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Great! There will be an ac hoc extension to the meeting tonight as we reconvene at Gamehaven shortly thereafter for anyone interested. Bring an extra coat!
The fireball we saw at 9:04:48 p.m. was witnessed in Spring Grove. The gentleman in question is not an astronomer, but knows me and when he realized it wasn't someone setting off a bottle rocket, he told me about it.
I asked him a few questions and it was definately a confirmation of what we saw. Time, direction, description all matched. The guys name is Mark Fink (a real nice guy) and he was really excited about it. He told me it was the second brightest meteor that he had ever seen and he is not much younger than me.
I've got a feeling that more than one posting to the AMS Fireball Page will be made.
Hello astronomy fans. I got out tonight for 3 and a half hours. I had to catch NGC's 2567, 2613 and 2627 in Puppis and Pyxis because if I didn't get them this dark sky period, I would stand a good chance of not getting them for several months from now. 2567 is an open cluster in Puppis and it was a little challenging because of the starhop to get to it. It also had the most southerly declination. 2613 is a VERY faint galaxy and anyone going after it should practice Red's advice on using averted vision for it. (I didn't have an eyepiece that could have cracked the magnification up to 2500X, dammit!) 2627 is not too difficult as it lies near Zeta Pyxis, but it too is a dim, scattered cluster.
I also have GOOD news and BAD news! I caught Comet Cardinal near M36 in Auriga tonight. I do have to make sure the "fuzzy star" I saw is it, but I'm 95% sure it is. Comet Yi-SWAN was covered by the only boxelder tree that is on the border of the Flatin Farm CORNFIELD. Yep. Ed and my favorite nephew Matthew plowed it up and I only have the strip by the fence on the south side and Dean's Boxelder Bistro and Bar on the north. It will probably be two years before it gets rotated back into hay. But thanks for the "head's up", Jeff! I'm going to try for Comet Yi-SWAN again tomorrow night without having to be pressured by southerly declined targets.
I finished my night by doing a Saturn observation (only two moons, but what a clear view of the Cassini's Division at this tight an angle to the rings!), and the star field of Dwarf Planet Ceres. I am certain I can pin it down tomorrow night and am very sure I know which was it was tonight. But it took a lot of doing. If any of you gets into tracking asteroids, don't let too many nights go by.
I also treated myself to the Leo Triplet, the star clusters of Auriga and globular cluster M5 along with Italian opera, Hyden's quiet sonata to the Queen and other selections from NPR. It was indeed a glorious night for astronomy. 8)
I went out last night as well. I was at Keller at about 9:30. I also tried to find Comets Cardinal and Yi-SWAN. I didn't find either. I did however find a fuzzy patch near M38, but after adding more magnification, it turned out to be a cluster. I drew the field to identify it later. It turned out to be NGC 1907. Then I remembered reading about a supernova in galaxy NGC 4088. I pointed my scope in the general direction, and quicly came up on a galaxy. It did seem bright, but adding more power didn't seem to help. Since there were several galaxies in that direction, and I didn't have anything more detailed than the PSA, I decided to draw that starfield too. That definitely did turn out to be NGC 4088. I can't say I positively saw the supernova, though. I will come back to it, now that I know. Next I took a stab at M101, which I had trouble with at Keller in the past. It was fairly high up in the sky, and what do you know, I found it! It was still very faint, with just the core, but it was there. Later I looked at the Virgo cluster. I found the face that begin's Markarian's chain, and was able to follow that chain. Since the galaxies were showing some extension, and not just a core, I took a stab at them with my Oberwork 15×70's. I'm glad I did. It wasn't nearly as easy as with my scope, but I did find M59, M60, M87, M84 and M86. Much harder than in the scope, but all right there. Then I looked at M3, which showed some resolution, near the edges at 120x even, and at 240x, quite a bit more. At that point it was getting very late, and a bit cold, especially compared to the day, so I headed home.
A great night for astronomy!Last night was a good steady atmosphere for around here. I, too, went to the Virgo cluster bringing in M98, 99, 100, 85, & 104. With the addition of M85 that brings my Messier object count to 104. Six to go and all in the Virgo galaxy cluster.
Then I tuned my sights to Leo finding the Tri – M95, 96 & 105, then the Duo M65, & 66. Then on to Ursa Major finding M81, & 82. The Cigar Galaxy was especially bright last night. I could make out much more features than at any time before. Then over to M108 & M97-PN, then to M51 the Whirlpool.
By that time my favorite Globular Cluster was available – M13. I love it when the Globulars are back in season. One last look at Saturn and I carted my 12" Dob back into the garage. All this from my driveway – with street lights across the road. The sky was very steady last night! Wanted to stay out longer, but need sleep for work. It was AGNFA.Rick
Good job, both Rick and Luka. I think that Comet Cardinal is close to M36. I need to check it out again.
Keep track of your observations by journaling if you can. The Messier List is pretty easy to get if you even journal your observations without sketching them.
We have several astute observers in the RAC, and for that I am truly thankful. It helps to spread the enthusiasm for our hobby to so many people.
Where did you and Duane go Kirk? You said you were heading there, but was wondering which place it was. Gamehaven or Keller?
We settled on Keller because neither of us had been there. We got there closer to midnight, did some 1x and binocular observing and headed home.
Keller seems to have good skies for its proximity to Rochester. The parking lot is a bit farther from the highway than I had envisioned. Although, that farm light across the way is pretty irritating; Time to build some kind of a screen.
Kirk
Jeff and I made the mistake of setting up in the north side the first time. The trees are sometimes a pretty good screen.
Anyway, is anyone going out to see any of the Lyrids tonight? Any good ideas about where to see them? Keller is probably the exactly wrong place based on where Lyra rises.
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