What did you see in the sky tonight?

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Fred the Cat
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Fred the Cat » Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:17 pm

I'm happy we both had a clear view. I'd like to invest in a phone/binoccular adapter because that sight was splendid. :thumb_up:
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Fred the Cat » Tue Mar 07, 2023 3:09 am

IMG_6199 (2).JPG
I was taking a photo of the full moon tonight.
IMG_6201 (2).JPG
After dinner, I looked up to our second story window
IMG_6229 (2).JPG
and saw dessert. :ssmile:
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Ann » Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:01 am

Fred and Chris, you've shown us such superb pictures lately! :D Love your Moon shot with the Lady in the Moon showing so clearly, Fred. And Chris, your portrait of galaxy M63 is just wonderful!

But, hey - we are all allowed to post our little efforts here, aren't we?

So here goes. This is the first time I've managed to photograph a thin crescent moon and made it look actually thin! Wo-hoo!!!

Crescent Moon and Venus.jpg
Crescent Moon and Venus against dark sky.jpg

As the sky grew darker, I just couldn't make the crescent Moon look so thin. Talk about pixel bleeding!

Oh, and... I have to show you this... :oops:

The Pleiades from my balcony (2).jpg

Can't you see? It's obviously the Pleiades! :lol2:

Ann
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Fred the Cat » Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:47 am

Ann wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:01 am
Can't you see? It's obviously the Pleiades! :lol2:

Ann
Sometimes it's hard to know what a photo can be made to realize.
IMG_6229 (3).JPG
When I was trying to photograph Jupiter and Venus from inside our house, an out-of-focus image seemed to contain unexpected detail of Jupiter.
IMG_6219 (2).JPG
This post and the others were very helpful to alleve my wishfulness. It does make me curious how much detail a skilled digital reconstructionist could glean from a flawed image. :?:
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Ann » Wed Mar 29, 2023 5:10 am

Fred the Cat wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:47 am
Ann wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:01 am
Can't you see? It's obviously the Pleiades! :lol2:

Ann
Sometimes it's hard to know what a photo can be made to realize.
IMG_6229 (3).JPG
When I was trying to photograph Jupiter and Venus from inside our house, an out-of-focus image seemed to contain unexpected detail of Jupiter.
IMG_6219 (2).JPG

This post and the others were very helpful to alleve my wishfulness. It does make me curious how much detail a skilled digital reconstructionist could glean from a flawed image. :?:

Looks fine to me, Ron! :D


Only problem is... The light-colored stripe across the face of Jupiter in your picture is found just where the dark North Equatorial Belt is supposed to be located!

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Ann » Mon Jun 05, 2023 6:25 pm

Noctilucent clouds June 4 to 5 2023.jpg

Okay, crappy picture. And not a very impressive display. But I did see some noctilucent clouds last night.

I woke up at midnight, having been asleep since about ten. I stumbled out into my kitchen, took a quick peek outside, noticed a brightening at the horizon which shouldn't be there, grabbed my mobile, took a picture and stumbled back to bed again.

And some noctilucent clouds were there alright!

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Rauf » Wed Jun 07, 2023 6:12 am

Ann wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 6:25 pm Noctilucent clouds June 4 to 5 2023.jpg


Okay, crappy picture. And not a very impressive display. But I did see some noctilucent clouds last night.

I woke up at midnight, having been asleep since about ten. I stumbled out into my kitchen, took a quick peek outside, noticed a brightening at the horizon which shouldn't be there, grabbed my mobile, took a picture and stumbled back to bed again.

And some noctilucent clouds were there alright!

Ann
A beautiful picture! I love the mixture of clouds with the sky, Some people prefer to have an all clear sky for observing, and for a good reason, but the presence of a couple of clouds make me feel I'm actually on Earth, and I'm looking at this giant universe from my small planet (If you know what I mean)
I love your picture, but I guess a power outage would have made it even prettier :ssmile:

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Chris Peterson » Sun Jul 30, 2023 1:38 pm

Pretty nice rainbow yesterday... more supernumeraries than I've ever seen before!
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by rstevenson » Tue Aug 01, 2023 1:33 am

This evening (July 31, 2023) at 9:18 pm Atlantic Standard Time I looked to the SSW from my home in Halifax, to catch a glimpse of the ISS as it slid by at over 27,500 kph to the south of Nova Scotia following a generally NW to SE arc. (I used the GoISSWatch app to find where and when to look.) To my surprise another almost identical looking object went through my binocular field of view in the opposite direction, a little lower from my point of view. They were together in the same view for only a few seconds, not surprisingly considering the speed of the ISS at least. Since the ISS, at about 420km high, was bright in our night sky due to reflected sunlight I wonder if the other object was also quite high up and was a satellite. Anyone know enough about satellites to tell me if there was another large one for me to catch? It may have been a bit closer and lower, but not too much or it wouldn't have been in sunlight. And no, I don't think it was a plane. It was a steady and quite bright yellow colour, just like the ISS.

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Chris Peterson » Tue Aug 01, 2023 3:48 am

rstevenson wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2023 1:33 am This evening (July 31, 2023) at 9:18 pm Atlantic Standard Time I looked to the SSW from my home in Halifax, to catch a glimpse of the ISS as it slid by at over 27,500 kph to the south of Nova Scotia following a generally NW to SE arc. (I used the GoISSWatch app to find where and when to look.) To my surprise another almost identical looking object went through my binocular field of view in the opposite direction, a little lower from my point of view. They were together in the same view for only a few seconds, not surprisingly considering the speed of the ISS at least. Since the ISS, at about 420km high, was bright in our night sky due to reflected sunlight I wonder if the other object was also quite high up and was a satellite. Anyone know enough about satellites to tell me if there was another large one for me to catch? It may have been a bit closer and lower, but not too much or it wouldn't have been in sunlight. And no, I don't think it was a plane. It was a steady and quite bright yellow colour, just like the ISS.

Thanks,

Rob
Really nothing that bright up there then (or at all!) I assume when you say "the opposite direction" you just mean relative to your tracking of the ISS. If it was actually going east to west it really couldn't have been a satellite.

Maybe a balloon? That could pick up the low Sun and have a similar color. Or a plane that just presented oddly?
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by rstevenson » Tue Aug 01, 2023 10:35 am

Chris Peterson wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2023 3:48 am
rstevenson wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2023 1:33 am This evening (July 31, 2023) at 9:18 pm Atlantic Standard Time I looked to the SSW from my home in Halifax, to catch a glimpse of the ISS as it slid by at over 27,500 kph to the south of Nova Scotia following a generally NW to SE arc. (I used the GoISSWatch app to find where and when to look.) To my surprise another almost identical looking object went through my binocular field of view in the opposite direction, a little lower from my point of view. They were together in the same view for only a few seconds, not surprisingly considering the speed of the ISS at least. Since the ISS, at about 420km high, was bright in our night sky due to reflected sunlight I wonder if the other object was also quite high up and was a satellite. Anyone know enough about satellites to tell me if there was another large one for me to catch? It may have been a bit closer and lower, but not too much or it wouldn't have been in sunlight. And no, I don't think it was a plane. It was a steady and quite bright yellow colour, just like the ISS.

Thanks,

Rob
Really nothing that bright up there then (or at all!) I assume when you say "the opposite direction" you just mean relative to your tracking of the ISS. If it was actually going east to west it really couldn't have been a satellite.

Maybe a balloon? That could pick up the low Sun and have a similar color. Or a plane that just presented oddly?
Yes, it seemed to be moving east to west, but considering I was tracking the fast moving ISS in my binoculars, I really couldn’t say for sure. It certainly didn’t present as a typical plane, but perhaps if a plane was banking rather sharply at that precise moment it would reflect the sunlight so brightly that I wouldn’t see its running lights. As a comparison, I saw a plane about an hour later to the north of me on a typical airport approach track. It was very bright too but distinctly silver-white (its “headlights”, I suppose) with noticeable green and red lights at its wing tips.

Thanks Chris.

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Fred the Cat » Sat Oct 14, 2023 4:07 pm

Eclipse 10-14.JPG
Mostly cloudy but a slight chance of sun 8-)
Eclipse 10-14-2.JPG
Another cloud break to "C" it. :clap:
Eclipse1-14-3.JPG
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Ann » Sun Oct 15, 2023 3:25 am

Fred the Cat wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2023 4:07 pm Eclipse 10-14.JPG
Mostly cloudy but a slight chance of sun 8-)
Eclipse 10-14-2.JPG
Another cloud break to "C" it. :clap:
Eclipse1-14-3.JPG
Nice, Fred! :D

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Chris Peterson » Sun Oct 15, 2023 3:23 pm

Popped down to New Mexico (just a 6 hour drive) to put myself on the centerline. Perfect skies, perfect weather (got a bit chilly mid-eclipse, though).
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seq_crop.jpg
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Christian G. » Sun Oct 15, 2023 3:53 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2023 3:23 pm Popped down to New Mexico (just a 6 hour drive) to put myself on the centerline. Perfect skies, perfect weather (got a bit chilly mid-eclipse, though).
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seq_crop.jpg
stages.jpg
Fred the Cat wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2023 4:07 pm Eclipse 10-14.JPG
Mostly cloudy but a slight chance of sun 8-)
Eclipse 10-14-2.JPG
Another cloud break to "C" it. :clap:
Eclipse1-14-3.JPG
Great images, both of you! (sure beats the cloud eclipse I saw)

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Oct 16, 2023 10:13 pm

Eclipse! Finished processing some pictures, and a video of the entire thing through my telescope. Posted at http://www.cloudbait.com/2023ecl.php
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seq_11_800_line.jpg
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Ann » Tue Oct 17, 2023 4:49 am

Chris Peterson wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 10:13 pm Eclipse! Finished processing some pictures, and a video of the entire thing through my telescope. Posted at http://www.cloudbait.com/2023ecl.php
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seq_11_800_line.jpg
Delightful, Chris! The images on either side of the annual eclipse one are perfect "upside down" versions of each other, except that the two prominent sunspots are seen in four of the images to the left of the annular eclipse one and in only two of the ones on the right. But there is a small sunspot near the top right limb that is seen in all five images to the right. I love the sunspots!

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Nov 09, 2023 8:54 pm

A very unusual sundog this morning. Sun is still behind the peak on the left, but must be shining into the valley between it and the slightly more distant ridge to the right. The sundog itself is coming off of ice crystals in the air, just above the ground. It was chilly... about 20° F. And a lot of interesting color in the sundog, which they don't normally show.
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Nov 27, 2023 4:40 am

Moonrise tonight across the valley, above Castle Mountain.
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Cousin Ricky » Thu Dec 14, 2023 11:07 pm

I saw meteors last light, lots of meteors. This was easily the most prolific meteor shower I’ve ever seen, with more than one per minute.

I also caught quite a few DSOs with my binocular: M31, M35, M41, M42, M43, M44, M45, M103, NGC 654, NGC 663, the Double Cluster, and NGC 1973-5-7. I believe I caught M78, just barely, intermittently, and with serious averted vision.

I was unable to make out M32, M110, NGC 659, or anything in Leo.

Of course, no night of sidewalk astronomy is complete without my having to correct someone, “No, that’s not the North Star, that’s Jupiter.” One other person caught the mistake, observing that the object was not towards the north. I then showed the curious how to find the North Star.

Speaking of Jupiter, I saw Callisto and Ganymede in my binocular, but Io was too close to Jupiter’s glare, and I had no luck with Europa. I thought for sure I should have been able to see Europa, but I couldn’t get the binocular focused enough. Hopefully, that was due to my aging prescription eyeglasses, and not the binocular.

On that note, I also got my eyes checked yesterday, and they are in pretty good condition. The optometrist thinks my declining ability to see DSOs is more from the increasing light pollution than to my aging vision.

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Rauf » Fri Dec 15, 2023 8:40 am

Cousin Ricky wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2023 11:07 pm I saw meteors last light, lots of meteors. This was easily the most prolific meteor shower I’ve ever seen, with more than one per minute.

I also caught quite a few DSOs with my binocular: M31, M35, M41, M42, M43, M44, M45, M103, NGC 654, NGC 663, the Double Cluster, and NGC 1973-5-7. I believe I caught M78, just barely, intermittently, and with serious averted vision.

I was unable to make out M32, M110, NGC 659, or anything in Leo.

Of course, no night of sidewalk astronomy is complete without my having to correct someone, “No, that’s not the North Star, that’s Jupiter.” One other person caught the mistake, observing that the object was not towards the north. I then showed the curious how to find the North Star.

Speaking of Jupiter, I saw Callisto and Ganymede in my binocular, but Io was too close to Jupiter’s glare, and I had no luck with Europa. I thought for sure I should have been able to see Europa, but I couldn’t get the binocular focused enough. Hopefully, that was due to my aging prescription eyeglasses, and not the binocular.

On that note, I also got my eyes checked yesterday, and they are in pretty good condition. The optometrist thinks my declining ability to see DSOs is more from the increasing light pollution than to my aging vision.
Nice! Can I ask what kind of binocular did you use?

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Cousin Ricky » Mon Dec 18, 2023 1:25 pm

Rauf wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2023 8:40 am Nice! Can I ask what kind of binocular did you use?
It was a handheld 50×7. At my age, I should probably be using one with a smaller exit pupil, such as a 50×10, but I haven’t been moved to replace it yet.

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Rauf » Mon Dec 18, 2023 5:07 pm

Cousin Ricky wrote: Mon Dec 18, 2023 1:25 pm
Rauf wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2023 8:40 am Nice! Can I ask what kind of binocular did you use?
It was a handheld 50×7. At my age, I should probably be using one with a smaller exit pupil, such as a 50×10, but I haven’t been moved to replace it yet.
Cool! Unfortunately for me, I don't have access to dark skies, I live in an urban area with a humid weather, so the sky is not so lovely in the night. Even with a 20x80 binocular, I can only barely recognize M31 and M13.

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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Fred the Cat » Thu Mar 14, 2024 5:05 am

The conjuction tonight
IMG_6848.JPG
with its beautiful crescent
IMG_6844b.JPG
led me back to "The Road to the Snow Moon" from last month.
IMG_6841b.JPG
I love finding images you forgot you took. :facepalm:
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Re: What did you see in the sky tonight?

Post by Fred the Cat » Sun Mar 17, 2024 2:36 am

Fred the Cat wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2024 5:05 am The conjuction tonight
with its beautiful crescent
led me back to "The Road to the Snow Moon" from last month.


I love finding images you forgot you took. :facepalm:
FMI. Is there a possibility that Uranus crept into the conjunction image?
IMG_6848.JPG
That would be an unexpected surprise. :yes:
IMG_6848a.JPG
High-res upper left hand corner. :|
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