Good Night at the Observatory

Tonight's public night featured the Moon and we had at least 80 people. Folks were very enthusiastic and why not... the views were great, especially for young children because the Moon was very high in the sky favoring short people looking through the eyepiece. Early arrivals also saw Jupiter, latecomers also saw Luna at 122 magnification and some of the stars of the Pleiades.

A mother visited again with her young daughters... one a burgeoning scientist. They were the last to leave the grounds. The young lady was enthralled by our views of the Moon, to be sure, but also loved the blue stars of the Pleiades. As they left I also pointed out a very few major constellations that had great stories in Greek mythology... something her school class is studying: Cassiopeia, the Pleiades, Orion.

Before heading home I checked out another potential site for a new observatory. The sky there was much "wider," being unobstructed by property line treelines. The ground was very wet, however, giving some worry. An exciting location, otherwise.

It was a good night at the Observatory.

Not sleeping in

It's a Saturday morning, a time when I normally sleep in; I need a bit of "catching up" at the end of most weeks. Looking out of the south-facing bedroom window I could see the sky had gone from thin overcast at bedtime last night to glorious clarity this morning. I went downstairs, grabbed my binoculars, and headed out to the stoop for a quick look 'round. What a nice sky, indeed! My old friend Orion was dominating the southwestern sky so I started with the belt -- the nebula (M42) glowed with glittering stars all around. Then I explored the vicinity of a very bright star to Orion's left... is that Sirius? Yes, indeed, with the beautiful open cluster M41 to his south: the heart of the "big dog." The sky was clear enough, even through the neighboring bare trees, that I could see a triangle to the southeast of M41; I later learned that was Canis Major's rump! North of Sirius was another, less impressive, open cluster M50. Of course no clear binocular autumn sky would be complete without a visit with the Seven Sisters: The Pleiades or M45. So clear and diamond-like the stars this morning. In my slippers, I stepped out on the sidewalk a bit to see if I could find Saturn. Yup! Not a good handheld binocular target, Saturn's distinctive golden cast was a giveaway. Neighbors' lights and hunger for breakfast brought me back indoors but I'd had a bit of pre-dawn stargazing which helped me feel better about not sleeping in.

Library sidewalk astronomy

Last night (Nov. 11) the astronomy club offered sidewalk astronomy experiences to visitors at the Westlake Porter Public Library. It was a chilly evening with breezes of around 15 MPH as we were setting up but the sky was clear. It was clear, at least, until we were ready to begin observing -- that's when clouds moved-- in making it very difficult for us to get stellar alignments for our computerized telescopes. No connectivity problems with my telescope and, had we a good alignment, the telescope would have performed exceedingly well. I think 6-inch is improving with age. The offering ran from 7:00 to 9:00 PM and, as time passed, the clouds did as well. Seeing, however, was only fair. Still we were able to offer decent views of Jupiter and observe Io disappear as it converged with Jupiter's limb and began a transit of the planetary disk. My scope performed well at 200X on Jupiter though the atmosphere kept the view softer than it might otherwise have been; it is very rare for me to run the scope at that power and reassuring to see how well it worked. We were also able to view --though not very clearly-- the Ring Nebula (M57), Uranus, and Neptune. Over the course of the evening we entertained around 30 viewers and we four astronomers were very eager to get packed up and warmed up at the end.

October Open Night

We had another good Open Night Saturday (Oct. 10). We started out with a local Cub Scout group seeking to earn their Astronomy Belt Loop awards. The two (one kid was very late arriving to make it three) boys and their dads got a look at the Observatory and telescope, we reviewed terms and computer images ranging from "planet" and "star" to "galaxy" and "universe" and, with adults arriving at about 7:30 for the 8:00 opening, segued into the evening's observing just before 8:00. Those adult early arrivals shared in the Scouts' lesson and all seemed attentive and interested. A good number of College students were in attendance for the Public segment including a group of four who seemed particularly interested in the telescope and what we were seeing. There was much "texting" and iPhone photography! In all something just over 33 people visited and looked through the scope.

Skies were clear but seeing was only fair to good with even the temperate zone cloud bands at Jupiter only faintly visible, not at all like September's views! I had some difficulty locating M31 in the dark gray sky but views of it were good. Andromeda's getting too high in the sky now to comfortably observe through a large refractor so that's the last time we'll offer it as a subject til next year. Then we looked at the Perseus Double Cluster and more than one person thought it looked like scattered diamonds filling the field of view... beautiful. It would look better at even lower magnification but I haven't a longer focal length eyepiece!

As I exited the Observatory at about 11:00 and began trudging (with something like 40 or 50 lbs. of gear) to my distant parked car, I gave the clear, eastern sky one last glance. There, hanging not far above the village center, was the beautiful Pleiades star cluster. Memories of boyhood and my first realization that the "Seven Sisters" was something different, something special, came flooding back. I stood, admiring the view for a bit longer then, shifting the loaded baggage on my shoulders, headed up the sidewalk smiling.

Exquisite sky tonight!

The seeing and the starry sky were exquisite Saturday night for our September Open Night. The sky over the village was cloudless and sparkling with diamond stars. The Milky Way stretched broad and bright overhead, arcing half-way across the sky, dust lanes evident. It was the finest sky I've seen in quite some time. All told 49 visitors came, stretched out over the two hours of the event -- much better than 49 all showing up at once, which has often happened! The smaller crowds at any given time allowed for better interaction with visitors and gave them the sense that they could take their time looking through the telescope. Several College students were in attendance including a young man from Mexico City. Students rarely show up at these events so it was a pleasure to have them. Three students arrived at the scheduled 11:00 closing time and I spent a half-hour with them... they were excited and enthusiastic about the entire experience. Earlier in the evening a girl, maybe eight years old, was obviously enthralled with her views of Jupiter and the Galilean Moons; she even used a chart I provided at the eyepiece to put names to the star-like dots aside the huge planet. It is extremely gratifying when someone, most especially a child, really "gets" what they are seeing when looking through a great telescope. That young lady wasn't just looking at Jupiter, she was observing! Also featured was the Andromeda Galaxy which filled the field of view with its misty wonder - the light of a trillion stars 2.5 million light-years away! Jupiter was resplendent with not only the dark, broad equatorial cloud bands visible, but other "stripes" could be seen in the temperate zones. I must say, between the excellent seeing and improved tracking of the telescope, I enjoyed the best views I've ever had of those two objects, both at 122X. The telescope's right ascension clutch has been slipping badly. By hand-tightening the clutch I found that the telescope tracked as well as some modern electrically-driven scopes making higher-magnification public views practical and enjoyable. Observing Jupiter was, by the way, greatly aided through use of a neutral density filter -- it was difficult to observe without the filter as Jupiter was so very brilliant! It was an excellent night.

Private observing

The forecasters all indicated last night (Sept. 1) would have very good seeing conditions and, because I wasn't due in to work until Monday afternoon, I decided to go to the Observatory and enjoy a little private observing. The session would also give me a chance to check on the facility and experiment with the telescope's faulty right ascension clutch.

Except for the dehumidifier bulk tank being nearly full, the place was fine. That was a relief since not long ago a severe thunderstorm with possible tornado passed a few miles to the south of Hiram.

It was my belief the hand control for the RA clutch was not able to turn far enough to lock the clutch and engage the telescope's clock drive. I removed the control linkage and manually tightened the clutch. Sure enough, the telescope began tracking decently (considering all of the mechanicals are a century old). I'll see if I can rig a kluge remote of some sort until a permanent fix can be arranged.

Seeing conditions were very good for the Moon, at least. The waxing gibbous Moon dominated the sky wiping out all but a trace of the Milky Way and dimmer stars. There were also traces of high, thin clouds later in the night. I experimented with afocal photography using a new digital SLR camera and got mixed results (see image above). An apparatus holding the camera in alignment with the telescope eyepiece would help a lot. I also got a halfway decent image of Jupiter's planetary disk with the handheld camera! Seeing wasn't as good as forecasters indicated but I was surprised at how well it photographed using this simple, unsteady technique. The Galilean Moons showed only as the faintest specs in the photographs though they were brilliant in the eyepiece.

I experimented with --and failed-- using the telescope's RA dial and clock to guide me to M31 - the Andromeda Galaxy. I need to devote a good dark night to that and learn it well. Too bad our declination rings are messed up --still more work to do-- for their use would help.

Using binoculars I was able to spot M31 and, in stages, nudge the big telescope into proper aim. The big galaxy looked very nice (to me it looks like a cottonwood tree's seed) though a darker background sky would have helped contrast and aid in seeing its soft outer edges.

Finishing off the night I tried some moonlit photos of the Observatory and the grounds. Mixed results there but it was fun trying.

Next public night is Sept. 12 and Jupiter is the featured object.

Hot Jupiter!

Saturday, August 15 was a Public Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory. It was hot, hazy, and humid and, though viewing was set to begin at 9:30, folks began arriving just a little past 9:00 -- a sign it will be a busy night!

As twilight began to fade I trained the telescope on the red giant star Antares. The idea was to nudge the telescope a bit as the sky darkened and look at the neighboring star cluster M4. That didn't happen as constellation Scorpius was sinking into the trees to our south and west taking the star cluster with it.

I made an attempt to locate the beautiful star cluster M15 but could not find it. As Jupiter was rising from behind trees to our east, moved on to that planet. Lower-level air was hazy but the atmosphere was quiet and seeing steady. We were treated to some excellent views of Jupiter at low power (about 30X) and, much later, at 104X. The equatorial cloud belts were visible nearly all of the time and we occasionally saw traces of the north and south temperate cloud belts. Truly impressive.

The excellent turnout --more than 50 visitors including at least three children-- made it difficult to change magnifications and celestial objects during the course of the evening. Those who stayed late and were patient saw the higher magnification views of Jupiter plus a good look at the "faint-fuzzy" M31 -- the Andromeda Galaxy (actually looking quite bright with central brightness and extended nebulous area). A couple of satellite passes and at least one meteor (likely a late Perseid) were seen through the dome slit.

Light pollution illuminated the hazy lower atmosphere making low-elevation skies murky and bright. Stepping outside and looking directly overhead, however, we could easily see the great band of the Milky Way stretching across the sky, replete with dust lanes. The star cloud did not quite reach down far enough to the south to join constellation Sagittarius before being swallowed up in the bright Earthbound haze.

Last visitors to leave were a couple who were curious about constellations and what star cluster it was they saw the other night -- the Pleiades. We spoke for several minutes sharing meteorite experiences in the front lawn. I closed up the Observatory at about 11:30. It was a hot night but the seeing was excellent.

The telescope's R.A. tracking is pretty bad. Troubleshooting shows the clock is working well and the gear train is transmitting motion so the conclusion is the R.A. collar is slipping. I hope to address that problem within the next month.