Sunday 02-22-2021 Some doubles and the Moon.

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John Baars Netherlands
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Sunday 02-22-2021 Some doubles and the Moon.

#1

Post by John Baars »


Sunday February 22 was a nice day. Just a week before people were skating on the natural ice and less than a week later all snow and ice had disappeared.With a lovely temperature of 17 degrees Celsius ( 62 F) people went out for a pleasant change in the sun from the Covid quarantine in the great outdoors. ( I write "great" outdoors, but in fact the great outdoors are quite crowded in this small country)

That evening started out well, but transparency stayed behind. The Moon had a big halo around it and I soon found out Sahara-dust was responsible for it. It happens from time to time that dust from the Sahara desert in Africa comes into Europe and covers the sky, from France to Scandinavia. Beautiful deep red sunsets and sunrises, but not very favorable for astronomy though.

Because the Moon was up I took my 120 mm Evostar out for a stroll through the skies. The Moon as a first target. Plato was not as impressive as I thought it would be, only one little craterlet within Plato visible. Rima Hadley was better visible and I could easily find the location of the Apollo 15 landingssite. The Moon is always good for a nice long walk along the terminator.
M42 of course, a bit pale, but the small double of Rigel was easy, like the close double of Alnitak. I remembered Sigma Orionis, being a multiple double. With some help from the 300X magnification the small and near companion of Sigma was revealed.

Against my better judgment, I still tried some deepsky objects like M35, NGC2392 and NGC 2420, M94, M105, M97 and even M51, very pale but detectable. A joyfull event was having to re-align on Denebola, unmistakably a Spring-Star! That corresponded nicely with the temperature at that time.

A small composition of Sigma Orionis hereby. The overall picture at 100X, The separation of Sigma and his smaller companion is exaggerated with 300X, within the 100X picture.
Sigma Orionis.png
It sure was nice to be out again!
Thanks for reading.
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Juno16 United States of America
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Re: Sunday 02-22-2021 Some doubles and the Moon.

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Post by Juno16 »


Really nice report John! Glad that you got out and in some really nice temperatures!

Sounds like you had a great time enjoying some favorites!
Jim

Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), Orion 50mm Guide Scope, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, Orion SSAG, IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
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My Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/
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Lady Fraktor Slovakia
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Re: Sunday 02-22-2021 Some doubles and the Moon.

#3

Post by Lady Fraktor »


A really nice report John :)
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
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Makuser United States of America
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Re: Sunday 02-22-2021 Some doubles and the Moon.

#4

Post by Makuser »


Hi John. A very nice report from you with the 120 mm Evostar scope. We sometimes get the Sahara Desert sand storms here in Florida, and the sunrise sky has a brownish tint. Thanks for your interesting read report John 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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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Sunday 02-22-2021 Some doubles and the Moon.

#5

Post by Bigzmey »


Nice all around session and beautiful sketch John!
I heard somewhere that Sahara dust blown west fertilizes Amazon rain forest and seeds rain clouds which water it.
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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