Is Saturn still visible? Had a look but its a bit needle in a haystack. Also - according to google skymaps The Hubble deep space telescope was visible tonite! Perhaps somewhere with a bit less light pollution and it might have been!

I went outside to look what all the fuss was about. After a bit of searching I eventually found it. I didn't expect it to look as good as it did, rings and all.

I agree Mr.Rayner, there is something at 2 o'clock-are you sure it wasn't some crap on your lens?

Cracking views of Saturn through the scope at the moment (not seen it for a couple of years) The rings are at a good angle to view as well, so now is a great time to take a look at this facinating Planet.

Nick Green wrote:

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Saturn visible now in the S/E

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Just had a look and Saturn is really clear to the SE. I can even see one of its moons (Titan, at 2 o'clock). A satellite went over NE at 21.35. Not the ISS but anyone got an idea what it was? Cheers, John

Saturn visible now in the S/E

Mike Hirst: I have only just picked up on this thread. In answer to your question about the bright spot on the Moon - it is the crater Tycho. This is a relatively young crater formed by the impact of a small asteroid about 100 million years ago (almost yesterday in astronomical terms). If you look carefully you can see bright rays radiating away from the crater across the face of the Moon. This is the material thrown out from the impact site. Other craters also have rays like this but they fade with time. If you Google "Tycho crater" you can pick up some great images and the Wikipedia article will tell you a lot about it.

Concerning Saturn: - Just a reminder to those interested, Earth tonight is positioned directly between Saturn and the Sun, so should be prominent in the eastern sky mid evening if it is clear. ( A ground frost is forecast, so it may well be clear at some stage tonight).

Mike hirst wrote:

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Hi Sid,
I viewed thro' the scope at approx the same time. I was interested in the very white spot in the bottom segment, any ideas on what it was.

regards
Mike

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Mike sorry about the late reply I wondered about that spot as well - however can't be of much help I'm sorry.

Sid

Hi Sid,
I viewed thro' the scope at approx the same time. I was interested in the very white spot in the bottom segment, any ideas on what it was.

regards
Mike

sid ashton wrote:

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The Moon Illusion

Tomorrow, 19 March, the so-called Supermoon occurs, at its closest approach to Earth in two decades, people will indeed report that the Moon looks much bigger than normal. It will not really be much bigger in the sky at all - tis all in our heads apparently

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Supermoon is living up to its name at the moment (19.55) particulary through bins and scope

The Moon Illusion

Tomorrow, 19 March, the so-called Supermoon occurs, at its closest approach to Earth in two decades, people will indeed report that the Moon looks much bigger than normal. It will not really be much bigger in the sky at all - tis all in our heads apparently

ISS bang on time again this evening, 19.13.

Mike Chorley wrote:

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International Space Station passing over in the southern portion of the night sky at 20.17 tomorrow. Transit approx 1 minute.

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Checked the website given by Gavin Delaney below and saw that ISS was passing over this evening at 18.47 as well as later on - just got outside in time as it whizzed directly over our house

It was also visible this evening didn't last long but impressive, according to Diane on the weather you find the North star, turn your back on it then hold up your right hand at the scheduled time then you should be able to see it, but the forcast not as clear for tomorrow. I could also see a planet in the background giving off some wonderful colours, could it be Jupiter?

International Space Station passing over in the southern portion of the night sky at 20.17 tomorrow. Transit approx 1 minute.
Amazing what you can find out from the local weather report!

-- Edited by Mike Chorley on Wednesday 2nd of March 2011 06:52:47 PM

Gavin Delaney wrote:

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this is quite good if you want to plan a sighting.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=United_Kingdom&region=England&city=Manchester

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Just got back from Kersal Moor to watch it whiz by and on time unlike our trains and buses

this is quite good if you want to plan a sighting.

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=United_Kingdom&region=England&city=Manchester

Maybe an Iridium comms satellite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_flare

It was like a large gold star, moving south at what seemed like the speed and height of a jet flying into Manchester Airport - but silent - bit spooky

Could it have possibly been the International Space Centre?? I see that quite often.

Putting the empty milk bottles on the back step on Sunday night, saw an amazing UFO fly past. Seems it was the Space Shuttle.

Not a planet or a moon, but pretty impressive!

According to today's Guardian - Mercury should be visible in the western twilight later this month - another rare tick !

re Saturn:-

I hesitate to start a new thread for what is in truth a non birding topic, and Saturn has been discussed here before.
It will be at its best on April 3rd, but just to check it is still "fit and well", I noted early this morning that at 1. 45am it was prominent in the south south eastern sky.
I wasn't able to see through the rings because of the angle at which it is presently inclined; it just looked like a Mexican wearing a sombrero.

Cheers,
Mike P

Hi John,
Thanks for your call earlier. I did succumb to temptation by temporarily abandoning my blackberry crumble to set up the 'scope by the back door, (well you never know when it might cloud over).
If I did correctly locate Uranus, it was rather closer to Jupiter than I expected, (as you said in the same scope view as Jupiter and its moons at x48). It looked like a "starling's egg" shade of pale blue and wasn't of course twinkling, but quite faint nontheless.
A "planet tick"for me so ta very much; - I owe you a Pallass's 'Gropper.

Cheers,
Miguelito

Uranus showing well at the moment!!

Nice to take a look at it again and especially so close to Jupiter.

For any planet hunters out there Uranus is currently about 3 o'clock from Jupiter. In twilight at 17.00 it was the nearest object to Jupiter and in almost a direct line from Jupiter to the Moon. It's about as bright as one of Jupiter's moons.

Cheers, John

Was watching it myself. Ran outside - clear - put the scope out to cool - went to watch the Prgg. - came out CLOUDY - story of my scopes life.

Good prog though.

Cheers

geoff

Just watching "Stargazing Tonight" on BBC 2 - really good. Parts 2 & 3 on tomorrow and Wednesday for those who have become interested in the subject.

Jupiter and the four moons are really bright and clear in the Southern sky at the moment.

Prompted by John Rayner's remark about Saturn becoming increasingly visible in the pre dawn mornings now around 7 a.m. I found myself scanning to the east at 5.30 a.m. today.
The brightest object in the sky this morning was Venus (incidentally markedly brighter than Jupiter has been), showing as a stunning crescent illuminated by the sun hidden below our horizon, to the low "left" of the planet.
For Saturn, taking Venus as the centre piece of a clockface, go up to 1 o'clock, (ignoring the twickling blue star just to the right off line en route). It's best to scan with bins before scoping, Saturn looks noticeably flattened through x 8 bins and of course doesn't twinkle.
Scoping up to x 60, the rings are seen to be on an "8 o'clock/ 2 o'clock" plane, and sufficiently tilted for one just to be able marginally to see into them (as regards spacing between the rings and the planet).
Last night for those interested in really distant stuff, the Great Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda was almost directly overhead at 10 p.m. ( This of course famously unique as the object most distant which can be seen with the naked eye, and the neighbouring similar galaxy to our own, although twice our size, some 2.3 million light years, or put another way :13.8 quadrillion miles distant.
There were a few meteors passing last night and a satellite passed high overhead heading south through Auriga, (close to Capella) this morning.
Cheers,
Mike P

Two more December events for your diaries.

Dec 14th. Geminid Meteor shower. Best after midnight.

Dec 21st. Total eclipse of the moon. Although totality at 08.16 will be difficult to observe as dawn will be breaking and the moon will be setting.

Just need a couple of clear nights now.

A good website describing these events can be found here
http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/

Cheers, John

-- Edited by John Rayner on Saturday 4th of December 2010 10:09:22 PM

Thanks for all the posts on this thread. Following the adice on here up I managed superb views of Jupiter here in Cheshire (nice clear skies!!) with all moons visible & an Equatorial Belt really clear. Try as I might though I failed to get a digiscoped image :( Although digiscoping gives brilliant resuls for moon photos :)

Cheers Paul

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Sunday 5th of December 2010 12:31:22 PM

cheers john, pity i got your post to late , hope i can catch up with them tomorrow.

William Binns wrote:

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very impressed with stellarium! thank you for pionting me in the right direction , think i may have got a new hobby,
jupiter ... tick
uranus ...tick
next........

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Next... Get up and out for 07.00 tomorrow Venus and Saturn low to the south.

Cheers, John

For those of you who are in the modern world, there is an app for iPhone or similar called Star Walk 5. Simply point your phone at a point in the night sky and a live interpretation of what you can see is explained.Very, very impressive!

very impressed with stellarium! thank you for pionting me in the right direction , think i may have got a new hobby,
jupiter ... tick
uranus ...tick
next........

If I had minded it would be closed by now , it's all good interesting stuff.

I hope Ian will not mind this non-birding thread too much but I think there is some interest out there in the subject.

Firstly thanks to those who suggested Stellarium, which I eventually managed to download although I had some problems.

Tonight the air quality seems good and even from my light polluted garden the upper equatorial belt on Jupiter is very prominent as are 4 moons - one displaced far the the LHS.

I'm also fairly confident I identified Uranus. Using the Stellarium star map it is quite easy (though faint) through binoculars. The best way to describe this is follow the line through the 4 moons to the left (i.e. 9 or 10 o'clock-ish) to the nearest obvious star. Go 11 o'clock from this and I believe that's it. Doesn't shimmer, looks blue-ish compared with nearby stars and it's where it's supposed to be according to Stellarium.

This was at 18.00 so as the night progresses everything will slightly rotate clockwise so adjust the 'o'clocks' accordingly.

Cheers, John

Geoff Walton wrote:

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Hi gang,
John, word on the "astro street" has it that the lower (Southern E.B.) is just about to start to show again, so keep trying.

It's clear here in Romiley, but after freezing at Old Moor all day, Old geoff is not getting the scope out tonight.

Well done for spotting the Northern belt. Sometimes it is hard in my 6" and 8" scopes.
I would not expect to be able to see Uranus easily.
Cheers,

Geoff


http://astronomycentral.co.uk/planets-to-see-in-the-sky-tonight

-- Edited by Geoff Walton on Friday 26th of November 2010 09:54:10 PM

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Must surely be to do with air quality at the time of viewing and it's position. I have seen Uranus a couple of years back from my own back garden but that was back then when it was well placed in the night sky.

I might have to take up this latest challenge and see if I can spot it though!!

Hi gang,
John, word on the "astro street" has it that the lower (Southern E.B.) is just about to start to show again, so keep trying.

It's clear here in Romiley, but after freezing at Old Moor all day, Old geoff is not getting the scope out tonight.

Well done for spotting the Northern belt. Sometimes it is hard in my 6" and 8" scopes.
I would not expect to be able to see Uranus easily.
Cheers,

Geoff


http://astronomycentral.co.uk/planets-to-see-in-the-sky-tonight

-- Edited by Geoff Walton on Friday 26th of November 2010 09:54:10 PM

Mike Passant wrote:

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Now see if you can see Uranus a degree or so to the n.e. of Jupiter.

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Has anyone succesfully found this. It is supposed to be about 10 o'clock from Jupiter and about 2 'moon-widths' from it but I'm not sure it's possible from my light polluted garden in Hazel Grove.

Cheers, John.

John Rayner wrote:

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I've just had a look and thought I might be able to see one of these Equatorial Belts.

Roughly splitting the planet into a top 1/3rd and bottom 2/3rds and parallel to the plane of the 4 moons.

I'm using a 62mm Leica at 48x. Can anyone with a brighter or more powerful scope confirm whether I'm imagining this or not.

Cheers, John

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John my scope is the 85mm Zeiss with a 20-60 zoom and I can't pick out those EQs - maybe the air quality in your part of the world as well as above the Passant abode is cleaner than around here - could this be an effect of living so close to the airport ?

Hi John,

You are not seeing things and correctly describe the belt. I don't always see it; I think it depends on the light conditions (i.e. the glare of the sun off jupiter's surface can obliterate it, according to the angle) and clarity of the Earth's atmosphere is obviously a factor. -Glad you've had a good look at it.
Now see if you can see Uranus a degree or so to the n.e. of Jupiter.

Cheers,
Mike

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Thanks Geoff, Jupiter and the 4 moons are showing clearly at the moment in the Eastern sky on this clear and crisp evening (17.30) - but no sign of any E.Q.s

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I've just had a look and thought I might be able to see one of these Equatorial Belts.

Roughly splitting the planet into a top 1/3rd and bottom 2/3rds and parallel to the plane of the 4 moons.

I'm using a 62mm Leica at 48x. Can anyone with a brighter or more powerful scope confirm whether I'm imagining this or not.

Cheers, John

Geoff Walton wrote:

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Hi Sid,
E.Q. = Equatorial Belts. i.e. the two thickish brown bands you can see on pictures.
Only one has been showing recently.

Geoff

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Thanks Geoff, Jupiter and the 4 moons are showing clearly at the moment in the Eastern sky on this clear and crisp evening (17.30) - but no sign of any E.Q.s

sid ashton wrote:

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Geoff Walton wrote.

Hi Sid - practicing to bear the cold ready for winter at Rostherne?

I have not looked for about 3 weeks, can you now see both E.Q..belts? Might get another chance this week as it is going to be cold.

I have a friend who has his scope in an observatory in the garden, liked to a laptop in his living room that he can control and view from. Now that's what I call nice - but very very expensive.

Cheers

geoff

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You've got me there Geoff - whats an E.Q.belt? I'm not a proper astronomer you know
Sid

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Hi Sid,
E.Q. = Equatorial Belts. i.e. the two thickish brown bands you can see on pictures.
Only one has been showing recently.

Geoff

Geoff Walton wrote.

Hi Sid - practicing to bear the cold ready for winter at Rostherne?

I have not looked for about 3 weeks, can you now see both E.Q..belts? Might get another chance this week as it is going to be cold.

I have a friend who has his scope in an observatory in the garden, liked to a laptop in his living room that he can control and view from. Now that's what I call nice - but very very expensive.

Cheers

geoff

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You've got me there Geoff - whats an E.Q.belt? I'm not a proper astronomer you know
Sid

Have a look at http://g4aqb.org.uk/

Some good stuff on there.

sid ashton wrote:

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Not actually a birding post but may be of interest to scope owners. Just had a look at the sky after a call from Ms O, the "Manx Birder" who pointed me in the direction of Jupiter. It is a very bright star just now to the right of our Moon and three of Jupiters moons can be seen clearly with the help of my scope. Apparently it won't be this close again for 50 years so it's worth a look.

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Hi Sid - practicing to bear the cold ready for winter at Rostherne?

I have not looked for about 3 weeks, can you now see both E.Q..belts? Might get another chance this week as it is going to be cold.

I have a friend who has his scope in an observatory in the garden, liked to a laptop in his living room that he can control and view from. Now that's what I call nice - but very very expensive.

Cheers

geoff

Dean Macdonald wrote:

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If you have an android smartphone there's a free app called "google sky map". It's rather good. You just point your phone skywards and a map of the stars appears on the screen. It covers the full 360 panorama and even works indoors.

cheers Dean.

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Hi Dean,
Thanks, just read your post and downloaded 10mins ago(10.50pm).

it looks great and works well.

Want t to buy my "GoTo?" as it doesn't fit in my pocket?

-- Edited by Geoff Walton on Sunday 21st of November 2010 11:11:58 PM