Up Before the Sun, 16 February

Scanning the very dark sky before twilight, Jupiter dominates the viw at magnitude -2, just 10 above the SE horizon. At the moment it sits between two ninth magnitude globular clusters, NGC 6235 and NGC 6287, moving closer to the latter with each passing day.

In a 6″ Maksutov with a zoom eyepiece (they’re very good) it is possible to make out a lot of detail even at the lower powers. The moons string out in a line with faint Callisto on the E side and Io, Europa and bright Ganymede in ascending distance from the planet on the W. The Great Red Spot is prominently separated from the SEB with a bright white boundary between them. GRS approaches the planet’s Central meridian and will be on it in less than an hour (5:30 a.m. in fact).

Here’s the scene:

Jupiter with the 4 moons strung out in a line

BREEZING THROUGH THE SKIES, 10 February 07

With all the complaints of bad seeing lately, I was pleasantly surprised with the skies over Hamilton Saturday night, 10 February. It was a night of good transparency with long periods of great seeing after 11 pm.

As you’d know if you attended the Feb monthly meeting, Saturn’s about to eclipse the moon Iapetus in a few days. The 10th magnitude moon is half black, half white. Its orbit is inclined 7 degrees to the ring plane, so while we can still see the rings, at the moment Iapetus transits Saturn (or is eclipsed) as it orbits with a 90 day period.

I had a 5″ apo refractor set up before 7 pm and invited members to come over after preparing for a cold (-13C) and windy (20 km/hr) observing night. Jackie took up the challenge. She brought the smallest digital camera I have ever seen, a recent purchase.

Saturn was up in the East before 8 pm and I was delighted to see Iapetus just 51″ N of Titan (easy to find). It was Jackie’s first time seeing Iapetus and she said she couldn’t tell which half was black and which was white. There were a number of other moons in sight: Rhea was on the E side of the planet and when we took some 15s exposures with the Digital Rebel, Enceladus, Tethys and Dione were also visible. Jackie preferred the 3.5mm Nagler to a 4mm Radian (“I like the spacious view”) but I think the best views were in a 10mm SpearsWALER recently purchased from Khanscope. After 10 pm the seeing improved and for the first time this year I was able to see the Airy disk of various stars.

Gamma Leonis turned out to be an precious view. The two components were separated by a blackness that highlighted their golden colours. I tried to get Jackie to play the “guess the magnitude game”, but she was already across the sky, looking elsewhere in her 50mm binoculars. I think our Club 2007 observing project should be a double star booklet, double stars are such fun to see.

Jackie took some shots with her tiny digital camera, too. Then we put the ToUcam on the scope to capture some AVI files for stacking – they turned out ok despite the sometimes shakey seeing. Things got more difficult when we tried magnifying the imaging using 2x and 4x powermates. The ToUcam was now brushing patio stones and I had the darndest time getting a good focus without scraping my knuckles.

Meanwhile, our attention had turned to 5.9 magnitude U Orionis high overhead, like a small red LED at the tip of Orion’s err… club. Jackie looked at the Trapesium awhile; the nebula was extensive in 15 x 70 binoculars but only three dancing stars could be distinguished.

It was cold. Every hour we’d come in to warm up, then go back at it. As Saturn climbed to the meridian, the refractor’s eyepiece got lower and lower until my butt was on the patio stones and it was a cramped observing position to say the least. The TAL eq mount worked flawlessly; being Russian, it seemed to like the cold.

By 1 a.m. we had pictures galore, a couple of movies, frozen digits and a lot of wires all over the patio. All the equipment was brought inside to thaw (“here’s a counterweight… watch your fingers don’t freeze to it”). Then with Arcturus rising high in the East it was time to see R CrB, my favourite variable star (“almost always at maximum”) in binoculars. End of show.

Winter nights can be glorious for observing.

A Spotty Sun, 6 February 2007

Is it trite to say “It’s c-c-cold out there”, after the -20ish temperatures during the past week?

Here is what the sun looked like at 8:30 this morning through a 5″ refractor using an Orion glass “can’t-poke-a-hole-in-me” solar filter. The image has been reduced to 450 pixel wide JPG (shh… it’s an “interior picture”):

Binbrook Report for Saturday Jan 20, 2007 – by Tim Harpur

Observer’s Notes: COLD

Actually, I lasted about 3 hours before deciding to pack it in (just as Jackie showed up) – no wind, but cold and crisp (painfull on the fingers when touching anything metal) – excellent seeing though – at least until 8:30pm when we left.

I snapped off a few shots of the moon and Venus – and just happened to catch the lunar occultation of Deneb Algiedi.

I also took a few shots of M31 (Andromeda), M32, and M110.

WONDERING WHERE THE PLANETS ARE?

Alas, the chart below shows the positions of most of the planets very close to the Sun in December. Console yourself with evening views of Uranus and Neptune (if you can find them) and early morning views of glorious Saturn:

They are hiding close to the Sun this month

MERCURY TRANSIT WEATHER REPORT

The entire province and neighbouring states seem socked in with thick rainclouds for Wednesday, 8 November. You are likely wondering if you have an umbrella for your solar filter….

…. take heart! With 11 hours to go, the weatherman says the sky over Fort Erie will be reasonably blue from 2 pm, and the clearing will improve as time (and the transit of Mercury) progresses. Fort Erie! Only an hour away by excellent highway! Of course, it’s best to check the weather reports close to noon Wednesday – weather is changeable and we offer no warranties. Here is that weathermap for you:

COMET SWAN AS IT APPROACHES ALTAIR IN NOVEMBER:

The comet was magnitude 4 a week ago and may brighten further (you never know with comets) although it is moving away from the sun now, low in the West in the evening as it appears to approach the bright star Altair. The pronounced green colour of the comet is noticeable even in small telescopes.

At Binbrook’s Alternate Site, 31 Aug – by Jackie Fulton

I met Brett and Cheryl after dinner to solar observe. Brett had his Coronado solar scope already set up. Brett explained how to use the solar filter on my GT80 and the proper way to align on the sun. Moving back and forth between the two, I couldn’t get enough. Today was the first time I had ever looked at the sun………fabulous!!!

Doug Black joined our little gathering of sun worshipers. He arrived in plenty of time to observe before the sun set too deeply in the horizon. Waiting for dark sky, we got out the charts and set our sights on mapping out the new Supernova in NGC 214. While it was agreed at 17magnitude the seeing would be difficult, the consensus was “you don’t know if you don’t look”. Not a great strategy…..but do-able. Doug Black, meanwhile, had gone to his car and re-appeared, smiling, carrying a small box. A Spectroscope !! The Sun, A Supernova, and A Spectroscope !!! On the same night !! Life just doesn’t get any better !! You can’t imagine my excitement !

Brett and Cheryl had family drop by with their niece and nephew to observe with us….to see Jupiter. Although the Clear Sky Clock had predicted clear sky from 9 pm to 1 am, the seeing was deteriorating rapidly. We immediately turned to the most important task at hand…..the kids had come to observe, they would not be disappointed. We each set our scopes and binos to capture different objects, so not one would be missed.

My little Nexstar and step stool made for the easiest viewing. The Go-To was perfect for quick slewing to each object as it popped in and out of the cloud cover. The kids got a short look at Jupiter and a hazy Moon before clouds covered them for good. Mizar was the clearest double star. The Big Dipper and major stars were identified. In the end however, despite our valiant efforts, the kids thought “the way the red dot finderscope worked “was “THE BEST”.

With that, another enjoyable evening had come to an end. The cloud cover showed no signs of breaking up, so we packed up and headed for home about 11:00 pm. The Sun, the Supernova and the Spectroscope would have to wait for another day.

JUNE 17 BINBROOK RECAP BY DON PULLEN

With the predicted great skies and agreeing to pick up a new 6″ Newtonian from Mike, I was eagerly anticipating stepping up to a new level of observing. I set up the new reflector on my manual EQ-3 mount and set up my binoculars on the camera tripod with the articulated bino boom. I was ready for an exciting night of new discoveries.

While they were still high enough to observe, I started with Saturn and Mars in the Beehive. They were nearly in the twilight so I had difficulty making out M44. I then turned to Jupiter and observed the 4 Galilean moons. I was finding planetary details a little disappointing.

As the night deepened, I turned to look at galaxies and other deep space objects. This was a completely different picture (no pun intended). After watching where Glenn was pointing, I found M81 and M82 – my first time to see these 2 galaxies in a scope. I had tried unsuccessfully before but this time they popped into view clearly. Was it the conditions or my new 6″ telescope?

Confidence boosted, I swung over to Leo before it set below the horizon to try for some galaxies I previously had been unable to find. I couldn’t find M95, M96 or M105, but a little higher up I found M65 and M66. Another treat – I could see 2 galaxies in the same telescope field of view.

A little haze was starting to appear in the sky, but I could make out the glow of the Milky Way. The observing conditions were turning out to be a bit of a mix. M57 was very easy to find for a change (for me). I then turned south and looked into the heart of the galaxy at the wealth of DSO’s available there. Between Scorpius and Sagittarius (the Teapot), I was able to locate M22, M4, M8 and M20. The globular cluster M22 and some of the nebulas were even visible in my binoculars. While I wandered over to chat with other members, Mike located the Eagle Nebula M16 in my 6″ – another visual treat.

I had not seen so many nebulas in one evening in the short time I’ve been with this fascinating hobby. I was fortunate to have a number of enjoyable and supportive club members with me. We were able the share the views each of us was finding. I wanted to keep looking all night but by 2am observing conditions were deteriorating to the point that faint objects weren’t visible. So the last of us packed up by 3 am and headed off for some sleep and reflection on the many new (or for some – old) objects seen.

A thoroughly enjoyable night.