#1  
Old 07-11-2010, 12:43 AM
pgc hunter's Avatar
pgc hunter
Registered User

pgc hunter is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Renmark, SA
Posts: 2,979
observing report 6/11/10

After playing with my secondary mirror trying to fine tune alignment for a few hours today it was pure luck it was clear to some extent tonight. I was planning mostly a planetary session as the satpic showed clouds enroaching, so probably would not have time for much deepsky viewing.

Time: 8:00pm-11pm
Scope: 12" F/4.4 truss dob
Seeing: variable from 2/10 to 6/10

No dew tonight, which was a relief after several frigid sodding wet nights this year.

Spent most of the night on Jupiter. At 8:10pm I caught the ingress of Io's shadow transit, with the moon itself visible as a dusky spot against the bright cloud tops of Jupiter. It seems whenever I turn the scope on Jupiter this season, I get treated to a shadow transit! Seeing was variable, ranging from terrifying to a short period of good seeing. During this time, I got some of the crispest views of the planet I've seen. At 256x, Lots of detail was seen in the NEB, but what surprised me was the SEB, which seems to be more obvious then in recent times. It appeared dull, dusky and even showed ruffling. The EQ zone of the planet seemed to be laced with faint, dusky streamers and several white ovals and zones. Spent a while on Jupiter, eventually seeing Io emerge from the transit followed by its shadow. Saw the GRS coming over the limb at about 11pm, but by then the seeing turned to absolute custard and was limited to under 200x.

I made use of this period of good seeing to check out Uranus. A nice crisp ball at 256x, infact I still got a nice well defined disk at 417x although it was blurring often due to seeing. I could see the moons Titania and Oberon. Best view of the moons was at high magnification.

I took a peek at 47 Tuc and NGC 362, both excellent at 417x, infact surprisingly crisp considering the variable seeing. NGC 362 was probably the best I've seen it, it just seemed more resolved than usual.

Also checked out M15, which, well was quite dissappointing, even compared to NGC 362! Damn, we are spoilt here in the southern hemisphere! At 166x, the outer 2/3rds was well resolved, but was faint compared to NGC 362. What surprised me, was that the view at 417x was superior to the 166x view....in this non-spectacular seeing. At this high mag, dozens of stars were resolved, all tightly packed condensing down to the hazy core.

Eventually the seeing turned to trash as some high cloud moved in at around 11pm, so called it quits. Was enthused to see stars focus down to pinpoints at 256x and still nice and tight at 400x+ while the seeing allowed. Looks like my secondary job paid off
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 07-11-2010, 08:38 AM
orestis's Avatar
orestis
Registered User

orestis is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: southern highlands, Australia
Posts: 679
Nice going Sab,

Sounds like you had some great views of Jupiter.

Doesn't sound like the M15 i know. I loved every second looking at this magnificent glob maybe the seeing or conditions let you down.I'd have to say that it is one of the best globs i have seen.i would put on par with M13 another great glob.

cheers Orestis
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 07-11-2010, 11:17 AM
pgc hunter's Avatar
pgc hunter
Registered User

pgc hunter is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Renmark, SA
Posts: 2,979
Quote:
Originally Posted by orestis View Post
Nice going Sab,

Sounds like you had some great views of Jupiter.

Doesn't sound like the M15 i know. I loved every second looking at this magnificent glob maybe the seeing or conditions let you down.I'd have to say that it is one of the best globs i have seen.i would put on par with M13 another great glob.

cheers Orestis
It's probably the effect one sees when they just get off 47 Tuc and then turn to a lesser glob
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 07-11-2010, 11:21 AM
Rob_K
Registered User

Rob_K is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Bright, Vic, Australia
Posts: 2,158
Nice report again pgc, at least you're getting a few photons!

Cheers -
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 07-11-2010, 08:54 PM
Paddy's Avatar
Paddy (Patrick)
Canis Minor

Paddy is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Strangways, Vic
Posts: 2,214
Sounds like you had a very similar night to ours at Snake Valley. You did well seeing Io - I watched the shadow but couldn't get the moon. And great detail that you saw on the planet. Interestingly our seeing improved as the night went on and was great when the GRS was visible. I wonder if there was some high altitude muck to the north as M2 and M15 looked very ordinary compared to their usual selves.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 07-11-2010, 09:13 PM
pgc hunter's Avatar
pgc hunter
Registered User

pgc hunter is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Renmark, SA
Posts: 2,979
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy View Post
Sounds like you had a very similar night to ours at Snake Valley. You did well seeing Io - I watched the shadow but couldn't get the moon. And great detail that you saw on the planet. Interestingly our seeing improved as the night went on and was great when the GRS was visible. I wonder if there was some high altitude muck to the north as M2 and M15 looked very ordinary compared to their usual selves.
Seeing started off shocking here, but like you I noticed it improving until about 10.30 or so, then went soft again - right when the GRS came over the limb. At around the same time, high cloud was moving in so I can confirm there was some cloud/haze about. Io was surprisingly conspicious against the disk of Jupiter appearing as a dusky spot in moments of good seeing.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 08-11-2010, 07:28 PM
pgc hunter's Avatar
pgc hunter
Registered User

pgc hunter is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Renmark, SA
Posts: 2,979
Quote:
Originally Posted by orestis View Post
Nice going Sab,

Sounds like you had some great views of Jupiter.

Doesn't sound like the M15 i know. I loved every second looking at this magnificent glob maybe the seeing or conditions let you down.I'd have to say that it is one of the best globs i have seen.i would put on par with M13 another great glob.

cheers Orestis
Conditions weren't awesome, as the glob was in the light pollution and haze in the northwest, but still looked very nice at 417x although I wasn't in a comfortable position when viewing it as it was more of a casual glance.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 06:20 PM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement