 but as I say these were not that impressive. She liked Alberio but after looking at the ring found her own 'Alberio', Delta Lyrae. If you have never seen this find it as it's a challenge to Alberio any day in my book. 1-0 to Julie!

I think the highlight for me apart from being joined by 'the girls' was that I saw a cracking pass of what I assume was the ISS just north of Ursa Major at about 10.30pm approx. It was incredibly bright for a few seconds then faded quickly again. Was this likely to be what I saw?

Cheers all

Shane

[brantuk]

I reckon you saw an iridium flare - the ISS is well south now over Africa.

[Moonshane]

ahhh, cheers Kim! I'll do some digging on them.

[lunator]

Shane

It's always nice when you can share the hobby with the family

Cheers

Ian

[LukeSkywatcher]

Yep sounds like an Iridium flare to me also. The ISS displays a constant brightness as it passes over. Flares grow in brighness then fade again.