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.

Perseids Meteor Watch

The 2009 Perseids Meteor Watch I worked last night (August 12) was very mixed in results. The Portage Park District set us up in a fine little park with no ground-level lights, a nice paved parking lot, and clear grassy areas. There was a wide view of the sky and a good southern horizon. A Sheriff's deputy was on hand as was the District's naturalist -- really good support, especially in case of a big turnout. Then there are the "buts"...

Admittedly we put the event together in hurried fashion. Word didn't get out to the public as broadly or with enough lead time so only a couple of families showed up.

Then there was the sky. We were very close to the city of Ravenna but I'd hoped we would be just far enough away to escape the light bubble. Not much luck there. As the Sun sank below the western horizon a funny thing happened ... twilight shifted to the south. Yeah, huge levels of light pollution rose up in the southern sky right through the heart of Sagittarius. So while the clear skies allowed us to see the Milky Way, with dust lane, directly overhead, its heart was obliterated by the "Ravenna Nebula." Too bad.

Attendees and volunteers did, however, enjoy a few very good Perseid meteors. I myself saw only about five; being busy with telescopes and chatting with visitors has its costs. The 6-inch Meade telescope worked well but was impeded for want of a really good polar alignment: it had problems centering on objects it was told to "GoTo" but tracked very well once there. The dew point was high and everything quickly became quite damp, even wet, as the night progressed. The extended AstroZap dew shield saved the objective from fogging, however, so we saw decent views of Jupiter with three moons, and very good views of the Andromeda Galaxy, and M15 (a globular star cluster in the constellation Pegasus).

I tore down after the official 11:30 close. Before getting into my car to leave, a very nice Perseid streaked across the sky leaving a trail that glowed for a second or two -- as if just for me. I headed home, a bit disappointed but recalled a few happy visitors who saw planets, stars, galaxies, and meteors!

Public Night July 11

This was the first Public Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory since the dome shutter mechanism was repaired. Weather during the day made the night's activities doubtful. The region had suffered strong thunderstorms with plenty of lightning, rain, and wind. As predicted, however, the storms departed the area as quickly as they came and left us with a sultry evening and clear/clearing skies. The first of our 25 visitors for the night arrived early and helped dump the office dehumidifier tank --probably about 20 gallons-- and more visitors gathered as night fell. Daylight Saving Time has pushed twilight well beyond our 9:30 start time so we stalled until about 10:00 when stars began to become visible followed by our true target for the evening: globular star cluster M4 in the constellation Scorpius. As the skies darkened we could begin to see tiny, diamond dust-like stars resolving in the center of the cluster's diffuse cloud-like appearance. Despite that, star clusters aren't a sight that "wows" the public but our visitors paid polite attention and expressed interest in what they were seeing. We also viewed stars Antares and Altair, the latter impressing even yours-truly with its colorful brilliance. At 10:45 a thick bank of clouds moved in to cover the sky and put a stop to our improved seeing. A modest success, this night, but I can hardly wait to show people Jupiter and the Moon in a month or two; they're real crowd-pleasers!

Astronomy class semi-success

The weather forecast was all over the place for tonight's Hiram College astronomy class visit to the Observatory. Would it be cloudy, rainy, partly-cloudy, clear, clear but poor seeing? We saw all of those forecasts. It looked like it might clear up for the 9:30 start so we called it a "go" and opened up. About 18 students with their professor attended. Started off with the usual historical and interpretive talk about the Observatory and telescope while we waited for the sky to darken. We had partly-cloudy skies and sultry 80-degree air for the start, first viewing the red super-giant star Antares. Sometimes it winked out of sight as a cloud passed, then it would reappear. When everyone had seen the colorful blip, I moved the telescope to the neighboring star cluster M4. Seeing was not good but I could make out a faint cloud of stars and a few students also said they saw it. Many could not observe it. So the Clear Sky Chart prediction of poor seeing was pretty much confirmed. Clouds closed in at about 10:30 so all went home. The professor asked if we could schedule a lunar observation night during the last week of June or first part of July just before the end of the course. Hopefully we'll have a better night because the old telescope really shows its stuff with the Moon when viewed through its fist-size, low-power eyepiece. Driving home I encountered partly-cloudy skies, moderately-heavy rain, and clear skies! I'm happy not to be a meteorologist trying to forecast this!

Dome trouble

Well, we had trouble, my friend! During our April 4, 2009 public night, the shutter began acting up. It was difficult to open for the night and was nearly impossible to close (see previous post)! College carpenters built up a scaffold inside the dome early in May and determined that the rollers that carry the shutter had derailed -- nominally the rollers move along an iron bar at the top of the opening easing operation. The craftsmen lifted the shutter back on to its tracks and lubricated the wheels. With the scaffold in place the telescope could not be moved so all use of the Observatory was suspended during the balance of April and through May. While the scaffolding was still in place, over the late-May Memorial Day weekend, I replaced the pull ropes that are used to manually open and close the shutter. I have no idea how old the cotton rope was; I replaced it with a tough poly braded rope. The shutter works better than it has in years though close examination of the condition of its wooden components left us with worries.

May offered a number of clear nights which was a big change from an otherwise very cloudy spring season. Unfortunately needing to be fresh for work and a nasty late-May head cold kept me from taking advantage of the clear night skies. Hopefully this will be a good year for me and I have hopes of using both the Observatory and my private telescope(s) more frequently than in recent years.

Photo: Crammed inside the Observatory dome is a large scaffold used by workers to repair the troublesome dome shutter. The hundred-year-old sliding wooden cover had become derailed. Taking advantage of the presence of the sturdy apparatus, I replaced operating ropes and inspected the upper reaches of the dome and shutter ... it wasn't pretty!

Tough night at the Observatory

Saturday night, April 4, was to be the first scheduled Public Night at the Observatory of the year not canceled by weather conditions. As forecast, the skies cleared and promised to cooperate for the night's event giving us fair seeing and temperatures in the mid-30s. Because of previous cancellations the Open Night was to serve as our official Saturn Observation Campaign event for the spring and we registered as a local site for the global "100 Hours of Astronomy" which is a part of the International Year of Astronomy observance.

Despite clear skies our events nearly did not happen. Pulling the ropes to open the observatory's dome shutter I head a loud squawk echo through the chamber -- the shutter had jammed for some reason and would not open fully and would not close. Repeated efforts finally resulted in the shutter opening all the way and we were free to see the sky.

The night saw 26 visitors between 9:00 and 11:00 and they were treated to superb views of the Earth's Moon. As usual the old nine-inch scope excelled at lunar landscapes but the Moon was very high in the sky --not far from the zenith-- and the telescope was not tracking well. We settled for moderate magnification (133X) and enjoyed nearly three-dimensional viewing of Mare Imbrium's crater-marked lava expanses. Wrinkled crater walls, mountain ranges, and long, low, lines of hills looking like frozen ripples in hardened plaster were seen vividly. Views of Saturn were also quite good: the rings tipped towards us at only about three degrees (minimum tilt was reached in January but we missed that). Moments of very good seeing revealed a slight shadow across the planetary disk cast by the rings and a hint of gap between the planet's limb and the inner rings. A special treat was the sight of four of Saturn's moons and, over the course of the evening, noting their changing positions relative to each other and to their planet. Galileo, 400 years ago, never saw the Moon or Saturn a fraction so well as we did. He was, however, very meticulous and a skilled observer of what he could see. The Moon, while beautiful to look at, also lit our less-than-perfectly transparent skies causing quite a bit of glow so we confined ourselves to viewing only it and Saturn. The last visitors departed at about 11:10 PM.

All was routine as I began closing up until I attempted to close the dome. Squawk, boom! The shutter stalled and jammed again on its tracks. This time, however, it was stuck. After many attempts with the ropes I climbed into the opening. I found one of the lower wheels on the shutter had derailed so I lifted the shutter back on to the track. Not enough! The main problem was with the track at the top of the dome! There's no way to reach that point without scaffolds or ladders. It was going on midnight and I didn't know what to do but to keep trying. If anyone was watching from outside it must have been quite a sight... the silhouette of a man in the aperture, bright lights on inside an observatory dome, pushing and pulling and shaking the shutter, until finally it settled into its closed position. Tired, sore, and worried, I shut off the lights, locked up, and headed home at about 12:30 EDT. What a night!

Saturday night clouded out

At first all looked good. Then the forecasts began to change. By early evening it was apparent there would be a generally opaque cloud layer over the region through midnight. No Observatory open night Saturday night. The Observatory will have probably only one more chance at a public viewing of Saturn --next month-- before it sinks into the trees that block our Western skies.

Getting ready for "Opening Night"

We were supposed to have our first Open Night of the year at Stephens Memorial Observatory last weekend. Threatening and thickening clouds, however, put a stop to that. Since it was to be our official International Saturn Observation Campaign event, it was one of the rare occasions where we announced a "rain date." That date is tomorrow. The weather forecasts have been changing as the weekend approaches and now, from forecaster to forecaster, the expectation is something between mostly clear to mostly cloudy. Tonight, however, is cloudless and beautiful even in our light-polluted suburb. I can only imagine how beautiful it is under dark skies. I had nice views of Orion, the Pleiades, M44 - "The Beehive" but no trace of little Comet Lulin. I've been studying the charts and ducking outside with binoculars to become acquainted with the night sky as it presents itself these times. It has been a long while since we've had a passably clear night and tolerable temperatures (it's 30 F degrees). With luck we'll have clear weather tomorrow (Saturday) night and get a very nice view of Saturn, the great Orion Nebula, and some star clusters. All we can do is wait and see what kind of sky conditions come our way.

Seeking Comet Lulin

It is an unexpected clear night, and it is cold: 17 degrees (F). Between the temperature, recent snows, and being tired it did not make a lot of sense to either set up a telescope (in my situation*) or drive to the Observatory to look for the green comet Lulin (C/2007 N3). I did want to see it, however, and it would be easy to spot since bright Saturn and Lulin were to be very near each other in the sky.

Even with a relatively clear sky the light pollution of our suburban area is bad. Only the brightest stars and planets were visible this night: Venus was brilliant in the twilight and for a couple of hours after sunset, as it has been all winter. Now Saturn rises at a decent hour and tonight was well above the southeastern horizon in the great constellation Leo and, due to its golden color, was easily found. Leo was difficult to make out so I'm glad I didn't depend upon it!

Standing in my winter coat and pajama bottoms --yes, it's 17 degrees-- I aimed my 10 x 50 binoculars at Saturn. The brilliant dot floated in the visual field. I couldn't make out the planetary disk but nearby, and to Saturn's south and west, was a faint, diffuse, oblong cloud -- Comet Lulin. Invisible here to the unaided eye, it's being estimated at between magnitude 5 and 6. No nucleus was visible and no color noticeable. That should not be surprising given less than ideal base sky conditions, light pollution, and the small-aperture binoculars.

Still, I saw the comet as it is passing closest to Earth. And I got out under a "clear" sky with an optical instrument for the first time in months! It has been a long, cold, snowy, and cloudy winter and I'm hoping conditions improve soon. Our first public night for the year is set for March 7 when we'll be looking at Saturn -- the rings will be edge-on this year which is a rare sight.

And maybe I'll get a better look at that little green fuzz-ball Lulin. You never know!

* I've only purchased equatorial, tripod-mounted refractors til now. For occasions like this, however, a nice Dobsonian-mounted reflector would be great as a grab-and-go telescope. Hmmm.... is there room in my basement?