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

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.

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.

Oman Desert Stargazing Observations – Tuesday 2 October 2012

Location: Desert Night Camp, Wahiba Sands, Oman
Conditions: Clear, dark. No cloud, no mist, no haze.
Highlights: Dark Skies, Milky Way, Mare Criseum, The Desert

I’d really been looking forward to our stay in the desert in Oman. We stayed at the marvellous Desert Nights Camp in the Wahiba Sands region. It was great fun driving 11km into the desert with our 4×4 Land Cruiser drifting through the sands.
After settling into our luxurious tent they took us up onto the dunes to watch the sun set.

19:00 By 7pm it was dark. I’d expected dark clear skies but this was incredible. Before my eyes more detail came into view minute by minute. I used the Summer Triangle to get my bearings. The Milky Way was visible stretching through Cassiopeia in the East, Cygnus at the zenith and to Sagittarius in the West.
I had the binoculars with me and I also had my Canon EOS400D on the tripod to take some long exposures for potential processing and stacking later. However I was more interested in just viewing the spectacle of it with the naked eye and had a bit of a wow moment at the detail I was seeing.

19:30-20:00. the moon rose at about 8pm. It was about 3 days past full and very bright, again washing out the sky and lighting the camp. This was a major shame as a lot of the detail was lost to me and the Milky Way pretty much disappeared from view. I could discern it in places but that might have been more of a case that I was expecting to see it there.

21:45 Before booking the Desert Night Camp I’d been in contact with them by email and they had told me they had a telescope I could borrow when I visited. When we checked in, it was there in reception a 114mm newtonian with a 1000mm focal length in a shortish tube – a parabolic mirror I guess. They told me it wasn’t working but I was welcome to try it. I think they hoped I might be able to fix it. After dinner (which was great, although I thought the ice sculpture was a bit over the top. The Oud player was brilliant though – unusual stringed instruments – another of my interests) I went to check it out but couldn’t get anything out of it. I suspect the collimation was way out. It had probably been fiddled with by a well meaning enthusiastic amateur trying to fix it. I hadn’t really got the skills, equipment or time to do much with it and figured I was wasting my time and would be better off with my binoculars instead.
I spent some time observing the moon – 2/3 days past full so some detail along terminator. The Mare Criseum was a standout and the walls around it formed a horseshoe with the upper edges of those extending like two horns into the darkness. I was using my Cambridge Star Atlas to identify the lunar features.  The numbers refer to the numbering in the Star Atlas.  Of particular note were the rays from Proclus.  This is number 12 on the Lunar 100.  This takes my tally up to 8/100.
 There was also a distinctive line of 4 craters along the terminator – Petavius, Snelius, Stevinus and Rheita.

22:15 I observed the Andromeda Galaxy, M31 through the binoculars. Really impressive.
Jupiter rose above the Eastern dunes and once again I sketched the positions of it moons to compare their progress from night to night. I could only see 3 of the Galilean moons this evening as Ganymede was really close to Jupiter and i was unable to discern it.
I’d given up on the tripod for the binoculars as lengthy viewing was giving me some neck ache. Instead I was outside our tent on a beanbag. There wasn’t anybody else about. There weren’t many other people at the camp and it’s not a place for late night drinking and partying. I heard a burp footsteps nearby behind me and turned to see two camels wandering through the camp. A little later I heard some more grunting sounds and thought the camels were back. However it was just a couple in a nearby tent shagging.

05:30 The following morning we were up early at 5:30 to catch the sunrise over dunes.
By now it was getting light and only planets were visible to the naked eye. Jupiter was up at the zenith. Venus was to the east. Observing it through the binoculars showed a bright star nearby which A spotted when she took a look. This was Regulus in Leo which was within about 8 arcminutes and this conjunction had been mentioned in the highlights for the month in various publications and podcasts. Closest approach was 3 October so this was a fortunate treat. I hadn’t been looking for it.

The moon was also still up now over in the Western sky.

Observing programs
Messier: 7/110
Lunar 100 observed: 8/100
Lunar 100 imaged: 8/100

Muscat, Oman Observations – Saturday 29 September 2012

Location: Chedi Hotel Muscat, Oman
Conditions: Warm, Patchy cloud. Misty and hazy. Coastal location. (Northern coast)
Equipment: Naked eye, Celestron Skymaster 15×50 binoculars
Highlights: Moon, Tycho, Jupiter

22:30 I had been expecting to get clear skies in Oman. Muscat is a city of about 3/4 million people that sprawls long and narrow along the Northern coast. Light pollution is a problem and this is not helped by the haze and mist. I suspect a certain amount of that is due to dust from the mountainous landscape and the desert interior. A certain amount will have been due to humidity, probably because of the coastal location. I was surprised at the amount of patchy cloud that came over as the evening progressed. I’d noticed similar in Dubai the night before. It was also full Moon, reaching the zenith at around 23:00 and washing out a lot of the sky. The moon was bright enough to cast sharp shadows and being on the approach to the airport several of these were cast by planes.

After dinner, down at a cafe on the Corniche in Muttrrah, we went out by the Long Pool at the Chedi with a beer and the bins. Lay on a divan by the pool looking right up at a full moon. A was asking about the big white crater with the lines coming off it – I identified Tycho for her.
I set the bins up on the tripod to get a look at Jupiter which was about 30° up in the West. Through binoculars Jupiter appeared very orange due to the dust. Seeing and transparency not great.
I thought I’d spotted two moons around the 7 o’clock position. As my eyes got used to it i noticed the closest one in to Jupiter had one at it’s 10 o’clock position. A bit later I spotted another at Jupiter’s 2 o,clock position.

I made a quick sketch and used SkySafari+ to identify which moon was which.

A Lebanese couple came past and were curious about what I was looking at. They’d seen people around the resort before with binoculars or telescopes but never taken a look so I showed them Jupiter and it’s moons.

It’s interesting to compare my experience of observing from The Chedi in Muscat, Oman with that of of a fellow member of the Stargazer’s Lounge forum who was in Oman a few days before me. It seems like I was following him round.

Dubai Observations – Friday 28 September 2012

Back from a holiday in Dubai and Oman. I had a great time and most evenings I managed to get some stargazing in while there. I’ve a bundle of notes and sketches scribbled on hotel notepads. Over the next few days I’ll be writing my observations up and posting them here. I took my Celestron Skymaster 15×50 binoculars with me and a tripod so observing was with those or naked eye.

Location: Dubai, Souq Al-Bahhar, Mall of the Emirates hotel.
Weather: Hot.
Equipment: Naked eye, Celestron Skymaster 15×50 binoculars
Highlights: Summer Triangle, Vega, rotation, moon, Jupiter, Venus

23:00 Sitting eating our evening meal at the Souq Al-Bahhar opposite the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Just watched the Dubai Fountain show in front of a lit up Burj. With the naked eye to the left of the Burj I can see a star. It must be a bright one as there’s a huge amount of light pollution around here and it’s not easy to see any. A quick check on Sky Safari on my iPhone confirms my suspicion that it’s Vega.
So, that fainter one I can just make out to the left of it must be Altair, and so the one above must be Deneb. Once again I’ve found my familiar signpost – the Summer Triangle.
But now the strange thing. It’s all rotated about 30° clockwise to what I’ve become used to. I need to work out and understand why that is. I was used to Vega being at the top of the triangle through the Summer back home. Here it’s Deneb. Is that because we’re at a lower latitude or is it just because it’s a few months on from when I was observing it back home? I haven’t thought it through yet but that probably makes sense as we’re about 30° further south at 24°N (Home is 52°N.)

Incidentally, I was looking at the moon earlier, through the binoculars through the hotel window, while A was getting ready to go out to eat. It was almost full. Below Tycho I could make out some edges of craters along the terminator.
I was noticing that curve of the terminator is at a different angle to back home. I think this is for a different reason though. I seem to recall listening to an Astronomy Cast podcast that explained that.We were out by the Creek just before sunset, on the roof of the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House. The setting Sun was low, perhaps 15°, to West. Meanwhile the Moon was just becoming visible to the east, at about the same elevation.

Anyway, meanwhile back at Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountains. We left through the Palace Old Town hotel and whilst waiting for a taxi spotted Jupiter. It’s the brightest thing in this sky apart from the Moon, the planes, the crazy buildings….

Next morning was an early start to get a flight to Oman. From the taxi to the airport I caught a brief glipse (again naked eye) of Venus just before dawn and saw the Sun rise between the buildings to the East of Sheik Zayed Road.

The Pub – Thursday 6 September 2012

Location: Walking home from the pub
Weather: Clear
Highlights: Prince of Wales, Half Moon, Jupiter.

Walking home from the pub, I got a little distracted by the clear skies and spent a few minutes standing in the middle of the street just looking upwards. The moon was at about 30° in the eastern sky and at half phase. Not far away in an East Northeast direction and lower down I could see Jupiter shining brightly. The best skies always seem to be when I’ve been to the pub.

Observations – Tuesday 4 September 2012

Location: Home, middle of the lawn
Weather: Clear, Dry, some high cloud.
Highlights: Moon, Sea of Tranquility Sea of Serenity

What a difference a couple of weeks make. I’ve not been out in the garden with the scope since 14 August. It’s getting darker much earlier now. The Summer Triangle, which was in that prime piece of sky to the South, is now slipping round to the South West. There have been a few clear nights recently but I’ve been either busy or out so I haven’t had chance to do any proper observing. After I got in from band practice last night I set up about 23:15 and made a start in my usual places around Vega. I was intending to go for M57, the Ring Nebula, to get my eye in. However by the time I was set up, in the middle of the lawn grass, the constellation of Lyra was disappearing into the crown of the oak tree. I chose Albireo as my starting point instead. I got the scope and finders lined up and once again admired the blue and yellow double. I was about to start some star hopping from there, and possibly to have a go at the Deep Sky Tour from September’s Sky At Night magazine when I noticed the waning gibbous moon coming up through gaps in the laburnum to the east so that became my target for the session.

I got lined up and focussed with the 17mm Plossl and grabbed a quick afocal iPhone snapshot.

I spent quite some time observing around the Sea of Tranquility and made an attempt at getting to know a few of the features by sketching them. The view through the scope is inverted so N is down on the below sketch.

Craters around the Sea of Tranquility area

This was an opportunity to increase my observations on the Lunar 100 up to 7/100.
New spots for me this evening were:
#3 Mare/highland dichotomy
#20 Posidonius crater
#21 Fracastorius crater.

Moon

Been thinking about the moon a fair bit in the last few days. Firstly to mark the death of Neil Armstrong on Saturday. It’s a shame I didn’t get the news until I’d got home from Exmoor where there is no mobile signal and definitely no 3G else I’d have spent some time taking a look around the Sea of Tranquility through the thin cloud.
I bought a copy of another old book today, Patrick Moore’s Moon Flight Atlas. A brilliant book that I remember borrowing from the library time and time again as a child. It filled me with awe and wonder then how we could go to the moon. Still does. It’s amazing to think 40 years have passed and it all occurred before I could remember.
A few years ago I visited the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Washington DC. Two things struck me there. Firstly they had the command module from Apollo 11 encased in Perspex. It was incredible how small it was and the damage on the heat shield showed it to be made of what looked like chicken wire. There was also a mock up of a lunar lander and that really did look like it was made in a shed by some enthusiasts. This is the technology that put man on the moon! They say there’s more computing power in the phone that I write this post on than uses in those missions.
But still the moon landings are a memory for my parents generation.
I was out in the garden earlier this evening putting the damp tent from the weekend up to dry out. It started raining so I came in. Just been out again to do the bins and the moon was looking magnificent between the trees. Took a quick photo or two on my phone, as above.
This week there’s a blue moon. Not that rare an occurrence really. Second full moon in a month is all that means.

Observations – Saturday 4 Aug 2012

Location: Worthing, in-laws back garden
Weather: mixed cloud. Moving quite quickly so changing opportunities. Dry.

22:00-ish First light on the new Skywatcher 9×50 RACI finder scope. It’s great-so much easier to use than RDF. You can see so much more. In fact I’m thinking it’s worth taking away with me when travelling. Even though i know where it is now, I was on the Ring Nebula, M57 within minutes.
Yeah, yeah, I know M57 again but I wanted to see if a couple of other factors improved the view. Firstly there is far less light pollution in Worthing, their street lights aren’t so orange, and being on the coast there is half the amount of light anyway. Well until the moon came out. More on that later.
Secondly I’d been to Sussex Astronomy Centre and bought a new eyepiece. I got a Skywatcher 6mm ultra wide eyepiece with 66deg APOV (apparent field of view).
M57 was really clear in it. I could really see the ring and the darker centre. I could also see that it wasn’t uniform all round.

Father in Law came out to see what i was up to at this point, so I moved on as this is perhaps a tricky target if you’ve not looked through a telescope before. So I showed him the double Albireo in Cygnus. The difference between the brighter yellow and it’s blue companion was very pronounced.

23:00-ish Then my Mother in Law came out, together with a lot of cloud so all I was able to show her was Vega directly above in Lyra and a few stars around it.

23:30-ishThey went in and my Brother in Law came out as the moon was clearing the trees. About two days past full. It was washing out much of the sky and reflecting off clouds and I think the sea a couple of streets to the south.
Had to put the moon filter on to cut the brightness and we went straight for the 6mm. Seeing was good. Hardly any rippling. Put the tracking on and observed along the terminator. Highlights were Mare (Lunar 100 #10) and the adjacent Cleomedes crater and a chain of 4 craters including Langrenus, Vendelinus, Petavius and Furnerius. Of these Petavius (Lunar 100 #16) was the most impressive with it’s central peak.
Takes my Lunar 100 count up to:
Observed 3/100
Imaged 8/100

24:00-ish. popped the Asda webcam into the eyepiece holder and fired up Sharpcam on the netbook to snap a couple of shots of the moon.

Mare Criseum and Cleomedes crater.

Craters on the terminator. You can see the central peak in light and shadow on Petavius