Virtual Star Party II

[glend (Glen)]

Let's try again. The next couple of nights are looking cloud free on the NSW coast, and Saturn is at Opposition with Jupiter just past it. I can't make any promises about the Seeing but it's worth a try. I remain optomistic, I am set to go.

[glend (Glen)]

Last night had probably the best Seeing in months, with things aloft being very stable and humidity staying low for my area. Great views of Jupiter and the Red Spot at 270x with the Cassegrain. Alas I think my chances at the Encke Gap in Saturn's ring is a lost cause with my current equipment, just not enough aperture to resolve it. I will look ahead to the Great Conjunction in December.
Wind swung around to the south this afternoon, but has dropped right off now. No cloud, this evening might be ok.

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Cloudy up here this week, so I'll be watching this thread and drooling...

[PaulSthcoast (Paul)]

Ok...Im in !!

[Saturnine (Jeff)]

Last night down here was terrible, again. Jet stream in the orange and 40 kmh W/SW surface winds whereas at a friends place up near Richmond it was almost dead calm.
Tonight seems to be a reversal, with the jetstream in the blue zone and calm surface winds. The stars are twinkling a little but seems the best conditions for quite a while . Hope to get some decent footage of the planets and maybe some deep sky imaging as well.

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

Last night had the best conditions for some weeks down where I am. Steadiness of seeing was not the best, but Io put on a great show with the shadow nicely in the middle of Jupiter's disc around 20h45.
Had my CFF out for the first time in many months, and I was rewarded for it.

[glend (Glen)]

Last night turned out pretty good here at the Lake. Swapped the CC for my iStar 127mm f12 R30 and worked through a list of Doubles, while also having a close look at Jupiter and Saturn. It was easier to push the iStar to higher magnification than the CC when Barlowed at 2x. I have had trouble with the Barlow on the CC (which was pushing the focal length to nearly 5000mm), where Seeing conditions meant the view was seriously messed up. The iStar, when Barlowed at 2x is just over 3000mm and this suited the conditions much better than the CC. I can't comment on the current products of iStar, since they moved to the USA, but this objective, hand picked by founder Ales for my build, is a real gem.

[jahnpahwa (JP)]

Checking in because its so rare at the moment to have a decent sky to report!
I could hear the soundof a thousand telescopes setying up at 530pm this arvo, the only forecast clear night in a sea of rain and wind.


Its perfect out here. Havent sat out in the sleeping bag, with binocs and whisky in hand for ages.


Have the imaging set up on western veil, guiding is rubbush but its super low.

Have the newt set up on the manual alt az mount, cruising the sky with the 36mm baader ashperic, which is proving to be a great addition to the eyepiece collection. I cruise til i spot something, sub in the baader zoom, then if i want to go any closer i barlow it 2x. I stumbled upon and then lingered in M62 at 250x for a long while, then also had a nice time checking out the southern triangle. Couldn't split Atria.


We got some nice little 8x25 binics for my 3yo daughter on the weekend, she came out at around 730 and looked at Jupiter with me, said it was bouncing around. Oh, and i was comfortably getting 4 moons in my 12x42 monarchs, seems a decent night of seeing.


Now i am sat here looking around lupus. I think I've fully acclimatised to winter because i was just thinking how nice and warm it is, and found ice on my eyepiece case..that's when the sleeping bag came out.


Edit: mars just coming up, first time I've taken a look at it through a scope. Its boiling a bit, but nice
Also, found out that i can get the north american nebula from my driveway, would be ace to see the cygnus wall from the backyard.