Break in the clouds

[Ronseal]

Had some clear sky tonight inbetween clouds, so managed to grab about 50mins after cool down.

Had a look at Mizar, and am convinced I was looking at the double - can I do this with an 8mm ep and 150p?? (93x) or was I looking at something else as stellarium seems to have to go to a very small FOV to split it.

Anyway, great seeing & the Orion nebula was superb with both 24 & 8 mm ep's, then onto Betelguese & it seemed in my eyes to be a "firey" orb (must need my eyes testing lol).

Then had a look at Caseopia and Ruchbah to try & locate M103 but failed

Clouds rolled in & looked like rain so packed up, now its clear again...grrrrr!

So, now setting alarm for 4.30 am so I can catch a Saturn

[Dazzio]

I'm about to go outside myself Ronseal, and am also thinking of either staying up to catch Saturn or waking up at 4am-ish... hhmm... Hope you get Saturn.

Dazz

[AndyC]

M103 seems a strange 'beast' I've noticed and others have commented on here that at times it can be a touch tricky, no real reason why other than most of the stars are quite faint. There's 7th and 8th mag stars either side of it and a red 8th mag star in the middle. Aside from 3 or 4 others the rest appear to be sub-12th Mag which with my LP is about the limits that I can reasonably see. So if conditions are not great I just tend to see 4 or 5 stars but when it's spot on it IS a great sight. Keep trying

A

[Ronseal]

Will keep trying AndyC, just need some more practice at finding DSO's I guess.

Dazz, did you get up at 4am & see Saturn? I got up at 5am only to be greeted by persistent rain & cloudbase

chris

[Dazzio]

Oh no Ronseal, I went outside about half 12 and didn't go in until half 4ish. But I did get to see Saturn with Titan and possibly Rhea. Then spent the night looking at other kinda things. I has access to a laptop tonight so am hoping to get the SPC900 out.

Sorry to hear your early morning was wasted.

Dazz

[DarkerSky]

Had a look at Mizar, and am convinced I was looking at the double - can I do this with an 8mm ep and 150p?? (93x) or was I looking at something else as stellarium seems to have to go to a very small FOV to split it.

Yes, I think you have it. I'd be pretty confident that the split is doable with a 150p at x93. I split it comfortably last spring with an 8.5" scope at x63