Sunday, June 28, 1998 10:45 PM - 12:00 AM
Description of Session:
After weeks of cloudy weather, I had a chance to bring out the telescope. Sunday was warm with a northwest wind. The evening was warm with a 2-6 MPH breeze.
Limiting magnitude was about 5.5 (detected a 5.39 magnitude star in Hercules, SAO Catalog: SAO 65812). Seeing was good, steady star images at 125X.
The goal of the observing session was to test my new 16mm Nagler eyepiece. Clouds started moving in as soon as I set up the tripod. I got a quick view of M57 before the clouds rolled in. After 10 minutes, it cleared up again.
Equipment used:
1) Meade LX10 8" SCT
2) 6x30 finder (Meade)
3) 55mm 2" Plossl eyepiece
4) 16mm Nagler eyepiece
5) No dew shield
Objects observed:
1. M13, Globular cluster in Hercules. Used the 16mm Nagler. The best view I've had of M13 - this Nagler is excellent for globular clusters on a SCT. The eye relief is rather tight on this eyepiece. The whole field is seen only when looking at the sides by moving your eye around. Also, I used the 55mm Plossl - still a good view, but a bit washed out by the light pollution and the low magnification.
2. Searched for Globular cluster M92 in Hercules, could not find it. Tried without a star map, and could not spot it in the finder.
3. M57, the Ring Nebula. Started with the 55mm Plossl - the ring is very small, can barely make out that it's a ring. Switched to the Nagler - excellent view that included a large field of stars due to the Nagler's wide field of view. The ring seemed as sharp with this eyepiece as with the 20mm Plossl.
4. Lyra double-double (Epsilon 1 & 2). Viewed this double with the Nagler. The Nagler split this pair easily - could see each star as a distinct point. The collimation of the scope seems very close.
5. Izar (Bootes double, separation 2.8"). Viewed with the Nagler. Hard to split due to the magnitude difference between the two stars (2.6 Mag). Split with the stars in the middle of the field. Tried to split the stars at the edge of the field - a little bit of distortion and color fringing - could split them a third from the center.
6. Alberio, double in Cygnus. Viewed with the 55mm Plossl - nice color contrast (blue and orange) between the two stars. The Nagler showed a nice view of the stars, but the color was not quite as nice (seems to be the larger separation, not anything to do with the eyepiece) - too much magnification?
7. M3, Globular cluster in Canes Venatici. Spotted the cluster with the 55mm Plossl, tight globular. The Nagler had a nice view of the cluster - not as many stars resolved and not as big as M13, but still a spectacular view - the Nagler will probably be used quite often.
8. M51, galaxy in Ursa Major. Found this galaxy with the Nagler - the wide field is nice for searching. M51 is lower then last time I viewed it. The light pollution was greater, washing out the features more. I could see the nucleuses of both galaxies, and a hint of the spiral structure in M51.
9. Polaris, North Star. Towards the end of the evening I turned of the drive and rotated the wedge so I could view M81&M82 easier. I aimed the scope towards Polaris to see if it really is a double star. I viewed with the Nagler, and could see Polaris with a faint companion about 10" away (Sky Map says 18", with 6.8 mag difference).
10. M81 & M82, galaxies in Ursa Major. Panned for these galaxies with the Nagler. Again, with the wide field I was able to find the galaxies. M82 was very bright, and I could detect a dark lane towards the center. M81 was also bright (the nucleus), and I could see the fainter disk.
11. Milky Way - naked eye. After taking the scope down, I looked up at the Milky Way. I could see it from Cassiopeia to Ophiuchus. I could make out some dark lanes and many foreground stars. As I turned to go in, I saw a single meteor just below Lyra.
Conclusion:
It was a good observing night. I ended up doing more than just testing the 16mm Nagler, which performed better than expected - it will be an often used eyepiece.
Description of Session:
My first overnight star party. My daughter attended also. I packed up the telescope equipment Thursday night. Friday morning we purchased groceries and packed the car. We left about 2PM.
Friday was the first day of the star party. I arrived at 6:00 PM, registered and setup the tent. After supper, I setup the telescope near our tent, which was at the west edge of the field. It took longer to set everything up then I thought it would, so we decided to skip the talk that was at 8:00 PM.
People started observing around 9:30PM. We spent an hour looking at various objects in the telescope. After that, we walked around to look at the other telescopes, and to talk to people. Later, we looked at some more objects in the scope. My daughter's favorite was M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, we also spent some time looking at Sagittarius (the tea pot, and the Lagoon Nebula).
At Midnight, we went to the midnight snack. After the snack, we looked at Saturn. The air was steady - a good view of Saturn. We saw Cassini's division, the shadow of the planet on the rings, and the ring's shadow on the planet.
After the snack, I continued observing through my telescope. Someone who owned a LX50 (he didn't bring it) stopped by and we talked about our scopes. He told me he had trouble finding objects with it, I recommended he use a Telrad finder. The people who were by the 12.5" Meade also stopped over to talk. I showed them Saturn, but it didn't look very good. I then discovered I had dew on the corrector plate. They brought over a dew gun (looked like a small hair drier). This worked quite well at removing the dew from the corrector, Telrad, eye pieces and finder scope. He let me use the dew gun for the rest of the night.
After looking at M31, M33, Jupiter and Saturn, I went to bed. It was about 3:15AM. After I was in the tent, I could hear the guys with the big Dobs talking about seeing Jupiter and Saturn.
Saturday's weather wasn't like Friday's, it started out cloudy then started raining right before lunch. After going to the swap meet, we packed up and went home.
Equipment used:
1. Meade LX10 8" SCT
2. 6x30 finder (Meade)
3. Plossls: 13mm, 20mm, 32mm, 50mm
4. Nagler 16mm
5. Panoptic 27mm
6. Meade Barlow 140
7. Electric focuser
8. Telrad
9. Nikon 10x50 Binoculars
Objects observed:
1. M22. Observed this globular cluster at 9:30 PM first with the binoculars, then with the telescope. In the binoculars this globular is bigger than M13. There was very little light pollution on the southern horizon - many of the stars were resolved (best view in 16mm Nagler).
2. Comet C/1997 J2 Meunier-Dupouy. It took about 45 minutes, but I did find the comet. It is a long period comet that is at about Mag 11.0. I first had to find the constellation Equuleus (it's to the southeast of Delphinus). Next, I found the globular cluster M15 with binoculars. Then I starhopped to the group of stars that surrounded the comet. I could just barely make out the comet - very faint. The best image was with the 20mm Plossl (2.0 mm exit pupil - visual best image). I could barely make out a slight fan shape of the comet. My daughter could also see the comet, and it was one of her favorite objects that night. After the midnight snack at the Starfest, I looked at the comet again (the scope was tracking well - it was still in the field of view), and it had moved along its predicted path, verifying that this was the comet.
3. Double Cluster in Cassiopeia. Viewed this open cluster with the binoculars around 1:00AM. I used the Panoptic 27mm. Both clusters fit into the field of view. Excellent view of the Double Cluster.
4. M31 and M32. An easy naked eye object (M31). Could see one dust lane with a 55mm and 27mm Panoptic eyepieces. M32 was visible - it had a grainy appearance.
5. M33. Could not find this object naked eye - not dark enough sky? Easily seen in binoculars. Brian from AAS could not find - I need to give better directions. I also viewed this galaxy with the telescope, using a 55mm Plossl. I could see the shape of the galaxy, and the spiral arms were faintly visible. It is big but dim galaxy.
6. M15. I viewed this object when starhopping to the Comet J2. This globular cluster is visible as a fuzzy object in binoculars, and appears as part of a triangle of stars. I saw it using the 55mm Plossl (I use this eyepiece, with its wide angle view, for starhopping). It was a small, rather condensed globular with a slight blue tint.
7. M8, The Lagoon Nebula. This was the second object I looked at with the telescope. I have never seen this before, except in the binoculars at the cabin. The dust clouds were very bright, and filled the field of the 27mm Panoptic. A lot of detail could be seen in the dust cloud, split in half by a dark lane of dust with many bright stars. My daughter really liked looking at this nebula.
8. Jupiter. I viewed Jupiter through somebody's 12.5" Dob at 100X, and also in my telescope at 100X, 125X (Nagler 16mm), 154X, 200X (Plossl 20mm Barlowed), and 308X (Plossl 13mm Barlowed). The 12.5" scope had a very bright image, almost too bright to see details. When I looked at Jupiter with my scope, it was much later that night, and Jupiter was higher in the sky. The seeing also was very steady, perhaps an 8 out of 10. At 200X I could see the most detail, and at 308X the image was a bit soft, but I could still see details (this is the highest magnification I have used with my scope). The bands were a dark red (brick red) color, and I could see several festoons off the NEB. There was also a darker spot on the SEB (no moon shadow was present, and I have heard of this dark spot on the Internet - not sure what it was). After I went to bed, I could hear the Dob guys commenting how clear Jupiter looked in their scopes.
9. Saturn. I viewed Saturn about the same time I was looking at Jupiter. I used 125X, 154X, 200X (Plossl 20mm Barlowed), and 308X (Plossl 13mm Barlowed). Cassini's division was easy, and I could see the shadow of the planet, and of the ring. A few people were over looking at my scope, so I showed them Saturn. They didn't like the Nagler's (16mm) image of Saturn - I think people have a wide range of opinions of these eyepieces. I believe there also may have been some dew on the eyepiece, which would affect image quality. They much preferred the 154X of the 13mm Plossl (I did also). Before I went to bed, I tried the barlow on Saturn. It worked very well, even at 308X.
10. Northern Lights. About 12:45AM there was some activity in the North. It was faint at first, then grew stronger. Many green rays appeared from the horizon to about 40 degrees high. They died down within 15-20 minutes, and did not reappear will I was up (3:30AM).
11. M11. This open cluster is one of my favorites, and I believe it is now one of my daughter's, too.
12. Pleiades, Hyades. Ariel and I viewed these two objects with the binoculars. They were low on the horizon, but there was very little light pollution.
13. M28. I saw this globular cluster when searching for M22 in Sagittarius. In the binoculars it was a blue-white ball of cotton that looked similar to M3. I did not get a chance to aim the telescope at this globular.
Conclusion:
Friday night was my best night of observing so far, next year should be even better!
Description of Session:
Observing Jupiter and the Great Red Spot.
Equipment used:
1) Meade LX10 8" SCT
2) 6x30 finder (Meade)
3) 32mm Plossl
4) 27mm Panoptic
5) 16mm Nagler
6) 20mm Plossl
7) 13mm Plossl
8) Meade 140 2X barlow
9) Electric focuser
Objects observed:
Jupiter:
I had seen on the Internet that the GRS would transit at 2:30 AM EST (1:30 AM my time). I figured that the GRS should be visible from about 11:30 PM to 3:30 AM.
I set up my telescope at 11:30 in my backyard. I had to wait until Jupiter cleared the trees. Earlier, Jupiter was visible from my driveway, but then it would be over my garage, which would cause turbulent air until about 2 - 3 in the morning. It was a cool night, about 45-50 degrees, and a slight northwest wind. This was the first time I tried observing without my contacts - they needed to be cleaned so I wore my glasses.
At about 11:45 I started observing Jupiter. Since it was a cool night, I knew the scope would need at least 30 minutes to cool down (yes, I should have set the scope up earlier!). I used a 32mm Plossl at 63X since the scope was not settled in yet. Even though it was at a low magnification, it was a magnificent sight. I could see three bands on Jupiter (NEB, SEB and NTB) and the moons were almost symmetrical, with two on each side. At midnight, I switched to higher power eyepieces, 20mm at 100X, and 13mm at 154X. The seeing was not very good. Jupiter was jumping around and was blurry most of the time. Every once in a while, the view would be clear. No sign of the GRS. Also, my scope was not completely cooled down. I could see astigmatism when I focused, and little spikes on the moons (both these conditions cleared up at about 12:45, giving me an hour and a quarter cooldown time - summer's over!).
About 12:15 AM I believe I caught a glimpse of the GRS on the east side at 154X (I think I have the directions right - East is on the right side of my view, a mirror image view since I have 3 mirror surfaces). The image was somewhat clear only for brief intervals - at which time I would quickly try to adjust focus. Even though the seeing was not very good I decided to boost the power to 200X (using the 20mm and a barlow). Actually, I had a better view at this power. I just had to wait for the brief moments of good seeing. Focusing was difficult, but I believe I'm getting the hang of it. The electric focuser helps tremendously - I just have to remember not to try to fine focus until the image is good. I also tried 308X (13mm with 2X barlow), but the seeing was not good enough for this magnification.
By 1:00 AM the image was much better, and the scope had cooled down and the seeing had improved slightly. I could see the GRS quite clearly (it didn't look very red, though. Maybe a light salmon color, almost cream color). The NEB had a lot of detail. It looked like two knots or disturbances of a slightly darker color that were about a 1/4 diameter west of the GRS. What are these disturbances called (festoons, bridges, ??)? The NTB was a darker line at the bottom of the gray colored region from the North pole.
At 1:20 AM, the GRS was almost in the middle. It looked like a smaller white oval circled by a darker band. On the east side there was no sign of the darker band (just like pictures I've seen of the GRS!). The seeing had improved even more, but unfortunately, I was getting tired and needed to go to work the next day.
At this point, I decided to try my lower magnification eyepieces to see what minimum magnification I needed to see the GRS. First, I tried the 16mm Nagler (at 125X). This eyepiece is not my first choice for planetary viewing (heavy, lots of elements), but it did a pretty good job (I could see the GRS easily), although the contrast seemed slightly lower than the Plossls. Next, I tried 20mm Plossl at 100X. Sharp, clear image, the GRS was small but could be easily seen. The last eyepiece I tried was the 27mm Panoptic (an excellent deep sky eyepiece) at 75X. The image was sharp and had excellent contrast. Looking closely, I could see the GRS. I was too tired to try the other eyepieces (a 32mm Plossl and a 55mm Plossl), but I would guess the GRS could be seen in the 32mm (63X), but not the 55mm (36X).
Saturn:
Before I packed up the scope for the night, I turned the scope towards Saturn. I didn't think I would see much, because Saturn was still in the trees. Amazingly, I could see Saturn and its moon, Titan! I could barely see the Cassini division - I'm sure the tree leaves were cutting down resolution.
Conclusion:
It was a successful night. I saw the GRS enter from the east and rotate to about the center of the planet. I also discovered that letting the scope cooldown completely and focusing carefully (and only during brief moments of good seeing) helps when viewing planets.
Tuesday, April 13, 1999 4:45 Am to 5:45 AM
Description of Session:
Observed Mars from 4:45 AM to 5:45 AM (9:45 – 10:45 UT). The air temperature was 25 Deg F. No wind.
Equipment used:
1) Meade LX10 8" SCT
2) 6x30 finder (Meade)
3) 7.5 LE Tak eyepiece (267X)
4) 13mm TV Plossl (154X)
5) 16mm Nagler (125X)
6) Electric focuser
Objects observed:
Mars:
Finally! A clear morning with decent seeing. Woke up at 4:15 AM, setup by 4:40. Started with 154X, and I could see a sharp image of Mars. Immediately switched to 267X. Until 5:10 AM, I had steady seeing and could see details on Mars. After 5:10 AM, the seeing started degrading – lots of boiling and blurring. Mars, at this point, was lower then 18 Deg, and also had a few tree branches in the way. I also noticed a red & purple fringe on the planet as it set (was not present earlier) – I believe that was color fringing from the atmosphere. I think for better seeing, I should observe from 2:00 AM to 4:00AM. Unfortunately, this is not a good idea during the week!
I could see a lot of details on Mars. I made a sketch, but did not record all the details I saw (I need a lot more practice at this!). I could detect the North Pole as a bright white sliver. On the East and West side, I could see a white patch. Are these clouds, frost, or both? In the South I could see a large gray-brown area (from Mars Previewer II, Mare Erythraeum), with a lighter colored area at the top (Argyre). In the North to about the equator, I could see a round-triangle shaped dark area (Niliacus Lacus & Mare Acidalium). Between the dark areas in the North and South was a lighter colored area (Xante). The names of these features are what I determined them to be using the freeware program “Mars Previewer II”. Highly recommended!
As the seeing derated, I used the 13mm Plossl (154X) with a red (23A) filter. The filter helped darken Mars, and increase the contrast on the dark areas. At this power, I was able to see details on Mars, but the image was too small for comfortable viewing. I tried the 16mm Nagler (125X), the planet was too small.
Conclusion:
A good morning for Mars observing. I think I should try Mars at 2:00AM…..
The LE eyepiece is performing well.
Thursday, April 29, 1999 11:00PM to 12:45 AM
Description of Session:
Observed Mars at 11:00 PM to 12:45 AM (4/30/99 4:00 – 5:45 UT). The seeing was very good (I’m not sure what number to give it for a rating, 8?). I could easily split Izar in Bootes and could see the infocus diffraction rings at 534X. Also, my collimation was about as good as I can get it – the diffraction rings were all concentric.
Air temperature was about 50 Deg (vast improvement from 20 – 30 Degrees!).
The only problem was the nearly full moon 5 Degrees from Mars. Although I didn’t see any ghosting or flares, I’m sure it lowered contrast.
Equipment used:
1) Meade LX10 8" SCT.
2) 6x30 finder (Meade).
3) 20mm Televue Plossl (100X).
4) 7.5mm Takahashi LE (267X).
5) 7.5mm Takahashi LE with Meade 140 barlow (534X).
6) 23A red filter.
Objects observed:
Izar:
Viewed at 100X to initially check the seeing. Looked good so I tried 267X. I could see the companion star – didn’t realize it was that much dimmer. Tried the barlow next, could see the defraction rings of both stars easily (534X). Decided to quickly point my scope at Mars while the seeing was good.
Mars:
Finally a good night for observing Mars! I checked Mars Previewer II before I went out. This does not look like the most interesting side of Mars. At first Mars looked like a plain salmon colored ball – no details. After a few minutes, surface features began to appear. The first one I saw was a brown-gray area in the south (I believe it was Mare Sirenum) with a white patch at the south edge (Eridania – as shown on Mars Previewer). Next, I could see the North Polar cap. The North Pole showed a lot of detail – it was a small, bright white cap. I could see what looked like a dark, thin line running through part of the pole. Perhaps the ice melted away or dust is on top of the ice in a narrow band/channel. Surrounding the Pole was a dark greenish-brown area – Utopia, I believe. On the west side of the planet, I could see a white area (pretty good size, much bigger than the Pole) that is not marked on the map; perhaps this is a cloud. Also, whenever Mars came into sharp focus, I could see many faint details towards the middle of Mars. Towards the N. Pole, I could see a dark spot that I identified as Stymphalios Lacus, and also three dots that are called Propoutis Complex. I also tried a 23A red filter (the Tak LE eyepiece has non-standard threads – I placed the filter on top of the eyepiece, good thing it has lots of eye relief!) I could see the dark markings easier, but I couldn’t detect anything I hadn’t already observed.
Moon:
Before calling it a night, I looked at the moon. Although nearly full, I could see an amazing amount of detail – I think I will have to get an atlas of the moon and observe it in more detail (after the Mars opposition!).
Conclusion:
A good night for viewing Mars, finally!
Description of Session:
Binocular observing session. 40 Degrees out and windy, after a week or so of rain/clouds. Too turbulent for Mars, or any object in the telescope. Could see the unsteady seeing with the binoculars.
Equipment used:
1) Nikon 10X50 binoculars
2) Sky chart 2000
3) Red flashlight
Objects observed:
Constellation Cancer:
Could see M44 (Praesepe) naked eye and with the bino’s. The stars in M44 were twinkling in the binoculars. Observed X Cancri, a very red star. Also found M67 with the binoculars, somewhat faint due to high clouds moving in.
Constellation Leo:
Could not find the galaxies M65 or M66 – too much light from the clouds.
Globular cluster M3:Found from memory between Arctures and Canis Vanicti.
Constellation Ursa Major:
Observed M51 (easy target), M101 (very faint, could see with averted vision – made good use of the star charts). Tried to find M108 & M109, no trace. Observed M81 and M82, a nice pair in the binoculars.
Conclusion:
Finally had some observing time, even though it was just binoculars.
Description of Session:
Observed Mars from 10:00 PM to 11:30 PM. Also observed the moon, Venus and M51. Calm with a temperature of 50 degrees. Seeing was not very good, although transparency was excellent.
Equipment used:
1) Meade LX10 8" SCT
2) 6x30 finder (Meade)
3) 20mm Plossl
4) 7.5mm LE Takahashi
5) 16mm Nagler
6) 27mm Panoptic
7) 55mm Plossl
Objects observed:
Thin crescent Moon:
Good view of the moon. Could see the night side – illuminated with earthshine. Used 100X, and I could see a lot of turbulence in the atmosphere.
Venus:Briefly looked at Venus (100X), could see the phase but no details.
Mars:Although the seeing was bad, there were brief moments of good seeing. It was nice to be able to see Mars again, after 2 solid weeks of clouds and rain! Mars was a pale orange, and I could see the North Pole with dark areas around it (Mare Boreum). The NPC seems to have grown from the last time I saw it. When the seeing is better, I will see if I can verify this.. Syrtis Major was easy to see (I could even see it at 100X), and had a blue color (clouds?). Also, I saw Sinus Sabaeus and Sinus Meridiani. Chryse was a white color, but not as bright as the last time I saw it. There appeared to be a lot of details on Mars – unlike the plain side I saw last time I observed Mars. Now only if I could have some steady air!
M51 galaxy:
After 11:00 PM, the wind changed and totally ruined the seeing, so I decided to take a quick look at M51. This is the best I’ve seen M51 from my backyard. It was nearly straight up, and the transparency was excellent. I could see some of the spiral structure, and the galaxies looked good with all the eyepieces I tried (16 Nagler, 27 Panoptic, and even the 55 Plossl – usually there is too much light pollution for this eye piece in my backyard).
Conclusion:
A good night for observing – even if the seeing wasn’t the best. Mars had a lot of details (when it was steady), and M51 was magnificent. Unfortunately, clouds are supposed to roll in tomorrow. This weather is driving me nuts!!
Description of Session:
Observed the Occultation of Regulus by the Moon with the Arrowhead Astronomical Society. It was cloudy and rainy all week, but luckily Friday was clear. The temperature was in the 40's to 50's with a slight breeze. Seeing was about 4 to 5, and transparency was about 7-8.
Equipment used:
1) Meade LX10 8" SCT
2) 6x30 finder (Meade)
3) 55mm Plossl
4) 27mm Panoptic
5) 7.5mm Tak
6) 20mm Plossl
7) Nikon F4 with 300mm F4, Elite Chrome 200
Objects observed:
Occultation of Regulus:
Watched the occultation of Regulus by the 1st Quarter Moon. It occurred around 11:10 PM, and lasted for 1 hour and 4 minutes. There were actually two stars that were occulted. The first star was a magnitude 8 star - could be easily seen with the telescopes. About 10 minutes later, Regulus was occulted. The dark side of the Moon, a ghostly blue-gray with shadowy images of the craters versus Regulus, a bright white point. When the Moon occulted the stars, there was no transition - the stars were instantly snuffed out. Observed Mars and other objects while waiting for the reappearance of Regulus. Most of the observers packed up and went home, but I had to see the reappearance of the star. An hour and 4 minutes later, Regulus reappeared, a bright point rising above the glaring surface of the Moon. I packed up my scope, as did the few remaining observers. After I finished packing up the scope, I took a series of photo's, and being the last observer, I left for home.
Mars:
Observed Mars briefly and showed a few people Syrtis Major and the North Polar Cap. Not the best night for Mars. Lots of turbulent air.
M13:
A popular globular cluster - I never tire of this one.
Conclusion:
A good night for observing - a lot of people attended. In fact, the most people I've seen at one of our observing session. Hopefully the weather will cooperate next time.
August 13th - 14th, 1999. Starfest in Fall Creek, WI.
Description of Session:
This is my second trip to Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society star party. Both of my daughters (age 8 and 12) attended. Mom had her High School reunion - maybe next year.
Left home at 10:30 AM. Had to buy new tent stakes - turns out that they were in the bottom of the tent bag! Arrived at Hobbs Observatory at 3:30 PM, much earlier than last year. The weather was warm, breezy with some clouds.
We set up the tent, which wasn't to easy with the wind! Next, we made supper. We had some trouble - couldn't start the camp stove (turns out it was operator error - I forgot to open the air valve on the tank), so we had just sandwiches.
After supper, I setup my telescope, and the girls explored the site. Then we went to the talk. It was about the sun and building a telescope. My daughters liked the talk about the sun. We listened to some of the building a telescope talk, but we left because it was dark out and time to look at the stars.
The clouds had all cleared out except for some high thin clouds. These left at about 9:30 PM. We toured the sky with my telescope for a while, and then walked around to look in other people's scopes. We looked through Greg Fertman's 10 inch, and he was explaining many of the sights. We also looked through a 22" Dob with a beautiful view of an edge on Galaxy, Dumbbell Nebula and M13. My youngest daughter didn't like this scope as much - she was scared climbing up the ladder in the dark.
There were a lot of SCTs this year (last year I had the only one there!). One was a 12 inch LX200, a few LX50's and some 8 inch Celestrons.
The dew was present this year, but not quite as bad as last year (close, though). My new dew controller worked well - no dew at all on the OTA. The modification to my Telrad worked also, but it failed after the midnight snack due to a short in one of the wires.
Perseids meter shower peaked the night before, but there were quite a few meteors at the star party. Whenever a bright meteor shot across the sky, the crowd ooed and ahhed (you knew instantly if you missed seeing one!). My oldest daughter saw at least seven, I saw 10-12, but the youngest daughter didn't see any! (turns out she saw one two weeks later looking out the car window coming back from Minneapolis).
At midnight we went in the observatory for the midnight snack. We ate a lot, seeing we had a light supper.
After the snack, we went back to our scope to look at M57 (Onion Ring), Jupiter, and of course, Saturn. Then the two girls went to bed. I stayed up until 3:30 AM observing.
I spent a lot of time on Jupiter and Saturn, very good views! The Tak 7.5mm showed a lot of detail on both. Later in the night I saw Europa come from behind Jupiter. I also looked through some of the big dobs (Jupiter and Saturn mostly). The LX10 held up very well against the dobs, although Saturn was much brighter!
My neighbors had a couple of LX50's (8, and 10 inch), plus a Russian Mak. The ten and the Mak had big trouble with dew! I told them it was easy to find their scopes in the dark - just listen for the dew gun. At 3:30 AM I went to bed.
We woke up about 9:00 AM, it was still clear (with a few clouds). Breakfast wasn't until 10:00 AM, so I talked to people about telescopes and Astronomy.
Breakfast was very good. We had scrambled eggs, sausage and toast. Both girls ate all their food.
Before packing up, we looked at the sun with an Orion sun filter on the telescope. We could see two groups of sunspots and many details on the sun. My youngest announced she would handle the telescope, and tell people about the sun!
We decided we should leave about 1:00 PM, but it turned out we left at 1:30 PM because Dad talked too much! The girls did a lot of the packing while I talked!
Equipment used:
1) Meade LX10 8" SCT
2) 6x30 finder (Meade)
3) Telrad
4) 20mm Plossl
5) 7.5mm LE Tak
6) 27mm Panoptic
7) 55mm Plossl
8) Orion sun filter
Description of Session:
Observed Cassiopeia, Jupiter, and Saturn. Clear, cold (30 Deg.F.) with a slight breeze. Seeing was OK, and transparency was good.
Equipment used:
1) Meade LX10 8" SCT
2) 6x30 finder (Meade)
4) 27mm Panoptic
5) 16mm Nagler
6) 55mm Plossl
7) 7.5mm LE Tak
8) 13mm Plossl
9) 20mm Plossl
Objects observed:
1. Cassiopeia. Went through Chapter 9 of the Star Hopping (Sky & Tele) book.
1a. NGC 281: A nice triple star in the middle of the nebula. Could very faintly see the nebula as a slightly brighter area.
1b. Eta Cassiopeiae: Nice double, easily resolved with the 27mm, but looked better in the 16mm Nagler.
1c. Upsilon (v1 and v2): Two nearly identical stars. Could barely detect the color difference between the two. One was a little redder than the other (I picked the right one, according to the book!).
1d. M103: The "ET" cluster. A very nice cluster that did look like ET!
1e. TR1: A strange open cluster, made up of a straight line of starts.
1f. NGC 663: A little fainter open cluster than 103, but very nice. I liked it better than M103.
1g. NGC 659: A faint open cluster, seen best with 16mm Nagler.
1h. NGC 654: The best faint open cluster in this area. With averted vision could see a lot of the stars (best with 16mm Nagler).
2. Jupiter. Should have watched Jupiter longer! A lot of things were happening on the Big Planet tonight. Seeing was ok, at odd intervals it supported 267X.
2a. Red Spot: My first good 1999 view of the Red Spot. It is mostly white with pale salmon-pink swirls. I detected a white spot right behind the Red Spot. Very obvious when I first looked at Jupiter.
2b. Equatorial belt: Detected the Equatorial belt, this the belt that is right on the equator. It was thin and faint, with the same orange color as the main belts. There were connecting festoons (?) between the NEB and this belt. They were a dark blue color and some what hook shaped.
2c. Io: When I first looked at Jupiter, I noticed the moon Io right on the eastern edge of Jupiter. I thought it was going behind Jupiter. At 12:15 AM, I watched it start to go behind Jupiter - or so I thought. It looked like it was shining through the upper cloud layers of Jupiter, and it stayed visible the farther west it moved. Turns out that Io passed in front of Jupiter! I was seeing Io against the SEB of Jupiter - spectacular!
3. Saturn. A good (brief) view of Saturn. I detected 5 moons, the 5th was just visible with adverted vision. Could plainly see the SEB of Saturn, the Cassini division, and possibly the Crepe ring. Also detected the shadow of the planet on the rings, and the shadow of the rings on the planet (getting very thin).
Conclusion:
Finally did the Cassiopeia star hop, which is an interesting tour. Excellent view of Jupiter, especially Io against the SEB! Jupiter seems more active than it did last year, or I can see more details.
The neighbor left their porch light on all night, sigh. At 12:15 AM my hands got numb - first long cold observation of the season. I took off my contacts half way through the observing session - need to get different contacts!