- This topic has 2,638 replies, 51 voices, and was last updated 5 hours, 50 minutes ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Steve and I got out for 3 hours tonight, joined by Dale & Sue Scobie, David Coset and Logan Deschler. An intense search for PANSTARRS took 40 minutes to find the small medium bright object. It was much smaller than I anticipated, but with a bright nucleus and a very broad tail. None of us could spot it naked eye, but then there were some low scattered clouds to the west.
Lepus was checked out again, Jupiter like always and Leo's Triplet was observed. Gamma Leonis and M41 in Canis Major, plus a look at the Orion Nebula. The sky wasn't as good as March 6th, but it was good to see the comet after such a long wait and much hype. I hope ISON is better. I have serious doubts as to whether PANSTARRS can be spotted naked eye.
I'd like to hear what some of the Keller gang saw.
[quote author=bernie engels link=topic=233.msg5399#msg5399 date=1362922359]
Thanks for the input. Yes, a little table would make things easier. You said you don't use a headlamp. What is your light source for your charts?
[/quote]I use a Rigel Starlite Mini. And yes, it does have a few teeth marks on it from times I've needed two hands…
Jeff, his wife, and Luka all present as we searched through a plethora of high clouds. A very small point of light(just discernible with 7x specs a few finger widths below the moon. No tail. Looked more like a star than a comet. Beefier looking clouds then moved in to blanket the western horizon. >:(
Spent some time going over the major constellations overhead where the cloud cover had not yet reached…
We can still hold out hope for a clear spell on Saturday night.Hello astronomy fans. I'm going to take another stab at PANSTARRS if the weather stays clear. A few comments on last night:
1. The coma of PANSTARRS was well defined, and bright. Some comets have a real fuzzball leading the charge, but this one was crisp. It reminded me of Mars in size, but not in color.
2. The tail was broad and short. I know that the pictures that have been published so far show a longer, slimmer tail, but that is not evident to the eye through binoculars or a telescope.
3. The comet does not take high power well, at least not last night. The best looks that Steve and I got were 40X for me (2" 50mm Vixen on a Celestron 8' SCT – 2000mm focal length) and for Steve a 25mm inch and a quarter eyepiece on his Orion Classic 8" Dobsonian – 1200mm focal length. (48X) Please correct me if I got this wrong.
Good luck tonight, and hope for a good Sat. night at EB.
Anyone want to get out in organized fashion this evening? How is the horizon from the OMC Parking lot where we did transit of Venus?
Kirk
It looks like Sat. nite may have some clear skies. I called Eagle Bluff and talked to Dawn. She said that there will be a group already there and that we can have a dark parking lot from sunset on.
If we can't get the whole night weather wise, I'd recommend NOT going for a Messier Marathon, but would love to have a regular star party. Bernie and Dave have new scopes and this might be a good chance to give them a workout. We'll just have to see what the forecast is, but right now, KTTC and CSC show at least half a night of clear skies.
If we can get a MM in, will Ellenvega and Randy make it? She did a good job calling the objects with her list last year, and El Presidente's warming shack would be wonderful. Low forecasted for March 16/17 is 9 degrees F.
I won't be doing a MM, because I'm opening at the BP at 5am. If it's clear in the evening, I *might* be able to get out for a few hours.
I looked for the comet Wed. nite in the BP parking lot, with no luck.
I may be a maybe for Saturday. When I checked the storage shed for the trailer Wednesday evening, an ice dam had formed at the base of the door and I couldn't lift it. I'll have to try to chip away tomorrow and see if I can open it!
If anyone has a direct line to God, please ask him if he could help us out a little bit with this stubborn cloud deck 😉
No such influence here, although He has been very kind to me in the past. But like all of us that live here in SE Minnesota we have to take what we get.
CSC is showing clouds till midnight. If that doesn't change, it will not be an Eagle Bluff night for me tonight. That is simply too late to go. If so, we'll just have to save our astronomical ammunition for another time.
I'll check in again after I'm done tending bar at the Legion. I work noon till 6 today. The number is 507 498-3908 if anyone needs to communicate before then.
I for one would like to give it a go! My scope is gathering dust in the closet, just begging to be used…
Any other takers?I was thinking if it stays sort of like it is now, I might head to Keller and take another shot at the comet perhaps. Having trouble right now reconciling what I see outside with the forecasts. CSC and weather.com both have it much cloudier than it is right now. So not sure what to think. Sort of looks clearer to the north and clouds to the west. If things come from the west, it will get cloudy. If from the north, it'll be clear.
fyi…The latest NWS forcast discussion (3pm) for SE MN states that the clouds out there now are "diurnal" driven, and should disperse this evening.
Attachments:
Both the CSC and KTTC weather are calling for high thin clouds for the evening. It is not what I would make a trip to Eagle Bluff for.
Local observing only.
Okay, so those evening clouds did not "disperse" much last evening.
Luka, Jeff and I searched (again) for the elusive comet, with no luck. At one point I was certain that I had spotted it, tail and all, but then Jeff informed me that the tail had numbers on it, as well as a little US flag ???
That's what I get for living so close to the airport…
We did have a good discussion about eye pieces, including a fantastic look at Jupiter through Jeff's 6.7mm ES. Despite the clouds, the atmoshere seemed settled, providing a clear look at Jupiter and its major moons. Last night also gave me a chance to try out my new 9×50 finder scope. Dean, you were right, it makes a world of difference. I'm already looking forward to the next night of gazing.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.