Double Double or Triplet

duncan · #1 04-05-2007, 10:32 PM

Hi all,
Well i'm enjoying the new scope, but the moon is a pain in the proverbial.
I managed to see all the doubles in the cross tonight. One of which is a triple system from what i could tell. At 334x i could only just get the actual double, seeing is not real good at the moment. Last night i got to see Jupiter at about 11pm, and could make out 6 bands quite clearly at 167x with a couple of moons. Lets not leave out Saturn and 2 moons tonight. Nice globular just to the east of the cross but moonglow stuffed viewing that for long. A couple of open clusters just west and south of the cross. Took a look at the Orion nebula, green tinge to it until it got to low, and 5 stars in trapezium.
Eta carinae and Keyhole?, looked good anyway. Well thats about it as the fog has rolled in again.
Cheers

doogal · #2 05-05-2007, 10:15 AM

lol that moon is also giving me the

. last night it was beautiful viewing down here,could see 6 stars in the trap for the first time and was having a great time until that damn glowing ball of moon came up over the horizon. be gone ye moon!

ving (David) · #3 05-05-2007, 05:49 PM

g'day duncan

alpha crux is a triple

duncan · #4 06-05-2007, 02:11 PM

Thanks Ving. I should do more reading and study but for the moment i'm just happy to wander the sky with the scope. If i find something i like i try to identify it LOL.I've got a lot of trees here so viewing is limited to about 30-35 degrees elevation and above. Which isn't so bad as everything is high and so less degrading of the image. Next targets are planetary nebs. Hopefully i'll get to see some soon.
Cheers,
Duncan

KG8 · #5 06-05-2007, 04:15 PM

hey duncan, what did those stars in crux look like at 334x. Were they sharp, or fuzzy like, with spikey little sets of concentric rings around them all?

duncan · #6 06-05-2007, 04:58 PM

Hi KG8,
They were spikey. However the seeing wasn't real good as they were very wobbly. That made it difficult to see the seperation.I could see it but only just. Hopefully tonight will be better. I did notice when i de-focussed the ring was slightly off-centre. I'll try to adjust that tonight as well. It's only slight but i'd like to get it better.
Cheers,
Duncan

KG8 · #7 06-05-2007, 06:55 PM

well good luck! I was just outside here in briso and the sky looked very turbulent. At least in my little scope

duncan · #8 06-05-2007, 06:59 PM

Just got rugged up to wander out and have a look.

duncan · #9 07-05-2007, 09:30 AM

Hi all,
Well it's been a long night and all for nothing. I could only get 4 stars in the trap, seeing was that bad and then it just got to low. Seeing improved by about midnight so out again. Tried the triplet and got it easily at 100x. Wanted to try for some Galaxies and Planetaries but the bloody cloud rolled in. I did manage to tweak collimation on a defocused star. Stayed up till 5-30am but no good. Least i finally got to watch "Passion of the Christ". I'd like to say i'll try again tonight but cloud and rain are back. I hope you all had a bit better luck than me,LOL.
Cheers,
Duncan

KG8 · #10 07-05-2007, 12:23 PM

I was reading a page last night from the AAO website with a heap of photos taken from their observatory site at siding springs. The photos were just local scenes looking across the mountain tops at startrails etc and the gist of the page was about how bad seeing can get sometimes. It said that whenever clouds are around, the seeing is poor. They gave no other explanation, but coming from an official observatory I took it as a truism.

There was definitely cloud around last night.

duncan · #11 07-05-2007, 12:31 PM

Hi KG8,
Yeah we had plenty of it up here for sure. Even started to rain. Got onto the weather site and looked at the radar image around Cairns and i'd say my viewing is stuffed for at least a week now. Ah well, give me time to modify the Dob base. Going to put rollers in the base to help free it up in Azimuth motion.

KG8 · #12 07-05-2007, 03:07 PM

Sounds like fun Duncan! When the weather is bad here in Brisbane I pull out a few text books myself. I'm on one at the moment called "What star is that - Astronomy fundamentals" but it's anything but fundamental I reckon. I'm up to chapter 3, the solar system, and a discourse on Kepler's equation and orbital elements.

It's facinating but the maths revision bogs you down to a snails pace. makes me sleepy too.

http://www.aao.gov.au/images/captions/misc006.html here is that business about the clouds too.

duncan · #13 07-05-2007, 05:27 PM

Hi KG8,
Yeah sometimes a bit of study is good for you. But i don't get much joy from reading. I'll sit and watch docos till the cows come home but reading, yuk.
Still i've got to do some or else i'll fall behind. Thanks for the link, very informative.
Cheers,
Duncan
Ps. The clouds are clearing,Probably roll in again later.