Obs report 11/9/10 + sketches

[orestis]

Hi everyone:hi:,
It was a very nice clear day (all day), I wish I had a solar scope to view the sun especially in Ha the pics look so cool. Too bad I don’t have a solar scope.
The conjunction between the crescent moon and Venus was a magnificent sight. The moon looked amazing with earthshine on it. This was a good start to the session. It was very clear with a slight breeze, seeing wasn’t too bad; I’d probably say 3/5.

I observed and sketched a crater on the moon I think it was Langranus. It had 2 peaks in its middle with a high walled crater around it was very cracky looking on the walls. First time I’ve attempted to sketch a crater and it was fun but challenging trying to get the 3d appearance of the crater was hard work.

Venus-At 138x magnification it was a beautiful crescent shape which shone brightly. Concerning detail I don’t think I saw much apart from it seemed to darken as I looked at the terminator just like on the moon.

M57-One of the easiest deepsky objects to find. At 138x It was quite bright, elongated from west-east. The north and south parts of the ring were brighter than the ends of the ring. It took on a pale aqua blue colour. I also did a sketch (attached).

Jupiter –Was shining brightly in the east. At 138x magnification I saw all the moons out and on Jupiter I observed one band (neb), darkening at the poles and a bright section were the seb would be. Putting in the 80a blue filter helped in contrasting the neb it was a nice vie.i felt that there was a hint of some kind of rippling nature to the neb.

Uranus-For very long time now I’ve been wanting to observe Uranus and reading that it is only a degree away from Jupiter made me want to find it and see what I can see. Finding it was quite easy as it was the brightest thing next to Jupiter. At 138x magnification I could definitely make out a small disk which was exciting for me as this was my first time. It was a light green with a tinge of blue colour.The colour was amazing.

After that amazing experience I decided to pack it up as it was starting to get cold .I had a wonderfull night.

Regards orestis:thumbsup:

[kustard]

Nice report Orestis, I wish I was out last night but my back is still not 100%.

[orestis]

Thanks Simon,

Hope you get better so you can be back with the stars soon.

regards orestis

[michaellxv]

Nice report and sketches. The moon did look good last night, was the only thing I saw last night that was not affected by the clouds.

[Suzy]

Great report and sketches as usual Orestis.
Last night really was a great night to observe. Venus did indeed look stunning next to the crescent moon, I couldn't keep my eyes off it.

Orestis, you are lucky to see all that colour in the Ring Nebula (my eyes are older and I just don't see it). When I first got my scope and we pointed it at the Orion Nebula, my daughter told me she could see a green tinge to it. I told she had a good imagination :screwy:. Later I found out that this is true. :doh:
With Uranus, I could just make out a hint of grey/green colour (there's that grey again).

Did you catch the transit of Europa across Jupiter last night? This was my first moon transit that I've seen and I was very excited. At first I thought I had a black speck of dirt on my ep and I was annoyed. I kept trying to get Jupiter out of that particular spot on the ep, but then the black dot kept staying on Jupiter. Hang on a minute! That's not a speck of dirt - it's a moon! This is my big doh moment todate (apart from leaving cap on scope and wondering why I can't see anything, but we all do that don't we?) :lol:.

[orestis]

Thanks Suzy,

No i packed up before the transit but it was fairly close to jupiter but i've seen many transits before what is really spectacular is when there is a double transit.i have seen shadow transits also which are cool.

regards orestis:thumbsup: