A Look at Cassiopeia

It was clear, not too windy, and not too cool tonight (64°F) so I thought I'd set up the ETX-70 in the backyard observatory. I picked weeds and swept the dirt off the bricks, set up my rickety pedestal, leveled it, set up the furniture, and set down to business. I decided to try for the double Eta Cas which was featured in Oct S&T. Cassiopeia is in a nice position for my backyard right now. I thought for awhile that my neighbor's new satellite dish was going to block Polaris and ruin my ability to find north but Polaris was well above the obstacle. I got lined up ok and used Shedir as my alignment star. A little hunting around and checking star fields convinced me I had the right bright light in my eyepiece so I centered up on Eta Cas. Next I put in my 10mm ep and recentered. Still just one star, so I added the 2x barlow. It takes quite a bit of turning of the focus knob to bring things into focus. I need to get a focus extender or electric focuser! I got it all working together which gives me about 70x ((350/10)*2) and thought I had Eta split into a red and blue pair but decided later that it was just an artifact of my eyeball's fancy multifocal lenses. Any bright star looked like a double! I may have to resign myself to not being able to observe doubles very well, other than really wide pairs, at least with the ETX. Things are a bit better with my dob. While I had 70x installed, I decided to slew over to Jupiter and almost gave up trying to find it. I discovered that I can insert my 25mm ep, get the fuzzy blob image of Jupiter centered, then put the 70x assembly back in the tube and voila! A nice big, clear Jupiter! Both storm bands were crystal clear and all four moons (3 on left, one on right) were plainly visible. I played around a bit more with Cassiopeia awhile before it got too cool and I went in about 8:15. All in all, a nice night without too much frustration.

Finally Jupiter

Jupiter has been calling my name, begging to be observed, for the past several nights. Tonight was cool and clear with NO WIND (amazing), so I decided to dust off my ETX-70 and setup in the front of the house, street lights and all. At least I had plenty of light to get things level and check out everything. When I finally turned on the power, the comedy of errors began. I had made a mental note to myself to be sure and change the Site setting from Rolla to GGG. Of course I forgot. I also forgot to snug up all the leveling bolts on my pedestal contraption, soooo... after guessing which way was north, I aligned on my favorite fall star: Capella. The scope was clearly way off, mainly too low. Did I say that I also set the time wrong? After noticing that the base was wobbling, I snugged up the rest of the bolts and made sure things were level. A couple more tries and I finally remembered to set the time and Site correctly. Finally got Capella with a minimum of searching. Aligned more or less, I next slewed to Jupiter, burning bright above the garage. A bit more searching and I had it in the crosshairs too. I spent probably the better part of the next hour admiring the view through various filters, my 10mm and 2x barlow. All four moons were clearly visible in the 10mm, kind of hard to make out with the 26mm. I was able to see two storm bands pretty clearly.
Next I tried for Uranus. No luck, it was behind a palm tree. On to Neptune. I thought I had it but the star field wasn't quite right. I tried lining up on Delta Cap but never was able to snag Neptune for certain. It may also be a bit dim at almost mag 8. Uranus should be ok if it comes out from behind the palm tree (or I move the scope). All in all it wasn't too bad for a first night out. Oh, and I also banged away and cursed the speed button before I realized it wasn't the Enter key! How soon we forget.
Now I'm trying to decide if it is worth hauling this thing down to the park when and if I ever get to do an astronomy outreach program there. We'll see.

Back in The Valley

We've been back in El Valle for a couple of weeks now and I have yet to haul out the little scope. I have been enjoying the near horizon views in the west at sundown and managed to snag Mercury several times, shining through the murk below Venus. Jupiter is nice in the east just after sundown. Need to keep better track of the ISS. Here is a photo I took at Sandcastle Days on South Padre Island right after we got here in October. We're headed back tomorrow for the SPIKE monthly kite fly.

More Garrad

After watching Garrad a couple more times from Sam A Baker park on 26 Sept etc, I decided to try again tonight with my 8".  I checked earlier with my 7x50's but could not see it.  The half moon was still up so I wasn't too concerned.  Later about 10:00 the moon was setting and I tried with the 8" dob.  After a bit of fiddling I managed to get it in the eyepiece.  It wasn't visible in the 9x50 finder but was plain in the 27mm ep.  It was about half way on a line between HD 347950 and HD 165866 with a short tail pointed easterly.  Very nice and comet-like.  Earlier I showed off the moons of Jupiter to our friends Jan and Steve and their friends CB and Joan from St. Louis.  That capped off a very nice day of music and wine at Peaceful Bend Winery and a campfire with brats and more beer/wine at the ranch.  There was a fellow singing and playing like John Hartford at the winery today.  Very very nice.

Comet Garradd on a chilly September night

I read in S&T's newsletter that comet C/2009 P1 Garradd was visible and high in Hercules in the evening so decided to try to find it tonight.  The sky was clear after a night or two of clouds but it was quite cold at 51° F.  I had to bundle up in my watch cap and insulated coveralls!  The comet was supposed to be between magnitude 6 and 7 so I just used my trusty 7x50's and a comfy deck chair.  Armed with a printout from CdC and S&T's finder chart, I started looking.  Mu, Xi, and Omi Her were naked eye visible and about a field width in my 7x50's so that made a good starting point.  Using those three as a sort of parabolic reflector, about two field widths away is a nice little 'house' asterism of 5-8 stars: 101, 102, 95, and 96 Her are the brightest of the group.  Another field width and 90° north is another bright pair: 106 and 109 Her.  I put this pair and 101/102 on the edge of the field and BINGO there was the comet almost dead center.  At first I thought something might be wrong as I was expecting something as bright as nearby HR6852 at 6th magnitude but instead the comet appeared as an elongated dim patch, dim but plainly visible particularly with averted vision.
If the weather holds out the next few days, it'll be interesting to see if the patch moves noticeably.  This is a similar view to one of my first comets back in the 70's while living on Pauline Ln in Rolla.  I compared that one to a dirty snowball.  Garradd appeared to be elongated so perhaps I'll haul out the 8" this weekend to see what it looks like with a bit more light gathering capability.  Should be fun.

SN 2011FE and a Geosync sat try

The moon and rain were gone finally so I thought I'd try to catch a glimpse of the supernova in M101 again.  I read an article in S&T online that said it was still mag 10 and easy to see so I went out about 8:30 with my 8" dob.  Oops, I forgot that the dipper and M101 were slipping behind the house to the west!  Fortunately it was still above the roof and the fog had not settled in so I got the dob pointed and BINGO there it was, south and a bit west of center of M101.  The galaxy was easier to see tonight than last time and SN 2011FE stood out like a sore thumb.  Not a bad sight for a star that's 23 million light years away!
I thought 'that was easy' and decided to swing around to M11 and try for a geosynchronous satellite.  An article in Oct S&T described how to find them but once again I wasn't able to spot one.  I found M11 ok and that put me at about -6 dec which is about where the Clark Belt should be but no cigar.  The fog was settling in so visibility wasn't good.  Maybe next time when it is clearer.
Jupiter was rising as I quit and made an eerie glow through the mist in the hollow. 

More Vesta and M101's supernova

M101 was just about to go behind my house tonight but it was very clear and dark, if a bit dewey tonight so I thought I'd try for the supernova that popped up the other day in M101. I finally got it in the eyepiece; for such a big thing it was a bit hard to find and I practically had to fall off the deck to see it above the house. It has a low surface brightness and is barely visible in my 8" dob with a 27mm ep. I got it, switched to a 10mm and noticed several flickering pinpoints of light in the body of M101. I saw one particularly bright, relatively speaking, just a bit north of the galactic center. That could have been it but I wouldn't care to bet on it! M101 was a nice sight anyway and well worth looking for again.
I next swung around to check out Vesta, with the 8" this time. I've been watching in binoculars, and at mag 6, Vesta is easy to pick out. It's getting close to Psi Cap. There is a little three star hockey stick between Psi and Omega Cap that is visible in my 7x50's and Vesta makes the 4th corner of a box with those three. It is noticeably brighter than the elbow of the stick diagonally opposite Vesta, not quite as bright as the end closer to Omega and brighter than the end closer to Psi. That puts it at about mag 6. I checked it out with my 27mm ep but Vesta really shown forth when I popped in the 10mm. It was smack in the middle of a pentagon of five 10th mag stars! Very pretty. One of the stars was a bit brighter and is in my CdC catalog identified as 9.98 mag SAO189710. Vesta is about the same angular distance from it as TYC6926-00302-1 is from its companion: about 2.5 arc minutes. If the sky stays clear, it'll be fun to watch it get closer to Psi Cap. It should be out of the pentagon in a few hours but I don't think I'll be up to watch. I'm kind of tired after dancing for 5 hours and walking all over tower grove park today!