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Re: Neptune occultation tonight

 

Awesome catch. Thanks for sharing.
Fw: Mars retrograde

 



----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Mark Ost <jimcoble2000@...>
To: Kent Blackwell <kentblackwell@...>; Roy Diffrient <mail@...>; David Wright <kd3wright@...>; Will Kiff <modok4@...>
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2024 at 10:04:12 AM EST
Subject: Mars retrograde

Mars will approach the Beehive until Dec 8th and then curve off away from it for the rest of the year. Watch it as it moves backwards
Mars size

 

Inline image
Mars

 

Mars currently is 10 arc seconds in diameter. Enough to start to work. By the end of December it will be 14 arc seconds, a bit short of almost 50% more in size. That should be more than enough to get going in all seriousness. I have a #30 Magenta filter coming from Vernonscope just for Mars. That was quite effective in Kent's big refractor last go around. Already have the orange filters.

Mars is still a bit late at night now, around midnight,? but will be fairly high toward the end of December at 11 pm. As many know this will be the last apparition that is decent in our life times. Though not as large as the last two it does ride high this time. The future appearances will be less opportune. I have lost count now as to my Mars seasons I have under the belt. Three years between them.? It has been sometime now since we last looked so let's make the most of what we have.

Re: Moon Dog Last Night

 

Excellent shot Ian. Like those ice crystals in the atmosphere. Not too often you see a full circle as well defined as that.

On Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 10:13:00 AM EST, Ian Stewart via groups.io <swampcolliecoffee@...> wrote:


Quite a nice moon dog last night here.
Re: Moon Dog Last Night

 

Cool! ?We got the clouds but not the dog.
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On 11/14/2024 10:12 AM EST Ian Stewart via groups.io <swampcolliecoffee@...> wrote:
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Quite a nice moon dog last night here.

Moon Dog Last Night

 

Quite a nice moon dog last night here.
Re: Moon Last Night

 

Quite bright last night. I did get in a little time on it but seeing was only 7 out of 10. Good moments but you had to work for it. I was tired after my inventory of the? planets so had to work up a little motivation to observe last night. Other than that I like the moon.

On Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at 09:50:35 AM EST, Ian Stewart via groups.io <swampcolliecoffee@...> wrote:


Nice view of Mare Humorum and Gassendi last night. Can't see it in the picture but at 400x the Rilles in Gassendi were visible.
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Moon Last Night

 

Nice view of Mare Humorum and Gassendi last night. Can't see it in the picture but at 400x the Rilles in Gassendi were visible.
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The moon vs Neptune

 

The moon is a mere 8 million times brighter
Re: Planetary hat trick

 

So typical of Vixen. I agree maybe an alt az would do bit better as far as flexibility but I sure am glad mercury stayed where it was in the eyepiece. If it was moving I am not sure if I could track it. It was very hard to center with the GEM. Kept disappearing in the haze. I see why Copernicus supposedly never saw it. Like playing on a Ouija Board with Little Richard "A whole lot of shakin going on"

On Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 02:53:45 PM EST, <kentblackwell@...> wrote:


I found it much easier to find those data planets and stars with an alt/az mount.?

However, I use to use my Vixen D-2, GoTo. That Mount used the SkySensor 2000 computer. The hand controller was about as compact as the jumbo version of the pocket star Atlas, but I¡¯ll be damn if it didn¡¯t work perfectly. It¡¯s the only sophisticated device I¡¯ve ever used that. I didn¡¯t even have to read the manual to learn how to use. Modern day telescope computers, should learn a lesson from Vixen. I heard that their replacement of the sky sensor 2000 was a total disaster.

14

On Nov 12, 2024, at 2:31?PM, Mark Ost <jimcoble2000@...> wrote:

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Just finished an inventory of the solar system started last night at 8 and then finishing just now with Venus and Mercury daytime sightings. Venus is fairly easy to see during the daytime with a telescope or with a bit of guidance, naked eye. Mercury was quite hard as it sits in the haze of the sun. Took about an hour to complete the observation. First, a bad spot for the GEM mount delayed going to it, then it took about 15 minutes to see the planet even when it was in the eyepiece. A real ghost that came and went at it's leisure.

So rest easy, the solar system is all there. PS. thank god Pluto is not a planet anymore :)
Planetary hat trick

 

Just finished an inventory of the solar system started last night at 8 and then finishing just now with Venus and Mercury daytime sightings. Venus is fairly easy to see during the daytime with a telescope or with a bit of guidance, naked eye. Mercury was quite hard as it sits in the haze of the sun. Took about an hour to complete the observation. First, a bad spot for the GEM mount delayed going to it, then it took about 15 minutes to see the planet even when it was in the eyepiece. A real ghost that came and went at it's leisure.

So rest easy, the solar system is all there. PS. thank god Pluto is not a planet anymore :)
Re: Neptune occultation tonight

 

That was a wide brightness gap. I have to laugh as the FOV in the picture makes Neptune look on this side of the moon. We are in for a surprise in that case. It is either a lot smaller than advertised or the moon is transparent, or the moon is a lot bigger than I thought! The scale is quite good for relative sizes as seen by the eye. I am always amazed at how much more difficult Neptune is than Uranus.

Call me when the moon occults Pluto :)? . I think it currently is 0.1 arc seconds in diameter and 14th or 15th magnitude.

On Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 07:44:56 AM EST, Kent Blackwell via groups.io <kent@...> wrote:


Nice shot, Gabriel. Sometimes afocal photography works best with such wide variable brightnesses objects such as the moon and Neptune.
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Observing Monday Night

 

It was fun last night looking at tight double stars in my refractor, but the highlight of the night was seeing the moon occult Neptune.?
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List: 24/11/11 Takahashi TOA 150?
HD 23177
(Double Star in Perseus)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 7:37:12?PM
Comment: No Struve number?
1.1¡±
A tight pair of yellow stars?
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 7
Saturn
(Planet in Aquarius)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 7:48:15?PM
Comment: Saturn's rings are slowly closing. Despite less glare from the rings, I could only see the moons Titan and Rhea tonight. Saturn looked amazing using the 3.3mm Takahashi TOE at 333x. I could not see Cassini's Division, but I thought I caught a glimpse of the Crepe Ring. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of Cassini's Division.
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
HD 10508
(Double Star in Cetus)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 8:23:18?PM
Comment: 0.9"
A tight pair of 8.7 and 8.1 silver stars
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
Neptune
(Planet in Pisces)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 8:43:35?PM
Comment: At 8:43 pm I was waiting for the moon to occult Neptune using my Takahashi TOA 150.
At 9:12 pm the moon occulted it! Mark Ost (5" Explore Scientific). William Kiff (he was at his home using his Celestron C8 Evolution) and I observed it. Neptune looked blue and showed a definite disc when using the 5mm Pentax at 220x, albeit being washed out by the brilliance of the moon.
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
HD 25866
(Double Star in Perseus)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:21:01?PM
Comment: Deep red carbon star. SkySafari says this is a pair of 8th magnitude stars, but I only could see a single star.
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
V491 Persei
(Variable Double Star in Perseus)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:23:00?PM
Comment: Otto Struve 531
2.7"
Easily split unequal pair?
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
HD 24117
(Double Star in Perseus)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:25:52?PM
Comment: Otto Struve 66
1.0"
A tight pair of blue stars?
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
HD 21016
(Double Star in Perseus)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:27:56?PM
Comment: No Struve number?
0.8"
A very tight pair. Mark Ost confirmed wr could see the very close companion.
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
Starfish Cluster - M 38
(Open Cluster in Auriga)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:37:33?PM
Comment: Even in bright moonlight this is a pretty cluster. Bobby Hitt thought it was pretty. He used this cluster in his recent lecture aboard Holland America's cruise ship Hollingsdam?
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm f/6 Intes MN 66, 14mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
Pinwheel Cluster - M 36
(Open Cluster in Auriga)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:39:23?PM
Comment: Smaller than m38 but still pretty. I showed both to Bobby Hitt.
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 14mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
Messier 37
(Open Cluster in Auriga)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:41:23?PM
Comment: Quite faint on this bright moonlit night?
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 14mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
HD 35187
(Variable Double Star in Taurus)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:43:05?PM
Comment: Otto Struve 694
1.4"
Tight and faint pair of blue stars?
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
Pleiades - M 45
(Open Cluster in Taurus)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 9:47:47?PM
Comment: A great way to finish the night. I showed it to Bob and Mark?
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 20mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
HD 31533
(Double Star in Auriga)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 10:02:39?PM
Comment: Struve 613
11.6¡±
A very colorful pair. The 8.4 magnitude primary is yellow, and the 9.6 magnitude secondary is pale blue?
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
Struve 613
(Double Star in Auriga)
Observed: Nov 11, 2024 at 10:06:08?PM
Comment: A magnitude contrasting pair. The primary is 9.6 magnitude and the secondary is 11.2.
Location: Virginia VA 66¡ã Moon 80% SQM-L 17.8 H 83%
Equipment: 150mm Takahashi TOA 150, 5mm Pentax
Seeing: 7
Transparency: 9
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Re: Neptune occultation tonight

 

Nice shot, Gabriel. Sometimes afocal photography works best with such wide variable brightnesses objects such as the moon and Neptune.
?
Re: Neptune occultation tonight

 

250,000 miles for the moon compared to 2.7 billion for Neptune. Most of us don't really comprehend large numbers since we have never seen a billion of anything. So a good analogy is:

1 Million seconds= 10 days ago........... so the moon would be 2.5 days ago in seconds

1 billion seconds=31years ago.............so Neptune is every second between now and 1931

Is a billion larger than a million? Ohhhhhhhhhhh yes.

On Monday, November 11, 2024 at 09:26:31 PM EST, Gabriel Dandrade via groups.io <gddandrade@...> wrote:


Set up the 10¡± Dobsonian to catch the event about ten minutes before it started. This is a photo I took through the eyepiece about two minutes before Neptune blinked out of view. Really shows the insane distances within our own solar system alone.
Re: Neptune occultation tonight

 

Nice shot given the huge brightness difference! ?I followed Neptune at 187X (5mm ep, 127mm f/7.5 refractor) until it suddenly disappeared at about 9:10. ?Good illustration of the scale of the solar system.?

On 11/11/2024 9:25 PM EST Gabriel Dandrade via groups.io <gddandrade@...> wrote:
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?
Set up the 10¡± Dobsonian to catch the event about ten minutes before it started. This is a photo I took through the eyepiece about two minutes before Neptune blinked out of view. Really shows the insane distances within our own solar system alone.
?
?

Neptune occultation tonight

 

Set up the 10¡± Dobsonian to catch the event about ten minutes before it started. This is a photo I took through the eyepiece about two minutes before Neptune blinked out of view. Really shows the insane distances within our own solar system alone.

image0.jpeg

Moon occults Neptune tonight around

 

9:10??? or?? 2110 EST

Should be good. Navigation no problem

Re: Starting observation season of Mars tonight. Campaign 2024/5

 

If you get a chance to see Hellas on Mars in the coming days it is one of the largest craters in the solar system and that's saying something. 23,465 feet deep. It looks like a large, circular. lighter than the background (orange red) on the limb at the moment. Not the pole. It has a darker rim around it. Definitely use filters. I used an old Televue Mars type B filter but a dark orange should be fine. Visible even in an 80mm. I was using a Stellarvue SV80/9D achromat. Zeiss 4mm? orthoscopic ZAO1 eyepiece.

Years ago Televue came out with two Mars filters. The Type A and B. The Type A had more natural colors but had a lot of undesirable side effect so went out of production. The Type B did not suffer from the problems of the A. Televue is now out of the filter business, I think. For Mars, a good filter manufacturer is Vernon Scope in North Carolina. Magenta is one of my favorites for Mars. Orange too. They cost a bit more but are very superior to cheap color filters. Note the filter threads on Vernon Scope are not standard so you need to get an adapter ring (not expensive) if you order from them. Worth the money.

On Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 12:12:10 AM EST, jimcoble2000 via groups.io <jimcoble2000@...> wrote:


Detail I saw tonight matches well with what Sky Tools shows. Hellas was very apparent as a light oval spot hemmed in by Iapygia and Mare Tyrhenium. A dark band surrounding Hellas. The pole is harder to see than Hellas which might be mistaken for the pole. The disc is 10 arc seconds across so observations start now. Pretty good start. I quit around 0015. A fair bit of lost sleep is coming up this winter.

I love doing Mars and we will not get as good a run during the rest of our lifetime as we will now. This year is not as good as the last two exceptional seasons but Mars in higher this year so that is good. You only get a chance at Mars once every 28 months on average, so no time to waste. Excellent start. Good seeing and fair transparency tonight. Cold.

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