March

[Nightspore]

Mad & Mixed

 

March has been a bit of a mixed bag. With a corresponding mixed bag of telescopes. In the first week I had a couple of good rich field sessions with the regularly used 72ED. On the 6th I got a nice view of the Petavius Rille on the setting Moon. Uranus was also conveniently easy to locate as it was in the lunar vicinity. The next night I could still clearly see the Petavius Rille during a dedicated Moon session with the 72mm Evostar. The fourteen kilometre Messier crater was confidently perceived. Its next door neighbour, Messier A, complete with ejector rays, were clearly apparent in the Sea of Fecundity. 

 

 

I had to wait a further seven nights before the weather would be clear enough to have another dedicated lunar session with my 102mm SkyMax. With the phase now at 87.7% I could just about see detail in the walls of Aristarchus, purportedly the brightest crater on the Moon. Schroter’s Valley, which was basically touching and partially obscured by the terminator, was essentially indistinct. However, I achieved some very fine views in the Sea of Rains. The Montes Recti, Montes Teneriffe, Mons Pico and the Montes Spitzbergen were very well defined and clear up to nearly 200x. The detail in the walls of the impact crater Aristillus and its central mountains were quite spectacularly revealed. 

 

 

Early on Sunday 20th the 90mm Orion StarMax was in action. 

 

 

I managed to catch the Venus dichotomy at around 05:30 GMT. 

 

 

I used a polarising filter at 62.5x and 89x but I could see no real detail. I couldn't see Mars or Saturn either.

 

 

At 21:30 the same day I also managed to split one of my favourite doubles for the first time in months. Although by now I was back to using the 72ED again. Izar or ε Bootis is often considered to be one of the finest double stars in the night sky. Struve called the pair ‘Pulcherrima’ (the most beautiful). The Orange Giant primary is only separated from the smaller White Class A2 star by three arc seconds. I tend to perceive the smaller star as having a greenish-white hue with the 72ED. However this isn’t always the case with other scopes. 

 

 

Speaking of other scopes, my Sky-Watcher ST102 StarTravel and 80ED DS Pro Evostar saw action for the first time in a year. 

 

 

On the 22nd it was ostensibly a cloudless sky. Excitedly and enthusiastically I set up the StarTravel on the Porta II/TL-130. Unfortunately it transpired that the overall transparency was poor. Conversely the atmospheric seeing seemed to be relatively good. Apparently strong winds from the south had encouraged copious amounts of Saharan sand into the upper atmosphere. I spent three hours with a 19mm Luminos trying to peer at open clusters through the murky airborne desert suspension. 

 

 

Admittedly not the best eyepiece choice for an f/4.9 short tube achromat. However, I do like the overall ergonomics of the 19mm. If you can tolerate their excessive weight, a bit of edge astigmatism and brightening, the Luminos are fine. By Wednesday the transparency had deteriorated further. I reluctantly discarded the idea of rich field viewing in a Moonless sky and decided to split doubles with a zoom. As a direct consequence of the transparency issues the next three sessions were with my 80ED Evostar.

 

With the exception of the Everbrite and the 2x TV Barlow all of the above were originally intended for use with the 80ED DS Pro.

 

At f/7.5 and with Schott/FPL-53 glass it is eminently more suitable for high magnification observing. I decided to concentrate primarily on double stars. By the 26th and the 27th the conditions had actually improved slightly. This allowed me to see Berenice’s Hair with the 80ED and a 27mm Tele Vue Panoptic for just over 22x at around three arc degrees field. Highlights from the three Evostar sessions included Iota Cass, Algieba, Cor Caroli, M3, Izar, Mu Bootis (Alkalurops), Castor, Phi Cancri and Zeta 1 Cancri. The final session was on a bitterly cold Thursday the 31st with the 72mm ED doublet. The transparency had improved significantly and I got a decent two hours. This makes a dozen sessions in total and equals the amount I achieved in March last year.

 

 

Astronomical images by courtesy of Stellarium and SkySafari Pro.

[+Glafnazur]

Nice report again. After two nights dedicated to imaging I had a visual session last Saturday and it was great fun I mainly viewed doubles and most of those you've listed above, when viewing Izar I found the smaller star to be blue. I think I spent more time viewing Izar than anything else that night. I also think I could do with an observing chair, currently I use my wife's perching stool or some small steps but they are not ideal.

[+Streetbob]

An enjoyable report thanks. I like the phrase ‘through the murky airborne desert suspension.’ A good way to describe the murk.

 I unfortunately had to miss the spell of clear skies so it’s good to read about what’s up there.

[Nightspore]

5 hours ago, Glafnazur said:

Nice report again. After two nights dedicated to imaging I had a visual session last Saturday and it was great fun I mainly viewed doubles and most of those you've listed above, when viewing Izar I found the smaller star to be blue. I think I spent more time viewing Izar than anything else that night. I also think I could do with an observing chair, currently I use my wife's perching stool or some small steps but they are not ideal.

 

Thanks. I think people have always perceived the A2 companion star of Izar differently. This could be for a variety of reasons, our eyes are all different (I'm slightly blue-green colour blind) and our respective equipment is different. With refractor apertures above 80mm I tend to see it blueish-white. I saw it with my ST102 like that. I'm pretty sure it is whiter in my cat's but I find the bright first diffraction ring in Maksutov scopes tends to obscure it a bit. 

 

 

I use plastic garden chairs, probably not ideal, but I don't fall out of them often lol. White ones are less tripped over in the dark than green ones!

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Nightspore

[Nightspore]

4 hours ago, Streetbob said:

An enjoyable report thanks. I like the phrase ‘through the murky airborne desert suspension.’ A good way to describe the murk.

 I unfortunately had to miss the spell of clear skies so it’s good to read about what’s up there.

 

I was really excited about getting the ST102 out on a night with no Moon. It's why I bought it in the first place. At low magnifications it holds its own against my scopes with better glass. A fast 4" refractor can be really good for rich field. I've had some great Moonless night observing with the ST102. It's had more focuser replacements then any other scope I own. One year it actually got out more than the 72ED.

 

 

Unfortunately the recent Saharan soup was unpalatable to it lol. 

 

 

[Nightspore]

I was looking at Izar last night with my 60EDF. The smaller companion was predominantly white at 120x (0.5mm exit pupil). At 180x it was even whiter. The 60EDF has good glass and can easily push 60x per inch of aperture. 180x is 62.5 per inch. Although only giving a 0.3mm exit pupil. The slightly greenish hint may be a CA issue with the 72ED.

[Nightspore]

On 03/04/2022 at 14:14, Nightspore said:

I was looking at Izar last night with my 60EDF. The smaller companion was predominantly white at 120x (0.5mm exit pupil). At 180x it was even whiter. The 60EDF has good glass and can easily push 60x per inch of aperture. 180x is 62.5 per inch. Although only giving a 0.3mm exit pupil. The slightly greenish hint may be a CA issue with the 72ED.

 

180x is 62.5 per inch. No it isn't! I miscalculated, it's more like 76.5x per inch. Around 75x per inch should be achievable with good glass in the right conditions though.