MONDAY NIGHT AT BINBROOK, 9 July ’07

With all the heat and a prediction of thunderstorms Monday, it seemed better to be working indoors. I spent some evening hours with our HAA Publicity Director making up a 41 page application in the 2007 Astronomy Magazine astro-club contest.

Peeking out at 11:30 pm I was surprised to see very clear skies and Jupiter hanging to the south, although it was still 28C degrees. Stopping work, we piled into the car and drove out to Binbrook to collect images piggyback on the TAL mount. While it was clear in Hamilton, there was hazy cloud passing Binbrook when we arrived. I decided to try an hour’s imaging before fog and dew overwhelmed the camera, and colected some interesting shots like this one of Serpens rising aboue the E horizon:

Dew never arrived. The camera took mostly 30 second exposures while Jackie observed with her Celestron binoculars. We saw heat lightning and Jackie spotted a couple of meteors before we left at 1:30 a.m. Like I always say, you have to be prepared to get out there when the opportune clear skies are available (especially in summer).

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.