shelltree
13-06-2014, 02:35 PM
Hi all :D,
Haven't been around the forums much for awhile, had a lot going on but hoping to get back into astronomy again as I am quite out of practice. I even did something very silly during my observing session on Friday night, I was looking at Star Maps Pro and comparing it to the sky and getting very confused and frustrated, "Why doesn't anything make sense!?"
Probably because I had the date set to August 2013 ;)
Once I had a good laugh at myself and could finally figure out what was going on with the sky, I set to work at finding a few of my favourites.
Saturn - Saturn was lovely and bright, a very nice peach colour with white in the bands of the rings. Really great views in my 10mm Pentax, very crisp and clear despite the half moon
Moon - gob smacking views through my 10mm, loads of detail, the craters looked like giant pock marks, really crisp and clear, was quite awed
Omega Centauri - An oldie but a goodie. Not the greatest conditions for it, just didn't seem as crisp and "twinkling" as usual but still a beauty
Sombrero Galaxy - The fact I was still able to find this galaxy under a half moon and being so out of practice, I was really pleased with myself. No real detail to mention, was too washed out by the moon. Just a very bright dense centre with a slight fuzzy quality.
NGC3918 (the elusive Blue Planetary) - I always have issues with this object. Every time I have to re-learn the star hop as I always forget it, get frustrated and have to figure it out all over again :rolleyes:. I'll be trying to find this one often until I have the star hop well and truly memorised. It's easy once you figure out the star hop but is quite elusive otherwise. I was extremely proud about re-learning the star hop all the same as this object seems to the "bane of my existence" :lol:. I truly love it though, not much colour to speak of because of the moon.
Carina Nebula -
Truly the highlight of the night. Such beautiful crisp dark lanes and that stunning grey illuminated gas, really stunning
Mars -
What I originally thought was Saturn when I had my Star Maps set to the wrong date LOL. Here I was wondering "why is Saturn just a blob!?" And it turns out it was Mars... :rofl:
Tried for M83 and Centaurus A but no luck, the moon was too bright. Still happy with my efforts considering my fumbling start and the bright moon. Hopefully I will be out for the next new moon! :)
Haven't been around the forums much for awhile, had a lot going on but hoping to get back into astronomy again as I am quite out of practice. I even did something very silly during my observing session on Friday night, I was looking at Star Maps Pro and comparing it to the sky and getting very confused and frustrated, "Why doesn't anything make sense!?"
Probably because I had the date set to August 2013 ;)
Once I had a good laugh at myself and could finally figure out what was going on with the sky, I set to work at finding a few of my favourites.
Saturn - Saturn was lovely and bright, a very nice peach colour with white in the bands of the rings. Really great views in my 10mm Pentax, very crisp and clear despite the half moon
Moon - gob smacking views through my 10mm, loads of detail, the craters looked like giant pock marks, really crisp and clear, was quite awed
Omega Centauri - An oldie but a goodie. Not the greatest conditions for it, just didn't seem as crisp and "twinkling" as usual but still a beauty
Sombrero Galaxy - The fact I was still able to find this galaxy under a half moon and being so out of practice, I was really pleased with myself. No real detail to mention, was too washed out by the moon. Just a very bright dense centre with a slight fuzzy quality.
NGC3918 (the elusive Blue Planetary) - I always have issues with this object. Every time I have to re-learn the star hop as I always forget it, get frustrated and have to figure it out all over again :rolleyes:. I'll be trying to find this one often until I have the star hop well and truly memorised. It's easy once you figure out the star hop but is quite elusive otherwise. I was extremely proud about re-learning the star hop all the same as this object seems to the "bane of my existence" :lol:. I truly love it though, not much colour to speak of because of the moon.
Carina Nebula -
Truly the highlight of the night. Such beautiful crisp dark lanes and that stunning grey illuminated gas, really stunning
Mars -
What I originally thought was Saturn when I had my Star Maps set to the wrong date LOL. Here I was wondering "why is Saturn just a blob!?" And it turns out it was Mars... :rofl:
Tried for M83 and Centaurus A but no luck, the moon was too bright. Still happy with my efforts considering my fumbling start and the bright moon. Hopefully I will be out for the next new moon! :)