Home › Forums › RAC Main Forum › General Discussion › Observing tonight?
- This topic has 2,639 replies, 51 voices, and was last updated 4 months ago by
fealeybob14.
-
AuthorPosts
-
June 10, 2012 at 7:58 pm #11222
Sounds like you had a great time last night Dean. Those Herschels will still be there for you to pick off on another night. 🙂
It was nice out at Keller last night, nicer than Friday night, seemed a little darker. Gerarda and I were the only ones last night.
On the way over to Keller we were treated to a great display of crepuscular rays.. really, really nice.
We got there by 9:30 as I wanted to see if we could see the Tiangong space station, but didn't see it. Maybe I read it wrong, but seems like we should have seen it. Supposed to have been about a mag 0.6 and go right by Saturn, but nope. So we waited for the sky to get dark and for the ISS to make an appearance at 10:17. ISS showed up and that's when Gerarda reminded me I had mentioned it looked like it would pass by Polaris. Hmm, ok, missed with Saturn last night. Let's try Polaris and ISS tonight. I put in a wide field eyepiece and waited. Looked like it would go above Polaris, so moved Polaris towards the edge. Sure enough, I was able to see the ISS zip right on through. Going too fast to pick up detail, but quite the large bright object zipping past Polaris. Neat.
I had decided to concentrate on Globs last night, looking for the ones in Ophiuchus and others. Doing Messiers, mainly globs and galaxies, a brief western campaign in Virgo and also the Leo Messiers. Looks like 12 globs, 10 galaxies, 2 nebulae, and an open cluster. M71, M27, M56, M57, M29, M13, M92, M4, M80, M9, M10, M12, M107, M5, M3, M104, M65, M66, M95, M96, M105, M85, M98, M99, M100. The galaxies would pull ahead of the globs as there were 3 other NGC galaxies. NGC3628 to complete the Leo Triplet. M85 had companion NGC 4394 and M105 has NGC 3384.
AGNFA for sure! 🙂
June 11, 2012 at 12:14 am #11223Jeff. as good a night I had last night You had one even better!
Keep me posted on when you need a new certificate and pin.
You rock! AGNFA
Dean
June 12, 2012 at 4:23 am #11224I, too, took a long look at Saturn last Saturday night finding 4 moons in view. The atmosphere seemed very steady. I wasn't out very long, but had to take a look at M13…my favorite (M22 a close second). Mars, of course, is still unremarkable.
Dean … good fun with the wedding party. (you can pull that picture of Saturn out of your scope now) !! That's a common comment about Saturn isn't it. It would be fun to see Saturn transit a globular star cluster.
Happy Trails
RickJune 12, 2012 at 5:51 am #11225Very fun to read all of the postings about observations. 🙂
I got out tonight for two hours and had every intention of finishing the Herschel 400. However it was windy and I needed a spot other than the Flatin Farm hayfield.
Two wonderful things happened. I called up my favorite nephew Matthew and asked him if I could set up just to the south of a screen of dense arbor vidas that he has on his property. He said "Sure" and although it is right by Hwy 44 (100 yds. to the sourth?) it is very dark and the trees block the light pollution from Caledonia.
Just as I was getting ready to finish the H-400, my great niece Maria came out. She is 11 years old and is a sweetie, so I ended up giving her a two hour lesson in observational astronomy. We saw Saturn and Mars, I showed her Alcor and Mizar and explained the difference between an optical double and a binary, explained that when you look up in the sky you not only are looking up, but also back in time and that although every stars light reaches your eye at the same time, the light has different travel times for each star. Her eyes got real big and she said "That is so weird, but so cool!). She also loved "Arc to Arcturus and spike to Spica."
Then I showed her some more of the Obvious Stuff and the best part of the whole night was when she gave me a hug and said, "I love you, Uncle Dean."
I guess I wanted to finish the Herschel 400 on the Flatin Farm hayfield anyway. I reached the 100 hour mark tonight. See you soon!
June 22, 2012 at 3:18 pm #11226Clear sky chart showing clear skies until after midnight. So is it Eagle Bluff and an Elvis dedication tonight??
Jeff
June 22, 2012 at 3:43 pm #11227I'm in. B
June 22, 2012 at 5:21 pm #11228Well, they've refreshed the Clear Sky Chart. Not quite as nice as it was earlier.
June 22, 2012 at 6:35 pm #11229What happened to elvis: will he be shaken his legs or auto spinning?
Prior commitments prevent us from making the trip to Eagle Bluff. Anyone up for Keller?
June 22, 2012 at 8:21 pm #11230I'll probably be checking later this evening to see if I go to Eagle Bluff or not. If a little cloudy, may think Keller instead. Or if really cloudy.. hmm.
CSC not great, not bad. Hourly forecast says mostly clear at 11:00 and mostly cloudy at midnight.
June 22, 2012 at 9:56 pm #11231A young philosospher once said "Wise men say only fools rush in…".
Still, I can't help but go down to EB and kick-start Elvis into gear.
I'll be there mid-evening.June 23, 2012 at 12:14 am #11232The Blue Suede Shoes are on the way! ;D
July 1, 2012 at 8:28 am #11233Hello astronomy fans! I got there for 4 and a half hours tonight. Steve Remick joined me and we watched lunar sunrise on the Aristarchus plateau. Aristarchus and Herodotus were very different looking with a low sun angle and Vallis Schroteri (the Cobra's Head) was absolutely spectacular. It was as vivid as I've ever seen it. Steve got 9 off the Lunar 100, a good start.
Steve got M39 in Cygnus and as the Moon was setting, he nabbed M31 the great Andromeda Galaxy. We also looked at Gamma Andromeda which is a very pretty double star.
I recorded Zeta Ursa Majoris for my first observation of the Astronomical League's Binocular Double Star list.
AGNFA!!
July 9, 2012 at 7:14 am #11234I finished the Herschel 400 tonight. It is hard to describe what I feel right now. Elation, fatigue, thankfullness that one of the last 6 objects didn't "slip the bridle" and make me pick it up in another season. I think Joy would be the best word.
It is the hardest observing program I've ever done in astronomy. I know I've been at it for at least 5 years, and I'll pin down the time and average the number of objects observed every night. I sketched every one. I know I didn't need to, but I wanted to.
After I finished the last one, I watched the Moon rise, (I tried to see if I could get Rimae Tresnecker. That would have been a finish to 2 big observing lists on one night, but no such luck.) I just sat there after checking out the Moon and simply relaxed, and listened to Vivaldi and other classical music. I finished the night with a Binocular Double Star observation of Delta Bootes.
What a way to finish ALCON. I am really, really lucky. God Bless each and every one of you. See you Tuesday.
July 10, 2012 at 1:48 am #11235Congratulation Dean! 8)
What are you working on now? I guess you have one of the Lunars? Which one is that? Did you mention globs a little while ago as well?
July 10, 2012 at 2:24 am #11236Hi and thanks, Jeff.
1 more for Lunar II. (Rimae Tresnecker).
Currently working on Globular Clusters, Binocular Double Stars and Sunspotters award.
I rode on the bus at ALCON with Robert….hmmm. He's the Variable Star Chair, a Master Observer and one heck of a nice guy. I'm starting in on T-Draconis tonight. I've wanted to try variable stars for a long time.
Hope to see you tomorrow night!
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.