August 2021

[Guest]

Despite a cloudy and wet month, August was an eventful month, with lots of Moon photos, meteors and planets. I even caught a UFO, which was probably a helicopter. Full report:

 

https://sungazer127mak.blogspot.com/2021/08/august-2021.html

 

[Nightspore]

August seems to have been the month of the Maksutov sandwich for me. Right at the start I got to see a bit of the Saturn opposition with the ‘Middle Mak’ (102mm SkyMax). I then got ten sessions with my 72ED Evostar.

 

'Little Mak', 'Middle Mak' & 'Big Mak'

 

On the 8th I got a good 140x on Jupiter and a nice view of the Andromeda Galaxy at 47x with the 72mm doublet. The 9th was brief and it rained on me, but I had some decent views of Jupiter and Saturn. On the 12th, the supposed Perseid peak, I witnessed a Europa shadow transit (I didn’t see many Perseids).

 

 

I caught the Jupiter opposition briefly with the ‘Big Mak’ (127mm SkyMax), but a couple of nights later I had a really good Jupiter session with the 127mm. It was so bright I had to wear shades! Well, I used a polarising filter lol.

 

Although it was a tad cloudy on the 23rd/24th I was surprised to get pretty detailed view of the Petavius Rille at between 150x and 220x (Orion zoom). The bigger aperture of the 127mm Mak (0.91 arc seconds Dawes limit) must have made it easier considering where the terminator was positioned. I expected it to be a bit bleached-out but the rille itself was quite detailed. On the 27/28th I saw Uranus with the Big Mak and even witnessed a rising naked eye Orion. Uranus was near the Moon so easier to find.

 

 

Finally on the 28/29th I caught an Io transit from start to finish with ‘Big Mak’. Although in-between I split some doubles and had a pretty nice view of M57 at 62x with a 25mm Takahashi orthoscopic. All in all I managed seventeen sessions in August, only rivalled so far this year by seventeen sessions in April.

Edited September 1, 2021 by Nightspore

[+Glafnazur]

Great reports guys, thanks 👍

[Guest]

On 01/09/2021 at 14:38, Nightspore said:

August seems to have been the month of the Maksutov sandwich for me. Right at the start I got to see a bit of the Saturn opposition with the ‘Middle Mak’ (102mm SkyMax). I then got ten sessions with my 72ED Evostar.

 

'Little Mak', 'Middle Mak' & 'Big Mak'

 

On the 8th I got a good 140x on Jupiter and a nice view of the Andromeda Galaxy at 47x with the 72mm doublet. The 9th was brief and it rained on me, but I had some decent views of Jupiter and Saturn. On the 12th, the supposed Perseid peak, I witnessed a Europa shadow transit (I didn’t see many Perseids).

 

 

I caught the Jupiter opposition briefly with the ‘Big Mak’ (127mm SkyMax), but a couple of nights later I had a really good Jupiter session with the 127mm. It was so bright I had to wear shades! Well, I used a polarising filter lol.

 

Although it was a tad cloudy on the 23rd/24th I was surprised to get pretty detailed view of the Petavius Rille at between 150x and 220x (Orion zoom). The bigger aperture of the 127mm Mak (0.91 arc seconds Dawes limit) must have made it easier considering where the terminator was positioned. I expected it to be a bit bleached-out but the rille itself was quite detailed. On the 27/28th I saw Uranus with the Big Mak and even witnessed a rising naked eye Orion. Uranus was near the Moon so easier to find.

 

 

Finally on the 28/29th I caught an Io transit from start to finish with ‘Big Mak’. Although in-between I split some doubles and had a pretty nice view of M57 at 62x with a 25mm Takahashi orthoscopic. All in all I managed seventeen sessions in August, only rivalled so far this year by seventeen sessions in April.

I would be interested in following it if you started your own blog, as you are doing different stuff to me.

[Nightspore]

27 minutes ago, Sunny Phil said:

I would be interested in following it if you started your own blog, as you are doing different stuff to me.

 

I never really thought about a blog to be honest. I just thought I'd chip-in, I wasn't trying to cramp your style lol. I don't keep very detailed logs or anything. The end of August is always a bit poignant for me. The summer's coming to an end but the astro dark is returning. So, stuff to look forward to, if the clouds ever dissipate.

[+Streetbob]

I always feel humbled by the amount of observing you guys achieve each month. I must try harder.

[Nightspore]

3 hours ago, Streetbob said:

I always feel humbled by the amount of observing you guys achieve each month. I must try harder.

 

 

My 'secret' is to mostly use very small scopes lol.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Streetbob said:

I always feel humbled by the amount of observing you guys achieve each month. I must try harder.

 

I do a lot of short sessions and also leave my camera out to hunt for meteors, even when there isn't a major shower. Even if I don't catch any meteors, I often use some of the frames as Constellation shots. The one thing I don't do is go to bed late when I have work the next day. I only work 3 days a week, though.