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We had a nice group at Hidden Bluffs on Friday night and showed them Mars, Saturn, some double stars and the Moon. Lots of laser pointing going on too, showing the folks constellations and had a good number of satellites going overhead, plus a few faint meteors.
Steve, Barb and I had one really unusual satellite go overhead about 10:47 p.m. That would fade into nothing and then brighten noticably. It reached mag. 1 towards the end, but most of the time peak brightness would be mag. 2. Pretty cool. The best question of the night, by far, was, "Has anyone made it out of the Galaxy?"
There are no dumb questions in astronomy, but some of them just have to make you smile.
Did anyone make it out to Gamehaven?
Eagle Bluff is open this weekend. I'm not sure if Jeff Boland is available, but I left a message for him to get back to me.
The long range forecast looks favorable. More later.
6:55 p.m. I got a message from Jeff Boland. He will be there this weekend with the Blue Suede Shoes.
I'll be there, kiddo. ;D
It also sounds like Dave Gross will be there. Steve Remick will be up north, but not sure about how many more.
Jeff Bolands is a lock.
I'll actually be a few miles down the road on a hill just outside of Whalan tonight, doing a little show for a co-worker and her friends. Maybe we should try to laser point each other. As the crow files, I'll be <4 miles ESE of Eagle Bluff.
ISS pass low across the north at 8:54 and also 11:30. The latter pass just nips the bottom of the big dipper and then dims under Polaris before it reaches Cassiopeia.
During the latter pass, look to the SE at a 11:30 towards the glow of Whalan. I'll step on the top of my ladder and shine a light towards you guys.We had a good crowd tonight. 10 of us showed up. Jeff got some great work in on Elvis and Ellenvega finished her Messier observations.
I got 3 more globular clusters and 2 more binocular double stars. Nearly everyone saw a meteor and some saw quite a few.The dew was tough. It was getting frustrating about 2:00 a.m. The last of us pulled the pin at 3 a.m.
Capt. Kirk pulled another late night arrival. He is getting famous for that!
The ISS put in a couple of passes. The last one at 10:30 was pretty good. No sign of Randy's light from Whalan. I shined mine toward the SE, but I doubt if anyone besides us saw it.
A few new faces in the crowd tonight! That's pretty neat.
Sorry, didn't get the light beacon out to you on time. It may have worked – the hill I was on is pretty high. Anyway, also had a great night, with about 6 couples, 3 kids, and 5 local college kids. Timeline was similar – heavy dew hit at 2, left at about 3am. Many have never looked through a telescope so they were a very interested group. They set up a comfortable viewing area with lawn chairs, table with wine, beer, cheese, and crackers! Was a beautiful night on a high grassy hill with nearly horizon to horizon skies in all directions. Two perfect Friday nights in a row!
Boy, I sure hope that some of you got out there last night. It was one of those 3 or 4 absolutely perfect nights that we get each year here in SE MN. Steve Remick and I got out and I suggested he try out the Scorpion and he nailed Antares and M4, he found M80 all by himself, (you should have heard the excitement in his voice on that one!), then the open clusters M6 and M7. Then he packed it in at 10:30.
I recorded 10 globular clusters, mostly in Scorpio-Sagittarius, but one in Ophiuchus. Then I settled back and used my binoculars on the beautiful Fall constellations of Casseopia, Perseus, Andromeda, Triangulum, Camelopardalis, Aquarius and finally Taurus. I lingered over the Double Cluster, Stock 2, Kembles Cascade, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Pinwheel Galaxy, the Helix Nebula, and finally the Pleadies. I could see everything crystal clear.
Wow. 3 and a half hours. I didn't want to go inside. A Glorious Night For Astronomy.
Yes, I rolled out the Obsession and putzed around Cygnus and Delphinius. Spent a long time on faint NGC 7006 (glob) and the Crescent Nebula. Likely may broadcast tonight on the nightskiesnetwork. The atmosphere looks like another winner tonight!
Hello astronomy fans! I was on a mission tonight. Thankfully it was accomplished. I found, observed and recorded Rimae Tresneker in Sinus Medii on the Moon to finish off Lunar II. My eighth AL observing program is in the journal.
Steve Remick and I had a great time out there tonight. He observed a few things in Sagittarius and then switched to the 1st Quarter Moon, where he had fun figuring what that part of astronomy is all about.
There were several faint meteors tonight, but what I liked about this evening was that I am almost sure I caught Algol (Beta Cygnis) near or at minima.
I watched Moonset, then recorded 4 Binocular double stars and 1 globular cluster (M71 in Sagitta). AGNFA!
I've gotten solar observations for 8 out of the last 10 days. It is very interesting to see how it changes day by day. 8)
Currently there is a huge sunspot complex right in the center of the solar disc. Any chance of an Aurora Alert? What is the best website to check on this? ???
Steve Remick and I are going out to watch Moonrise tonight. I hope to get some binocular double stars.
It's waning gibbous moonphase astronomy fans! ;D
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