Hello everyone.
I thought I should have a go at observing on Monday evening with my William Optics 158mm f/7 apochromatic refractor. Of course I also had attached my small William Optics 70mm f/6 apo. Mirror diagonals were fitted on both scopes, and both were supported by my Berlebach Planet altazimuth mount. The air temperatures were about 8˚ Celsius, and the winds were very low at 6 km/h and no dew was occurring at all.
1. Sunset didn’t occur until 20.03 Irish Summer Time, but I was instantly surprised to find the brightest planet Venus extremely quickly at 18.30. Its magnitude was -4. Its distance was 175,559,847 kms from us. Its angular diameter was 14.2”. The gibbous phase was 76.5% illuminated. I found Venus effortlessly at 11x in my small apo when it was a bright starlike object, and the planet was even “buried” in high cloud when I saw it at 18.30. With the main scope at 40x, the gibbous phase was very obvious. It was at 112x and 140x I noticed some shimmering – although this wasn’t too bad. I was welcomed by its nice gibbous phase.
2. The high cloud became more of a problem at 21.30. At no time could I see Polaris with my eyes. But my small apo found it alright at 11x. And the main scope was splitting it at 40x and 112x. As it is now the fourth month of the year, the companion is now in the four o’clock position after dark.
3. Despite the high cloud increasing, I managed to find Rho 1 and Rho 2 Cephei at 11x in my small apo. They were very dim. These 2 stars and their optical companions were visible at 40x in the main scope though. The reason why I always need to see these stars is because they lead me to my favourite carbon star at the moment: S Cephei. I was never going to estimate its magnitude on this night. I’m sorry to say that S Cep didn’t have its deep red colour this time. It was more of a deep orange star I’m more used to seeing with my carbon stars. Still I was very pleased I could see S Cep once again. I will have no difficulties finding this carbon star during future months. Its position is well away from my dreaded 3 storey apartments. Therefore I am aiming to estimate its magnitude at some stage.
4. I finish with our nearest neighbour: our Moon. It was a 13 day old gibbous Moon and 95% illuminated within the confines of Leo the Lion. My whole sky was immersed in high cloud at this stage. Straight away I observed a large crater right on the northwest lunar terminator. The centre of the large crater Pythagoras was in complete darkness. But its central peak was shining like a candle! A truly lovely sight and the highlight of this observing session. Other craters I observed were Babbage, Babbage A, Robinson (who was Irish), the very shallow crater South and South B, Harpalus, Foucault, Bianchini and Aristarchus. Vallis Schroteri and Montes Jura were further away from the terminator. At 23.00 even the Moon was becoming invisible. So I called it a night.
Clear skies to one and all from Aubrey.
