Members' observations, Things we see through our humble 'scopes... Options

[ynyralmaen]

Titan was there the other night too... I should have posted a report here to save you the bother of checking. I spotted Rhea too that night, but no rings around it... must be because they're almost exactly side-on too!

As we're on things we can see in the sky, there should be a nice pass of ISS and shuttle for much of Europe tomorrow (Tuesday) evening prior to their docking, around 19:10 UT from the UK.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

For those enjoying tracking man-made satellites

http://www.castor2.ca/

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

remarkable what these guys did: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...nd-balloon.html

[Stu]

My fingers are crossed for a clear sky at 8pm when I should be able to see Discovery and ISS flying through sky together... then it's just a case of sit back and wait for the UFO reports to come flooding in...

In the meantime, just a bit of fun... ISS compared to some well-known and well-loved spacecraft

http://www.subtire.com/show/?n=487177935.jpg

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Observations of ISS and satellites using a 80 centimeters telescope:
http://www.tracking-station.de/images/images.html

courtesy
http://www.tracking-station.de/

[Stu]

Cripes! They're good!

Managed to catch a glimpse of Discovery thru my binocs last night as it sped thru a gap in the cloud, but missed ISS.

[Stu]

My astro society's IYA MOONWATCH went really well here in Kendal tonight...

http://cumbriansky.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/1010

[Stu]

The Moon as photographed thru my humble 4.5" scope last night, at our very succesful MoonWatch...

http://twitpic.com/r9tx8

Report here: http://cumbriansky.wordpress.com/2009/11/2...onwatch-success

[Stu]

Well, the rain has finally stopped, and there's a GORGEOUS clear sky tonight, with the terminator of the almost-Full Moon in the absolutely PERFECT place to help me find the crater named after Sir Arthur Eddington, the astrophysicist who was born in Kendal...

http://twitpic.com/rlu0a/full

Hoping for even better views later when my 'scope has cooled down, and when the crater comes more fully into view...

Update: taDAH! http://twitpic.com/rn0t3/full

[DDAVIS]

Among my favorite memories of telescopic observations:

Seeing Mars and Saturn in 1971 with a large telescope being used by the USGS in Flagstaff. I was with Charles Capen and Gerard De Vaucouleurs. Mars was near closest approach, and De Vaucouleurs was refining his sketches of Mars which were later published in Sky and Telescope. The seeing was quite good and I later made my own drawing of Mars. Then we looked at Saturn, and it was gorgeous, looking like a sharper version of the Stephen Larson photo showing the wide open rings that was for years the best photo of Saturn. In the 80's I was with some astronomy buffs with telescopes, and while I was looking through a 10 inch with a wide field I heard several people cry out just as I saw the bright meteor they were reacting to zip through the field of view! It looked like multiple parallel dazzling white streaks leaving trails that briefly glowed red then a soft turquoise as they were distorted into a fading wavy path. Iin 2003, I was invited to look at Mars through the Mt Wilson 60 inch. We also saw Triton next to Neptune. When we later saw the Orion nebula, the sight ranks with my all time revelatory visions. One could see the brightest part of the magenta pink nebula visually as well as the usually seen greenish central regions. Later I rented time on the scope and looked at various nebulae and Saturn. In moments of good seeing the Encke gap in ring A could be seen as a delicate fine arc. Some observational drawings:

http://www.mssimmons.com/mw/dondavis.htm

[Phil Stooke]

My fave astronomical observation was probably naked eye - standing in Red Square with Venus over the Historical Museum and Mars hanging above the Kremlin.

Phil

[Stu]

Three experiences spring to mind...

My first sighting of Halley's Comet. Bonfire Night, 1985 - I was standing on a school playing field, with fireworks whizzing and banging behind me and on both sides, the air stinking of the smoke from bonfires, and the sky tinted and tainted orange by the light and glowing sparks rising from the fires. I had been scanning the sky for days, looking for Halley, without any success... then I spotted it, little more than an out of focus star but there. I'd been waiting to see Halley's Comet for 16 years, and finally I was looking at it...

Seeing Comet Hale Bopp from the centre of Castlerigg Stone Circle at Keswick. Leaning against one of the ancient standing stones I watched Hale Bopp rising up from behind the mountains opposite, its twin tails looking like searchlights beaming into the sky. Just glorious. I shiver now, remembering it.

And finally, the huge aurora I saw in 2001 (I think it was, I'd have to check). It was such a huge auroral storm that it literally filled the entire sky with great flapping cloaks and sails of red, and the auroral arc passed over the UK so the northern lights became the 'southern lights'. I watched the display for around 5 hours, standing in the shadow of Cockermouth Castle, with the waters of the rover glowing bright red as they reflected the aurora raging above. Standing there, feeling like an ant on the deck of a ship, staring up at huge sails of red, all I could do was laugh..

The Universe charges us for witnessing sights like this - eclipses and meteor showers missed, comets shining another part of the sky, etc etc. But now and again she rewards us.

Astronomy. Gotta love it.

[Tesheiner]

My fave astronomical observation was probably naked eye

It comes to mind one time I was working installing a radar station at a peak in the southern Spain. We were the whole time working inside a building and one day we left the site very late at night. When we went out of the building, wow! There were no cities nearby, no light pollution at all, and the sky was really, REALLY dark. ... and milliards of stars! What a view!

[ngunn]

milliards of stars! What a view!

I agree there's nothing to beat that. I am lucky to have spent some time at high altitudes in remote parts of Peru. It seems closer to being in outer space than at sea level. The stars are stupendous and unblinking. There is also the deep royal blue of the daytime sky and the large drops of afternoon rain that fall with the violence of meteorites.

[nprev]

Best view I ever had was at -40C on a clear night in western Montana. NO twinkling...none at all. The air was as still as frozen glass. I really do think that the view from orbit on the nightside of Earth could have hardly been better.

Best Saturn observation I've ever experienced, even though it was through a cheap department-store refractor. (Had to be VERY careful to hold my breath near the objective; the water vapor would freeze instantly on any surface!)