Excellent observing last night.

Hey all, i have waited three months for this night and i can tell you it has being brilliant. I first started looking at the moon at 9.30pm and then moved on to mighty venus. Both were looking good but i cant wait to see the moon in a dark sky again so i can get some images.

At midnight i went back out again and got my scope ready and i had a naked eye view of the sky. this is the clearest i have seen it in ages. Once i had the scope aligned i had a look for Comet Machholz. It took me awhile to find but eventually after 21minutes luck was on my side. Machholz was just like a smudge in the centre of my telescope lens. It had a slight green and white haze but it was nowhere near as good as when i observed it on the 13th June 2005. I would make it round mag 10.5.

If that wasn't a nice surprise i saw what i think was my first ever Iridium Flare. Its was really bright and lasted roughly six seconds in intense brightness until it faded away to nothing. (Can someone please confirm with me what it was because im guessing it was an iridium flare.) It appeared at 1.10am and was going through Serpens Caput in a south-east to north west direction. It was bright yellow in colour.

I decided to have a look for comet Hartley -IRAS but i had no joy. suddenly i noticed the sky starting to get brighter and it was only 1.57am . I knew i had only roughly one hour left of observing. so i swiftly through the telescope round and observed Mars. i was amazed with the brightness of the planet since the last time i had a look at it two weeks ago. i would say it had brightened by 0.3 in mag but that looked alot. i sketched a couple of drawings and viewed the planet under different mags. I cant wait to see the polar caps again so i can add more detail to my sketches.

I can also confirm a NLC display starting at 1.49am. I WAS AMAZED because it came as far as Cassiopeia but it never really gained any brightnes.

I can honestly say this was an amazing nights observing and its been awhile since i have had a night like this. i hope all this week is good as i dont return to work until next Monday. its now 3.43am and im looking forward to climbing into bed and watching the Sky At Night which i recorded earlier.

Clear Skies everyone
Kevin Black

Great stuff Kevin!!

Hi Kevin,
Welcome to the IFAS site! Looks like you had a great observing session last night. It's amazing to think just how short the nights are during the summer! In weather like this it's hard to imagine how it can all change to the extremes we get in the winter.
Clear skies,

Hi kevin,
looks like you and I both had a great night. you wait weeks and then everything comes at once, superb!
Bill H.

If that wasn't a nice surprise i saw what i think was my first ever Iridium Flare. Its was really bright and lasted roughly six seconds in intense brightness until it faded away to nothing. (Can someone please confirm with me what it was because im guessing it was an iridium flare.) It appeared at 1.10am and was going through Serpens Caput in a south-east to north west direction. It was bright yellow in colour.

According to this morning's flare predictions on www.heavens-above.com , there were two flares visible in the Belfast area. The one most similar to your sighting was Iridium 76, predicted to be mag -4 at 01:10:55, direction 55 deg Alt, 218deg Az (SW). The time is right, but the direction seems too high and southerly for your sighting? Maybe you saw a different satellite.

Sean