Come join the friendliest, most engaging and inclusive astronomy forum geared for beginners and advanced telescope users, astrophotography devotees, plus check out our "Astro" goods vendors.
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With the Covid cases on the downswing, we have kicked off our monthly observing sessions. The session was held at our usual haunt (Morning Calm Observatory), and we were armed with the 30 inch Obsession, two 12 inch SCT's (an older LX200 and a very new LX600), and my meager Stellarvue SV110ED. Both seeing and transparency were above average, but dew was threatening by early morning and it did "crash the party" shortly after 2 am.
I set up a little after 8 pm and took in the Lunar features as the Sun set and the sky darkened. I then caught Venus, which was at about 92% illuminated...and then Mars. Neither was at its best.
We had several newbies, plus a couple of youngsters, so I decided to show off some of my favorite doubles and leave the DSO's for the heavy hardware. Throughout the evening I checked out: Iota Cancri, Algeiba, Porrima, Izar, Albireo, 52 and 61 Cygni, Cor Caroli, Raselgheti, Gamma Delphinus, Epsilon Lyrae, and Polaris. The larger apertures were taking in some of the hometown favorites (M13, M20, M27, M51, and M57) and working some quick turnaround imagery.
In preparation for the Pluto opposition in July, one of our members was documenting photographically the Pluto star field for future reference.
We finished with Saturn rising at about 2 am as the dew began to set in.
Great report Dave - congratulations on winning the VROD for the day!
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
Hi Dave. Another great observing report. I enjoyed your cruise through the skies for doubles and planets, and you did some fine astronomy outreach work too. Thanks for your latest report Dave, and congratulations on winning the TSSVROD Award today.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
Nice report and a nice night out, Dave! Sounds like a good time was had by all, until the dew monster attacked.
Congrats on the VROD!
-- Brett
Scope: Apertura AD10 with Nexus II with 8192/716000 Step Encoders EPs: ES 82* 18mm, 11mm, 6.7mm; GSO 30mm Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars List Counts:Messier: 75;Herschel 400: 30;Caldwell: 12; AL Carbon Star List: 16 Brett's Carbon Star Hunt
Gordon
Scopes: Explore Scientific ED80CF, Skywatcher 200 Quattro Imaging Newt, SeeStar S50 for EAA.
Mounts: Orion Atlas EQ-g mount & Skywatcher EQ5 Pro.
ZWO mini guider.
Image cameras: ZWO ASI1600 MM Cool, ZWO ASI533mc-Pro, ZWO ASI174mm-C (for use with my Quark chromosphere), ZWO ASI120MC
Filters: LRGB, Ha 7nm, O-III 7nm, S-II 7nm
Eyepieces: a few.
Primary software: Cartes du Ciel, N.I.N.A, StarTools V1.4.
Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5
I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.
Bigzmey wrote: ↑Sat Jun 19, 2021 5:39 pm
Congrats on the successful outreach Dave! Sharing our passion for the sky with others is always gratifying. How did they like the doubles?
Thanks, Andrey. The younger kids were more intrigued with the Moon and doubles than the DSO's.
