Most enjoyable observations of 2013

Thank you for your lists, Donal and Stevie. It has been some a number of years since I checked out that triple star Beta Mon before the Spring. All 3 components are reasonably close in magnitude.

Aubrey.

Congrats guys on the lists, very comprehensive !

For me this year, the most striking thing I saw was Jupiter on a still night in November, I first saw Jupiter through a scope back in 1988 and on that night in November, I saw the most pristine view of the planet I've ever seen.
The detail was photographic, sharp belts and zones, swirls, details in the belts, festoons, the works, the grs was strikingly clear. The moons were clearly tiny disks, I had to slew the scope over to a bright star to make sure they were pinpoints, to make sure I wasn't fooling myself.

That night I had used the cooling fans on the back of the primary mirror to cool it down to 1 degree above ambient, and that was a big part of the reason for what I was seeing.

Hopefully soon to be repeated as opposition approaches.

I take it your view was through your 20" Dobsonian, Dave. Can you remember what magnification you used and what date in November was it?

Aubrey.

yes, it was with the obsessionator, the date escapes me except that it was 4 in the morning and cooold !
The eyepieces I used were 7mm and 9mm giving me a power of 357x and 278x, I tried the 5mm which gives me 500x but it was not as sharp and starting to wash out.

thanks for the great targets and lovely descriptions in the previous lists. I concentrated on double stars and clusters at my suburban site and logged just over 500 observations with the C11 in the course of 2013. The following are some of the highlights, in no particular order. Some are familiar, but some are less well known.

Gamma Del, 12 Del, STF2727 Dbl Del Gorgeous bright, yellow stars, nicely separated at 90x, forming a double double with STF2725, which consists of slightly unequal golden suns.

STF2993 Dbl Aqr Very attractive triple of golden stars, forming an obtuse triangle, which forms the tip of a larger triangle with field stars, that points roughly towards the magnificent golden psi Aqr, which is itself a wide double. All fit in the field of a Plossl at 50x.

Delta Cep, 27 Cep, STFA58 Dbl Cep Beautiful, yellow, blue pair, both bright though mildly unequal. They are wide apart at 50x, in a rich field. The triple ARN79 is very close, but is too faint to complement the main one."

STF2426 Dbl Aql Unequal pair, with a bright copper orange primary and a bluish secondary, wide at 90x. Gorgeous colour contrast, and the stars are not too bright so the colours are very distinct."

Rasalgethi, STF2140 Dbl Her Brilliant orange primary, close to a fainter, distinctly greenish, secondary at 140x. Beautiful colour contrast, and a rich backdrop of stars - outstanding.

STF1830 Dbl UMa Faint, but pretty, orange/bluish pair, nicely separated at 140x Very nice double double with STF1831, which is an unequal white/bluish close pair at 140x, with a widely separated, bright yellow primary."

24 Com, STF1657 Dbl Com Beautiful orange - bluish pair, both bright, easily split using 115x. Very similar to Albireo."

R Leo,VSX17032 Var Star Leo Bright, approx 6th magnitude (on 5-4-2013), and rich copper colour. Splendid contrast with bright white 19 Leo.

Almach, gamma And Dbl+Mult And Beautiful, unequal pair. Both bright and vividly coloured, the primary deep golden and the secondary sky blue.

Omicron Ceti Dbl+Var Star Cet Spectacular red-orange star very bright currently (1-11-2013).

M3, NGC5272 Globular CVn Great! Nice dark background and clear view at 200x. Hundreds of stars swarming in the cluster.

Mike

Oh yes, Mike. I showed my wife Valerie that double -double in Delphinus on one of the nights we observed Nova Delphini -magnificent even at 40X!
Rasalgethi and 24 Com are excellent too, and I was able to go up to 225X on M3 in May 2013.
And come to think of it, I love that Coathanger asterism in Vulpecula -we could go on and on....

Aubrey.