Observing session Saturday 12th September

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:20 pm

Hi all,
I considering calling a club observing sessoin for saturday night.
The weather is looking good, and from what people are telling me, Boher is the place to go.
There is a last quarter moon rising after middnight so we'll get a few hours in before it gets too late.
What would people think of 8pm and going up to the hill at 8.10, it'll still be bright giving us a chance to set up before it gets dark...
so who's up for it.

Conan Mc Donnell · Post by **Conan Mc Donnell** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:07 pm

I'll be there. c u at 8.

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:19 pm

Great, see you there , this is a definite go now given the excellent weather.

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:26 pm

Best of luck tonight lads.
The Skies here in The West have
Been the best I've seen in years.
5th night in a row tonight!!
I'm banjaxed.
Have ye seen the jet streem chart for today?
Zero over us. Jupiter will look amazing!
It's been jawdroppingly good the last few nights.
Only issue with the light winds will be fog or haze.
The amount of haze the exhaust from transatlantic planes
Here is criminal.
Anyway. Scope is out now cooling,
I saw some crazy refraction effects on the
Sunset the last two nights here
Looked like it split in two and got all
Squashed. Photos soon. Well..
Boher is defo the best choice as
The Moon washes out a lot when its up
Not worth the long drive here just for a few
Hours.
It's set to stay as well.
Man, I really want it ti be here during new Moon!

Dave Lillis · Post by **Dave Lillis** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 3:19 pm

A good night it turned out to be.
Conan, Melissa, Catherine, Pat, John and I attended up in Boher.
We had a dark enough sky, and a little haze for a small while but not for long thankfully.
We saw the ISS, numerous satellites and a number of good meteors,
We had a look at the usuals, M13, M15, M2, M3, M17, M57, the veil nebula, and planets Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune and double stars Albireo and Alamac.
We got a great view of M31 and M110, dark lanes were visible in the galaxy and its shape was similar to a photograph in an atlas I had there.
Jupiter had a very nice transit of Io and its shadow across the disk, the GRS appeared later on that night, in moments of good seeing it was superb.! Twists and festoons were plainly visible in the belts.
The moon came up later on and we had a good view of Copernicus near the terminator.
We noticed that Mars was rising but there wasn't a decent view of it as it was so low in the sky.
We finished up at 2.30, there was some minor fog on the way home but the site was still good.
So thanks to all who came, its one we hope to repeat again soon.

Frank Ryan · Post by **Frank Ryan** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:18 pm

Sounds like ye had a great night.
Went through a similar list also here.
The skies stayed crystal all night.
No haze, fog or due.
The rising moon didnt spoil it much either.
Tonight looks much tge same.
The Burren should be great tonight.
6 nights and counting!!