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Post by Martin Mc kenna on Nov 26, 2005 16:42:38 GMT
Looks good and clear here so far, the winds have died down the temp is higher. I havent seen the forecast for tonight but it seems to be ok so far. Would be nice to get back in action again. Even though it has only been cloudy for a few days it feels like weeks to me so im eager to get under a clear dark sky. Anybody else planning on observing tonight?
Clear skies
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Post by jonathan on Nov 26, 2005 16:53:15 GMT
iam glad the tempeture has risen will probably do a bit later on,iwas out feeding my horse a few minutes ago and in the sky overhead was what i thought was a really bright fireball only to observe a plane and its contrail being lit up by the setting sun!
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Post by kevinblack on Nov 26, 2005 17:16:06 GMT
you know me martin. i will be out ;D. hopefully it stays clear.
clear skies all
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Post by DrSludgeOnline on Nov 26, 2005 21:04:54 GMT
9.pm and the sky is really transparent from Magherafelt. I am really feeling the benefit of shelter from the north wind by the quarry wall. Call round if you are in the area - we should be up till at least 1.am Also I am cooling down the big Maksutov - we should be in good shape for some excellent pictures of Mars if anyone has a CMOS imager they want to try out - its a good night for a big mak and chips. clear skies we have Les. ;D
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Post by markdj on Nov 27, 2005 0:37:39 GMT
How did you get on Les?
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Post by Martin Mc kenna on Nov 27, 2005 9:47:14 GMT
Had a great session here tonight. I began searching for comets from 15.30 using the 8" scanning very close to the sun in bright twilight. I could barely see stars at one stage but as darkness crept in the sky started to reveal its treasures to me. After 45 mins i switched to the 16" and completed another 3 hours comet hunting through the evening sky staying within 90 degrees solar elongation. I had to do a rough collimation of the scope in darkness without slipping on mud.. the result of the rescent thawed snow but i got a good result. I picked up a host of deepsky objects within the mikway and generally had a great time surveying the sky in peace. I headed in around 9pm for a hot brew and wrote up my log book when i got a suprise visitor at the door. It was Les ready for astronomical action. We had a look at a few milkway star fields then decided to travel to his home to observe with his 8" Mak. Despite the prescence of light high level cloud the sky was STUNNING from his dark backgarden. I done a few testers..yip M33 with the naked eye no problem and stars to mag 6.5 without to much effort. Les set up the 8" and let it cool down while i used his 70mm refractor for a little tour of the sky enjoying Mars, Saturn, M44, M42, M43, M35, Double cluster, M81, M82. It truely was a beautiful sight watching Orion and Sirius rising above the dark treeline in the east, the atmosphere was so calm and quiet...perfect really. We both seen the Gegenschein as a greenish patch of light 15* wide and extending away from it was the Zodical band expanding nearly 30* of sky and merging with the milkyway!!! Once the Mak had cooled we had a good look at Mars using med - high mag however the atmosphere was unstable hiding the planets details however during short moments of good seeing the view was excellent, This scope is a planet observers dream, the image was so sharp and contrasty. Les told me that he had seen Vallis Marinarus through that very instrument! We were having some probems with the mount so Les used the old fashioned way of manual guiding. When i seen M42 i couldnt believe my own eyes, this was the best view i have ever seen and i found it difficult to find words to describe the detail which looked like a CCD image. Maybe Les would like a go at a description? This was the highlight of the night and we both felt very satisfyied with that gorgeous sight..WOW! During the session we spotted 15 meteors (most of them Taurids) including a nice red meteor which slowly grazed the amtosphere and fragmented into 2 pieces. Les also spotted a Taurid fireball. Light showers ended the session at 01.00. This was a great unexpected session and was the icing on the cake after a great evening under the stars. Thanks Les for the company, lift and astro chat. It was a good one! Clear skies!
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Post by NeilP on Nov 27, 2005 10:12:47 GMT
It sounds like you had a great night there Martin, I went out to my backyard for a while but my next door neighbour put on his halogen yard light and ruined my fun (oh for a power cut).
Neil
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Post by markdj on Nov 27, 2005 10:23:45 GMT
I'm green with envy Martin, that sounded like a great night of observing. The skies just were not co-operating here :-( but I did get a chance to update the site (blush) and it really was hard work getting things going on dialup! I have my new line 028 44821630 and BB is ordered so shouldn't be long now.
Clear Skies
M
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Post by Martin Mc kenna on Nov 27, 2005 13:03:54 GMT
Great to see the site updated Mark, it must have been a tedious job on dial up. Glad to see everything is back in action! Could you send me your knew email address Mark as i reckon i have only your old one. Neill i know how you feel. security lights make my blood boil like crazy...deep breaths...calm happy thoughts..and relax lol Kevin how did you get on last night? Good stuff
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Post by markdj on Nov 27, 2005 15:42:51 GMT
My email always will stay the same as I have my own domain name... or you can use the webmaster (at) eaas.co.uk one.
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Post by DrSludgeOnline on Nov 27, 2005 16:50:36 GMT
Thanks Martin for saving me the trouble of a large write up. The night was a gem. If anyone has not had the pleasure of watching the sky with Martin (almanac) McKenna, I highly recommend it! Martin's report forgot to mention the 70mm telescope was no less than the £49 Lidl offering with a good eyepiece. Amazing value - watch out its that time of year again. The highlight of the evening was M42 - the Mak was singing (apart from the flat battery), and just before the rain came on the atmosphere settled down. We were watching as wide a field as can be achieved on an f20 scope (200mm objective and 4000mmFL) through the 2inch 42mm eyepiece. We pushed this straight into the optical back of the scope without a diagonal and achieved utterly stunning focus. The trapezium of stars at the center was surrounded by billows of clouds with so much detail you could see how each star was pushing on the hydrogen masses. The dark clouds and subtle faint nebulae were three dimensional - we took the space walk, we did not observe, we entered the heart of the star birth. Unforgettable! clear skies Les.
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Post by Martin Mc kenna on Nov 27, 2005 20:04:35 GMT
Thanks Les for the kind words lol but i couldnt turn down the chance of a Mak and chip lol. You summed up M42 perfectly, that description is a testimont to what we saw. All best
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Post by paulevans on Nov 27, 2005 20:09:12 GMT
BTW Martin, having been away for a few days (Donegal, so no clear skies :-), I notice that you've become the first forum member to sneak past 1000 postings! Well done!!
Clear skies,
Paul.
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Post by kevinblack on Nov 27, 2005 20:13:54 GMT
congrats on your new target of over 1000 posts. ;D this one will make me reach the hundred martin. just another 900+ to go.
hows your weather tonight martin
clear skies ;D
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Post by Martin Mc kenna on Nov 28, 2005 14:24:21 GMT
Many thanks Paul and Kevin and congrats on your 100 mark..keep them posts comming! I was clouded all evening but amazingly the sky cleared around 20.00 so i uncovered the 16" and did my usual thing for 4 hours. I had a look at the veil Nebula and M42 were i could see really obvious bright pink, red and purple like colours at 57X..i have never seen M42 so colourful before..it was utterly stunning!!!! The Gegenschein was also amazing and very elongated at 20*X10* and had now shifted noticeably eastward since the previous dark period. Look for it directly below M45..its amazing! The Taurids are on the increase again and last night i was treated to a handsome number of orange/red slow earth grazers with long tails. Overall i had a great session. I found an extremely red star in Cygnus last night during my comet sweep in that region and couldnt believe just how red it was, of all the 1000,s of stars i seen that evening this one jumped out at me, i have never seen it before in that last 850 hours of patrolling so i must check starry night pro for further details. It would be along the lines of R Leporis and the Garnet star. I hope its clear on Monday evening!
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