Doc Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 In attendance tonight was myself, Glider, Geezanova, Eddy, and Maddographer, it was a shame no more turned up as it was a fantastic night. We had Eddy's 200P Dobsoniam, a Bresser 152 refractor and a WO 81GT Triplet, and we spent our time seeing which ones gave the best view etc. We started the evening looking at the planets and the moon. Jupiter looked fantastic through all scopes but especially the William Optics that showed completely no false colour and was on par with the 200P. The bands clearly stood out, and easily saw a few barges and four moons, Noel thought he saw a fifth moon until I told him it was a background star, a mistake only an imager could make Venus looked awesome as well, couldn't detect any phase but was so clearly a planet. Later on during the night Mars started to rise and even though it was still pretty low you could so easily see the red disc and even a hint of a polar ice cap though the WO. The moon was very bright and burnt a hole in the back of my retina I think, but once again the WO triplet excelled , there was a NO hint of any colour at all and Nick was really impressed. We then done a tour on the EQ mount and saw so many objects to name a few, Double cluster, M44, M81/82, M31/32, M42, Trapezium, M36, M37, M38,M15, Ngc457, and a few double stars which names elude me right now. Noel found M31 in Eddy's dob, and was so over the moon as star hopping was never his strong point. I checked the cars thermometer and it said -8°C and at this stage my focuser started to slip, maybe cold related as it has never happened before, I never had an allen key to do it up so I called it a night. All in all a great night, and I'm glad I made the effort, nights are so short to come by, that you have to grab them when you can. See you all at the next dark site meet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Sounds fabulous Mick - glad you all had a good time. Minus 8 though brrrrrrrr........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catman161 Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Sounds like I missed an awesome night Mick. Great report. I would have come but was up at 04:45am and am currently in car on way to Bournemouth for a fishing trip and it's 06:25am!! Got a feeling the fishing will be cancelled as I am 99% certain that the lake we plan on fishing will be frozen!! Heres to hoping eh?! . Just observed from the back yard in city centre last night. Saw the usual, M31, M34 (new one for me actually), M37,M42, M45, double cluster, Venus (first time through a scope), Jupiter and 4 moons. Also spent quite a while looking at the moon, the more I looked the more I saw Will definitely try to make it to next meet. See you soon I hope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Glad you all had a great night, gutted I could not make it. Had 3.5 hrs in the back garden before dew and the seeing conditions put paid to any further viewing. I found the moon for me washed all dso's out, even the Plaeides were hard to see so just concentrated on the planets and the moon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Sounds like a good night. I will get my dew prevention ordered soon so I can start joining you all again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Strings Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Good report as usual Mick. Sorry I was unavailble, trip to the theatre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 Good report Mick, sorry I missed it would have been nice to meet up but just didnt have the energy to load up, drive etc. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 4, 2012 Author Share Posted February 4, 2012 No worries guys the sky will always be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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