TheSkySearchers

Started the evening out (Eve of July 4th) with the 50mm Tasco 66TE:



Used 24x and 67x.

• 16 Cygni (Cyg; mag.=5.1, 5.3; sep.=38”) – split at 24x; at 67x, the secondary looks yellowish compared to the primary.

• 61 Cygni (Cyg; mag.=5.3, 5.9; sep.=28”) – two red dwarfs, split at 24x; at 67x, the secondary looks a bit more reddish than the primary.

• NGC 6826 or Blinking Planetary (Cyg; mag.=8.8; size=27”x 24”) – not difficult to spot at 24x, easier to see at 67x.

• 57 Aql (Aql; mag.=5.8, 6.5; sep.=36”) – split at 24x; can’t discern any color using 67x.

• 13-day Moon – some interesting features visible one day before the full moon, including:
  
  Schickard – crater was prominent in the 12-day Moon; now it exhibits an unusual light and dark striped shading on the floor.
  Inghirami – right across from Schickard on the terminator, showing a side view.
  Grimaldi – a large 200km dark crater near the terminator in the center of the Moon.
  Riccioli – next to Grimaldi right on the terminator, showing an interesting side view.

Once Jupiter and Saturn were in view on the southern horizon, brought out the 5” Meade 127NT Newtonian, mounted on a Nexstar GT:



Used Orion Plossl 7.5mm (136x) and 6.3 mm (162x) EPs.

• 13-day Moon – revisited the features described above, including a new crater:
  
  Wargentin – just below Schickard, the ringed wall on this crater is very shallow because the floor is higher than the surrounding area, caused by flooding of molten rock sometime after the initial impact.

• Jupiter – there is a dark spot on the southern equatorial belt that is not a shadow transit (according to the Jupiter transit/occultation forecast); three moons close to the planet on the right, one moon on the far left.

• Saturn – shows equatorial banding on the disc and Cassini’s division on the ring.

• Mars – the southern polar ice cap is the main feature on the gibbous disk; did not see the “brown” feature (maria?) I saw yesterday.

Very pleased with this session. Fortunately, the sound of fireworks was few on this night.

Thanks for the report.

Great session...nice selection of targets. The sporadic fireworks this time of year normally keep me indoors!!

Dave

Sounds cool Terry. Nice catch of NGC 6826 with the 66mm and congrats on the successful moon observations.

Nice night Terry - I am envious - been socked in with clouds all night, every night lately - hot and sunny in the day, thunderstorms in the afternoon, and cloudy at night.

Some day.

In mean time, I will live vicariously through yours and others reports!

Hi Terry. Another nice report from you. You have proved that one can get some superb lunar and planetary views even with smaller apertures. And, Dave is correct. By tonight the sky and air are going to be so full of smoke from the fireworks, that it will make any observing impossible. Thanks for your fun read observing report Terry, and the best of regards.

jrkirkham wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 1:26 pm Thanks for the report.

You're welcome Rob.

Unitron48 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 1:27 pm Great session...nice selection of targets. The sporadic fireworks this time of year normally keep me indoors!!

Dave

Thanks Dave! Heard noise last night, but didn't see any fireworks or smoke in the sky. Perhaps the police were cracking down. Interesting to see how it'll be tonight...

helicon wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 1:36 pm Sounds cool Terry. Nice catch of NGC 6826 with the 66mm and congrats on the successful moon observations.

Thanks Michael! Hope you're having fun in the north country.

The Blinking Planetary was easy with the 50mm (the "66" in the Tasco 66TE is the name of the scope model) despite my LP skies. My 50/60mm 'fracs have proved more useful from home than previously thought.

KingNothing13 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 2:21 pm Nice night Terry - I am envious - been socked in with clouds all night, every night lately - hot and sunny in the day, thunderstorms in the afternoon, and cloudy at night.

Some day.

In mean time, I will live vicariously through yours and others reports!

Thanks Brett! Usually the marine layer moves in from the coast during the summer evening months here, but last night it stayed clear all night.

Things should get better by fall...

Makuser wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 4:34 pm Hi Terry. Another nice report from you. You have proved that one can get some superb lunar and planetary views even with smaller apertures. And, Dave is correct. By tonight the sky and air are going to be so full of smoke from the fireworks, that it will make any observing impossible. Thanks for your fun read observing report Terry, and the best of regards.

Thanks Marshall! I myself am pleasantly surprised at what one can see from the city with 50-60mm scopes. Perhaps COVID19 has improved the quality of the skies, not sure.

As for lunar observing, I'm new to this - in the 10 years since I returned to astronomy not once did I pay any attention to the Moon.

Clear skies projected tonight again, so I may actually go out if the fireworks, smoke and noise are minimal, like they were last night.

Yet another nice session Terry! I am sitting here at Anza, scopes ready, watching sunset.

Thanks! Hope its quiet over there Andrey. Very loud at home, but hopefully it'll die down after midnight.

terrynak wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:11 am Thanks! Hope its quiet over there Andrey. Very loud at home, but hopefully it'll die down after midnight.

There were some music and home made fireworks, but all died out by 10pm. Beautiful night after that.

Nice report Terry.
Thank you for sharing your session with us.