Observing reports

Moon jupiter, and now nebulae

twilight99 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:17:04 GMT

Hi guys I got my first scope set up and was able to view and track the moon fairly well. I also was able to see jupitor and the bands on it but not real clear. My next item I would like to look at is one of the nebulae. As with most things I havent use any of my filters yet. To view a nebulae am I ecpected to see the colors like in viedos and photos or are they going to be mostly black and white. Do I use filters for this and what kind. My scope is a Celestron CGEM 11" with equatoral mount, I have a 41 mm pantoptic televue eyepiece and sever celstron eyepieces down tho the 5mm UltraCelestron. Several red blue green and two red on dark and on light. I have the UVIR filter and the UHC/LPR filter. I have the celestron eypieces 40mm, 32mm and 26 mm along with 2 inch barlow and a 4x televue powermate. when i get past this step then I am going to try photography which I also have purchased the equipment for. I am using a telrad quick finder and a televue 80mm finder scope

Can any one give me any direction on viewing nebulae.

Thank PHIL (Brand Newbie)

4 little Leonids !

Boniface — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:22:15 GMT

Dear all'

I hope you Ladies and Gents are having a better night watching the Leonids than I have had shivering off the South Coast of England.

I have been rained into retreat 3 times, buffeted by high winds and spotted only 4 fainter Leonids between the clouds between 11:45 utc and 02:13 utc prior to getting chased back indoors again by the weather. (Rain again, and the wind making a bad tooth throb).

All in all not a great night, but do you think I'll be sitting out there for the Geminids?

You bet I will, and I'm off to the dentist today to make sure One interference is taken care of.

Clear Skies

Mick - Isle of Wight.

England-shire.

No show Leo

Kevin Bozard — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:27:09 GMT

At 3am I crawled out of bed (after about 4 hours of sleep), and set my Canon 400D on it's tripod. I stepped out onto the back porch and looked at the sky. Fog. It wasn't as thick as it first seemed, and I could see some stars through it. I set the camera down, aimed, focused and snapped a 30 second image. In the image, I could count at least 20 stars. Maybe this will be good enough? The camera was definitely able to see more than I was.

I decided to shoot some frames anyway, and set the software to take 30 second exposures, with 20 seconds between each frame. I then set the lens to 16mm, focused the shot, and turned her loose for several hours of imaging. For more than an hour I watched the sky with the naked eye, but I didn't see the first Leonid. I let the camera run until 6:30 this morning, checking every frame that popped up on the screen. Not a Leonid in any of them. There was one moment of excitement however, when a frame opened up, and I saw a streak running through it. I got one! I thought. But when the next frame opened up the source of that dim streak was revealed. This frame had a streak closer to the top of the image, but it was a broken streak. Like the conter line of a two lane highway. There's only one thing I know of that shows up like that in an image. An airplane.

For a dozen or so frames after seeing the streaks, you could see the contrail, drifting slowly towards the north. I sat back in my chair and kept watching. Nothing else showed up in the images other than stars, the trees along the back property line, and clouds as daybreak approached.

I didn't catch any Leonids, but I did capture probably 135 frames. If nothing else, maybe I can make a decent star trail video. At 6:45 I broke down the equipment and got ready for work. Now, it's going to be a long day. But I should sleep real good tonight.

Just about worst night ever

leo731 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:12:29 GMT

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. Saturday was one of those.

I awoke to a cool day that had a fair amount of haze and fog. I didn't worry though as the weather service predicted clearing that afternoon with low humidity and good observing clarity. I happily set up an observing program for that evening that included such things as galaxies and faint nebulae as my wife and I were going to travel to a darker sky site that afternoon. It was a blissful morning of ignorance.

Just after lunch I checked the weather on the computer and the campground where we were going. The weather still predicted a clear evening despite the growing cumulus cloud outside my window, but the campground was closed. The road was out due to a mudslide. With the iffy weather and too late to go to the desert I was greatly downcast, but my wife said why don't we visit with your father and you can observe from your usual site.

As the evening drew near the sky did clear but I was running late. My father was supposed to be going out to dinner but that plan had failed so we wound up taking him out for a meal. As a result it was near 7PM before I could start to set up.

The sky didn't look good. There was a lot of humidity and the stars were dimmed quite a bit but I was there so I set up anyway. I was a little slow as I had to scold my fathers dog, and clean up, his attempt to mark my tripod as his own.

The first thing I viewed was Jupiter. I could see three of his satellites but only the two main belts as the seeing was horrible. Despite trying many combinations of eyepieces and filters nothing worked. My wife was with me and took a peek as well. I next swung over to Albeireo where we both enjoyed the blue and yellow twin suns. My wife then asked, "Is this the sort of thing you spend all night looking at?" She was less than impressed and retreated to the warmth of the house.

I decided to swing up to Perseus to view the double cluster. It was invisible in my finder. I noted two pairs of suns in my 9x50 and swung to them and was lucky to find the open clusters. They appeared lusterless and flat. Knowing the conditions were bad I engaged the go-to in hopes of observing the Little Dumbell as Planetary Nebulae are usually pretty immune from poor transparency but it wasn't there. I wanted to swing over to M31 but suddendly the scope went all crazy and started trying to pinpoint the slugs crawling in the grass. I reset it. No good. I reset to factory settings, no good.

At this point I was just sitting in my chair looking up into a dull grey sky inhabited by a fading Jupiter and a few odd stars. The Seven Sisters were almost invisible, Orion had forgotten his sword, and Mars had yet to rise. There was an advertising spotlight swinging through the southern sky, and the dew was already making my books and my head soggy.

I gave it up. By the time I had packed the fog and low cloud had snuck in obscuring a third of the sky to the southeast.

Three objects in three hours. This includes the set up and tear down. My wife now more certain than ever that I am completely nuts. On my desk sits an observing program of great wonders to behold, and also an observing log with three pitiful entries.

Of course, last night was the night to observe. The sky was clear with low humidity. But I had promised my wife a shopping trip and a dinner out Sunday night. The only stars I saw were those on the short trip from the garage to the back door just before 8 PM. Work was waiting in less than 12 hours.

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get up in the morning.

A decent night, for a change

Kevin Bozard — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:52:44 GMT

Friday night ushered clear skies over the southeast, after a week of bitter skies and tropical rains, and I was glad to see them. With my 10"reflector poised for deep sky observing, even with it’s dusty mirror, I planned out a night for observing deep sky objects. From galaxies to globular clusters, I wanted to hit every target I could with my modest equipment.

Jupiter beckoned in the southern sky as I pulled an 18mm Vixen LV from the eyepiece case, but I had no intentions of visiting the giant planet tonight. This night would be reserved for fainter objects. With the telescope pointing east, I couldn’t help but notice the Pleiades hanging above the tree tops. I know this isn’t a faint object, but I couldn’t help taking a quick look. I replaced the 18mm LV with my Orion 35mm Deep View and drew a bead on my first object for the night.

At 33x, the miniature dipper-like asterism seemed to sparkle, and the brighter blue stars stood out brilliantly from the darker background. The sprinkling of dimmer stars throughout the expanse of the cluster added to the pleasing view, and with averted vision, many fainter stars filled in the background nicely.

From there I moved up into Triangulum, and found M33. With the 35mm still in the focuser, I gave the galaxy a quick peek. The diffuse ball of light appeared brighter to the west, and the spiral arms evident. The central core exhibited a mottled appearance, and several field stars were discernible to the south. I doubled the power to 66x by dropping in the 18mm, and lost most of the mottled effect of the central core. The galaxy now appeared as a faint, gray, diffused oval.

There were a couple of other targets I had in mind while in Triangulum, but my lack of self discipline in following my observing plans kicked in, and I swung the scope into Andromeda. M31 exceeded the eyepieces field of view. However, dark lanes were evident along the edge of the galaxy. M32 appeared as a bright glob beside the larger companion galaxy, and M110 glowed softly just outside of the field of view. I had to bump the scope over a little to see it.

Being this close to Cygnus, I couldn’t help but to go after NGC7000. Yeah I know, I’m wrecking my observing plan, but what the heck. It’s more fun being spontaneous. The North American Nebula has always been just a faint patch in my eyepiece, and tonight wasn’t any different. I could see the shape of the nebula which was aptly named, but little detail was evident in the nebulosity.

Next, I hopped over to the Veil, and popped in a UHC filter with the 18mm eyepiece. Wisps of nebulosity arced through the field of view, and ran length-wise through the nebula. Averted vision revealed faint wisps and streaks of fine strands of smoky grey nebulosity, and it was easy to get lost in the mesmerizing view.

Swinging back to the east, I wanted to catch the Crab as it climbed above the tree tops in that direction, but it was still a bit low for me to see, so I swung up to The constellation Taurus to visit with Aldebaran. This is my favorite star in the V-shaped asterism, because of it’s orangish color. I’ll usually spend a few minutes just taking in the beauty of the open field of stars in this area of one of the most recognizable asterisms in the night sky.

That viewing will usually lead me over to Perseus, and the field of stars around Mirfak. This is one of the reasons it’s so hard for me to follow a planned observing list, when I’m observing by myself. I get too easily distracted by just the beauty of the night sky, and when I’m not concentrating on a particular object. I’ll get lost in star fields just looking at the different stars in that area. I can waste a lot of time just observing stars. Especially doubles, and multi star systems. After spending some time around Perseus, I decide to take a break, and grab a hot cup of coffee. This will give the Crab, and other targets time to clear my easterly tree tops.

Returning with coffee in-tow, I studied the night sky a moment deciding on my next target. Steam rose from the rim of my coffee cup forming it’s own little nebula in the cool night air. I took a swallow, set the cup on my observing table and swung the scope to Cetus. Dropping the 8mm Stratus into the focuser (actually it was gently placed), I saw part of the glow from Cetus A (M77) in the edge of the field of view. I bumped the scope over and focused. The galaxy was a bright, large, round, diffuse ball of light surrounded by a large diffuse halo. The central core of the galaxy was very evident, and appeared stellar but no additional detail was discernible on the galaxies surface. Averted vision didn’t help either. Another sip of coffee, and it’s off to the next target.

The crab had climbed high enough to be viewable now, so I slid back over to Taurus. With the 8mm still in the draw tube, it took me a minute to find the wispy crustacean. The oblong nebula looked just like a fuzzy patch of light with direct vision, but averted vision resolved some small variations in the brightness along the edges. I have seen dark spots and lanes in the nebula on other occasions, but none of them were evident tonight.

From here I dropped 5 or 6 degrees into Gemini to find M35, and dropped the power to 100x. If I had followed my observing plan, I wouldn’t have been changing eyepieces as much. But then, I would have been viewing a different list of targets as well. The cluster was a loose scattering of bright blue stars, so I changed eyepieces again. At 66x the cluster tightened up, and the stars were more easily resolved. While ine the neighbor hood, I also just worked the scope around M35, viewing neighboring double stars, and other background stars that drew my interest.

I would have slid over to Orion next, but it was still partially blocked by one pesky tree that I’ve considered chopping down in the past. But since it’s on someone else’s property; I felt it would be better to leave it be. I would ask my neighbor if I could remove it, but I already know how that would go over. That knowledge stems from another story, but I won’t go into that here.

Instead, I would bide my time, and wait for Orion to climb over the tree. Besides, it’s Friday night, and sleeping in late Saturday morning wouldn’t be a problem, right? Not really, but I’ll get into that later.

Hmmm... looking at this report, I see it’s getting rather lengthy. So I’ll just list some targets real quick without getting into a lot of description about them.

Leaving Gemini behind, I hopped around hitting different objects here and there, and changing eyepieces when necessary to see which gave the best views. With intended targets on the back burner, I traveled with reckless abandon through the vast expanse of night sky above me. At 33x, M52 looked great, as a densely populated cluster of stars. At 120x, M74 was a difficult object to see. It appeared as a very, very faint patch of light. With no detail evident across the surface. From there I visited some open clusters. M34,36,37,38, 39 and M103 were all wonderful sights, as was globular cluster M2, which was getting low in the west. Jupiter was already dipping into the tee tops too, and I watched it for a few minutes as it slowly sank into the pines.

I spent the next half hour drinking coffee, watching for meteors, and just studying the skies. Swinging the telescope to a particular spot when I saw something I wanted to examine closer. When Orion was in a good viewing position, I finally swung the scope to “the hunter”. At 33x, the nebulous star forming region was as breath taking as ever with the stars in the trapezium easily split in this scope. The amount of structural detail in the wisps of cloud formations around the nebula was spectacular, and it’s not hard to see why this is one of the most popular night sky objects for observers, and imagers. The “running man” was more poorly defined, but still an amazing target to view. The haze that surrounds the two bright stars was only slightly discernible with adverted vision.

Now it was time to pop in the UHC filter, and go in search of a tougher target. The horsehead. This one has always been a hard one for me, but with averted vision, I was able to make out a triangle shaped patch with a darker area toward the south. I will have to spend more time with this one, and study it more in depth, when I’m not so cold. I didn’t prepare well enough for the cooler night air either.

Satisfied with my outing, and with intentions of observing again Saturday night; I packed away the equipment, and retired to a warm shower, and to bed. Saturday brought on a whole day of unexpected plans, that ran into a late night outing with friends in another town. By the time I got home Saturday night, I was too exhausted to do any observing. Sunday night, the skies were patchy cloudy, with fog scattering the light of even the nearby street lights, so I didn’t attempt to even drag out the telescope.

Tonight, I am planning on doing some meteor observing. With the Leonids peaking in the early hours of Tuesday morning. I plan on getting out at approximately 3:30am, and observing until sunrise. Then I’ll have to ready myself for work. Good luck to anyone else that plans on observing the meteor shower. Hopefully, all of our skies will cooperate.

14/11/2009 - solar observation.

THEO-007 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:12:16 GMT

A great day today for me for two reasons.

1) first we have sun here in athens after a long time. Heavy mist but i saw our great star.

2) we have the great return of the 1029.

So........

We have small but too much SOUTH polar filaments. This means power.

We have a great loop prominence over the AR 1029.Very beautiful.

And laste we have the great return of the active region 1029. Today i saw the first of her chromospheric faculaes.

Too much power over there at NE.

SOLAR OBSERVATION IMAGES

Another Night, Another Cluster

zachsdad — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:52:29 GMT

My faithful observing companion, Jessie, and her caffeinated sidekick, Cassie, were taking a break from chasing each other around the dark yard and were laying on top of the Bubbling Cauldron Observatory (our hot-tub), when I overheard this exchange:

“What’s he doing, Jessie?”

“He’s looking at the stars.”

After taking a quick glance at the dazzling sky overhead, Cassie asked, “Then why isn’t he looking up there?”

“Because he sees the stars better through the telescope.”

“The stars are inside the black thing?”

“That’s right.”

“You ever see them in there?”

“No.”

“Ever smell ‘em in there?”

“You can’t smell the stars.”

“Then how do you know they are real?”

“He says they are.”

“Okay . . . “ She took a moment to scratch at the back of one ear before continuing, “ . . . He looks into that tube to see something that’s up in the sky, something that doesn’t smell, doesn’t move much, and he says that it’s real?”

“That’s right.”

“Jessie?”

“What, Cassie?”

“Humans are weird.”

“That’s why they need us.”

While my two friends were discussing my mental state, I was having a great time watching Jupiter’s Great Red Spot approach the western limb. Seeing was decent, so there was quite a bit of detail visible on the planet's cloud tops, including a small round dark spot hovering right at the edge of the South Equatorial Belt following the GRS. This spot was probably just a very well defined festoon, but it looked very much like a shadow transit. With all four of the Galilean moons lined up to the east of the planet – Io was approaching the eastern limb, its shadow would be visible in an hour or two – the dark spot had to be something else. I would love to see a photograph from last night to try and determine exactly what the spot is.

Sometimes adding targets to my Herschel 400 tally is very easy, as it was last night when I officially logged NGC 869 and NGC 884, the Double Cluster. Each cluster fits nicely into the FOV of my 26mm eyepiece and both are a joy to view, full of color and dynamic patterns.

On the Sky & Telescope website is an article about the many individual star clouds and star forming regions visible in our neighboring galaxy M33 http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/deepsky/65168927.html. Last night was a great night to explore those details. The Pinwheel was awesome, its spiral arms were easy to follow with direct vision at 80X. And at 122X with my 17mm Stratus with an UHC-S filter attached they began to dissolve into patches of light separated by many dark lanes and rifts. The galaxy’s flattened shape was very evident.

After spending enough time with M33 to give myself a headache, I decided to move just a bit to the north, and about 250 million light years further away, to view a cluster of much dimmer galaxies, the NGC 507 group. I’ve discovered that my 10mm Ethos eyepiece seems to be made for exploring clusters such as this. It has enough magnification (208X) to pluck very faint objects out of the background, and it also has enough FOV (.48 degree) to allow me to stay oriented in a crowded field. Last night I was able to positively identify 10 galaxies in this cluster from 12^th to 14^th magnitude. Nearby is an even more distant cluster, Hickson 10, but my headache wouldn’t allow me to try for that one.

After the faint fuzzies I was in a mood to try something easier, so I let Mr. Messier be my guide into Cetus and M77. This galaxy is a striking object, bright and compact like the headlight of a motorcycle on a foggy night. At higher magnification (208X) I could begin to make out the tightly wound spiral arms.

My last target for the night was another Messier which also is a member of the H-400 list, M76, the Little Dumbell in Perseus. At 80X this planetary nebula appeared as a striking blue rectangle with a brighter bar across its northern end. At 208X with an UHC-S filter the gossamer halo seen in photographs became clear. In my opinion this is an under rated target.

As I packed away my equipment on Wednesday night I kept my gloves in my pockets and tried to convince my canine guardians to help haul some of my stuff to the shed. They both acted as if they couldn’t understand me . . . I knew I should have gotten working dogs.

First Light - C11

northof48 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:10:51 GMT

After many bouts of aperture fever, I finally caved in and found a C11 SCT optical tube. Gave the seller a call, liked what I heard, parted with some money and it was on it's way. Four days later I was the proud new owner of more aperture. All set. Well, not quite. As I had bought only the OTA, I still needed a 2" SCT diagonal and a finder scope and bracket. Another phone call to a mail order astro shop (no astro shops in my area), part with more money and they were on the way to me. Four more days. Now I'm set. Three days of cloud, then Monday----CLEAR SKIES---Hooray.

My mount for this scope is my old HD manual mount. The first thing I noticed was that placing the scope on the mount and balancing it on one hand while adjusting and tightening it was a challange. It was a lot heavier than my 110mm refractor. It also needed 33 lbs of counter weight to balance it on the mount. Lined up the finder with some distant trees and now the wait for darkness. An hour and a half after sunset I was ready.

My first targets were to be M81/M82. I wanted galaxies. Lesson number one. The 9x50 finder scope was more of a challange than I anticipated. While I was in the right area, placing the objects in the 9x50 was harder than using my RDF on my refractor. Once located, I was faced by the narrower fov of the C11. After beating the finder demons into submission, there they were in the 36mm eyepiece. First thing that popped out at me was that I could easily see the dark break in M82. With the narrower fov, both objects barely fit in the view of my 36mm 70 degree eyepiece. Upped the power with my 26mm plossl and viewed each one individually. More detail in M82 than ever before but M81, though more distinct was basically, featureless.

My next target was M110. At this time of year it sits in a light polluted area of my sky. I have never been able to find it with the refractor but after a little bit of wrestling with the finder, there it was. It was a faint smear but it was there.

Next stop M13. Getting a bit more comfortable with the finder and this popped into view fairly quickly. In the 36mm it was as expected, a fuzzy patch of light. Moved up to the 26mm and a number of stars resolved into seperate points. More in the 18mm UWA but with the 12T4 they exploded into hundreds of tiny diamonds. WOW. Best view ever of M13. As I had decided to sketch the objects and compare them to earlier sketches with my refractor, this took a bit of time.

Sketching done, on to M27, the Dumbbell. I had viewed this a number of times recently, so the image was still fresh in my mind. I was not prepared for the difference. Maybe it was better seeing, a darker sky or even imagination but this nebula jumped out of the dark background right at me. Even at low power, the detail was visible. There she was, the classic apple core shape. Upped the power to the 26mm and enjoyed the view. Added my Olll filter and the view got better. Alot of wows and exclamations. I'm sure my sketch of this will far surpass my earlier ones.

One target that has eluded me has been the Helix nebula. I decided to give it a try even though it would be very low on the horizon. I tried various eyepiece and filter combinations and with my 36mm and my UHC filter I managed to catch a very faint glimpse of it, I think. Could have been "averted imagination".

Getting late now so one more target. Would it be Jupiter or M57. Love my nebulae, so M57 it is. Swung the scope up and began the hunt. A few minutes more and there it was in the eyepiece. With the 36 mm it was a well defined donut. Upped the power and added the UHC filter and the ring showed some darker spots. Spent time doing my sketch and as the dewing was increasing and I was getting cold I called it a night.

The scope seemed to be a little heavier as I put things away. Must have been the weight of the dew. Looked up at the sky before I headed in and stood there for a few minutes looking at the milky white band that crossed the sky. Beautiful. Will I get rid of my 110 refractor....no way. Has this cured my aperture fever-----maybe until the next report by someone with a larger scope.

Into the house, hot apple cider with brandy (not quite hot dogs) and fill in the observing log.

Fantastic Evening.

Have I mentioned how much I like Standard time?

zachsdad — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:33:46 GMT

I had the opportunity to get in just a couple of hours of observing time with the 18" on Tuesday night and the short session was very productive. As I geared up to head out my faithful observing companion, Jessie and the aways enthusiastic Cassie assumed we were going for a walk. They were very confused when I went to the front closet and got my coat, but did not take their collars and leads from the hook inside the door. "What's going on?" Jessie asked.

"We're going to do some observing," I said.

"Not a walk?"

"Not tonight. The sky's clear and it's dark early, so we're going to take advantage."

Her ears drooped just a bit as she said, "This better be worth it."

"It will be, " I promised. "It will be."

I started out in Cassiopia's namesake constellation knocking a few open clusters and a galaxy off my Herschell 400 list while my two pals chased the scent of a rabbit that lives behind our bushes. The open clusters were NGC 129, NGC 136, and NGC 225. 225 Is called the Sailboat Cluster, but I didn't see that image in the star patterns. In fact, in my notes I wrote that it reminded me of a 'snow-angel'. The galaxy from the H-400 is NGC 185, a large dwarf spheroidal. There were varriations in brightness visible across the broad face of the galaxy at 208X.

My next stop was an object which has always eluded me with both my 10" dob and the Obsession. I'm almost embarrased to say that until last night I'd had trouble finding NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula. This nearby planetary nebula has been mentioned in a couple of recent threads here, and those conversations have steeled my resolve to find the "Eye of God". It's been an easy binocular target for me, and I'd spotted it with my 120mm rich-field refractor, but I'd never been able to nail it with larger aperture. Well, that's not a problem any longer. I drew a bead on its location with the Telrad, dropped in my 26mm Nagler for 80X, and it was right there. A big gray donut. At 160X with an UHC-S filter the twisting, rope-like shape of the ring was very apparent, and the central star was easily seen. At all magnifications the UHC-S filter seemed to work better than an OIII.

After getting that monkey off my back, I swung the scope up into Pisces to give it a workout. First I targeted a cluster of 11 to 14th magnitude galaxies just above the circlet. The galaxies I identified in this group were NGC 7619 and 7626 (the brightest and a closely matched pair of ellipticals), NGC 7611, NGC 7631, and NGC 7623 (the dimmest at mag 14). There were others in the area which I didn't take time to identify because my time was running short and I still wanted to go deeper.

Using my 10mm Ethos EP I made the short hop from the galaxies mentioned above to Hickson 95 (Arp 150). H-95 is a quartet of closely related galaxies -- two are colliding -- about 525 million light years away, 4 times further than the group above. With a combined magnitude of 14.4, and a relatively rich star field, these were a challenge. The A-B-and C components (A and C are the colliding pair) form a semi-straight line and have nearly stellar cores. D, a thin edge-on slash, required averted vision.

As I was closing up shop for the evening, I took my gloves off to free my fingers for the chore of strapping the mirror box of my scope to the rocker box. When that task was done I reached for my gloves and they were gone. A few yards away two very smug dogs trotted, each carrying a glove. I think it was payback for the missed walk. All in all it was very good night, well worth the cold fingers and toes.

Breezy night

cgate — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:47:34 GMT

Hello all.

Its been awhile since I posted/replied on the forums but I thought I would share my latest observing session.

Using my XT12 Classic dob I started with Jupiter and although the wind was a little breezy at times the unseasonably warm weather made for a nice evening. All four Galilean moons were on one side of the planet as the GRS was center stage. The pale pink color of the spot was obvious and the two main equatorial belts were a distinct brownish tint. There was a very dark feature on the SEB just to the side (following) the GRS. I noticed this feature in early October observations so it will be interesting to see how long it remains. Overall it was a grand view at 187x and 250x.

I then set my sights on Neptune. The small blueish disk showed itself with my 5mm Stratus at 300x. I was able to see the tiny speck of of its moon Triton with adverted vision.

Next Uranus was up and with the same 300x the more greenish disk of this remote world showed itself as well as the faint light of its moon Oberon. The other moon I have seen before (Titania) was to close to Uranus for me to see this night. It will be better placed tonight so maybe I will see it again then.

With the planets rounded up I then looked at a few DSO's. The Helix nebula was seen quite well with my 17mm Stratus and Ultrablock filter. A slightly darker center and subtle hint of structure was seen. The globular cluster M30 with its distinctive streamers of outlying stars was fantastic with many stars resolved. M15 was a surpeb ball of stars at 250x. I noticed on my chart there was a planetary nebula (NGC 7094) about 1.5 degrees from M15. I scanned this area with no luck at seeing anything. I then made a detailed chart from Starry Night and armed with this was able to find it. The nebula was very difficult and only just visible with filtration.

After that exercise I decieded to finish up the evening with some wide field views with my 120ST refractor. Using my 24mm Panoptic this gave me 25x and a 2.7 degree field. NCG 7789 in Cassiopeia was magnificent as a rich patch of stardust framed in between two pairs of stars on either side. Kemble"s Cascade was simply beautiful as its delicate string of 8th magnitude stars punctuated in the center by a 5th magnitude star angled across the entire field of view with the splotch of cluster NGC1502 at is end.The Double Cluster was amazing with its two bright splashes of stars completly encircled. The Andromeda Galaxy with M32 and M110 companions was very nice. M33 was just visible in my finder (9x50) and was a round featureless glow in the scope. The Pleides was awesome as the cluster fit beautifully in the field with plenyt of room all around.

At this time i noticed the glow of the Moon was coming so I took a quick look at Almach at 75x and called it a night.

Viewing with my 12" reflector is great but my little 4.7" refractor has its place in my arsenal as well.

Clear skies

Hotdogs and Stardust

zachsdad — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:28:29 GMT

There was enough moisture in the air Saturday evening to make the sunset a brilliant band of fiery orange which wrapped itself around the horizon in a great crescent, even tingeing the eastern sky with pale hints of color. As I touched the flame of my firestarter to the small stack of branches my wife had laid in our fire-pit earlier in the day, my big dobsonian stood silhouetted against the western sky. “We’re going to have a good night, tonight, big girl,” I said to Jessie as the flames crawled from paper to wood.

Her tail wagged slowly, with semi-patient joy, “But, first, we have hotdogs!”

It was a slow, relaxing weiner-roast. Flames crackled softly, embers glowed with their always mesmerizing slow pulsations, and hotdogs were sacrificed to the flames while picnic beans warmed on the edge of the pit . . . and we watched the sky darken. In spite of the light from the dancing flames we could see the Milky Way unfold overhead as my wife toasted marshmallows over the dying fire. The air was warm for November, but still carried enough of a chill to warrant donning a light jacket as the fire evolved into a bed of glowing embers. Clean-up was a short task and soon the table which had been holding onions, mustard, relish and buns was hosting starcharts and an eyepiece case.

It really felt good to be out under the stars again. I didn’t observe once during October, and only once in September, so this was a much needed session. Seeing was good, about 6 out of 10, and the transparency seemed about average. Conditions could have been much worse and it would have made no difference to me. First up was Jupiter. At 208X the planet looked like welcoming beacon in the southern sky. Io was in occultation leaving just three of the Jovian moons visible, and the GRS was not on the Earthward side of the planet, but there was still much detail among the cloudtops. Particularly interesting was a large white storm easily seen at the edge of the southern polar area. It appeared to be about one fourth the size of the GRS.

Next I swung the scope in the direction of M31 and enjoyed the view at 80X. The marginal transparency stole some of the fine detail from the view, but several of the dark lanes were still easy to see and M32 and M 110 were bold.

I still had my target list from a clouded out observing session in October, so I used that as a outline for my Herschell 400 quest on Saturday night. First up was NGC 7009, the Saturn Nebula in Aquarius. I’d seen the Saturn last fall, before I began my official H-400 quest and was anxious to take another look, this time with my 10mm Ethos eyepiece. At 208X this bright planetary was a vivid blue-green, and distinctly oval. Without a filter and using averted vision I could see the tiny apse protruding from each side of the nebula. Adding a UHC-S filter brought the apse into direct vision and showed hints of a darkening center. I boosted the magnification to 260X and added an OIII filter, but the view wasn’t improved, although the nebula appeared even brighter. While in that area I decided to pick up a couple of targets needed to help on my second run through the Messier list, M72 and M73. My notes for the little ‘Y’ shaped cluster, M73 read “Distinct and distinctly unimpressive”. At 80X M72 was an evenly illuminated ball of grainy haze, at 208X about 10 stars were resolved and the cluster had a wedge-shape. Only a few more stars were resolved at 260X. In retrospect the look of M72 should have given me a hint that the sky conditions weren’t what they seemed, but I didn’t realize that until later.

Staying in Aquarius, and returning to my Herschell hunt, I went in search of spiral galaxy NGC 7606. This 10.8 magnitude galaxy is tipped slightly toward edge-on and the core appeared stellar with just some hints of mottling at 208X with averted vision. Also in Aquarius are NGC 7727 and 7723 a pair of interacting galaxies. NGC 7727 appeared as a diffuse circular shape with a bright core. This galaxy is apparently the result of a merger between two spirals and is in the process of becoming an elliptical. Its companion, NGC 7723, is an 11the magnitude barred spiral. Through the eyepiece at 208X it was the more interesting of the two galaxies. After studying it for a while the core seemed oddly shaped, hinting at its barred structure and tightly wound arms. The last H-400 object on my list for Aquarius was NGC 7721 (11.8 mag) another spiral tipped to our line-of-sight. This object showed a slightly brighter, more diffuse core, but little other detail at 208X.

By this time the eastern sky was beginning to show the first hints of moon-rise, so I decided to hunt another planetary nebula on my H-400 list. Near the ‘head’ of regal Cepheus is NGC 40, the Bow Tie nebula. Wanting to take advantage of the great contrast and sharpness of my 26mm Nagler eyepiece I tried for a while to find NGC 40 with that, but had little luck. I replaced the 26 Nagler with my 24mm Hyperion and attached my UHC-S filter (the UHC-S is 1 ¼” format and the Nagler is a dedicated 2” ep). The nebula ‘popped’ very easily with this combination. This is a very nice, albeit small, planetary with a very bright central star. The nebula is a tenuous, gray-green haze around the star, easily visible even without the filter. At 208X with the UHC-S filter I could see loops and strands of structure like cosmic lace. I bumped the magnification as high as 416X with my 5mm Hyperion and the nebula was still a nice image.

Open cluster NGC 7380 and its associated emission nebula known as the Wizard, also lies in Cepheus. Picking the cluster out of the rich Milky Way star fields of Cepheus was not an easy task. It is a relatively loose cluster with an overall wedge shape surrounded by a large, diaphanous, dim glow. It is, at least to me, an example of how much we visual observers must modify our expectations when it comes to viewing emission nebulae compared to the images we see. Once seen the nebula was fairly easy to trace against the background, but the initial identification was very tricky.

Of course part of my problem seeing the Wizard clearly became apparent when I stepped away from the scope and saw the rising moon. Not only was the waning gibbous moon brightening the sky, but it was revealing a layer of thin clouds from horizon to horizon like ripples on the surface of a vat of fresh cream. The detail robbing clouds had been there for my entire observing session and I had never realized it. No matter. The night had been warm, the insects gone, and the satisfying fragrance of wood-smoke still hung in the air.

A few moons, and Jupiter too...

Kevin Bozard — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:31:38 GMT

Jupiter II was in transit of it’s mother planet, but I couldn’t see the little satellite through my XT10. The glare from the larger planet washed out any evidence of it’s smaller moon on it’s face. I made the attempt using an 18mm Vixen LV and a 3x Barlow. At 200x, the details of the giant gas planet were smeared across it’s face. I could see the divisions between the equatorial and temperate belts, but any instabilities or vortices were lost in the instability of our own atmosphere.

Thin clouds plagued our sky, the waxing Moon was casting a bright glare across the southeastern sky, and the heavy content of moisture in the air was evident. At 8:15pm, the seeing conditions were not very conducive to a productive night of observing. I would make the best of it however, as clear dark nights have been very limited this year, and my telescopes really needed a workout.

While waiting for Europa to clear the western limb, I turned the scope to the Moon; which beckoned for it’s observational moment in the spotlight. I spent the next half hour exploring craters and mountainous regions at 66x, 133x, and 200x.

After my visit with the Moon I reduced my visual power to 2x and explored the mountainous regions of food on my dinner plate. With the GRS transit not beginning until 9:45 or so, I had time to partake in my other favorite past time, eating.

At 9:50 I returned to the scope and dropped in my 8mm Stratus, for a 150x look at Jupiter. The equatorial bands were a little clearer than before, but at this time I still couldn’t make out any features of the GRS. I knew that it should be on the eastern limb, and I would have to give it some time to move away from the glare of the limb before being able to pick it out. Europa had just cleared the western limb, and I could see it poised in the darkness just west of the giant planet. Europa’s shadow should have also been evident on the eastern face, but I couldn’t see any sign of it.

I toyed with different powers, and focus until I got the best possible view of the planet; which came at 200x with the 18mm Vixen, a 3x Barlow and my variable polarizing filter. The smaller festoons and clouds never materialized, but I was finally able to make out the GRS at approximately 10:38pm. Several times, during moments of better seeing, I thought I caught glimpses of Europa’s shadow, but I never could confirm a sighting.

Dew was heavy on the scope, and I took a moment to defog the finder, and made sure the eyepiece was clear as well. It was at this time that I remembered Ganymede was going to partially occult Io, but I didn’t remember the time. I checked in on the pair at 200x, and found that Ganymede had already passed Io. The duo was still close together, but I had missed the occultation. A later check in Starry Night would reveal that I had missed the event while trying to get a visual on the GRS.

Seeing that Andromeda was now high in the sky, I swung the scope up and dropped in the 18mm Vixen. The galaxy appeared as a soft glow at the core, undoubtedly an effect of the Moon’s glow. I dropped the power to 48x, but that did little to brighten the galaxy. M32 wasn’t even evident in this view, but M110 glowed softly on the northern edge of the field of view.

With dew building up again on the finder, and the scope dripping with the stuff; I decided to pack it in for the night. The targets were few, but with seeing conditions the way they were, I was pleased with the outing. Next week is looking more promising, and I’ll be ready to take another shot on the next clear night with an arsenal of telescopes, and maybe cameras, pointed at the sky.

Grab 'em while you can!

Double Cluster 869 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:06:05 GMT

10-23-09 / Trnsp: 8/10 / SEE: 4/5 / LM: 4 Temp: low 50's

I got home from an evening engagement about 9:30pm (CDT-US) and noticed that the gray slurpy stuff that's plagued our skies for half of forever had simply vanished. There was a crispness in the air reminiscent of beautiful fall/winter observing, so I told my hubs I was just gonna grab the binocs for a quick look at a couple targets I've been searching for. The skies were the best I've seen in months, and I really didn't expect those conditions given all the moisture we've had lately. Suffice it to say, after quickly finding a couple of new Messier binocular targets, and realizing I could resolve 5 stars in M45 naked eye... I had to go grab the scope. Skies like this just can't be wasted.

While letting the scope cool down, I spent time just drinking in this deep velvet richness, accented with it's dazzling diamond-like embroidery. As I gazed upward, I realized I could detect some naked eye fuzzy areas where I normally have to star hop to an object. It's been a LONG time since my skies have given me this experience.

Zeroing in on the first fuzzy pacth, I pulled up my binoculars spot-on to CR 399... no star hopping needed this time, and there was my little buddy just inviting me to take off my coat and share a visit. From there, I easily star hopped over to M27 using the steps I'd practiced on a less-than-perfect viewing night earlier in the week. (There is value to observing under poor viewing conditions and drawing what you see regardless of NOT finding the intended target.) This time, M27 was unmistakably right where he was supposed to be, and both bino and scope views provided lots of detail to enjoy.

The DC, Andromeda Galaxy and the Pinwheel (M33) all begged for attention as they displayed their tell-tale, ever-so-faint fuzzies that alluded to their presence. I've been looking for M33 for over a year now (!?!) and this was the first time I've been able to find it. Its size in binos came as bit of a surprise, and tho' smaller and fainter than Andromeda, I know I should've seen this galaxy long before now. Thank you excellent viewing conditions for letting it pop out of hiding.

One last naked-eye invitation came from NGC 281 in CAS. (Someone can correct me here if I'm off on that one, but a check of my star charts shows this to be the most likely target in that area.) As I studied the Queen, I could detect this little fuzzy spot about 1deg? east off 24Cas. 10x binocs revealed what appeared to be a DS with very distinct, rich nebulosity around it, and a somewhat smudged streak extending to the west. A peek in my scope showed the "smudge" was a more-or-less triangular patch of stars near the larger of the two stars, and this concentration of field stars was obviously what had attracted my eye to the "fuzzy" spot in the first place.

I ran quickly through a little tour of 8-10 favs, and much as I hated to, I had to cut it short. Even tho' I only got in about 2 hours of observing, it was a tremendously rewarding time. (I "heart" my dob!)

~De

Great then disappointing week

Angel Star — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:12:08 GMT

Good evening everyone.

Well, last weekend, here in NW Ohio, we had one of the best nights I've seen in quite some time for star gazing. Saturday night, especially, was the new moon, and saw little to no air turbulance.

However, just a few days later was the peak of the Orionids, and just as easily as something can be given, something can be taken away. Though there were some on Saturday night, the peak was Wednesday. NW Ohio was plagued with clouding skies as a front was approaching.

Did anybody have better luck? I know the showers in November and December will be better, but how great was the Orionid show?

Solar A.R synod.

THEO-007 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:11:14 GMT

Today we have a great solar active regions synod of the last month.

An AR synod on the sun surface. A GREAT PHAINOMENON.

Sprinkler'd Telescope

Kyle — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:30:20 GMT

I was observing in Palm Springs with my 8" dob. I had set up on a grassy field and spent about 10 minutes getting out star charts and eyepieces, collimating, and aligning the finderscope. Just as I had pushed the scope to a view of Jupiter, the sprinklers came on!!

So it's run hell-for-leather away carrying the tube and base out of the lawn with my dad to the car. Of course, the box with the accessories was still out there, so I had to go back in and get that.

In the process, I got soaked, and two of the eyepieces (my 18mm and my 30mm) got water on the lenses. Thankfully, no water got onto the mirror, because as soon as I heard the sprinklers come on I moved right in front of the tube to protect the mirror.

Nothing bad really happened, but it was kind of scary. We moved to a different location, and saw Jupiter with 3 rings barely visible, the Double Cluster, and the Andromeda Galaxy. (With its two companions, of course. M110 was just barely visible.)

By the way: was anyone driving on the 10 freeway on Saturday, October 17 in a small red pickup truck carrying a large white Newtonian reflector in the back? Because we passed a truck just like that.

A short cool night

Kevin Bozard — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:46:39 GMT

After satisfying requirements of a previous engagement, I dragged the XT10 out for a short session of observing at about 8:00 last night. My first target was that bright light in the southern sky, the one we know as Jupiter. In my best attempt at being lazy in the proceeding hours, I had failed to lay out an observing plan so I was on my own. Targets tonight would have to come from my memory banks; which were cold and working at a snails pace. Any events such as a GRS, or a Jovian Moon transit were unknown to me at the time, but I would later realize that I had just missed Io's transit across Jupiters face.

Jupiter looked splendid, and I could see all four Moons sandwiching the giant planet with Io and Ganymede holding down the eastern quadrant, and Europa and Callisto guarding the west. I viewed the quintet at varying powers, but found that the view at 66x through my 18mm Vixen LV the most satisfying.

Sliding further east, I ran into a double star in Capricornus and knew I had over shot my next target. I sloohed the scope back to the west slowly until a pale blue point of light fell into the field of view. I could tell from its color that this wasn't just another star, and bumping the power to 150x with a 8mm Orion Stratus confirmed that Neptune was indeed the target I had landed on.

After viewing two planets, it was time to view our neighboring galaxy M31. I removed the 8mm Stratus, and dropped in an Orion 35mm Deep View. You'll notice I don't have a lot of high end eyepieces, so I have to work with what I have. The Deep View gave me a wide field view at 34x that was more than pleasing, and with M32 in the same field of view, I couldn't leave this pair without first checking in on M110 before I moved on.

Remembering that Hercules should be setting soon, I swung the scope toward the west and centered on M13. The view of this cluster is always rewarding, and I found that it warmed my soul a bit, even in the chilly night air. After spending a moment with this one, I swung back to the south and picked up M2 in Aquarius. This globular wasn't as impressive as M13 of course, but it was still a delight to see.

From there, I dropped further to the south and picked up yet another globular, M30, and visited with it briefly. Now it was time for something different. After a couple of planets, a trio of galaxies, and the same number of globular clusters; it was time to go nebula fishing. I scanned the sky with my eyes trying to decide which one to visit first, but my hands had already made the decision for me. The 18mm Vixen slipped back into the focuser, and turned the scope back to the west, shooting for an area above Hercules, Once in Lyra, I gently manuvered the scope until I found the Ring (M57). It took a little longer to locate than I expected, but it has been a while after all.

My hands were getting cold now, and I could feel the chill sliding down my legs and into my feet; most notably, in my toes. I was dressed fairly warm, but not warm enough it seemed; as the temperature contnued to drop; I knew that I would soon be putting the scope back in it's resting place for the night; but I had one more target I wanted to observe. With the chill in the air, it reminded me of duck hunting, and the cold aluminum seat I use to sit on while awaiting my quarry.

I imagined it's call as I slid the scope to the southwest, and drew a bead on Scutum. Looking through the finder, was alot like looking down the barrel of a shotgun, with cold steel pressed against my cheek. In this case, the steel was the aluminum barrel of the telescope as I zeroed in on the Wild Duck. The cluster looked magnificent at 66x, and boosting the power wouldn't have made the view any more pleasing.

I pulled the trigger after this one, and packed everything up. The cold was getting to me, and my old bones were beginning to ache. I've got to get myself reacclimated for the cold air now that the temperatures are turning cooler, and the skies are getting clearer. I can already see myself bundled in multiple layers, and revisiting some of, if not all of these targets again tonight. With a better prepared list to accompany them, of course.

Best night so far!

Nazgul — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:40:57 GMT

I must say that last night was the best night that I've had with my Z10. There hasn't been many clear nights in the last 3 weeks and as I am a rookie astronomer, this may seem trivial to most.

After picking the Ring Nebula as one of my first targets, I ended up spotting it last night within a 17mm Hyperion. I was releaved to have found it. Focusing the finder scope helped me a lot as I pointed the scope in between Vega's southernmost stars. What a cool sight.

I was also able to view the Andromeda Galaxy for the first time. I spotted in with my naked eye and was able to get my best view with the GSO 2" 30mm supplied with the scope; the 17mm Hyperion was my only other option, and although it gave a great view, the 30mm really showed the immense width of the galaxy as its light stretched out into space. I will probably invest in another 32- 35mm eyepiece in the future with an even greater FOV. I love the widefield views. The Hyperions are doing a great job for me, but they don't offer anything above 24mm. The lowest power ep that I can use in my Z10 for a 7mm exit pupil is no greater than 35mm if I remember correctly.

I spotted various star clusters within the band of the Milky Way, some beneath Casseopia and others on the sothern end, although I don't know their proper name. Hercules M13 has proven to be a consistent winner for my noobie skills.

I did spot a couple of unknown objects (at least to me). One looked like a gas cloud perhaps and was located on the extreme southern end of our arm of the Milky Way. Another object was due south of Cygnus and may have been the Dumbbell Nebula. It was very large and round compared the the gas cloud that I saw minutes before. I think that it will be hard to find again. I came across both objects by pure luck.

I am going to see if I can spot the Helix Nebula tonight. Although it is difficult to see, I think I am going to use Star Dome and Jupiter's position at a given time to help me zero in on it.

Thanks,

Eric

The King and I

leo731 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:34:23 GMT

When I awoke Friday morning the sky was a deep blue with nary a cloud to be seen. As I was driving into work I became excited at the prospect of having an evening out under the stars with a clear and transparent sky that actually occurred without a full Moon to mar it! It was not a good day as far as gainful employment goes as my mind continually wandered to the evening to come.

Of course I wound up working overtime and after work I had to run an errand for the wife as well so my desire to get an early start didn't work out and I found myself setting up in my father's garden well after dark. Because of the recent rainstorm the ground was still very saturated and the tripod sank into the turf at my favorite spot so I was forced to set up closer to the house than usual which blocked off the Eastern horizon.

Conditions had deteriorated from that glorious morning as well as the humidity was now high and the transparency of the sky was poor. Still, the stars were out and so was I and that was a blessing in itself!

My first target would be the King of the Planets, Jupiter. Bright and approaching the meridian it made an easy target to find in my scope and as such made it especially good as the object to align my finder as well. My 6" SCT was still not optimally adjusted to the steamy air and the image presented at 58x with my 26mm Plossl was fairly blank with just the two main equatorial bands in view on the disk with Io, Europa,Ganymede and then Callisto strung out in a straight line to one side of the planet's disk. It was already nearing 9PM when I finally got to look at something and I was very happy to look upon he face of the King once more, even f he was a bit smaller, a bit less forthcoming, in his visage since I had looked in on him last. The view was improved with my 13mm Hyperion at 115x but the softness of the image convinced me that I should take a temporary leave of Jupiter and return when my scope was better able to do him justice.

I wanted to see just how poor the transparency was so I took a quick hop over to the Helix in Aquarius and was rewarded with a whole lot of empty space! Fleeing this void I turned next to another Planetary known as the Saturn Nebula and was rewarded with a bright small oval cloud though the extensions on either side of the nebula were invisible at 58x. I bumped the magnification up to 187x with my 8mm Stratus and the image appeared to show the "rings" but this only fleetingly and not unlikely only in my imagination.

I skipped up to Sagitta for a look at the globular M71 and was greeted by a tiny amorphous blob. Even at 250x in my Plossl it remained elusive with only faint stars inhabiting the halo with averted vision. Desiring something more spectacular to look at I continued north to Lyra to look in on M57. The Ring Nebula did not disappoint. It was easily seen at 58x as a tiny smoke-ring and with my LP filter and 115x it was its usual grand visage and I spent a fair amount of time just taking in the view.

I then pointed the scope to the east and took aim at open cluster M52 in Cassiopeia. This was a grand view at 71x in my Hyperion filling the eyepiece with a pretty, evenly spaced group of similar stars.

About this time my Father left his recliner to come out for a view. I decided to take a quick asterism/cluster tour with him. First we stopped in at the Horseshoe Cluster near Alpha Cygni, then the Coat-hanger in Vulpecula with its 6 stars forming the bar and the 4 the hook that one would use to hang up that coat, Then the Little Fish, The Pleiades, and lastly back south to the Spiral Cluster whose bright 8Th magnitude stars were as close to seeing galaxy spiral arms as I was going to see on this night. Most of these objects looked better in my 9x50 finder and/or at 58x in the main scope.

With my Father at my side it was now time to revisit the King. He was in a much better mood now and using my Hyperion at 115x and then my Stratus at 187x he displayed a fair amount of detail and when he steadied a bit the GRS could be espied. My Father and I enjoyed being in his company once more and we had a nice chat about things in general as we took turns at the eyepiece.

The encroaching cold and damp forced him inside but I was loath to retreat just yet. I was hoping that I would be able to watch Io being occulted later so I excused myself from the King and took a side trip to visit his brother Neptune. The colour that usually sets him aside from the common stars was missing on this night but the tiny disk was unmistakable at 250x.

From Neptune I headed Northeast to look in on Auriga. I decided to visit a few of his open clusters and first viewed M38 at 58x and was enchanted by the clusters 7Th magnitude stars spread out in strings separated by many dark lanes. M36 is a smaller open cluster both in the number of stars and in apparent size but the stars at 71x appeared to rest in a bed of unresolved gauze as I peered at them.

Next I visited a few more pedestrian galactic clusters in the area, NGC1893, NGC1907, and NGC1778 within the body of Auriga that each had around 20 or so stars in them.

It was after 1AM now and I decided it was time to look in on the King before he retired for the evening. Residing in Capricorn at the moment he overawes the faint old goat at the best of times but now low in the southwest he appears subdued himself in a sky devoid of stars. Through the telescope Io was tantalizing close to the bubbling and quite unstable orb of the planet itself. At first I stayed at 71x but gave that up to go down to 58x. Ever lower he went, ever closer inched Io, then they dimmed, and the lights went out. The King and his companions were eclipsed themselves by a building.

After Jupiter retired I decided that my soaked telescope and astronomical paraphernalia should follow his example and call it a night. After drying, wiping, and putting away over the next hour I stepped outside to get in my car and marveled at the bright stars of Winter as they now achieved prominence. Perhaps if I was in my usual spot I might have stayed a bit longer to try and catch that accursed crab and The Orion Nebula. But sitting there to the east I took note of the next planetary star to come, Mars. Ruddy he sparkled in the dark below the twins, and I thought to myself as I drove away that not in the far too distant future he and I will be spending some quality time together once more.

October 16-17, 2009

Thanks for reading,

18/10/2009 - Q.R. POLAR FILAMENTS

THEO-007 — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:01:13 GMT

Very poor seeing today from ATHENES with clouds.

Make observation at 12:10 pm GREECE TIME.

The solar disk had many activity. We have again QR polar filaments near SOUTH. It means solar activity increase.

I saw two AR. One at the East and a big at the South. The south AR had two AR filaments in arch shape inside her.

The greatest prominence today at N. She`s a big detached prominence. she`s likes like a flower. Great schema.

AR - FILAMENTS - DETACHED PROMINENCE

What did I see

zbfelt — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:30:27 GMT

At 12:30 am, Eastern time, October 10, 2009 I saw a very bright flash almost like a strobe right about where Dubhe is. I am just getting into amateur astronomy and I don't know if a meteroid can make that kind of flash. Does anybody have an idea of what I may have seen? Does any place online keep a list of these kinds of events?

11/10/2009 - a small sunspot formed

THEO-007 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:12:26 GMT

Hiiiii from greece after a long time.

The good news is about the new plage at NW.

The yesterday plage gave a tinny sunspot early the morning today. I see the sunspot inside the CaK LINE. She`s too small.

In the Ha LINE Upper of the plage we have two QR filaments but inside the region we have a AR Filament.

At NE we have a great Eruptive prominence to give a beautifull complex loop. I capture two photos with ten minutes variance on this complex loop.

COMPLEX LOOP AND ACTIVE REGION

THE NEW ACTIVE REGION IN CaK

First Light for My 10" f/5 Sky-Watcher Collapsible Dob

DaveMitsky — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:24:15 GMT

My brand-new 10" f/5 Sky-Watcher Collapsible Dob saw first light from my front yard on Wednesday night. I purchased the Sky-Watcher in order to have an easy-to-transport, moderately large aperture that I could use in conjunction with my 101mm Tele Vue refractor while observing from local dark sites. Despite the less-than-excellent transparency and seeing, local light pollution, limited horizons, and bright moonlight (and having to rely on a right-angle 50mm finder scope), I was able to locate and observe a number of celestial objects, including Jupiter, the Moon, Albireo, Eta Cassiopeiae, Gamma Andromedae, Gamma Arietis, M15, M31, M34, M39, M45, M103, NGC 457, the Double Cluster, and Stock 2.

I used a 35mm Tele Vue Panoptic, the 25mm (the eyepiece was labeled 26mm) Plössl supplied with the scope, a 19mm Tele Vue Panoptic, a 13mm Tele Vue Ethos, the 10mm Plössl supplied with the scope, an 8.8mm Meade UWA, a 5mm Tele Vue Nagler T6, a 4mm BO/TMB Planetary, and a 2.5x Powermate. Images were about what one would expect from a fast 10" Newtonian, given the conditions.

Collimation was a bit off out of the box. I tweaked it somewhat using a laser collimator but due to the high profile focuser I couldn't see exactly where the return beam was hitting. Mechanically, the scope worked quite well. Movements in altitude and azimuth were fairly smooth and the altitude lock was able to handle the weight of my 35mm Panoptic when viewing close to the horizon. I didn't much care for the adapter necessary for bringing 2" eyepieces to focus but I can learn to live with it.

All in all, the 10" f/5 Sky-Watcher Collapsible Dob is quite a bargain at its current sale price of $495.

Dave Mitsky

A few interesting treats...for beginners..

djarum — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:57:45 GMT

So, I am one of those that has seen much of the "brighter" messier objects, and many of the other messier objects really require a larger scope than my 5 inch, as well as intrusion of LP in my area. There are a few objects that are a little more difficult, but I found last friday:

NGC 457 in Cas: This is a small open cluster, but it actually looks like "ET" at 75x

NGC 6633 in Oph: Larger open cluster, shaped like a "J"

IC 4756: Large open cluster in Serpens, fainter than the double double, much just as much impressive.

4/10/2009 - BIG CHANGE OF YESTERDAY PROMINENCE

THEO-007 — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:08:39 GMT

Strong wind and medium mist the two elements of the weather today here in athens.

The best phainomenon today is the prominence at N.
Yesterday the area had 3 sliced prominences, one of them with detached schema.

Today has big change in that area. The three prominences has connected in one, so we have a big in length prominence with a great loop schema.

I pull a video of the solar limb today and give it to you.

SOLAR BLOG

http://vimeo.com/6890119]SOLAR LIMB VIDEO