Last night was the first time for a week that I've been able to drag the telescopes outside.
With a magnification of x50 and a bit of juggling with my simple digicam, I managed to capture a few lunar images.
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| June 2nd 2017 - 21h30m UT |
Jupiter - various zones stood out, but no real definition or sharpness. I noted that the South Polar region is rather darker than the North Polar region, at the moment.
With the 80a filter in place the planet returned a much more pleasing image.
Peeping around the corner of the house was the constellation of Hercules, the obvious target of globular M13 was easily found at x50.
Though the contrast of M13 was somewhat diminished, maybe due to the gibbous Moon scattering that extra Moon glow.
Failed to find M51... Standing with a twisted neck, whilst balancing tiptoe over the garlic plants in the garden probably didn't help! Better luck next time..
Spotted the double stars Izar and Cor Coroli, plus a quick glimpse of Antares.
Spent a good two hours outside, the time flew....
After packing away the big Newtonian, I grabbed the 60mm refractor and had a quick peek and Saturn, which by midnight had risen over several houses at the end of the drive...
Despite a seeing of AIII it was still worthwhile dragging out the big Newtonian, especially for viewing the Moon.
Thanks to the 12 inch mirror I noted that the "ink black" shadows of the Spitzbergen Mountains really stood out more than I've ever seen them before.
I'll have to make a sketch of my findings.
Can't wait to see what Saturday evening might have in store......
Clear Skies everyone.