A night at the Observatory
Friday 17/9/2010
02:15 BST: Chi Cygni; 8" SCT 100x; S=6, T=6.
Unable to identify the LPV within the fov of dim stars. Chi is slowly increasing in luminosity towards a February 2001 maximum.
01:40 BST; SS Cygni; 8" SCT 100x; S=6, T=6.
Sky overhead is very clear and at 100x, the fov is packed with faint stars. With averted visio, the faintest that I can see is +12.8. SS Cygni is much brighter than the +11.4 comp-star but fainter than the +10.9 comp-star. My estimate of it's magnitude is therefore +11.1 using the AAVSO star map.
Thursday 16/9/2010
23:00 BST; Chi Cygni; 8" SCT 100x; S=7, T=8.
The sky is exceptionally very clear. No apparent confirmed sighting of Chi, though it it one of many faint stars in the fov.
02:35 BST; Jupiter; 8" SCT 100x; S=7, T=7
Sky is crisp and the image of the planet is sharp. NEB is very prominent but the SEB is ot where it should be. In fact it is not there at all! All other cloud features are visable and well defined even at his low power. Only three Galileam Moons visable; Callisto and Europa to the west, being bright star-like point sources and Ganymede to the east. Io is nowhere to be seen... well at least in my scope ut checking on a planetarium software package, Io is in mid-transit across the disk of Jupiter.
02:45 BST; SS Cygni; 10x50 binoculars
Friday 27/8/2010: Drove over to the observatory in Austerfield, collecting Sandra and petrol on the way! The night started very clear and the Seeing was very good. Brian, Elaine and Paul were already there and Phil arrived just before us.I spent the first session outside the domes with my binoculars checking on Variable Stars. Ursa Major was low to the northern horizon but I still wanted to check on Z UMa, a semi-regular with a mag range of 6.2 - 9.4 over a 195.5 day period. As per a couple of nights ago, I still couldn't see it! The faintest star seen through my 10x50 bins was 7.3, but with averted vision...was there a very faint point? No I can't claim that so my estimate to the AAVSO will be <7.3!>
Intermittent cloud was now rolling over but a quick look to W Cygni, another semi-regular star overhead in the constellation of Cygnus delivered a more concrete result! Still red in colour and using a mag 6.2 star and 5.6 star as comparisons on the AAVSO chart, W Cygni looks as though it's closer to 5.6 but not quite. My estimate that will be reported in 5.7. Just by chance while observing this variable, 3 satellites passed through the field-of-view of my binoculars at the same instant, passing each other just like cars on a road! What are the chances of that? Two of the satellites were following each other and kept a steady pace apart. The one moving north-west was in all probability ERS-2 at mag 3.0 while the other two were NOSS 3-2 (A) and NOSS 3-2 (B) both at mag 3.8, moving on the same track to the south-east approx a couple of degrees apart.
I then joined the two ladies and Brian in the dome that houses the 11" Vixen. But on my way in I caught the bright flash of a meteorite streaking towards Bootes. Inside the dome we looked at Double Stars; 11 Aquilae, Gamma Delphinus. I missed the others that they saw, most notably Iota Cassiopeia!
Tea beak and then I moved into the Dome with the 14" Meade and set-up my webcam to capture images of Jupiter. The planet is clearly a naked-eye object just right of the waning full Moon in the south-east. The Seeing was extraordinary and abundant cloud features were clearly discernible. Festoons in the northern hemisphere were easily seen with a 26mm lens in the scope. The four Galilean satellites were visable too with two to the west and two to the east of the planet. What is also apparent is that Jupiter's Southern Equatorial Belt (SEB) has faded from view. This tends to happen on regular cycles, the last being in 2007. Though the scientists are not really sure why this happens, it should reappear in the forthcoming months. But in any case a great picture opportunity for me! The top image is with a 2x barlow lens between the webcam and scope to magnify the image. Below in a wider view with two of the Galilean Moons, Ganymede and Io.
By now it was 2:15am BST and cloud-cover was now 95% so Sandra and I left for home while Brian stayed to try and image Jupiter.A very good night of astronomy with excellent company!
02:15 BST: Chi Cygni; 8" SCT 100x; S=6, T=6.
Unable to identify the LPV within the fov of dim stars. Chi is slowly increasing in luminosity towards a February 2001 maximum.
01:40 BST; SS Cygni; 8" SCT 100x; S=6, T=6.
Sky overhead is very clear and at 100x, the fov is packed with faint stars. With averted visio, the faintest that I can see is +12.8. SS Cygni is much brighter than the +11.4 comp-star but fainter than the +10.9 comp-star. My estimate of it's magnitude is therefore +11.1 using the AAVSO star map.
Thursday 16/9/2010
23:00 BST; Chi Cygni; 8" SCT 100x; S=7, T=8.
The sky is exceptionally very clear. No apparent confirmed sighting of Chi, though it it one of many faint stars in the fov.
02:35 BST; Jupiter; 8" SCT 100x; S=7, T=7
Sky is crisp and the image of the planet is sharp. NEB is very prominent but the SEB is ot where it should be. In fact it is not there at all! All other cloud features are visable and well defined even at his low power. Only three Galileam Moons visable; Callisto and Europa to the west, being bright star-like point sources and Ganymede to the east. Io is nowhere to be seen... well at least in my scope ut checking on a planetarium software package, Io is in mid-transit across the disk of Jupiter.
02:45 BST; SS Cygni; 10x50 binoculars
Friday 27/8/2010: Drove over to the observatory in Austerfield, collecting Sandra and petrol on the way! The night started very clear and the Seeing was very good. Brian, Elaine and Paul were already there and Phil arrived just before us.I spent the first session outside the domes with my binoculars checking on Variable Stars. Ursa Major was low to the northern horizon but I still wanted to check on Z UMa, a semi-regular with a mag range of 6.2 - 9.4 over a 195.5 day period. As per a couple of nights ago, I still couldn't see it! The faintest star seen through my 10x50 bins was 7.3, but with averted vision...was there a very faint point? No I can't claim that so my estimate to the AAVSO will be <7.3!>
Intermittent cloud was now rolling over but a quick look to W Cygni, another semi-regular star overhead in the constellation of Cygnus delivered a more concrete result! Still red in colour and using a mag 6.2 star and 5.6 star as comparisons on the AAVSO chart, W Cygni looks as though it's closer to 5.6 but not quite. My estimate that will be reported in 5.7. Just by chance while observing this variable, 3 satellites passed through the field-of-view of my binoculars at the same instant, passing each other just like cars on a road! What are the chances of that? Two of the satellites were following each other and kept a steady pace apart. The one moving north-west was in all probability ERS-2 at mag 3.0 while the other two were NOSS 3-2 (A) and NOSS 3-2 (B) both at mag 3.8, moving on the same track to the south-east approx a couple of degrees apart.
I then joined the two ladies and Brian in the dome that houses the 11" Vixen. But on my way in I caught the bright flash of a meteorite streaking towards Bootes. Inside the dome we looked at Double Stars; 11 Aquilae, Gamma Delphinus. I missed the others that they saw, most notably Iota Cassiopeia!
Tea beak and then I moved into the Dome with the 14" Meade and set-up my webcam to capture images of Jupiter. The planet is clearly a naked-eye object just right of the waning full Moon in the south-east. The Seeing was extraordinary and abundant cloud features were clearly discernible. Festoons in the northern hemisphere were easily seen with a 26mm lens in the scope. The four Galilean satellites were visable too with two to the west and two to the east of the planet. What is also apparent is that Jupiter's Southern Equatorial Belt (SEB) has faded from view. This tends to happen on regular cycles, the last being in 2007. Though the scientists are not really sure why this happens, it should reappear in the forthcoming months. But in any case a great picture opportunity for me! The top image is with a 2x barlow lens between the webcam and scope to magnify the image. Below in a wider view with two of the Galilean Moons, Ganymede and Io.By now it was 2:15am BST and cloud-cover was now 95% so Sandra and I left for home while Brian stayed to try and image Jupiter.A very good night of astronomy with excellent company!
Comments