andyboy1970 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Central Midlands Stargazers dark site meet. Present – Andy (andyboy1970), Phil (flyingpig), Giles ( ), Chris ( ), Dave (wearedave) Setup at 9-10pm under broken cloud but low and behold the weather service was correct and the cloud swiftly broke up and disappeared. Observed – Venus, Dazzlingly bright but a 2x barlow and 30mm eyepiece brought it down to an acceptable level. Clear phase showing but no surface detail. Betelgeuse, hasn’t gone Supernova yet and showing a lovely colour. Mars, Showing lots of surface markings and the shrinking ice cap with possibly some light white clouds on show. M51, Clearly visible pair of cores in the 30mm eyepiece and some of the spiral structure on show. There seems to be a bit of haze in the air and a lot of dew. M101, Just about make out some of its shape. Double cluster, Fantastic, object of the night for me. Lots of different coloured stars on show. M65 & M66, Visible but unable to push the magnification due to the slight haze in the air. Saturn, Show stopper as always showing some slight banding on the planet and shadow cast over the rings. Had a look through the CPC1100, Williams optics 72 apo (don’t know the model) and some Celestron skymaster 15x70 Binos. Also tried out a 5mm Celestron xl and a 4x 2†powermate. Being a Sunday packed up at 23:40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbird Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Nice report, we were struggling with dew at Skegness too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 You got a lot in there for such a short session Andy - good report. The 72mm I believe would be the WO Megrez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAZ Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 looks like you all had a good one. here's to many more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Great report andy. Solid session for a relatively short period of time. Good work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 What a great read, sounds like you all had a great night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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