May 2009 Observations

May 1st

I went out to shoot the Moon at 22:00 GMT. Although conditions appeared quite clear, though a little hazy (supposedly good for lunar and planetary viewing/photography, it turned out to be a struggle.

May 3rd

I did a hydrogen alpha solar shoot with my PST at 09:50 GMT. The Sun seemed very quiet.

At 19:50 GMT, I went out for a Moon shoot in the dusk. I started off with the full disc using the normal set-up for deep sky viewing to take the full disc. I then used optical zoom to take my regional shots. I then moved to the 12mm CEMAX (128x magnification), then ended up with adding the Magni Max Image Amplifier with it to obtain 205x magnification. For the latter shots, I used flash, which seemed to reduce overexposure of the Moon.

This close-up is Plato.

Followed by Copernicus.

The next batch were taken almost at random, catching the background terrain.

I managed to catch the Appennines with Copernicus.

Now back to Copernicus.

Then Clavius turned up.

Back to random terrain.

I returned to get a clearer look at Plato.

Meanwhile, back to the Appennines.

Now back to random terrain.

May 4th

I went out with the bins at 00:30 GMT and used M13 and M5 as "sighters" to test the conditions. I found M4 well enough but it was nowhere as bright as M13 (due to distinction) and M80 was quite faint. M107 was borderline but M10 and M12 fitted into the same field of view, although they appeared quite small, suggesting that I could only see the central concentration.

I returned out with the Mak, now armed with the light pollution filter. M4 was large and diffuse, whilst M80 turned out to be rather difficult. M107, whilst the faintest of the targets actually seemed to show more of a central condensation. M10 and M12 (expectedly) looked identical and both had a wispy appearance, suggesting small galaxies, rather than globular clusters.

I returned out at 02:10 GMT with the bins to track down some elusive objects. I saw M20 and M8 (nebulae) close to each other and happened upon M24 and M25, starfields in Sagittarius. By maoevering around the neighbourhood front gardens, I was able to see a large clump of stars hugging the horizon below M8/M20 and another, smaller, that was slightly higher and to the right. These were M7 and M6, respectively.

May 8th

It finally cleared at 15:20 GMT for me to do a hydrogen alpha photo shoot.

May 9th

I did an early PST shoot at 06:40 GMT. No prominences were visible but there was a filament on the lower part of the disc and an interesting structure rotating into view.

darkening quite clearly, I could see no sign of the reported

I bin scanned the Sun at 15:20 GMT. Although I could see limb darkening, I could see no sign of the reported faculae.

May 11th

Bin scanned the Sun through thin cloud at 06:40 GMT and the scattering looked reminiscent of the solar corona. I saw limb darkening but neither sunspots nor faculae.

I went out with the PST at 18:50 GMT and saw prominences at either end of the solar disc.

May 12th

Bin scanned the Sun at 09:35 GMT can now see the faculae that are reported.

I had a go with the Mak at 16:20 GMT but found the results less than convincing.

May 15th

After some quite appalling weather, it cleared unexpectedly in the evening, so at 22:45 GMT, I was out looking for M40 in the bins. I found it well enough and there were a few background stars, possibly suggesting some nebulosity. I rechecked in the Mak and the results were more convincing and there were quite a few field stars, confirming earlier suspicions. I saw a satellite flash through while observing it. I ended up with a look at the Ring (M57) before cloud moved in.

May 16th

Bin scanned the Sun at 13:15 GMT. There was a lot of moving cloud but I had a good look at the solar disc, with the only visible feature being limb darkening.

At 22:50 GMT I went out for a bin scan. There was a lot of cloud about but one or two clearer patches. The normal double stars in the Cygnus/Lyra region showed quite well but the only deep sky objects visible of note were Melotte 111 and M13.

May 20th

Bin scanned the Sun at 09:15 GMT but didn't see the faculae.

May 21st

Bin scanned the Sun at 12:55 GMT and the faculae were just visible.

I did a hydrogen alpha shoot at 16:30 GMT. I was disappointed not to see any prominences but did see an unusual filament. The last shot shows a close-up.

May 24th

Went out for a bin scan at 00:30 GMT to decide whether to go for a few Messier targets or not. To start with, I took a snap of the target area.

I started off with M20 and M8 in Sagittarius. They appeared large and diffuse in binoculars but when I turned the Mak on them they came alive with lots of stars in and around the nebulousity. I returned to check out the area later and found the open cluster M21 in the Makm although I couldn't see it in binoculars.

I allowed myself the diversion of a bin scan of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). Although it was low, I could clearly make out some structure.

Binoculars showed M9 and M19 as faint fuzzies but M62 wasn't visible. However, the Mak didn't improve the view of M19 much but M62 was visible and showed a pronounced core. M9 was brighter but rather diffuse.

I could also make out M22 (which I'd never seen before) in the bins. Unfortunately, the Mak didn't improve the view as I hoped. However, M21 and M28 were visible in the Mak.

I did a hydrogen alpha shoot at 08:15 GMT. I could see some prominences at both sides of the Sun. However, neither of them came out in the photos, although I picked up some disc detail in the close-ups.

I returned out at 22:55 GMT for a bin scan. Melotte 111 looked superb but M3 was reduced to a faint fuzzy. M13 wasn't at its best but still showed some structure. In Cygnus, both M39 and M29 showed well as did Albireo. The North America Nebula was just visible but neither M4 nor M80 showed. I could make out Saturn's rings but no moons.

May 25th

I returned out at 23:50 GMT in the hope of more Messiering around but the only object I could find that I didn't see before was M11.

May 26th

I revisited the snaps from May 24th and managed to extract some prominence detail.

I went out at 16:30 GMT to do a hydrogen alpha shoot but the Sun was quiet. Some filament detail came out in the close-ups, though.

May 28th

I did a hydrogen alpha shoot at 18:30 GMT.

I did a lunar photo shoot at 21:40 GMT.

May 29th

I did a hydrogen alpha shoot at 07:40 GMT. Although it was rather quiet, there were some small proms on the western limb.

I carried out a lunar shoot at 21:30 GMT.

May 30th

The "day" started at 00:50 GMT, as I wanted to do a Messier session with the bins. The first thing I noticed was two bright lights in Scutum about 2nd/3rd magnitude. I also saw 3 satellites pass as they faded. I thought about gamma ray bursts but 2 in the same part of the sky. M11 looked poor but I revisited M8 and enjoyed it. M21 was just visible but no more. A revisit of M22 was nice as well. I also spotted M25, M18, M17 and M16 which all showed well but M26 was faint. M24 looked like a large cluster.

I returned out with the Mak and was immediately impressed with M24, which showed a hint of nebulousity. Not a true clsuter but who cares? M25 was rather nice, too with hints of clumps of stars and nebulousity (really groups of faint, distant stars). I saw M11 with the LPR filter for the first time and it was great and well worth the effort. M26 turned out to be sparse and a satellite passed while I was trying to find it. M16 and M17 looked spread out in the Mak and fainter but the background and foreground stars looked rather nice. M18 came alive in the Mak.

I was well tired by this time but Jupiter appeared above the horizon and I could see 3 moons with a hint of an equatorial cloud belt. I continued with a hydrogen alpha shoot at 09:20 GMT.