Dublin Stargazers Meetup 18th March Sugerloaf Car Park

looking forward to tonight... skies r supposed to b clear, happy days

Come On guys!! I miss out on what looked to be the best observing night in months, neigh years where it seemed to be calm, clear and not too cold all night long.......

....and its 2:30pm the next day and not one single observing report!!

Thats either a bad sign because there was nothing worth talking about because of hill fog or something or its a very very good sign in that ye stayed up there till 4am or something and ye are all still in bed recovering!!

The suspense is killing me!!

Well, my wife Valerie and I came home from church and set up the 6.2" refractor, and we observed the magnificent heavens from 9 to 10.30pm, and we had a marvellous time. Here are our observations.

1. Castor. Triple star 112X
2. Regulus. Double star 30X
3. Algieba (Gamma Leonis). Double star 112X
4. Polaris. Double star. 40X
5. M45 Pleiades. 7X and 30X
6. M44 Beehive. 7X and 30X
7. Iota Cancri. Yellow and blue double star. 30X
8. M67 Open cluster in Cancer. 30X, 40X and 112X
9. Mars. 112X, 167X, 224X, 280X, 320X and 374X

So I want to discuss Mars with onybody who observed it last night. The central meridian was 85 degrees. From 224X, we could only see the North Polar cap which we were pleased with. But there were no other features visible really. There was a slight pale gray area below the polar cap. The Tharsis region was completely bland and the southern area also. But I could see a bright area on the western limb. I just visited www.cloudynights.com and there are photographs and drawings showing a lot of clouds in this Tharsis region. Did anyone else look at Mars last night? Did anyone see clouds?
I have to agree it was an amazingly clear night. It is not everyday one can use 374X.

Aubrey.

From early on it was evident that it was going to be an excellent night. The sky was very transparent, the seeing excellent and the stars popped out.

There were about a dozen or so people there with a variety of scopes.

Dave was using his webcam on Saturn and Mars.

Martin was busy capturing images through his 80mm apo.

Graham and I were using tripod mounted cameras to gather images.

I managed to capture some beautiful images of Venus and Jupiter in the twilight sky, Graham got some great shots of the scene.

I was busy capturing constellation shots and deeper images with my 70-200mm lens. I imaged M44 and when I checked the image in the computer I was surprised, and delighted, to have captured the galaxy NGC 2903 in Leo in the same image. I got images of the Auriga Messier objects along with M45 and the Double Cluster, M13 and M42, I was pleased with what I got. I'll post some images later tonight.

All in all it was a very good night, cold, but the wind was not too much of a factor. A pity you could not have been there Keith, that 16" would have given some amazing sights.

One word for Mike, I hope your CG-5 has only a minor glitch and will be back working soon, it was clear that frustration was the only thing you were experiencing.

For me personally the highlights were NGC 2903 and the sight of Venus and Jupiter in the twilight.

Paul

Gutted I couldn't make it. Sounds like a great night for most. I feel your pain Mike!! Couldn't use my Dob the last night up there because of the wind.

I was wrecked after a busy Paddies weekend in the shop and hadn't the energy to load up the gear. Good complaint though I suppose. Jupiter and Venus looked pretty spectacular naked eye even in the middle of Bray. Imaging they looked sublime surrounded by stars though.

What time did ye stay up there till?

It really was an excellent night for observing and it was great to see so many people out. It was particularly nice to meet several new people - kudos to David for organising the meetup.

Unfortunately, as Paul mentioned, my CG-5 refused to cooperate and I wasted the whole evening vainly trying to get it aligned. Many thanks to Martin and Paul for the help and encouragement, and apologies that I got grumpy. Martin suggested resetting the mount, but I did not know how to do that (must bring the manual with me from now on). Anyway, the good news is that after restoring the factory settings this evening it is now working fine again. It was a frustrating experience, but I'm very relieved that the problem seems to be sorted, and I'm looking forward to the next session.

Mike