Can't believe it's been over a month since posting here! The old memory ain't what it used to be, so I'll work backwards until I run out of recollections... most recently, I spent Wed. evening at a camp near Contoocook, NH with members of the NHAS showing the kids at the camp as many things as a quarter moon would allow. The kids came in age groups, young ones early and older ones later. We started with the moon, then M13 and Jupiter filled out the evening. We had six telescopes ranging from an older 8" Odyssey (f/4.5) to 11" SCT. The ThermaCells kept the 'skeeters away, I think there were six of them running. All in all a very enjoyable evening.
A couple of nights ago I tried out a couple of Burgess 20mm Bino-lite EPs in a binoviewer. The moon was just amazing in a binoviewer at about 75X, almost a 3D view. Two eyes is definitely better than one.
And last month during a trip to California, a bunch of us converged on Coyote Lake State Park for an evening of stargazing. Kind of hard to find and get to in the dark, but definitely a wonderful dark place esp. given how much light pollution there is in the Bay Area. The SJAA have made sure that astronomers are welcome after dark, and I confirmed this with a phone call to the ranger in advance.
OK, I'm sure there were more, but I have to get better at writing things down as they happen!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Monday, June 9, 2008
Some Moon observations
Tonight was clear (transparent) but turbulent (poor seeing), so I decided to spend some time looking at the moon. We are at the 6th or 7th day past new moon, so I took out 'The Modern Moon' by Charles Woods. This is really the first time I have tried to do any lunar geography at the eyepiece.
At first I was completely lost, but eventually most easy to find was Mare Serenitatis, with crater Bessel marking it's southern half (up in the Newtonian scope). The Serpentine ridge was clearly highlighted by the low sun angle.
Most interesting though was the area of Taurus-Littrow, where Apollo 17 landed. Incredibly, it was quite easy to see the North Massif and South Massif, 11 thousand foot high peaks in between which the Apollo 17 Lunar Module flew on it's descent to the lava plain between them. All the more credit to those brave adventurers.
Farther east, well into daylight, craters Hercules and Atlas were easily identified.
Samantha the astro pooch was happy to hang around for the entire session, lasting about 45 minutes. I closed up by taking a peek at Saturn (2 moons visible due to the light from the moon), and then I calibrated the COL and took a peek at M13 in Hercules just to see how badly lit the sky was by the moon. It was much less contrasty tonight than just two nights ago with my nephew Dan and my friend Martin.
At first I was completely lost, but eventually most easy to find was Mare Serenitatis, with crater Bessel marking it's southern half (up in the Newtonian scope). The Serpentine ridge was clearly highlighted by the low sun angle.
Most interesting though was the area of Taurus-Littrow, where Apollo 17 landed. Incredibly, it was quite easy to see the North Massif and South Massif, 11 thousand foot high peaks in between which the Apollo 17 Lunar Module flew on it's descent to the lava plain between them. All the more credit to those brave adventurers.
Farther east, well into daylight, craters Hercules and Atlas were easily identified.
Samantha the astro pooch was happy to hang around for the entire session, lasting about 45 minutes. I closed up by taking a peek at Saturn (2 moons visible due to the light from the moon), and then I calibrated the COL and took a peek at M13 in Hercules just to see how badly lit the sky was by the moon. It was much less contrasty tonight than just two nights ago with my nephew Dan and my friend Martin.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Binocular Astronomy
I have been waiting for a chance to try the new 20x80 Oberwerk binoculars and the UA mini mount I recently picked up used. Last night was clear and of course dark due to the new moon, so I went up to Stratham field with Samantha our chocolate lab.
I could see all the stars in the Little Dipper, so it was about as dark as it gets here in the Seacoast area. With the binos and a new beach chair from Wally World ($9.97 special!) I was able to lie down and view in several directions. M81 and M82 were easy targets, and I navigated to see M51 and M101 as well (all from Ursa Major, easy targets). M13 was an impressive ball of light, but no stars were resolvable except as tiny points on the outer edges. Saturn showed faint evidence of rings, and Albireo was glorious and colorful with the stars widely separated.
Finally I spent a few minutes just scanning the Milky Way in Cygnus and saw several faint objects which I would have loved to identify but without better star charts, no luck. So Sam and I packed up and headed for home.
Of course, when I woke up about 3am and saw Jupiter out the window I just had to get out the new 80mm refractor. Belts were obvious, and four moons were easily spotted. M13 was a bit of a disappointment in the 3" scope, so I grabbed the 8" XT from the car. Wow, what a difference. Now the globular was spangled with individual stars. What a beautiful sight!
Finally, back to bed for a few hours, work awaits...
I could see all the stars in the Little Dipper, so it was about as dark as it gets here in the Seacoast area. With the binos and a new beach chair from Wally World ($9.97 special!) I was able to lie down and view in several directions. M81 and M82 were easy targets, and I navigated to see M51 and M101 as well (all from Ursa Major, easy targets). M13 was an impressive ball of light, but no stars were resolvable except as tiny points on the outer edges. Saturn showed faint evidence of rings, and Albireo was glorious and colorful with the stars widely separated.
Finally I spent a few minutes just scanning the Milky Way in Cygnus and saw several faint objects which I would have loved to identify but without better star charts, no luck. So Sam and I packed up and headed for home.
Of course, when I woke up about 3am and saw Jupiter out the window I just had to get out the new 80mm refractor. Belts were obvious, and four moons were easily spotted. M13 was a bit of a disappointment in the 3" scope, so I grabbed the 8" XT from the car. Wow, what a difference. Now the globular was spangled with individual stars. What a beautiful sight!
Finally, back to bed for a few hours, work awaits...
Great students!
I had about twenty wonderful, bright and serious home school students for last Thursday night's Beginning Astronomy class. Jim Moe and Peter Stanistreet both brought scopes (Peter set his up in the store) and after class both helped us outside with viewing of Saturn for all the class members and their parents, plus a few B&N customers who happened by.
We viewed some photos, went over our Sun's place in the Milky Way, looked at pictures of how some of the main celestial objects (clusters, double stars, nebulae, etc.) look. The kids made their own Planispheres (search for Uncle Al's Sky Wheels on the web, courtesy of the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkely, CA). We did a demo of why the constellations look different each season (thanks Brian and Katherine!) and then reviewed the main types of telescopes and binoculars. Then it was outside for some viewing. Jack and Katherine and their mom stayed the longest, and Jack got pretty good at using the Telrad to push the 8" dob around - great job! Due to the lighting (and the big building behind us) Saturn was about all we could see. I tried to find M13 using the COL after aligning on Arcturus and Spica, but it was lost in the glare of the building lights unfortunately.
The store staff was very helpful, especially Bob, who worked with us to hang the screen for the Powerpoint presentation, arranged all the furniture, helped unload and pack up and was there for the whole class in case we needed anything (while of course continuing to do his job at B&N). Thanks to Sally the Customer Relations Manager for inviting me, and for arranging permission with the Mall owners for our outdoor observing after class.
Hope we see all you guys at a Sidewalk Astronomy event sometime this summer!
We viewed some photos, went over our Sun's place in the Milky Way, looked at pictures of how some of the main celestial objects (clusters, double stars, nebulae, etc.) look. The kids made their own Planispheres (search for Uncle Al's Sky Wheels on the web, courtesy of the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkely, CA). We did a demo of why the constellations look different each season (thanks Brian and Katherine!) and then reviewed the main types of telescopes and binoculars. Then it was outside for some viewing. Jack and Katherine and their mom stayed the longest, and Jack got pretty good at using the Telrad to push the 8" dob around - great job! Due to the lighting (and the big building behind us) Saturn was about all we could see. I tried to find M13 using the COL after aligning on Arcturus and Spica, but it was lost in the glare of the building lights unfortunately.
The store staff was very helpful, especially Bob, who worked with us to hang the screen for the Powerpoint presentation, arranged all the furniture, helped unload and pack up and was there for the whole class in case we needed anything (while of course continuing to do his job at B&N). Thanks to Sally the Customer Relations Manager for inviting me, and for arranging permission with the Mall owners for our outdoor observing after class.
Hope we see all you guys at a Sidewalk Astronomy event sometime this summer!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Markarian's chain in Virgo
After a quick trip to Newington to 'scope out' the store setup for tomorrow night's class, I headed over to the Stratham Hill park for the darkest site around Portsmouth that I know of.
My goal was to explore the Virgo galaxies for the first time using the Telrad and starhopping with the standard Telrad charts, and my Pocket Sky Atlas. I used the XT8i with mostly the 24mm and 35mm Panoptic, and the 13 mm Hyperion.
Starting from Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis) I found Rho Virginis, the center of a Y-shaped asterism. By using that as an "arrow" to take off in various directions, I found M58 and M60, then M89, then finally M84 and M86. The Milky Way is 100,000 L.Y. in diameter - these two galaxies are 50 million L.Y. away! No wonder they are pretty dim.
Then following the arc of Markarian's chain, I found the rest of the Markarian galaxies ending with the brighter M88. This was all based on recommendations from Cloudy Nights members - thanks!
I then spent about a half hour looking at M13 and then finding M81 and M82 without the COL assistance. This is very satisfying to get to know the sky this way.
Finally as I was packing up to leave, an enormously bright star rose above the trees in the SE. Of course it was Jupiter, seemingly bright enough to read by.
The plan for viewing after class tomorrow night will be Saturn and M13. If anyone can find anything else under the parking lot lights, that will be great.
My goal was to explore the Virgo galaxies for the first time using the Telrad and starhopping with the standard Telrad charts, and my Pocket Sky Atlas. I used the XT8i with mostly the 24mm and 35mm Panoptic, and the 13 mm Hyperion.
Starting from Vindemiatrix (Epsilon Virginis) I found Rho Virginis, the center of a Y-shaped asterism. By using that as an "arrow" to take off in various directions, I found M58 and M60, then M89, then finally M84 and M86. The Milky Way is 100,000 L.Y. in diameter - these two galaxies are 50 million L.Y. away! No wonder they are pretty dim.
Then following the arc of Markarian's chain, I found the rest of the Markarian galaxies ending with the brighter M88. This was all based on recommendations from Cloudy Nights members - thanks!
I then spent about a half hour looking at M13 and then finding M81 and M82 without the COL assistance. This is very satisfying to get to know the sky this way.
Finally as I was packing up to leave, an enormously bright star rose above the trees in the SE. Of course it was Jupiter, seemingly bright enough to read by.
The plan for viewing after class tomorrow night will be Saturn and M13. If anyone can find anything else under the parking lot lights, that will be great.
Friday, May 23, 2008
First light for the WO Zenithstar ED 80
Grab-and-go is back! In just under a year I am back to owning a (used) 80mm (3 inch) ED (extra-low dispersion) APO (apochromatic, low false color) short tube (fl=545mm) wide-field scope. This was where I started in amateur observing in July of 2007 with the purchase of a Vixen ED80sf on a Portamount. That was the scope we took to Nantucket with my son Ryan just before he joined the Navy and I still remember his "wows" when he first got the moon in focus. It was a wonderful piece of gear, but I remember thinking how big it was! :-) The ZS80 is only 17" long and fits nicely into a small aluminum carry case. It's definitely coming to California with me in June.
This scope is the ultimate in portability and ease of use. It's specialty is wide-field views, but I could not resist pointing it at Saturn. Crisp and clear view of the planet and rings plus two moons, enough to satisfy anyone that they had seen the planet in all its glory. (For more details on planets, of course a longer focal length and bigger aperture is required.)
But how lucky can I be that Mars is now passing directly through the Beehive Cluster, M44, so I next pointed Southwest at Mars. Since the scope has a focal length of 545 mm, a 13mm Hyperion gives a magnfication of 545/13 = 42X. And the 68 deg. AFOV of the Hyperion becomes 68/42 = 1.9 degrees of sky, an huge amount (thus the term "wide field") for viewing extended objects like the Beehive cluster. They say every scope is a compromise, and this one's sweet spot is low power wide-field views.
And there was Mars, I think even showing a small disk, definitely orange in color, but now floating above a background of black sky absolutely spangled with 50+ bright stars in the Beehive cluster. Clouds came and went and made it a frustrating wait for the 2 or 3 second glimpses I could get through the holes but they were worth the wait. Tonight promises to be clear, and I will be out for another look at that beautiful vision. It was also beautiful in binoculars. I'll say it too - Wow!
Last night I visited Tony at Astronomy Shoppe in Plaistow and picked up a 1 1/4" diagonal for the scope. I've mounted the ZS80 on my video tripod for now (Bogen 3011N) using a piece of wood with a couple of holes drilled for a T-nut and a 1/4x20 handle. It kind of slips around a bit, I think I used a piece of wood which was too slippery (very hard cocobolo from my scrap bin). I'll make another one out of unfinished scrap - it needs the rough surface to grab the rubber of the mount and keep things from swinging when the scope is pointed up. Shouldn't be too much trouble, then I'll be ready for tonight.
I should also mention that I enjoyed another backyard rendezvous with my neighbors Chris and Scott to watch the ISS pass at 9:31pm. Chris was the first to spot it rising directly up out of the SW. It passed between several cloud layers and we watched it pick up (apparent) speed as it arched overhead. There must have been some high patchy clouds because there was a very apparent rapid fluctuation in the brightness of the station to the eye, something I've never seen before. Almost every ISS pass is visible evenings and mornings now as we are aligned favorably with the orbital plane of the station during our sunrise/sunset times.
Saturday night is a good possibility for going to Portsmouth for some Sidewalk Astronomy, esp. since there is an outstanding ISS pass at 8:41pm which will arch directly overhead. That should be a real special sight!
Clear skies!
This scope is the ultimate in portability and ease of use. It's specialty is wide-field views, but I could not resist pointing it at Saturn. Crisp and clear view of the planet and rings plus two moons, enough to satisfy anyone that they had seen the planet in all its glory. (For more details on planets, of course a longer focal length and bigger aperture is required.)
But how lucky can I be that Mars is now passing directly through the Beehive Cluster, M44, so I next pointed Southwest at Mars. Since the scope has a focal length of 545 mm, a 13mm Hyperion gives a magnfication of 545/13 = 42X. And the 68 deg. AFOV of the Hyperion becomes 68/42 = 1.9 degrees of sky, an huge amount (thus the term "wide field") for viewing extended objects like the Beehive cluster. They say every scope is a compromise, and this one's sweet spot is low power wide-field views.
And there was Mars, I think even showing a small disk, definitely orange in color, but now floating above a background of black sky absolutely spangled with 50+ bright stars in the Beehive cluster. Clouds came and went and made it a frustrating wait for the 2 or 3 second glimpses I could get through the holes but they were worth the wait. Tonight promises to be clear, and I will be out for another look at that beautiful vision. It was also beautiful in binoculars. I'll say it too - Wow!
Last night I visited Tony at Astronomy Shoppe in Plaistow and picked up a 1 1/4" diagonal for the scope. I've mounted the ZS80 on my video tripod for now (Bogen 3011N) using a piece of wood with a couple of holes drilled for a T-nut and a 1/4x20 handle. It kind of slips around a bit, I think I used a piece of wood which was too slippery (very hard cocobolo from my scrap bin). I'll make another one out of unfinished scrap - it needs the rough surface to grab the rubber of the mount and keep things from swinging when the scope is pointed up. Shouldn't be too much trouble, then I'll be ready for tonight.
I should also mention that I enjoyed another backyard rendezvous with my neighbors Chris and Scott to watch the ISS pass at 9:31pm. Chris was the first to spot it rising directly up out of the SW. It passed between several cloud layers and we watched it pick up (apparent) speed as it arched overhead. There must have been some high patchy clouds because there was a very apparent rapid fluctuation in the brightness of the station to the eye, something I've never seen before. Almost every ISS pass is visible evenings and mornings now as we are aligned favorably with the orbital plane of the station during our sunrise/sunset times.
Saturday night is a good possibility for going to Portsmouth for some Sidewalk Astronomy, esp. since there is an outstanding ISS pass at 8:41pm which will arch directly overhead. That should be a real special sight!
Clear skies!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Observing session notes April 25, 2008
The weather report looked good, and my friend Jim suggested trying a new spot so we met at Stratham Hill park and set up in one of the back parking lots on the grass. This is a great site, quite dark with trees on the edges of the field to block the lower sky glow. The brightest sky was in the SW where Exeter's lights reflected off of some low clouds.
I took out the XT8 and Jim set up his 6" Orion Mak-Newt which gives very nice views for a 6" scope. He has it on a tracking EQ mount so it's possible to keep objects in the field of view for quite a while. Not so the XT...
I did not take notes this night, so this post is from memory. This was one of the darkest and clearest nights in several years around the seacoast area. We spent about the first half hour viewing Saturn, trying out various eyepieces and enjoying the crisp views. The 5mm Hyperion in the XT8 gave crisp and pleasing views at 240X with several moons visible. (If I'd taken notes I could tell you how many! Next time...)
One of the highlights for me was M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. With the 13mm Hyperion the dual nature of the galaxy was obvious, with hundreds of individual stars around the perimeter resolved clearly and even a hint of the spiral nature of the arms (to my eyes anyway.)
I am using the XT8i Computer Object Locator to help find most of these objects, since my starhopping skills are pretty poor.
The "Leo Trio" finally fell to the clear skies and 8" of aperture. M65 and M66 were easily visible, and after much searching NGC 3628 was faintly visible marked by a triangle of brighter stars. I could not see all three in one field of view, because 3628 required higher magnification to darken the background sky.
M13 in Hercules was also a treat, as was M60 in Virgo. M81 and M82 were easily resolved, and I am pleased to say I found them without using the computer. However M101 was invisible in either of our scopes, in spite of the fact that Jim has found it and shown it to me in his mounted 20x80 binoculars! Very strange...
Dew began to settle about 11pm, and since I had forgotten to close the dew cover on the Telrad it was not much use for the rest of the evening. If I had been using the C9.25 this would have been a great night to test out the Astrozap heated dew shield and DewBuster controller. That will have to wait though.
After packing up, Jim mentioned he liked to finish up with a look around the sky, so he took me on a tour of the constellations with the green laser pointer. I am very impressed with how well he knows the sky and constellations. My goal for this summer is to spend more time outside with the planisphere and binoculars and get more familiar with the main guideposts.
I know I have left a few objects out, but regardless this was a wonderful observing session.
I took out the XT8 and Jim set up his 6" Orion Mak-Newt which gives very nice views for a 6" scope. He has it on a tracking EQ mount so it's possible to keep objects in the field of view for quite a while. Not so the XT...
I did not take notes this night, so this post is from memory. This was one of the darkest and clearest nights in several years around the seacoast area. We spent about the first half hour viewing Saturn, trying out various eyepieces and enjoying the crisp views. The 5mm Hyperion in the XT8 gave crisp and pleasing views at 240X with several moons visible. (If I'd taken notes I could tell you how many! Next time...)
One of the highlights for me was M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. With the 13mm Hyperion the dual nature of the galaxy was obvious, with hundreds of individual stars around the perimeter resolved clearly and even a hint of the spiral nature of the arms (to my eyes anyway.)
I am using the XT8i Computer Object Locator to help find most of these objects, since my starhopping skills are pretty poor.
The "Leo Trio" finally fell to the clear skies and 8" of aperture. M65 and M66 were easily visible, and after much searching NGC 3628 was faintly visible marked by a triangle of brighter stars. I could not see all three in one field of view, because 3628 required higher magnification to darken the background sky.
M13 in Hercules was also a treat, as was M60 in Virgo. M81 and M82 were easily resolved, and I am pleased to say I found them without using the computer. However M101 was invisible in either of our scopes, in spite of the fact that Jim has found it and shown it to me in his mounted 20x80 binoculars! Very strange...
Dew began to settle about 11pm, and since I had forgotten to close the dew cover on the Telrad it was not much use for the rest of the evening. If I had been using the C9.25 this would have been a great night to test out the Astrozap heated dew shield and DewBuster controller. That will have to wait though.
After packing up, Jim mentioned he liked to finish up with a look around the sky, so he took me on a tour of the constellations with the green laser pointer. I am very impressed with how well he knows the sky and constellations. My goal for this summer is to spend more time outside with the planisphere and binoculars and get more familiar with the main guideposts.
I know I have left a few objects out, but regardless this was a wonderful observing session.
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