So we finally got a reasonably clear night last Wednesday night.
I did not see anything very spectacular; but I got to see some nice things -I was a bit rusty. It has been almost 2 weeks since I last had the 158mm apo out.
1. I started off with Venus (mag: -4.2). According to Guide 8, it is 135 million kilometres from Earth. It was sporting a 62% illuminated disc and had an diameter of 18.5". I saw it at 7.30 well before sunset which occurred at 9.15 with my own eyes (aided by a tree). Nice in the scope though.
2. Of course, Jupiter was next. At 21.56, its moon Io transited the planet. I observed this event with 167X -it was again very nice seeing Io crossing into the bright Equatorial Zone and then it disappeared almost immediately.
3. Less than 2 degrees northeast of Jupiter is very non spectacular triple star 80 Cancri.. I never saw it before and I would not have bothered to check it out only Jupiter was nearby. A is 6.9, B is 9.5 and C is 10.9. There is plenty of space in between them -so as I say they are not a splendid spectacle. Very wide at 112X.
4. With my unaided eye, I saw the spy satellite Lacrosse 4 passing less than 1 degree south of Arcturus. Arcturus is magnitude -0.06 and the rocket was +1.6.
www.heavens-above.com
is a handy website to find out about satellites.
5. I made a clean split of double star Izar at 140X. The separation is 2.9". And the PA is 343 degrees. What is the minimum magnification you need to see both components? A is 2.6, B is 4.8. Do make sure you look at the right star. Rho Bootis is very close by in our finderscopes.
6. Castor is in the western sky now, and it is very nice to see A, B and C looking very well at 112X. C has quite a distinct red colour. A and B are both white: nice contrast.
7. And our old friend Porrima (Gamma Virginis) is quite high in the southern sky north east of Spica. Lovely clean split at 112X and 140X. Both components are 3.5 and can be seen with our own eyes as one star on any clear night.
Maybe we will have one or more clear nights as the weekend draws near?
Thank you for reading,
Aubrey.
  