What planets are visible this evening?

Huntergonzo

ThunderCat wrote: »

Yes the 20mm would be far more useful for your telescope as the 4mm would produce very dim images with poor resolution given the arpeture of your scope. Even with that eyepiece however you should still be able to see the 4 largest moons of Jupiter, the merest hint that Saturn has rings and maybe the phase of Venus under the right conditions. But I think in order to see Saturns rings and detail on Jupiter it all comes down to needing a bigger scope. Eyepeices such as a 4mm won't solve that if the arpeture isn't big enough.
It is strange though how the moon is nice and crisp for you but you aren't seeing Jupiters moons. They should only be pinpricks of light by the way, nothing more.

I'm going to have another look at jupiter next chance I get with the 20mm and see what I find, it may just be a case of the untrained eye missing the obvious. Also I'll have a look at venus when it's still relatively bright outside but saturn, to be honest I don't know what to expect, should it's rings not be obvious with most telescopes or as you say should I just get a hint of them?

Ye the moons surface appears very clear, I can see little craters and things like that, now obviously that means nothing to an experienced stargazer but it felt great showing my 9 year old nephew and his friend the moon through a telescope, hopefully it will get them interested aswell.

shedweller

At 35x saturn will just show its rings. Its coming up earlier every evening too so good times ahead!

ThunderCat

Huntergonzo wrote: »

I'm going to have another look at jupiter next chance I get with the 20mm and see what I find, it may just be a case of the untrained eye missing the obvious. Also I'll have a look at venus when it's still relatively bright outside but saturn, to be honest I don't know what to expect, should it's rings not be obvious with most telescopes or as you say should I just get a hint of them?

Ye the moons surface appears very clear, I can see little craters and things like that, now obviously that means nothing to an experienced stargazer but it felt great showing my 9 year old nephew and his friend the moon through a telescope, hopefully it will get them interested aswell.

The thing with Saturn is that it's smaller than Jupiter (if side by side) and give or take it's a billion miles away so you would need a relatively big telescope to view the rings in any great detail. What I mean about getting a hint of the rings is that you may see Saturn as an oblong shape, like a planet with dog ears almost, which of course are the rings as we know. In fact I think it was Galileo who when first observed Saturn, thought the rings were two tightly orbiting moons. But a telescope with big arpeture and sufficient magnification will tell us otherwise. It just depends weather on not your scope can.

And by the way, the craters on the moon for me still remain one of the most wonderful sights you can see with any telescope. Further away doesn't always mean more impressive!

shedweller

Oh yeah. Cant beat getting in close to the moon for lots of wow! Even a wide field view of it is awesome. Maybe moreso!

shedweller

Saturn is up in the east. Seeing isnt great so low down but i think i see titan to the nearside of it.
Lovely evening for it!

rolion

Beautiful night, clear, cold but not windy.
Got "nice" shot of Jupiter and its moons, but still can't get a proper view in the eyepiece or on the DSLR.
Not sure whats wrong ... but I'll get there !

Saturn was way too low in the Southern sky, maybe tonight !?

1st attempt with few more on Flickr:

[URL="[url=https://flic.kr/p/sYrZNm][img]https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5334/17704071980_4d802a1693_b.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/sYrZNm]DSC_0018[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/132185679@N07/]Liam @rolion.me[/url], on Flickr"][/url]

shedweller

Well done! Saturn is going to be up a little earlier every night for a good while now so plenty of photo opportunities lie ahead. I may need to barlow my camera just a tad!

I also just noticed a sliver of moon in the west. Venus is up to its 11 o clock. Err roger!

Mountainsandh

Thanks to another thread, I think I have ided the "thing" I saw the other day, on the 17th, it looks like it was probably the Cosmos 2084 Rocket at its perigee (? since it was super bright ?), heading NE, but just visible to me for 30 seconds or so.

Is a rocket body debris ? Why wouldn't it have fallen back down and disintegrated ?

http://www.heavens-above.com/satinfo.aspx?satid=20666&lat=52.2108&lng=-7.7694&loc=Dungarvan&alt=206&tz=GMT

shedweller

I suppose it does qualify as debris. It is strange (because i dont fully understand!) that it is still in orbit. All i can think of is that nowadays we juuust send up the payload with the booster. The payload then fires up and finishes the job. Back in the day maybe they weren't so concerned about empty boosters orbiting for decades. It would be really cool to go up there and lay hands on that booster now! (I know....it would be cool to just go up there!)

Maximus Alexander

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Is a rocket body debris ? Why wouldn't it have fallen back down and disintegrated ?

As you may already know, when launching into space there will be multiple rocket stages which fire in sequence. At least two, and sometimes up to four.

The lower stage(s) are released once they run out of fuel and fall back into the atmosphere where they burn up (or in some cases return to Earth to be reused). The upper stage(s) will make it into orbit themselves before detaching from the satellite, or spacecraft.

If you think about it, this has to be the case because it's the rocket that's pushing the payload into orbit to begin with. If the rocket doesn't get to orbit, neither does the payload.

So, once you get whatever you were trying to get into space - into space, there's a rocket stage left orbiting the Earth below or behind it.

Sometimes these stages will be on an orbit with a low perigee so that they eventually decay and fall back to Earth, sometimes not. Sometimes they will have enough fuel remaining that they can be deliberately de-orbited, sometimes not.

Junk is a real problem.

Mountainsandh

Thanks for that explanation Maximus A.
Yeah, a lot of junk up there even just judging by the page that rocket appeared, there are lots of other rocket bits ! Lots of Cosmos + numbers, so I presume all from the same program/sender (Russia).

http://www.heavens-above.com/AllSats.aspx?lat=52.2108&lng=-7.7694&loc=Dungarvan&alt=206&tz=GMT

There isn't one for every year, but not too far off either ! 1981, 1986, 1987, then a good few in the 90s... and the American ones too !

Mountainsandh

I got a question !

I know the Milky Way is not very visible at this time of year, but it does get more visible as the summer advance no ?

I'm just trying to plan a photo shoot (nothing amazing, just me messing with dslr) some time in the summer, and although I often admire the Milky Way from home, I've no idea where and how to expect it, I always just step out of the house and go ohhh, wherever it presents . I'd love to know, because I've a few places spotted for nice foreground, but of course, where the Milky Way will be visible is my main concern.

I think I often see it crossing North to South, maybe North East to South West, does that make sense, or is that just the time of night I'm looking ?

shedweller

I'd say fire up stellarium and play with the dates and times. That should give you what you're looking for.
And... pics or gtfo!

Mountainsandh

Stellarium ! I forgot about that ! Visited it ages ago and then couldn't find it again, and Heavensabove didn't seem to deliver on what I wanted. I'll try now, thanks.

ThunderCat

Mountainsandh wrote: »

I got a question !

I know the Milky Way is not very visible at this time of year, but it does get more visible as the summer advance no ?

I'm just trying to plan a photo shoot (nothing amazing, just me messing with dslr) some time in the summer, and although I often admire the Milky Way from home, I've no idea where and how to expect it, I always just step out of the house and go ohhh, wherever it presents . I'd love to know, because I've a few places spotted for nice foreground, but of course, where the Milky Way will be visible is my main concern.

I think I often see it crossing North to South, maybe North East to South West, does that make sense, or is that just the time of night I'm looking ?

If you look to the East from around 11pm until 3am (best viewing at about 2am weather permitting) you will see the band of the Milky Way. Deneb will be prominent in that portion of the sky to assist you. Just point towards that and you will capture the Milky Way. Problem you have this time of year is that it isn't as dark for as long and it won't appear as high in the sky as during the winter months. You will notice if you view it tonight that it is the shape of the rainbow, coming up from the horizon in the North, arcing low-ish across the East, and dipping below the horizon again in the South/South East.

Mountainsandh

Thanks very much Thundercat, that really helps as I'm near the Knockmealdowns, and looking East to the Comeraghs' Western slopes. Which means that my horizon Eastwards is really between 200m and 500/600m high already.
I've a range of locations to drive to, I would probably still get a good shot from 200m high on the Knockmealdowns, and can also travel towards the Eastern flank of the Comeraghs if needs be.

Huntergonzo

Was out with the telescope last night an accidentally figured out what I was doing wrong, Id been adjusting the focus when I didn't need to. I knew I was making a stupid mistake but in my defence I used to do land surveying for 7 years so I was used to changing the focal length on a very frequent basis.

Started off looking at the moon which was great as always, then turned my attention to Jupiter (forgetting to change focus) and boom, perfect Jupiter and 3 distinct moons. Also had a look at Venus and saw it's phase and finished off with Saturn which was breath taking for a first timer, could see the planet and rings perfectly, I was expecting a side view but it was like a bird's eye view instead, brilliant

MagicIRL

Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are all visible tonight. Its my first time seeing Saturn since I got my telescope at Christmas. Managed to get it crystal clear to see the planet and it's magnificent ring. Got some shoddy photographs pressing my phone against the eye piece!

shedweller

It was a lovely night for it alright. I didnt venture out myself due to work. Saturn is climbing steadily now so it will be easier for people to see it earlier in the evening.

shedweller

Saturn is just a little to the right of the moon. About a four o clock position relative to it. The seeing is ok considering the wind.
Full moon time is tomorrow at 17:15 if its not completely clouded over or another monsoon has hit us we might just see something! It'll be a few hrs after the actual full moon before it rises but that will be as full as i gets then.

shedweller

This week, on the 20th, we'll be treated to the moon, jupiter and venus all sharing the one piece of sky. It will be bright earlier on but as the evening progresses it will (better!) become more spectacular.
Then on the 30th, venus and jupiter will almost converge for a really close conjunction.
Just get yer mammies to put out the child of prague every day until then!!
And i'm away for it all. Great. Just great!

shedweller

Back from the hols and i was lucky enough to see the Venus/Jupiter conjunction. (Thats the right word, isn't it??)
I had no tripod so i braced the camera against the wall and held out the lens from it with three fingers for the correct spacing.

Knifey Spoony

This deserves a bump...

Jupiter, Mars, Venus and a cresent moon are all visible in roughly the same area of Sky, all in roughly a straight line across the ecliptic to the east.
Mercury should also be visible very low to the horizon, but I think that it should gain a higher elevation over the horizon before dawn in the coming days/weeks.

shedweller

Good spot. Only it involves early starts!

"Ah quit yer whingin will ya!!"

ankaragucu

Looked quite stunning there this morning.About 6.40 nice and clear over Dublin

jfSDAS

Nice animation on the Astronomy Now web site showing the changing aspect of the Moon and planets this week. See https://astronomynow.com/2015/09/30/get-ready-for-octobers-pre-dawn-moon-and-planet-show/

John

shedweller

At 07:00 in the morning (plus or minus a bit i suppose!), jupiter and mars will be at their closest from our perspective. Clear skies!

Thargor

Huntergonzo wrote: »

Was out with the telescope last night an accidentally figured out what I was doing wrong, Id been adjusting the focus when I didn't need to. I knew I was making a stupid mistake but in my defence I used to do land surveying for 7 years so I was used to changing the focal length on a very frequent basis.

Started off looking at the moon which was great as always, then turned my attention to Jupiter (forgetting to change focus) and boom, perfect Jupiter and 3 distinct moons. Also had a look at Venus and saw it's phase and finished off with Saturn which was breath taking for a first timer, could see the planet and rings perfectly, I was expecting a side view but it was like a bird's eye view instead, brilliant

Whats the scope?

Pat Dunne

Thargor wrote: »

Whats the scope?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=95471364&postcount=48

shedweller

Mars jupiter and venus are looking very well this morning, if any of yis are up! Mercury is low on the horizon but i cant see it from where i am.