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Old 19-10-2018, 03:39 PM
Wavytone
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Massey Alignment

Reminder - tonight it is possible to see all planets tonight starting with Venus Mercury and Jupiter from 7:30 pm. Saturn and Neptune after dark and Uranus a tad later. Even Pluto if you have a BBT (bloody big telescope).
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Old 19-10-2018, 05:12 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Yep! I'll be setting up across the road from my place in Maroubra in Heffron Park. It actually has an outstanding east-west view for the Alignment!

Setting up now
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Old 19-10-2018, 07:05 PM
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Ok Venus Mercury Mars Jupiter and Saturn - and the Moon - before the mozzies made me beat a retreat. Just using the 70mm refractor and my son had a good look, too. Too bitey to put the big scope out.
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Old 19-10-2018, 07:07 PM
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I might do it on my phone while it is raining here
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Old 19-10-2018, 07:38 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Started with the Moon, then Venus (very thin crescent), Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Neptune and now Uranus!

I now look down at my feet and see Earth

Pluto no chance.

9 out of ten is pretty good

Seeing is crap tonight in Ol' Sydney Town

Alex.

Last edited by mental4astro; 19-10-2018 at 08:21 PM.
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Old 19-10-2018, 08:20 PM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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I returned to the Moon to finish off with a go at the Hortensius Domes, and while looking at Copernicus as the starting point, a satellite whizzed through the field of view! Just my second ever across-the-Moon satellite transit. And as much a thrill tonight as the first some 7 years ago.

Oh, and the Hortensius Domes were a easy to spot and so distinct from typical lunar mountains. Lovely cluster of volcanoes that unless you knew what it was you would just dismiss this lot as just mountains and not as shield volcanoes

Alex.
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Old 21-10-2018, 09:06 AM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
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Massey Alignment???

This is the name given by my friends to the planetary alignment I found is happening right now - All eight planets plus the Moon and Pluto all up in the sky all at the same time. That's every major body in our solar system all visible at the one time.

This alignment is only visible for 30 to 45 min just after sunset for a couple of weeks centered around the 18th of October. This event will repeat itself two more times, at the end of April next year just before sunrise, and then again at the end of October start of November next year just after sunset once more. This very unique event won't repeat itself for several hundred years!

I started a thread detailing this event and the dates, with more specifics:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...d.php?t=167278

Alex.
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Old 21-10-2018, 09:04 PM
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Tracked down all eight planets in the Massey Alignment today.

My western horizon precludes seeing Venus and Mercury down low. So, I solved this by completing these observations just after lunch in brilliant sunshine.
Mercury - very small bright white spot against blue background.
Venus - magnificent fine crescent. Jewel like against the blue background. It’s disc is so big and imposing at this stage of it’s approach to inferior conjunction.

I was enjoying this so, I kept going

Mars - still quite bright but receding quickly. A distinct, light red against the blue sky.
Jupiter - faint disc with main bands clearly visible.
Saturn - extremely faint. It took me about 5 minutes at the eyepiece before I found it. The rings were quite distinct.

I then spent some time enjoying mother Earth whilst waiting for night fall.

Neptune - obvious small light blue disc. The Moon was about 10deg away.
Uranus - the smallest of non-stellar discs was very clear. Hint of green.

Scope - Vixen NA140SS with LVW22 giving 36X for the daylight observations and LVW8 giving 100X for the evening observations.

Last edited by Tinderboxsky; 21-10-2018 at 09:07 PM. Reason: Additional information
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Old 22-10-2018, 10:29 PM
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Steve I gather from Alex it was pretty much purely a chance observation one evening while farnarkling in either Sky Safari or one of the ephemeris applications.
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