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It was AGNFA at Eagle Bluff on Friday night. Allen Cameron and Steve Remick beat me to the parking lot, then Dave and Aaron showed up, then Mike and Mike from the LCAAS and the not quite final show was Randy.
The sky was very good, and while we saw some meteors, they weren't as numerous as I expected. Mike Rowlands, Steve and I had "binocular wars". (We lined up all 3 sets of binoculars we had with and all looked at the same thing to compare images) That was fun. Dave and Aaron did some naked eye astronomy figuring out the lesser known stars of constellations like Taurus, I helped Allen Cameron find some targets and Randy kept everyone hugely entertained as he always does.
Ice was a problem. By 11:30 everything had a coat of ice so thick you could have used a windshield scraper. Randy and I were the last ones in the lot when lo and behold, Ellenvega pulled in with an untouched telescope. We warmed up for a bit in the trailer, then Barb set up and Randy and I threw every obscure deep sky object we could think of at her and she found them all, most of them very quickly. That was very fun! She finally iced up and we hit the road at 3 a.m. Except for the ice, it was the most beautiful sky you could want. Wonderful.
Another great night. Not so much weather wise, there was wind to deal with, but outreach was super. DuWayne "Dugan" Oakes had his 60th birthday party tonight and since I work "with" Dugan, (if you EVER say "I work FOR Dugan", you will get 'The Look'). There were lots of people there and I had my binocs and scope loaded up and showed them the Moon, Jupiter and the Pleadies. Most of the people that were there had never looked at stellar objects through any kind of instrument before.
Then I went out to the Flatin Farm where I met up with my old buddy Steve and we looked at the Orion Nebula (a new object for his Messiers), M35 in Gemini along with NGC 2158, (I told him it was on the edge of the cluster, but not where and he found it all on his lonesome) and M41 in Canis Major.
He is getting much quicker at finding stuff. His "object awareness" is growing by leaps and bounds. It is very fun to see.
It was a very windy night, not so much in town, but out at the Flatin Farm, but still AGNFA!!
The Decorah CSC is predicting clear skies starting at 2 a.m. If anyone is adventurous enough to come and join me and Steve on the Flatin Farm hayfield, you are certainly welcome. 😮
Moon set looks to be about 3:30 with 3 hours of darkness after that. ;D
I couldn't fall asleep so I set up at the Flatin Farm at 1 a.m. The clouds were breaking up and things were looking real good. I did the usual routine, polar alignment, checked out Gamma Leonis which split easily, looked at Sirius and thought I could see hints of Sirius B, observed the Moon and saw that the terminator was right on the Aristarchus Plateau and was going to journal when I looked up and thought, "I better look at Jupiter."
I'm glad I did. 3 moons off the east side and one on the west, VERY close in. I kept looking at it to see if it was going to move toward or away from the planet. Something else happened. At 2:30 a.m. it started to dim! It took 11 minutes to disappear completely. Steve showed up about 15 minutes later and I used his Sky&Telescope chart to find out that I had seen Ganymede eclipsed by Jupiter's shadow. YES!! I kept on monitoring Jupiter, but Ganymede was behind the planet and did not reappear by the time we packed up at 6 a.m.
Steve got M44 (The Beehive), M3 (Globular in Canes Venatici) and M94 in Canes for his Messier List. I also had him check out Cor Caroli (Alpha Canes Venaticorum) which is a beautiful double star.
We finished by observing the close approach of Venus to Saturn. Conjunction is the next two mornings. They were about a half a binocular FOV from 5 a.m. on. AGNFA!
Did anyone get out to take a look at the Jupiter/Moon conjuntion? Jupiter was only about one degree above and to the left of the Moon at 6-6:30 p.m. I got my binoculars out and it was stunning. I would have gotten my telescope out to see if I could get them in the same FOV, but did not have enough time, because I had to work bar bingo at the Legion.
In my 15X70 binoculars it was simply awesome. They both easily fit in the same FOV. I could see 2 of the Galileans to the lower left and one to the upper right. Betty came out and saw the two to the lower left. Laura came out with no coat and little shorts on, lasted for 10 seconds and saw Jupiter and the Moon, said "Thanks Dad", then bolted back to comfort inside the house.
I got a couple of my neighbors to look at it and they really liked it. What a show! I'd have blown off the bingo work if I had known how close a pass this came to be.
I hope that lots of you got to see what I did, either naked eye or through binoculars. It was a VERY brief, but AGNFA!!
They were 1 degree apart when I noticed them. I only saw it naked eye, but did stop long enough to appreciate it. My binoculars are still packed away from the move sadly, as are the scopes.
Hello astronomy fans! Steve, David Coset (the guy from France) and I got out there for 3 hours tonight. While we were setting up, I put David on my binocs and had him look at Albebaran, the Hyades and the Pleadies star clusters, plus Jupiter. That kept him busy until me and Steve could start rocking once we were set up.
Steve cruised through Auriga and showed David M37, M36 and M38, then dropped down to Gemini and showcased M35. We had a good disscusion on open star clusters, then turned our attention back to Jupiter. Callisto was closing with the planet and we kept a close eye on that. The Orion Nebula was also a big treat for him. I also pointed out Orion's belt and Collinder 70, the beautiful stars that surround the belt.
I also showed David M1 the Crab Nebula in Taurus and, while I had a little tussle with my star chart for Cetus, found NGC 253 the "Silver Coin Galaxy". I was suprised at how easy it was to see in my finder. We also showed David the Andromeda Galxay. (Pronounced "Andromed" in Francais).
David watched Callisto disappear behind Jupiter, and we taught him what a "Coconut Cover" is in English. (It is a stocking cap) and also loaned him a pair of gloves. He assured us that he would be "bettar preparred next tyme" and was really amazed at everything that he saw tonight. I hope all of you get to meet him sometime. He is really fun and gave me some genuine French mustard that I'm bringing to the RAC Christmas party. AGNFA!
I saw the most amazing meteor last evening when walking the dog about 8:15. Huge bright green with a long bluish/yellow tail. It came from pretty much overhead, disappearing toward the north. A fine definition of serendipity. B
I hope Starbie made a wish on seeing her meteor. At least one of the RAC saw a Geminid.
What do you astronomy fans think of having a star party at Eagle Bluff tomorrow night? I called and they said that there is absolutely nothing going on. We can have the parking lot all to ourselves.
Since this is Christmas weekend, we could gather later than usual. Stuppo (Steve) doesn't have to work on Saturday so Friday night would work the best for him. The Moon phase is 1st quarter. We could arrive and set up, observe, and enjoy the night sky well into the morning hours and not have to worry about the next days commitments.
We'd have to dress like we were going to Antarctica. But, we would have the opportunity to see the best of the winter sky. It would be the most unusual winter star party that the RAC has ever attempted.
If there is not much interest, we'll just go out to the Flatin Farm hayfield. Merry Christmas and love to all. Dean
Unfortunetly I have an early morning work commitment so it's no-go for me. Hopefully will get a decent chance in January.
No problem, Ellenvega. I think it is going to be a brief sojourn at the Flatin Farm hayfield tonight, astronomy fans. I'll be looking for the missing planet Nibaru. If it wasn't so darn cold, I'd pierce my nose, get my paint and feathers on, and get naked, but I don't think that is going to happen. ;D Meeting Cedric, Rupert and Percy up at the Legion would be more likely than that.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night.
Yup, had fam come in tonight. Nice to see the clear skies again, but so cold. But Dean, maybe that paint and feathers thing will go over well at the Legion tonight!
And Merry Christmas to you too!Friday night looks good, astronomy fans. What do you think about Eagle Bluff? ???
If there is not much interest, you can find me at the Flatin Farm hayfield. 😉
Dean, not quite sure if I want to go all the way to Eagle Bluff, but thinking about doing Keller for sure.
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