TheSkySearchers

Hello all,

even if the weather has been lousy cold and windy, I took out the 15x85 binos, forgetting about the COVID-19 risk.

During the dark adaptation phase, I have been gazing at the galaxies M81/M82, and M51, all of them faint, not much up.
And then some open clusters: The Pleiades, the Alpha Persei Moving group (Mel 20), M38 - M36 - M37 in Auriga, and M35 in Gemini, then M103 and NGC 663 in Cassiopeia. The obligatory Double Cluster and the St 2 have followed.
Checking my eyes and my skies, I have tried the popular nebulae in Auriga, the Flame IC 405, and the Tadpoles IC 410. They both have been just at the edge of visibility.

And now, it has been about to take the observing session seriously.
During the first trial, I have started the search from Iota Cas, but without success.
After a short break, I have started another search from the Pazmino Cluster St 23 towards north to north-west, and in a random walk across the stars, a comfortably bright cotton ball has emerged.
To be dead sure, I have repeated the search and finding a few times.

Place: Backyard
Date and time: 25th March, 2020, around 21:15 local time
Binoculars: 15x85 BA8
Observing conditions: Miserable 4.5mag

Give it a try, it is a nicely visible comet
JG

Nice catch JG. I will definitely give it a try.
I found this page describing it's appearance....it is approximately 1.72 AUs from the sun. It's orbital period is over 300,000 years.

https://in-the-sky.org/data/object.php?id=CK17T020

Really nice JG!

Those 15x85’s must be awesome! I tried M81 in the 5” newt last night and it was barely a smudge. Great catch!

I also have to admit Jim that M81 and M82 in the 6" achro aren't as impressive as in the 10" Dob. Though I can get nice separation of the two within a 2+ degree field of view at low power. To see NGC 3077 I need the 10" however.

Nice JG. As astronomy is a solitary pursuit I wouldn't worry about the bug.

Hello JG! Glad to hear you’re out under the stars! Thanks for sharing your session with C/2017 T2! I’m hoping to get a chance to view it tomorrow night. Good to hear you’re doing well my friend!

Hello JG!
Thanks for sharing your report.
Glad to read another report by you!

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:30 am Nice JG. As astronomy is a solitary pursuit I wouldn't worry about the bug.

Hello not_Fritz,

this has been my first observing session since the 7th Februar, when together with another astronomy friend we have compared our refractors and our eyepieces.
As since that time the weather has been very unfriendly, I did not want to take a risk of catching cold, even if the backyard is Covid-free.

And yesterday night, my wife has seen some comets on the TV, and sent me out to a "night watch".

So, that's the full story behind my comets hounts Wednesday,
JG

Great catch JG, thanks for sharing.

Good job on another comet JG! I hve barely managed it in January with 4" refractor, should revisit.

Hello JG. C/2017 T2 - PANSTARRS was a great catch in the 15x85 binoculars. Thanks for yet another great binoculars observing report from you JG, and the very best of regards.

j.gardavsky wrote: ↑Thu Mar 26, 2020 2:24 pm

notFritzArgelander wrote: ↑Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:30 am Nice JG. As astronomy is a solitary pursuit I wouldn't worry about the bug.

And yesterday night, my wife has seen some comets on the TV, and sent me out to a "night watch".

So, that's the full story behind my comets hounts Wednesday,
JG

Hi JG,

Great to hear you are still observing, and with those fantastic binos.

I had a play with my Tak 22x60's the other night, trialling my binocular mirror mount (which uses a surplus periscope mirror), and got some great views from my suburban sky. The mirror does a great job: perhaps a very slight loss of contrast compared to straight through; but this is more than made up for but being able to sit down and look down with a stable view. My neck loves it! I even mounted a green laser, pointing vertically away from the binos so I can point the mount. It worked really well: I could adjust it to see the beam in my FOV beautifully.

The "trapezium" was clearly visible, as was the angel-wing nebulosity of M42. I could just pick up the Flame nebula, and looking south I had some magical views of Eta Carina, the Southern Pleiades, 47 Tuc, Omega Centauri and the Tarantula. I can't see C/2017 T2 from here though...

BTW, is being sent out by the wife to a "night watch" another way of saying she kicked you out because she wants some peace and space?

All the best, and keep well.

- Dean

Hello Dean,

thank you for sharing your observing session through the famous 22x60 Tak under the beautiful southern skies!

"BTW, is being sent out by the wife to a "night watch" another way of saying she kicked you out because she wants some peace and space?"

It has been really honest on part of my wife.
She is not interested, besides one night in year watching the Perseids, but she is supporting my hobby with the one or another kind word.

Best,
JG

Thanks for the report JG and the reminder that Comet PanSTARRS is out there. I'm going to wait until it gets brighter - in late April or early May - so I have a chance to spot it from urban skies.

j.gardavsky wrote: ↑Sat Mar 28, 2020 1:36 pm Hello Dean,

thank you for sharing your observing session through the famous 22x60 Tak under the beautiful southern skies!

"BTW, is being sent out by the wife to a "night watch" another way of saying she kicked you out because she wants some peace and space?"

It has been really honest on part of my wife.
She is not interested, besides one night in year watching the Perseids, but she is supporting my hobby with the one or another kind word.

Best,
JG

Hi JG,

I thought that was the case: I am also lucky in that my wife is very similar: she is not interested in astronomy, although she did spend at least 30 seconds one day looking at Saturn(!), but she is supportive. In fact it is her fault that I have my TSA 102 refractor: after I had my equipment stolen a number of years ago I had a succession of scopes that simply weren't up to the job (the last being a Megrez 110 that couldn't cope with any magnification above 100x): and she said "Why don't you just get the best you can?" I think she was fed up with my complaints about the telescope...

All the best as you keep looking up, if only from your backyard. Hopefully it won't be long before we can all travel to dark skies again (here in South Oz we have just cancelled 3 upcoming trips to our lovely Flinders Ranges).

Keep safe,

Dean