Monday 27th July: Got scope out again, his time, in my back garden. I wasn't planning to stay out late but the night air was mild and the sky was Moonless but clear! But at 00:52 BST (23:52 UT), I saw the bright dazzling star that was Jupiter peaking out from behind the row of houses that hampers my view. Grabbed my old laptop and trusty old Toucam, connected them up and shot some footage of the planet. Unfortunately I couldn't get the surrounding moons and stars in the same field-of-view but Jupiter was what I was after. The images here show the planet; stacked webcam frames to give a still image. Of course I also observed the planet through the 8" SCT with 26mm (76x) and 15mm (133x), plossel lenses. Jupiter presented a remarkably still and crisp image. Both Equatorial Belts were easily observed along with both Polar Regions. To webcam, I used a 2.5x barlow lens at prime focus without the right-angled-prism, so yielding a direct view of the planet. Very satisfying and worth a late night.
Earlier in the night, I did a general tour around the sky. First on the list was a very colorful favourite; Albireo (Beta Cygni, SAO 87301). At 76x it showed as a compact yellow primary star and blue secondary star. Plenty of fainter field stars were also in the fov making for a memorable image.
Next I had the scope nudge itself over to the Long Period Variable, Chi Cygni (SAO 68943). As the constellation was almost overhead, the sky was very dark and my eyes had got very 'dark-adapted' but I wasn't ready for the confusing plethora of dim stars that was the field-of-view (fov) in which to find Chi. The variable is now rising from minimum (14.1) and will not reach maximum until 27/12/2009. So trying to find a very very faint ruddy-coloured star amongst all these other stars was proving to be extremely tough! I had armed myself with an AAVSO chart (d & e) for the task but it was hopeless! Though I did not actually see the star, I can say with 100% confidence that it was it was greater that 12.4 which was the comparison star I used from the charts. Later I checked with the AAVSO and reports there were giving 13.4 to 13.7.
While still in Cygnus, I swung the scope over to 16 Cygni (SAO 31899). This is a classed as a wide double star. Both components are of a similar visual magnitude (6), though looking through a 26MM (76x) lens, I could see that one was slightly dimmer. Both appear to be yellow in colour and in a N-S arrangement as seen in the eyepiece. Both stars are easily identifiable as the fov is composed of many much dimmer stars.
Swinging over to the constellation of Aquila, I dropped onto the Double Star 5 Aql (SAO 14266). Bright pairing but tight at 76x power. The stars form a NW-SE arrangement. The Primary star is white and the Secondary appears to be blue. There is a slight difference in magnitude of 1. Very few field stars within the fov.
Still in Aquila, the Double 11 Aql (SAO 104308) was the next target. A close pairing, the primary is a fifth magnitude yellow star while the very dim Comes (Secondary) looks to my eye... a faint red. Looking at the WDS I find that this star is mag 9.3! plenty of dimmer field stars litter the eyepiece too!
South-west of Altair is the wide Double 15 Aql also known as SHJ 286 (SAO 142996). The Primary is a bright yellow colour while the 6.8 mag Comes appears to be red to me. This pair is very obvious in the eye-piece as all other stars in the fov are much fainter.
At 02:15 BST the high thin clouds rolled over and quickly becan to thicken. This signalled an end to this observing session and bed ready to rise at 7am for work!
Comments