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I'm still willing to go if it even looks halfway promising. Right now in good ol' Spring Grove, it is pretty cloudy.
I'll post again after the 6 p.m. KTTC news weather.
We're still planning to go — dependent on a check of the conditions later this evening, between 6-8pm.
KTTC says it will be clear tonight. I plan to head out by 7:30 p.m.
It looks to be A Glorious Night For Astronomy!
Wow! What a night at Eagle Bluff! The RAC had (in order of appearance, I think) Alan Cameron, myself, Ellenvega, Chris Julie and son Joe, Luka and Jerome and Jillissa.
I journaled as usual, and while I didn't get everything, this is what I have: Antares and M4, M17 the Swan Nebula, M53 globular in Canes Venatici (no NGC 5053), M22, M51 & NGC 5195, M17 again, M11 the Wild Duck, M72 & M73 (Allen needed these), Comet Garrad near Zeta Sagittae and M71 (Luka did some fabulous imaging on this, show at the next meeting PLEASE!) M57, M27, Collinder 399 the Coathanger, Andromeda galaxy M31 w/M32 and M110, the Perseus Double Cluster, the Alpha Perseus association, Alcor & Mizar A&B, Jupiter w/3 moons and the 4th, Io, appeared about one half hour later, M45 the Pleadies, a brilliant meteor that Julie spotted in southern Perseus, M76 the Little Dumbell, "Kirk's doubles" in Lyra, a lengthy discussion on Aldebaran, the Hyades and the Pleadies and how they give an excellent example of the dimension of depth in space, M37 M36 & M38/NGC 1907, M35 w/NGC 2158, Sigma Orionis, the Orion Nebula and the usual featureless look at the tiny disc of Mars.
Most of us packed up at 4 a.m. and watched meteors for another 45 minutes. Everyone but Luka stayed till 4, Joe was very proud of his Celestron starter scope, eyepieces and Moon filters, and kudos to Ellenvega. That girl can really starhop!
It was A Glorious Night For Astronomy!
Hello astronomy fans. I got out for two and a half hours tonight. Lunar II stuff, mainly.
Rimae Tresnecker's area could be found, but the Sun angle was too high to see it. I did have real good luck nailing crater Thebit, Thebit A and Thebit L. They are near the craters Arzachel and Purbach and going the other direction is the Straight Wall, (Rupes Recta) which was a real standout tonight.
The bright crater Taruntius (56 km., bright rays) and Sinus Concordiae (the Lake of Concord) were also easy targets tonight. The night of Sept. 7th should be a big one for me. I think I can nab a half dozen on that night.
Finished with Jupiter. A nice array of all four Galiliean moons tonight, one to the east and three to the west with some background stars thrown in. I could do all these from my deck which was real handy.
Love this September weather!
I agree, Dean, this weather has been very kind to us of late. I don't know whether it is just a renewed spark in astronomy for me or what, but I have more scope time since August 25th as I had the whole first 8.66 months of the year. I've captured 7 Herschel 400 objects in the 5 nights I've been out, including two this morning: NGC1502 and 1501 in the Camel… Binoculars saved my morning because I was on the wrong string of stars that I thought were Kemble's Cascade. Once I got on the right path, these two objects were easy to find.
Right on, brother Scott. Don't forget that between Perseus and Kemble's Cascade is the open star cluster Stock II. This is on the Binocular Deep Sky List and is easy to spot because it looks like a "stick man".
I got out last night for a couple hours and racked up 3 more Lunar II's. Sinus Aestuumn, Mare Cognitum and crater Clavius and its craterlets. (This is where the Lunar 100 and Lunar II overlap. Clavius and Lacus Mortis are both on the same lists, what's up with that???) Hopefully more tonight.
Good for you for getting some Herschel 400's from the urban skies of Rochester. You may need to come on down to good ol' Spring Grove to get NGC 3912, though. That one is real tough, some cruel son of a gun included that one in the list. BTW, it wasn't William Herschel that found that one. I'm pretty sure that NGC 3912 was discovered by the Marquis de Sade. Yeah, and he asked his old buddy Bill to put it on the Herschel 400 list as a 'future observing challenge'.
The Marquis was into astronomy, wasn't he? It seems to me he was into something way back then….. ::)
Went looking for the supernova in M101 tonight. I found a bright spot where pinwheel ought to be. I guess I'm not sure if I'm lucky to have seen anything near pinwheel on account of the supernova or if I found pinwheel despite the supernova. My vangatge point was in Roch looking over new car row on 52.
Kirk.
Anyone headed out tomorrow night?
I might get out after I get done tending bar tonight. My scope is set up on the deck and I really need to check my Lunar II list, but I can't travel anywhere. Last night, I nailed down Rima Hippalus and crater Tycho near Lunar midday. Two hours, plus a great observation of Jupiter. There are quite a few background stars around the King of Planets right now.
Right now I'm reliving the agony of finishing up the Lunar 100. If you don't get a certain target on a certain night, an observer has to either try by catching it on the Lunar waning phase and that means sometimes getting up in the middle of the night to do it, or wait until the next month when the next opportunity happens, WEATHER permitting.
The Moon is so cool, but it can be real frustrating, too. I am SO CLOSE, but I am not sure if I can finish Lunar II this month or not. After September, then we have one more month. When November comes around, things usually get pretty bad.
Wish us ALL luck. Looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.
I was out a few nights ago looking for it. I was far northwest, but still in town. I couldn't even find M101. Too much light pollution, both artificial and moonlight.
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