A cracker night on the coast and a first for me. 12/06/08

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Not being much of a visual observer except when showing others around the sky I was very please last night to notch up a visual first for myself.

While using Antares to provide an additional alignment star on the G11 goto at the Mapleton Observatory (we had a group in last night, using the C11) I noticed a faint little bluey-green glimmer to the side of Antares as the star passed behind on of the reticle lines (I didn't have the reticle turned on at the time). And lo and behold there was the Antares companion, clear as day (2.9" sep).

After everyone in the small group had a look through the reticle using the lines to block out Antares and clearly place the position of the companion, we popped in a 9 mm TV (the 12mm reticle aint the best observing eyepiece on the planet that's for sure ). We could clearly see diffraction rings of the airy disc around Antares as well as the airy disc around the companion. This was aided by the obvious interference pattern created by the two AD interacting. Antares was at about 70 deg altitude at the time.

Very exciting.

We then popped down to Jupiter which was only at 27 deg alt and we could clearly see Io's shadow as a sharp disc and after a bit of searching found Io itself. There was hardly any movement, very stable. I wish I could have hung around for a bit later and snagged a few avi.

I hope someone in the area was out there last night. It's been a long time since I've seen a night that was so still. It wasn't perfect by a long shot, but it was very good, especially considering how low Jupiter was.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Sounds like you had a good time, Paul. Antares' companion can be a tricky one to see, even in large scopes. With the vast contrast in luminosities, it's a wonder you can see it at all. If your viewing is just average, it's not worth the effort looking for it, and the way the sky's been lately you're flat out finding even Antares!!!!. Good job!!