Going out to UK astronomers: Crystal clear night tonight, anything good to see?

Hi all,

I have on loan to me, a large 130mm reflective telescope from a friend and i was wondering with SUCH a clear night tonight is there anything of particular interest out there this evening?

The moon is the brightest ive seen it for months but im not that familiar with finding planets, i did find Jupiter with it before and i could see its moons, anything MORE cool than that to see? Im a little bored of the moon now

Thanks for any help i will be monitoring the thread for perhaps 6 hours into the morning so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

reply to post by Biigs


Well depending where you are there is a chance you might see some Northern Lights. But I doubt you will need a telescope for that. Also try see if you can find Jupiter.

A few weeks ago we had someone over who took out a pair of binoculars and pointed to a big bright star in the sky. The star was Jupiter and we saw 3 of its moons...!!

It was amazing......!

Northern lights could be visible across the UK – even in the south
www.theguardian.com...

and the ATS thread...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

spaceweather.com... is the awnser !

Ryanair 146A,it's over head now according to Flight Radar 24 .

reply to post by fluff007


Oh sorry quite right, im in the middle of England, UK


i would LOVE to see the northern lights and with the solar activity at the moment that might actually be doable, i will keep a watch out thanks

Jupiter last time i could see about 3-5 moons and over the course of 10-20 mins (and alot of telescope tweaking) you can clearly see the movement of the moons, pretty amazing.

Is there anything else im able to see, i would love to see the Andromeda galaxy or another fun planet like perhaps Saturn.

Would love to see the Northern Lights again. I am in South East England but remember one night back in the late 90's when taking the pooch out for a late night walk, seeing a lovely shimmering pale green aurora. Called the family in Norfolk and they went outside and could see it too. Never to be forgotten!

reply to post by Biigs


Oh wow that sounds cool...! I would sooo love one day to own a telescope...!

I am not sure about seeing other things. If I had that telescope I would be scanning the skies looking at every twinkling object..! A quick search should help you with that though. I will have a look too...

Biigs
reply to post by fluff007

 

Oh sorry quite right, im in the middle of England, UK


i would LOVE to see the northern lights and with the solar activity at the moment that might actually be doable, i will keep a watch out thanks

Jupiter last time i could see about 3-5 moons and over the course of 10-20 mins (and alot of telescope tweaking) you can clearly see the movement of the moons, pretty amazing.

Is there anything else im able to see, i would love to see the Andromeda galaxy or another fun planet like perhaps Saturn.

Im in south Birmingham - Andromeda is directly west of the Moon at the moment. You can see Mars and then Saturn in the early hours of the morning to the south - 5am ish both will be above the horizon to the south.

Saturn is awesome through a scope

Northern Lights are expected, they could turn spectacular. CME has already arrived, weaker than expected, but may intensify at any moment when Earth travels on its orbit and we sail through the solar wind. In Northern Lights, things can change very fast.

And you should check out my favorite, Orion Nebula M42. It should be easy to find, as its visible to naked eye if there is no light pollution. Its in middle of "pyramid" formed by Rigel, Saiph and Orion's belt. Its brightest nebula on Northern sky.

www.cosmicastronomy.com...

If you are early enough to see Orion,look for the Nebula beneath Orions Belt.Its a foggy spot,M-42 I think?

Im in the south of the UK by the Bristol channel. Its raining on and off here, no stars to see

And of course there is my second favorite, The Pleiades at Taurus constellation. Its group of B-class middle aged stars that are very close to each other, with naked eye you can see only 6, while there is hundreds of stars visible to telescope.

www.naic.edu...

Britguy
Would love to see the Northern Lights again. I am in South East England but remember one night back in the late 90's when taking the pooch out for a late night walk, seeing a lovely shimmering pale green aurora. Called the family in Norfolk and they went outside and could see it too. Never to be forgotten!

I saw that too, It`s something i will always remember. Absolutely amazing.

However, I`ve just got back from walking the dogs and up here in Mancland, not a hint of green in the sky and thats when your lucky enough for a break in the clouds

God, these new emoticons are horrendous!!!!

reply to post by Biigs


There is a good bit of air pollution over the north west of england but the sky was relatively clear, a good naked eye visibillity of several well know star groups such as the pleidies or orions belt and also ursa major, not certain if it was one of the planets but about 11.50 a very bright star at about 11 o'clock from me looking south east by east, half moon was approaching 40 degrees above the horizon give or take at my 5 o'clock position at the time.
Scotland though if clear it would have been spectacular.

May I suggest this site: www.heavens-above.com...

I'm going to be out tonight as it's a clear night in Essex tonight and according to this sky news article the northern lights could be seen
news.sky.com...

thank you for your reply's, i could not find anything new

I thought at least Andromeda would be easy to find, being a galaxy, but not (((

Well i hope for another clear night soon and the search will continue!

I saw Jupiter and its moons with my reasonably priced celestron 70 travelscope.
was a beautiful night for a few hours at least. next I plan to go camping up the mountains away from light pollution.

edit - orion was the first thing I looked at, is my favourite thing to see in the sky with a naked eye and even better through a scope to see the nebula