- This topic has 2,644 replies, 51 voices, and was last updated 2 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Thank you to Rick Murray for giving me a guided tour of my telescope and the night sky on Saturday evening. Taught me about collimation – a LaserMate Deluxe has been ordered. From his driveway in Pine Island we saw – at first – a lot of clouds. Could make out Venus and Jupiter
revealed if we were patient with the cloud cover. Gibbous Venus and Jupiter with two moons on each side as well as rings with 10mm lens.
Saw galaxies M81 and M82 in the same field, M34 and M35 in Gemini, Crab Nebula, Orion Nebula with easily seen trapezium, Beehive in Cancer, Double Cluster in Perseus, the Pleiades. Looked for the Dumbell ??My new finder scope is working well – wasn't much use with out the primary mirror aligned! On to bigger (or is that smaller?) things. B
It sounds like Rick and Starbie made it out on the same night that I did.
It looks like the next shot at stargazing will be Mon and Tues nights. I know that it will be a waxing gibbous Moon, but Mercury is going to be well positioned to see above the western horizon. We shouldn't miss that since Mercury is so darn hard to observe in the first place. Jupiter and Venus draw ever closer and I'll be able to get some more Lunar II targets. And don't forget Mars which reaches opposition tomorrow night.
It's March! Time for some warmer temps and clear skies!
I got out again tonight for some Lunar II targets. I nailed Craters Cruger and Grimaldi, so I think I only have 7 to go for Lunar II.
Venus and Mars are only 9 days away from the closest part of their conjunction. They are really eye catching! Mars continues to be unimpressive, at least in an 8 inch SCT. What can you say about an object just a hair over 4,000 miles in diameter "only" 63.6 million miles away? Mercury was not visible tonight, low clouds to the west.
It got cloudy here at 11 p.m., but what a night! 54 degrees! Hooray!
Dean, I too got out last night. Set up my "now working" scope on Molly's deck and saw Jupiter – two moons to the right and one to the left.
Venus was visible. Then invited the neighbor's children over to have a look and got the dad along with them. We had a good look see and caught the moon also. Just saw Mars popping over the roof line to the east when I was shutting down. BTwas a wonderfully warm day, and Wow what a great night to catch the some night sky. I went out for a few minutes and stayed out for almost an hour (course it helps having my winter attire on — almost was too warm. I didn't make it much past my patio, but I found some great spots that have all the neighbors lights blocked. I can't believe it's only 10pm.
Too bad it's the time to set the clocks ahead one hour. It'll be harder to see as much and still get a good nights sleep!
Leo almost looked like it was jumping over Mars. and how close Venus and Jupiter are. Just my eyes and binoculars. And the geese and ducks returning is surely a sign that spring is here. I saw so many crossing my field of view. When I saw the first pair go by, I thought it might be a meteor, until a few seconds later more, then the honk. A little disappointing, but then exciting as it is a sure indication that we'll be outside for more viewing with my more temperature sensitive bride. How soon till the next Star party?
A beautiful night to lay on the grass, no bugs, staring up at the heavens. A beautiful night.
I got out last night between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. My son Matthew helped me set up my stuff on the deck so I was ready to go when I got home from tending bar. I drank two cups of coffee and went out and got a fairly good look at Mars (polar cap visible, some vague surface markings), Saturn (Titan easily visible, 3 other moons with averted vision, no Cassini's Division or planetary banding, too windy) M13 in Hercules and the Moon.
I nailed two Lunar II features last night. I finally got Crater Baco (Hooray!! "Only" my fifth try at it) and Rimae Janssen. Both are near Crater Hommel which I used as a guidepost to get my bearings in that part of the Moon. Mare Spumans and Undarum are in shadow and Crater Wargentin is in too brightly lit territory with an unfavorable libration right now, but it's nice to be heading down the 'home stretch'.
Love the temps! (Not the wind!)
Hello astronomy fans! Sap rise went into effect today, so I have all of tonight for star gazing. I am going to load my stuff up and then after the meeting head to Eagle Bluff and stay there till about 4 a.m. (Moonrise is at 3, if any Lunar II's are available tonight, I won't get done until 4).
I know it's a reach, but is anyone interested? Are there any other dark sky options?
Well, I went down to Eagle Bluff and I even had some company…Capt. Kirk! He followed me down to EB "just for a half an hour to an hour" and ended up staying for two hours! First time I've had somebody show up that late at night wearing a suit and tie…
We saw, the Jupiter/Venus conjunction, the Perseus Double Cluster, the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy, M44 the Beehive Cluster, M51 and NGC 5195, M97 the Owl Nebula and M108 (spiral galaxy in Ursa Major, both seen in the same FOV with my 50 mm Vixen wide angle), a binocular look at Coma Berenices, NGC 4565, the "Needle" Galaxy, the Virgo group of galaxies (couldn't find 'the Face'), Mars, Saturn, unsuccessful search for NGC 6543 the "Cat's Eye" in Draco, M35 in Gemini along with NGC 2158.
That was it for Kirk and I left an hour after that. I tried for some Herschel 400 objects, but by then had been up for 19 hours and was getting tired. When I get tired, it is hard to find things that don't belong on the Obvious Stuff list.
Tonight I made it out again for an hour and a half, I got some globular clusters for that observing list and took a good look at the Jupiter/Venus conjunction which is starting to break up. Then high thin clouds moved in and it was AMF time. Nice to be out, though, It was t-shirt weather for the first half hour. Strange for March.
Was unable to get to the monthly meeting, were there any plans made for a Messier marathon? Weather looks warm, at least from this point out.
I plan to head out to Keller for a little while tonight. Probably leave by 10 as I have to work tomorrow. Head on out if anyone wants to get a little time in on a nice day.
Jeff
I guess we're planning the Messier Marathon for next weekend, March 23-24, at Eagle Bluff. I'll have to get out and practice between now and then. 🙂
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff. What a good idea – the sky was sooooooo different from what I have been seeing from Molly's deck. Saw Mars, Venus, Jupiter
(3 moons to upper left and one moon far down to the lower right.) Beehive, Pleaides, Andromeda.I am always happy to get home safely – driving the "deer magnet"………..B
I'm up for Keller. I think the thick clouds will be gone, but could be some high thin clouds hanging around.
Jeff
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.