January 2013 Observation Plans

I’ve spent a bit of time adding events and some things I want to see in Jan and through 2013 to the Google Calendar and the observation plans page tonight.
I do this for my own purposes but if anybody else is interested, feel free.

Dorset Binocular Observations – Tuesday 1 January 2013

Location : Poundbury, a garden
Conditions: Clear. Mild.
Equipment: Celestron 15×70 Binoculars
Highlights: Jupiter, M45 Pleiades, M31 Andromeda Galaxy, Orion, M42 Orion Nebula

First bit of observing in ages. Weather has been poor recently – wet and cloudy. I’ve also been very busy with the whole Christmas thing. The only times there has been a clear night I’ve either been out or needing to crack on with the online Astronomy course I’ve been doing. It’s frustrating to not be out observing because of it but with coursework and deadlines the study has to take a priority.

We were staying with friends in Poundbury, Dorset for New Year. Being a “model village” designed on environmental ideals, the brainchild of Prince Charles, light pollution is well under control My friends also live on the edge of the village so the skies were quite dark, despite a waning moon a few days past full. We popped out several times during the evening for a quick look. I hadn’t taken the scope down so we were using my 15×70 Celestron binoculars. Unfortunately we had to hand hold them as the tripod clamp had been damaged in flight back from the Oman trip and I hadn’t realised.
Jupiter was up high and bright with all 4 moons visible through the bins. Mike was quite impressed with it. He hadn’t seen the moons before. Jupiter is sitting in Taurus at the moment, very close to the Hyades cluster so there were a lot of stars also visible in the same field of view. I also pointed out the Pleiades nearby, which is a nice and easy binocular object. A little later when Orion was up high over the house we were out again looking at the M42 Orion Nebula which really was glowing. I think this was the best I’ve ever seen it. Giving it a few minutes through the bins also brought out more detail. As a final treat I showed them the M31 Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light years away. This was trickier to spot as it wasn’t visible to the naked eye so needed a bit of a star hop. Both Rich and Mike found it after a few attempts. Again, with continued viewing it became more distinct and bright. I really enjoyed showing them a few interesting and rewarding objects. I think they were impressed with what they were seeing with just binoculars.

Observations – Wednesday 21 November 2012

Location : Home, next to the bench
Conditions: Clear. Had been raining earlier so damp.
Equipment: skywatcher 130 scope, AsdaCAM
Highlights: Jupiter, Auriga, M36-Pinwheel Cluster, M37, M38-Starfish Cluster

17:30 1st Quarter Moon, Jupiter
As I left work this evening the skies were reasonably clear with a quarter moon shining brightly to the South, after over a week of cloud. While driving home along the dark A38, I also spotted Jupiter up in the East. Was looking forwards to getting out when I got home.

21:00 Jupiter
In and out of the garden setting up while I was doing the tea. Got out to start observing just before 21:00. Spent until about 21:30 imaging Jupiter to the East before it went behind a fir tree. Used the AsdaCam. Used some of what I picked up from the Bromsgrove Astro session on webcam imaging on Monday. Found that I could shoot at 1280 rather than 640. Also ran it at the fasted frame rate I could in Sharpcam. Used the histogram to get the best exposure. Also picked up on the fact that Jupiter rotates quickly so kept my captures down to 45 seconds. I also captured some over exposed video so that I could combine the moons, 3 of which were visible in a line of to the the right side. It’s a shame that it went behind the tree when it did, as a Great Red Spot transit was due between 21:30 and 23:30. I’ll process the images in the next few days.

21:40 Auriga, Capella – Alpha Aurigae
The space to the left of the fir tree to the east was filled Auriga. Another new constellation that I can identify easily to help find my way around the sky. Capella is it’s brightest star.

22:10 Pinwheel Cluster – Messier 36 , Open Cluster in Auriga
I was intending to try for the Double Cluster next between Perseus and Cassiopeia but that part of the sky was right up at the zenith and I couldn’t get the scope there without it fouling on the tripod mount. So instead I used SkySafari+ to find out what was in the vicinity of Auriga. Delighted to find there were 3 Messier objects, all open clusters. So there’s my objective for the evening. I started with M36, the Pinwheel cluster. An easy starhop from Elnath-Beta Tauri via Chi Auriga. This was a rewarding target. It was a bit boring at first in the 25mm but stepping up to the 17mm Plossl eyepiece and spending time at the eyepiece brought out more stars in the cluster. It didn’t have a particularly recognisable or distinctive shape but I think that will come from more time spent on return visits. This is one of the targets in the Sky at Night Deep Sky Tour for November 2012. I also got the Turn Left at Orion book out to compare notes.

22:43 Messier 37 Open Cluster in Auriga
This was a tricky starhop. I tried from Elath first and got lost so tried again from Theta Auriga and found it on the second attempt. I was hopping using quite faint stars and it was pleasing to be doing so with confidence. My starhop skills with the RACI really have improved. M37 was just about visible in the RACI. Moving to the scope and looking through the 17mm Plossl I was struggling to make out any detail other than a fuzzy. There was a bit of thin cloud about but this was reasonably fast moving so not too much of a problem. The glare of the street light was not helping either. I had my baffle screen out but I couldn’t get it close enough to the scope without having to move everything and without it obscuring the sky. It was difficult to resolve individual stars but it was definitely there as I could make out the fuzziness. I was a bit surprised by this as SkySafari+ was claiming it to be quite a bright object. Changing to the 25mm in an attempt to improve the brightness of the image was actually worse and I pretty much lost it altogether. Checking in Turn Left at Orion helped and reassured me that I was looking at M37, 4,600 light years away as it described it as fuzzy and challenging. It also suggested that in a small to medium scope it wouldn’t resolve to individual stars and looks a bit like a globular cluster.

23:02 Starfish Cluster – Messier 38 Open Cluster in Auriga
My favourite cluster of the evening and my 3rd new Messier in this session. Takes my count up to 11/110. SkySafari+ didn’t know why it’s called Starfish but I think it does look a bit like one. It certainly seems to radiate out from a centre. The 17m eyepiece is definitely the eyepiece of choice for these Open Clusters. Again this is a cluster that rewards patience and persistence at the eyepiece. It’s resolving into stars well and there is some nebulosity there. The seeing is quite still now.

23:31 Crab Nebula – Messier 1 Nebula in Taurus
Tried but did not find. Needs to be a target for the next few days. I’m adding it to the general list on my observing plans. It should be just above Zeta Tauri on the lower horn of Taurus but I’m having problems reorientating myself now. Might not have been helped by moving the scope down the garden a bit without going through a full realignment.

23:45 Packing Up and Conclusions
Just before packing up I noticed that Orion was up to the South East. Some treats in store here in coming weeks, I think. I also had a quick look at M45, the Pleiades through the binoculars which is always a treat. I do love the way they glow blue. The nebulous glow is just visible with the naked eye which draws me to them when just gazing at the sky. It was a cold evening tonight but that wasn’t a problem. Was wearing my snowboarding base layer, walking trousers, hiking boots and socks, hoody, body warmer and waterproof. Also had on a hat and scarf and my North Face eTip gloves were essential to working the laptop trackpad and the iPad. Time to pack up as lights have gone on around the house now as A heads to bed. Called to through the window so had to go into the house so my night vision is shot now anyway. One thing I noticed this evening is that now the leaves have gone from the trees there is more sky available but there is much less shade from the orange glow of the streetlights. Making these final notes I notice that the cloud has come in and only Jupiter and Capella are visible now. The cloud has been drifting across all night but with some pace so has not been a problem. It’s been a good observing session. I’m very pleased with the three new Messiers.

Observing programs
Messier: 11/110
Lunar 100 observed: 8/100
Lunar 100 imaged: 8/100

Avoiding the fireworks, Observations – Monday 5 November 2012

Location: Home, garden, on the grass
Conditions: clear but misty. Damp.
Equipment: skywatcher 130 scope, Celestron 15×70 binoculars
Highlights: Jupiter, Andromeda M31, Pleiades M45

21:03 Jupiter
Started here just to get aligned. Can see both N and S Equatorial belts in 25mm eyepiece. 4 moons visible . I to East. 3 to West. Jumping up to 6mm eyepiece it’s a bit hazy. Not sure if this is down to dew. I have the camp mat protective cover I made round the mirror end of the OTA. I can feel moisture condensing on cool surfaces like the OTA and even my iPad.

21:11 Pegasus
Located the constellation with naked eye. Some of the stars are quite faint. Moisture in air. Not helped by fireworks.

21:13 Great Square in Pegasus
Located this asterism linking Pegasus to Andromeda. It’s a test of how dark your sky is to count how many stars you can see with the naked eye with the square. Erm… None.

21:20 Mirach – Beta Andromedae
Double Star in Andromeda – didn’t split the double.
Starting point for M31 starhop. Yellow star.

21:26 Andromeda Galaxy – Messier 31
Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda
A quick and easy starhop from from Mirach via u Andromeda and v Andromeda. Spotted easily in the RACI and then moved to the 25mm eyepiece. Tried 17mm plossl EP too. Not as clear. 25mm really show up the bright core. Had a bit of a tranquil moment marvelling at this galaxy 2.5 light years away.

21:49 Metallah – Alpha Trianguli
Variable Double Star in Triangulum – will have to look at the variable nature of this star at a later date.
I actually ended up here having overshot the starhop trying to find M33 from Mirach. This does seem to be an empty area with these conditions. However I was able to identify Triangulum constellation with the naked eye having arrived here. Easy really. It’s a trangle. Above Aires so I am widening my constellation experience.

22:14 Pinwheel Galaxy – Messier 33
Spiral Galaxy in Triangulum
Tried to find from both Mirach in Andromeda and from Metallah-alpha Trianguli. Couldn’t find it. It is quite an empty area with few stars of significant brightness to navigate by. Think it’s too misty so while I was in the right area, unable to see the faint fuzzy. I can see my breath and there’s an orange halo around the street lights.

22:18 Pleiades – Messier 45
Open Cluster in Taurus
Not within sight of the scope due to a fir tree so I got the 15×70 binoculars out. Between fir tree and street light, I could see the blue glow with naked eye. Bins show More detail. Moved scope to observe through that. There’s too much moisture in air now. The RDF is misted up. The Pleiades sit tight in centre of RACI. Through the ‘scope with the 25mm it fills the eyepiece. Can’t stay at the scope too long now. The eyepiece is misting up with my breath too. It gives a false impression of nebulosity. Stepping away from the scope to let it clear I noticed two orangle lights tracking fast and East towards Jupiter. These were two sky lanterns. The globes were very clear through the bins. Viewed Pleiades again after EP cleared. Shining a bright blue against a black background. There’s a definite nebulosity around some of them this time.

22:33 Double Cluster – NGC 869
Open Cluster in Perseus
I think i got it in bins by following a line from two stars in Cassiopeia toward Perseus. Looked like a double smudge. It was difficult to keep it steady. It was very high, almost at the zenith, so tough leaning back.
Too much mist and dew forming now and my feet are getting cold so time to call it a night. A good session though. Feels like I saw a lot.

Jupiter Observations – Friday 2 November 2012

Location: Home, Garden , Top of the drive
Conditions: clear, reasonable seeing. Cloudy later.
Equipment: Skywatcher 130, AsdaCam
Highlights: Jupiter

Good clear skies tonight. Jupiter was the first thing I set my sights on and I got so caught up in it that I didn’t move the scope to another target all evening. First of all my notes taken while observing and then the results of the imaging I tried.

21:47 Jupiter seems to be the main prize for tonight. Looking ok in 25mm eyepiece. 2 moons visible. With the 6mm eyepiece signs of banding are showing.
Fitted the RA motor so I’ve got it tracking reasonably well. Occasional dec tweak needed so not perfectly aligned but good enough for me.
I slotted the AsdaCam webcam into the eyepiece socket and shot some AVIs.
Io is supposed to be transiting but I can’t see it. I think I may have seen a notch at the edge of the disk earlier in the 6mm but I can’t be absolutely certain.
Actually, I can see three of the moons. Callisto is visible to N.
According to SkySafari+ the Great Red Spot is meant to be visible – can’t see it visually though.

22:15 The clouds are starting to close in. Rather than pack up though I’m sitting in the garden with the laptop and have set Registax processing the first of the AVIs I shot of Jupiter. I decided I couldn’t wait until later. Also, if I’m doing it wrong I’d rather know now when I have chance to retry than find out later after I’ve packed up and gone in.
So while that processes the clouds have cleared a bit. In between breaks in the cloud I’m writing up these notes.
Meanwhile tried the 6mm barlowed. The disk is huge but not much detail. This cheap and basic barlow does degrade the image.
Cloud settling so making notes now. If it clears I’ll look again. It would be cool to see Io come off the disk.
Tried with moon filter and barlow on 6mm to increase contract. Too much glass in the way now. Barlow off. Hard to tell if moon filter helps. It tones down the brightness but doesn’t help contrast. Tried green wratten 56 filter. Wow that brings out contrast.
I should look into planetary filters. Which colours are best for Jupiter?
Registax has finshed stacking. Had a quick play with the wavelets. Oh wow!!! Got an image with some colour and banding detail. More than I can see visually.
…And the laptop battery dies before could save the test stacking. Not a problem as the source AVIs are safe and now I know the potential is there to pull something from these AVIs. If this patch of cloud doesn’t clear I’m off inside to process them.

22:25. A break in the cloud but not enough to see Io come off the disk. Lets focus instead on the belts.
Northern Equatorial is almost at centre. Can see Southern Equatorial too.
Made a quick sketch. It’ll be interesting to compare with the photos I get from Registax.

22:38. Packing up now. Too much cloud. I’m abandoning the sketch. I think I’m just sketching what I think I saw earlier.

Once inside I had another go at processing my AVIs in Registax. This is a piece of free software that takes a video you’ve shot with a webcam or a series of still frames, finds the best frames and then combines them with some clever processing to bring out more detail. Whilst the workflow is pretty much the same with every image there’s a lot of parameters to choose so on these first attempts it’s a bit trial and error. My first attempt at an image isn’t bad though. It’s clearly Jupiter and it is quite exciting to see this on screen and know that I shot that, in my garden, with a hacked webcam that cost £3 from Asda. It’s 400 million miles away.

I posted the picture to Twitter and Facebook and went to bed, picking up a few positive comments from friends.

I had another go at processing the following day on Saturday. I did a bit of tweaking in Photoshop after to rotate 180° as the image through the scope was inverted. I also resampled it so that it wasn’t so pixelated when enlarged a bit. A further tweak on the contrast brought out the Great Red Spot at the right edge of the Southern Belt. I got excited again at this. I knew it should be there when I was observing visually but couldn’t see it. It’s incredible the extra information you can pull out this way. Think I need to get a better webcam with higher resolution.

1st November 2012

Location: Walking to and from the pub
Conditions: clear, crisp – expect good seeing.
Equipment: eyes
Highlights: Jupiter, Moon, Aldebaran

There was a splendid alignment of Jupiter, the Moon and Aldebaran tonight.  Of course there was a crisp, cold and clear night.  I was off to the pub for the band’s Halloween Jam wasn’t I.

The Moon was a couple of days past full and to the E.  To the left Jupiter shone brightly and Aldebaran was not far off to the right.
Walking home, Orion was up too.   The people  I was walking back with commented on the Moon so I pointed out Jupiter and Aldebaran which led to a discussion.  During the course of this I explained how you can find your latitude from angle of Polaris.

Had a quick look at Jupiter with the bins through the window when I got home but no detail to discern quickly.

Observation Plans

Every month I seem to accumulate several lists of things I should be looking for in the coming month. These come from a variety of sources, newsletters like Walsall Astro’s “What’s Up”, Sky at Night Magazine, the Jodrell Bank Jodcast and probably a few more besides.
I’ve decided to try to collate these into a single handy calendar so that on any given night, if it’s clear, I’ve a ready source of inspiration for my observations.
There will be other highlights for a month that aren’t date specific and probably some more longer term, general things I wish to see when the opportunity presents, which are listed separately.
So I’ve made and embedded a Google Calendar into a new Observation Planning page.

The Moon, Observations – Friday 26 October 2012

Location: Home, top and middle of drive.
Conditions: thin cloud, amost full moon.
Equipment: Skywatcher 130, asdacam, 7×15 binoculars
Highlights: Moon, Jupiter

The nights are closing in.  Good news for observing.  Clear early on this evening but by the time I got the scope out and set up about 20:30 it was getting cloudy.  It was OK observing the moon through the cloud although at times there was too much reflection into the clouds causing something of a halo effect that meant there was no definition to be found on the edges. Moon was about 3 days from being full so there was still a terminator.
The crater Bailey was just into the darkness. The rays around Tycho were bright white.
Cloud was moving quite quickly so was variable in thickness. Decided to have a go at imaging so popped a cheap 640 x480 webcam (£3 from Asda) that I’d previously modified, removing the lens and IR filter, into the eyepiece holder.   Shot a few AVIs to try some processing later….
Cloud cover was at about 90% by 22:00 so I packed up. Of course by the time I was taking the last of the kit in, about 20 minutes later it was clearing up again.
Jupiter was just clearing the front gates so I took a quick look through the binoculars.  Looking forward to getting the ‘scope on this and seeing the banding in coming weeks.  Walsall Astro’s What’s Up Newsletter for November helpfully includes transit times for the Galilean Moons and the Great Red Spot (GRS) which I’ve added to the Observation Plans page so I’m looking forward to observing those events.

FAIL Observations, Tuesday 16 October 2012

Location: Home, outside back door
Conditions: Seeing good, clear but gathering cloud.
Equipment: Skywatcher 130, 25mm eyepiece.
Highlights: none

A mixed evening. Caught up earlier on writing up my logs from Oman so that’s a WIN.
However my observations with the scope as a FAIL. Didn’t find any of the targets I was looking for, although it was useful as starhopping practice. These notes are for completeness and for potential future comparison for when I do manage to observe these targets.
Clear skies outside with some cloud so I set up outside the back door. My plan was to have a crack at he September Sky at Night magazine Deep Sky Tour around Cygnus. Cygnus was to the west, close to the zenith just above the fir trees. That’s why I set up there. Tried for both the Pelican Nebula, IC5070, and North American Nebula with no joy. Below is the notes I put into SkySafari+ as I was working on them.

Pelican Nebula – IC 5070 Bright Nebula in Cygnus 16 Oct 2012 21:15
Did not find. From Sept S@N DST. Located the area between sars Cyg 56 and 57 by starhopping from Deneb. No sign of nebula though. Seeing is good tonight. Moved away and came back to confirm my hop and tried again to discern the thicker patch between 56 and 57. FAIL

North America Nebula – NGC 7000 Bright Nebula in Cygnus 16 Oct 2012 21:29
Another DNF from Sept S@N DST. I fancy i can make out some nebulosity but probably not. This is a big spread out nebula so using 25mm eyepiece. In the right area. Have referred to star charts several times to confirm. Too much grey and not enough black in sky. Tried to use Gulf of Mexico and Mexico areas as recognisable features and again FAIL

I’m about to give up on the Sky at Night Sept 2012 Deep Sky Tour. I just don’t think it’s possible in these skies.

Another Night Out, Another Clear Sky – Saturday 13-Sunday 14 October 2012

Location: Walking home
Conditions: 4 or 5 pints, 1/2 pint pork scratchings, chicken tikka in a naan
Highlights: Oxjam, Moselele, beer, friends, pork scratchings, music, Jupiter, Orion, M45 Pleiades

Had a gig this evening playing at the OxjamBrum festival with my uke band Moselele. Afterward I stayed out around town with friends taking in some of the other bands. I had a great time. I got the taxi to drop me at the kebab shop and I walked home from there. Once again, as previously commented whenever I go out, it turns out to be a nice clear night.

I had had a couple of beers so I’ve pieced these observations together from my tweets at the time.

01:30 Walking home I noticed Jupiter shining bright and Orion was up and nearby the Pleiades open cluster, M45 was very noticable as a blueish fuzz.
Arriving home, I popped back out quickly with the bins for a closer look. Standing in the street with a pair of binoculars at 1am – that’s not odd behavior is it?