Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

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JayTee United States of America
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Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#1

Post by JayTee »


According to the schedule we published in the lunar discussion forum, last night showed the display of the lunar X and V.

I setup my new grab & go AR102S scope and set about doing a solar system alignment (just so I would have tracking) even though there was about a 70% cloud cover. I was just hoping to see this phenomenon through the sucker holes.

Have you ever noticed that the object you want to do your alignment on is visible all the way up until you're in the button-pushing phase. Then magically a cloud appears to obscure what it is you're trying to align on. As it turns out, any thick cloud in Hawaii can produce rain. It's a short rain shower that maybe lasts 30 seconds to 3 minutes. This is called pineapple rain. It lasts just long enough to keep the pineapples going and also just long enough to thoroughly disrupt and annoy anyone trying to use a telescope. Finally, that stubborn cloud moved and I was able to get a solar system align on the moon. I swapped out eyepieces to a 15mm (35X) brought the image to focus and there they both were (the X & V) plain as day even though it was still twilight. Through this short focal length, widefield scope the "X" was particularly bright and easily noticeable.

Next, I set about finishing an experiment with magnification and Saturn. I've never been completely confident in the magnification numbers to detect that Saturn is an oval not a disc and then detect that that oval has rings with a gap and a planet inset within those rings. So, with a 102mm scope 18x is what is needed to see that Saturn is a distinct oval, and 27X is what is needed to distinguish the ring system itself. Right after this determination was made, the clouds set in to fill the remaining 30% of the sky and so I was done.

Thanks for listening. Tune in again next week for more.

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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Don Quixote
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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#2

Post by Don Quixote »


Thank you,Terry for the share. I have enjoyed your report.

X and Y are a treat, indeed!

Pineapple Rain...
I think we have Soybean Rain here in the summer.
And Corn Clouds. 😊

I'm glad you were able to successfully make your observation of X and Y and follow up with taking the measure of Saturn.

Cheers.
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bladekeeper
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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#3

Post by bladekeeper »


Congrats on the sighting, JT.

I seem to always get that one puff of cloud clinging to the Moon and never moving. Or the jet contrail that enjoys traveling its full length across the lunar disk.
Bryan
Scopes: Apertura AD12 f/5; Celestron C6-R f/8; ES AR127 f/6.4; Stellarvue SV102T f/7; iOptron MC90 f/13.3; Orion ST80A f/5; ES ED80 f/6; Celestron Premium 80 f/11.4; Celestron C80 f/11.4; Unitron Model 142 f/16; Meade NG60 f/10
Mounts: Celestron AVX; Bresser EXOS-2; ES Twilight I; ES Twilight II; iOptron Cube-G; AZ3/wood tripod; Vixen Polaris
Binoculars: Pentax PCF WP II 10×50, Bresser Corvette 10×50, Bresser Hunter 16×50 and 8×40, Garrett Gemini 12×60 LW, Gordon 10×50, Apogee 20×100

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JayTee United States of America
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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#4

Post by JayTee »


Don Quixote wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2019 8:46 pmThank you,Terry for the share.
And thank you Michael for the nice words.

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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Don Quixote
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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#5

Post by Don Quixote »


JayTee wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:18 pm
Don Quixote wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2019 8:46 pmThank you,Terry for the share.
And thank you Michael for the nice words.

Cheers,
JT
You are very welcome Jim. 😊

I think I may have been reading a post from Terry just prior.

I probably addressed him as JT. 😊

My apology, TJ....I mean, JT !
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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#6

Post by terrynak »


JT, I thoroughly enjoyed this small scope report under mostly cloudy skies. I will do some lunar and planetary observing tonight - haven't been out with my scopes since the end of May...

Will be going to Hawaii this weekend, starting in Thursday, for my niece's wedding. Hope to do some southern sky observing while I'm there.
Scopes: Reflectors, refractors, and 1 catadioptric. Ranging in aperture from 50mm to 150mm.
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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#7

Post by JayTee »


terrynak wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:37 amWill be going to Hawaii this weekend, starting on Thursday, for my niece's wedding. Hope to do some southern sky observing while I'm there.
Thanks for the kind words. Which island will you be traveling to, if I may ask?

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#8

Post by terrynak »


I'll be in Kapolei, Oahu. First time visiting Hawaii.
Scopes: Reflectors, refractors, and 1 catadioptric. Ranging in aperture from 50mm to 150mm.
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JayTee United States of America
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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#9

Post by JayTee »


Just let me know if you're in need of a "fix" from an EP attached to a scope.

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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Re: Lunar "X" & "V" and Pineapple Rain

#10

Post by Makuser »


Hi JT. When the alignments are right, I call it the "Neon Pretzel", due to the play off light off of the lunar surfaces. Thanks for your report JT, and keep looking up.
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.
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