Yes, we have no Geminids (in photos)

Curious about how the Geminid meteor shower was going, I stepped outdoors at around 10:00 last night. In the five to 10 minutes I stood in the cold air, I spotted three bright meteors and that's under our light-polluted suburban skies! Reports were coming in from other areas of North America remarking on the quality of this year's crop of meteors. And so, despite my fatigue, I set out with camera and tripod for points farther away from city lights. A dark parking spot along a road in Hinckley looked mighty good: there was no ambient light and I was south of a layer of thin, city-lit clouds. Not long after I'd set up, a car drove up, its lights bothering me. The car pulled into a nearby parking spot and the driver started a conversation. I thought it might be a policeman about to tell me to move along or a not-so-nice person out to pester me or worse! Turns out it was another would-be meteor watcher/photographer seeking darkness and a bit of reassuring companionship. This was good. So there we stood, out in the cold, quiet darkness comparing notes and experiences, snapping shutters, spotting a meteor here and another there. Now and again a sound was heard coming from the woods -- deer? Occasionally commotion came from the direction of the lake -- ducks and geese. Not creepy if you aren't alone. Photographic efforts continued. Thing is, if your camera doesn't happen to be aimed at the spot where a meteor zips by, you're not going to get a picture of it ... no matter how bright it was. I saw a Geminid cover half the sky, in the portion of the sky opposite where my camera was aimed. My companion and I suffered the same frustrations ... aimed at the wrong space of sky at the wrong time to record bright streaks. So after maybe an hour, with cold feet and 117 photo exposures done, I said goodnight and we headed in our separate directions. I had seen more "falling stars" than I've seen in a good long time. Although I got no meteor images it was a beautiful night. From the southern horizon, up, was the brilliant star Sirius, then the grand constellation Orion, and up from there was planet Jupiter floating just above the Hyades star cluster. Above them all (though not in the photo I am displaying here) was the lovely Pleiades star cluster. Those pesky thin clouds, illuminated by street lights, formed patterns in the sky even where they did not completely cover it. That was my little midnight meteor-chasing adventure.

A beautiful night with friendly visitors

After weather caused us to cancel the September and October Public Nights at Stephens Memorial Observatory of Hiram College, it was a pleasure to behold beautiful skies tonight! The first visitors arrived just before 7:00 PM as we were just opening. The waxing crescent Moon was down among neighboring trees but their bare limbs allowed a few minutes of lunar viewing that we did not expect. As others arrived we turned the big telescope towards the east and the brilliant Pleiades star cluster (M45). During the evening I believe we were able to make out traces of nebulosity around a couple of the stars -- the "Seven Sisters" were beautiful to see. Like diamonds scattered on black velvet, the stars of the Perseus Double Cluster shown through the eyepiece. We couldn't fit both clusters within the field of view so the telescope was pointed at the brilliant center of one. Jupiter rose steadily and, with a little ladder-climbing, we were able to observe the gas giant through most of the evening. Observing conditions were not ideal through, remarkably, we were able to make out three and sometimes four cloud belts in the planet's atmosphere! All four Galilean moons were visible during our session. Conditions did not support 200X magnification so we stayed at about 120X. In the same area of sky as Jupiter was the double-binary star system of Capella; a brilliant reddish dot, twinkling in the eyepiece. As the last visitors were leaving, we stood on the front lawn and looked up. One guest said she saw two meteors -- likely late-arriving Leonids -- though I saw none. I pointed out that we could make out the glowing patch of sky that is the Double Cluster without the use of binoculars or telescope ... seeing was that good! It was a very enjoyable night sharing the night sky with a friendly group of visitors.

No Moon - Stormy Sunset

Stormy Sunset: I was to have led a local event celebrating International Observe the Moon Night tonight but the weather has been unfriendly to such endeavors! There was one giant "sucker hole" that let me see the Moon briefly; it was quickly replaced by something pretty spectacular but much closer to home!

AR1520 gets even more interesting

The Sun with Sunspot AR1520 and Company, July 12, 2012 at 6:18 PM EDT

Dominating the face of our Sun, this week, has been an enormous group of sunspots including those designated AR1520. The active Sun has been very interesting to watch, of late, as the dark spots rotated over the star’s limb and towards the center of its disk, facing Earth. Hydrogen-alpha observers have also been rewarded with good numbers of prominences spouting into the blackness of space. Forecasters stated AR1520 had great potential for flare activity and on Thursday, July 12, the forecast was fulfilled — just as the sunspot was aimed directly at Earth.

According to SpaceWeather.com, “Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th at 1653 UT. Because this sunspot is directly facing Earth, everything about the blast was geoeffective. For one thing, it hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) directly toward our planet. According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will hit Earth on July 14th around 10:20 UT (+/- 7 hours) and could spark strong geomagnetic storms. Sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend.”

As so often seems the case, weather forecasts for the weekend include plenty of clouds to interfere with the view. Still, aurora fans should stay alert to active displays and the potential for clear skies; it could be a good show!

Photo above: The Sun with prominent AR1520 accompanied by smaller sunspots. Canon EOS 50D: ISO 400, f/11, 1/1000 sec., 400mm telephoto lens with AstroZap white light filter, 6:18 PM, July 12, 2012 — “just before the clouds rolled in,” according to photographer James Guilford.

Truly memorable sunspot

Sunspot group AR1520 as it appeared July 11, 2012. Blame image softness on the photographer!

Hosting a group of kids from Camp Asbury church camp this morning, we were treated to the best views of sunspots I’ve ever had. Sunspot group AR1520 is absolutely enormous, dominating the face of the Sun and observing conditions were very good. We could see good detail within the sunspots and where they merged along with some hints of granulation. We viewed the Sun at about 30X and, later, at 139X through Stephens Memorial Observatory’s 112-year-old 9-inch refractor fitted with a white light solar filter. We had 15 day campers (grades 1-6) and seven staff for a total of 22 people. I'm sure at least a few of them will remember AR1520 and our grand, old telescope for a long time to come! In the front yard we had our little hydrogen-alpha telescope set up. The views were less impressive but, if the viewer knew just what to look for, there were many prominences visible around the Sun's limb; old Sol is really active this summer!

After the campers left I hauled out my camera and discovered I had the wrong direct-focus adapter (1.25-inch instead of 2-inch) with me and could not focus at all! So I removed a piece to shorten the distance to the camera's focal plane, focused as best I could, and hand-held the camera at the open telescope tube for a direct-focus image. A yellow filter is in place within the camera adapter to try and keep the sensor clean. The resulting image is soft, not doing justice to the telescope or the sunspots, but the view is impressive nonetheless; it’s a good representation of what we saw, which was truly amazing!

Image Notes: Canon Digital Rebel XT: ISO 400, 1/1000 sec., yellow filter; handheld direct-focus image using 3,327mm refracting telescope (Warner & Swasey, circa 1901) with white-light solar filter by AstroZap.

Worth the risk, this time!

Simulated view of Saturn and some of its moons as they appeared at 10:15 PM EDT, June 16, 2012. Image generated using "Gas Giants" for iPad.

The afternoon and evening of June 16 offered up skies that were mostly-cloudy to overcast. I thought there was little chance we would be able to provide Public Night visitors with views of Saturn at Stephens Memorial Observatory. I arrived at the appointed hour and the sky looked poor but, in the distance, there appeared to be clearing. Just as twilight grew dim enough for Saturn and neighboring Spica to appear, the clouds thinned. A little late, the celestial pair began to twinkle through the milky sky and, with the help of a sharp-eyed attendee, was able to aim the telescope and immediately get decent views. Starting at low power then, at last, boosting the magnification to 208X, those who ventured out under doubtful skies were rewarded with fine views of the ringed world. Sightings of moons were difficult though one or two could be spotted near Saturn. We spotted Rhea and Enceladus, as best I can determine, in the high-powered, narrow-angle view. Despite the sky conditions, Saturn shown through and many of the same features seen on the previous night could again be seen! There were glimpses of atmospheric banding, Saturn's shadow was seen on its rings, the "F" ring was visible against the planetary disk, and --this surprised me-- we were getting glimpses of the Cassini Division within the ring system. While the Saturday night sky was not as clear as Friday's, the seeing was steadier which made up for some of the deficiencies. Temperature was about 80 degrees F. Only eight visitors passed through our doors but everyone got very nice views of Saturn, 858 million miles distant, and left happy they took the chance on the sky. Sky conditions did not allow views of fainter objects. Saturn began to fade from view at about 10:30 as clouds thickened, no other visitors arrived, so we closed up.

Alumni stargazing

Saturn and Largest Moons - June 15, 2012 ~ 10 PM EDT. Simulation via "Gas Giants" iPad app.

It is Alumni Weekend at Hiram College this weekend and Friday night featured observing for attendees at Stephens Memorial Observatory. The first visitors arrived at our door during bright twilight and it was a good many minutes before Spica and nearby Saturn began to glimmer in the southern sky. There was a thin veil of cloud high above the region but, as night fell, the veil lifted and revealed decent views of the ringed world. About 27 alumni and family members took a look at Saturn and several of its moons over the course of the warm, 70+ degree evening. Though the seeing was not nearly so good as May's public session, it was still adequate to display the "F" Ring, Saturn's shadow falling across its rings, and hints of color cloud belts. We viewed at three different magnifications but visitors most enjoyed the detail that emerged in our new Brandon eyepieces, particularly 16mm optic that delivered 208X magnification. Common comments were: "Oh, wow!" and "Oh, that's a picture!" which are not unlike what we hear in public sessions. The crowd thinned out rapidly as folks drifted off to social functions but three stayed behind. The sky was dark and at its peak around 10:30 so I swung the big W&S refractor around to find M57 -- the Ring Nebula in Lyra. In short order I picked it up, an object I describe as a gray donut. One alum, in biology, said it reminded her of the shape of a red corpuscle of blood -- actually an apt comparison! We also took a look at Antares blazing away in constellation Scorpius, and open star cluster M4, nearby. Both were impressive and quietly beautiful. In fact, the view of M4 seemed better than some of my previous sightings with bright stars scattered across a bed of diamond dust and with a roughly oblong shape in the FOV. We noticed seeing was rapidly deteriorating and as I escorting our last guests out the door, we looked up -- a thicker veil of clouds was moving into the area. By 11:45 the sky was opaque again.

Transit of Venus

Monochrome Image of Sun, Sunspots, and Venus, June 5, 2012, 7:11 PM. Camera Info: Canon EOS 50D, 400mm lens, ISO 400, f/8, 1/1000 sec., white light film solar filter.

More than 105 people ranging in age from kindergartner to senior citizen took a look at the transit of Venus through telescopes I set up at the former site of the Hiram Elementary School near the Hiram College campus. The once-in-a-lifetime experience was nearly a washout as drizzle and overcast loomed over the area. I set up the telescope mounts in a light drizzle but kept the telescopes in the car - I was discouraged, nearly in despair, and believed we would see nothing. Just a few minutes after the astronomical event began at 6:04 PM, however, the clouds began to thin, then part, and clear views were enjoyed through the rest of the event! Sunset behind a row of trees ended the occasion at about 8:20.

Because I was the person setting up and focusing the telescopes, I got first view and, while I did not see Venus at its first moment of transit, I did observe it between first and second contact. I also observed the thin aureole of Venus's atmosphere as it bridged the solar limb!

I was gratified by the excited and appreciative audience and thanked all who attended the informal event. I had no idea the general public would be so thrilled at the sight of Venus and our Sun together!

People who looked through the three telescopes I set up were treated to different views of the same scene: through a Baader Herschel Wedge (green tint), through a Thousand Oaks orange filter, and through a Lunt solar telescope. In every telescope viewers could see the solid black disk of Venus floating starkly against the Sun. A good assortment of sunspots could also be seen, including web-like detail inside some of the larger marks. In the solar telescope, tuned to what is termed “hydrogen alpha” light, attendees could see solar prominences -- massive fountains of plasma towering thousands of miles above the Sun. Once people discovered that view, it became a favorite sight.

The photos were shot in moments between tending to the telescopes and informing viewers of what they were seeing. They were shot using a Canon 400mm lens with Baader solar film filter, and my Canon EOS 50D, at ISO 400, f/8, 1/1000 sec. What appears as grain is actually patterns in the photosphere - the visible surface of the Sun.

Prepping for the transit of Venus

I spent some time this morning experimenting with solar photography. On June 5, the transit of Venus will take place and since the next one after that won't happen for another 115 years, I thought I should try for this year's! I'm an impatient person. I discovered to my dismay that the very expensive, modern-design, Herschel Wedge won't work for photography with my "big" telescope -- the six-inch, 1,219mm Meade LXD75. I could not crank the camera "in" close enough to achieve focus with the wedge in place. Rats! I'm going to make quick queries to see what I can do to resolve the issue if I'm to use the wedge any time soon ... and June 5 is soon!  So with the telescope still set up in the mid-morning sunshine, I removed the wedge and covered the telescope's objective lens with the very inexpensive AstroZap filter made using Baader AstroSolar film. I connected my trusty (and light-weight) Canon Digital Rebel XT to the scope's eyepiece holder and made several bracketed exposures. Later I discovered the results were very good though not quite as good as shots made with my Canon EOS 50D and Canon 400mm telephoto. The difference in quality may be attributed to seeing conditions --the images were made days apart-- but either setup will do just fine for recording the upcoming historic celestial event. Now all we need is clear skies on that day!

Image Notes: Canon Digital Rebel XT attached to a Meade AR6 (1,219mm refractor) for prime-focus imaging, ISO 400, 1/2000 sec., image cropped and converted to monochrome. Solar filter: AstroZap white-light, film.

Saturn shines!

The day was warm and the sky was very clear on May 19. Of course, a thin veil of clouds began to cover the sky during twilight as I opened Stephens Memorial Observatory for a public night. We were to view Saturn. It wasn't until some time after 9:00 PM when Saturn and star Spica began to show through the twilight. Saturn did not disappoint and the view improved as darkness came. The sky also improved after dark. Rather than start with our beautiful but very low-power (about 30X) eyepiece I began running the telescope at 104X and received beautiful views of the ringed world, about a month past its opposition. Then I decided to try a 2-inch University Optics eyepiece that would deliver 222X and the view went from good to extraordinary. All evening long, along with 25 guests, enjoyed images of Saturn that included three moons (including Titan, fairly close in) colored cloud bands, the shadowy "C" ring against the planetary disk, and the Cassini Division! The crowd was lighter than expected so I had little else planned for the evening but for a look at rapidly-departing Mars. The Red Planet was disappointing as usual though, at 222X, there were hints that we might have made out a polar ice cap and some shadowy surface markings, but for unstable air that caused Mars's image to shimmer. So we stayed on Saturn for most of the rest of the time. After the final guests departed, I turned the big scope to the east and northeast to practice finding M13 and the Ring Nebula. A little fishing produced gorgeous views of M13 -- the great star cluster in constellation Hercules. The Ring (M57) was trickier to find but I got that too. The Ring looked far better at low magnification appearing dim and diffuse at 222X. M13 was stunning at both high and low magnification. I packed it in at about 11:30. We'll be able to show off Saturn and M13 with ease to guests on Friday of Alumni Weekend followed on Saturday by the June Public Night. I forgot to mention to visitors ... Saturday is named after the god Saturn -- it's "Saturn's Day."

Sunday, May 13 dawned reasonably clear and so, with cloudy skies anticipated, a few rushed photographic observations were made of our Sun. Solar astronomers of every ilk have been excited lately by the Sun's visibly increased activity. Active Region1476 (a huge sunspot group) dominated the solar disk and astronomers' attention though it had been joined by several smaller but notable sunspots. I decided to use my beautiful new telephoto lens to try and capture images of the solar disk and my efforts were rewarded. The image wasn't perfect and I know I'll eventually get better images but it's the best solar astrophoto I've done to date! Besides the sunspots large and small, visible in this photo are granulation and other disturbances -- the chromospheric network -- in the solar atmosphere. Notes on the photography: Canon EOS 50D, ISO 400, f/8, 1/1,250 sec., 400mm Canon telephoto, AstroZap white light film solar filter, May 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM. Sky was generally clear but this shot was made through a persistent, thin cloud trail left by passing aircraft.

Shooting stars

A few nights ago I did a bit of fixed-tripod astrophotography to attempt to capture the conjunction of Venus and the Pleiades. I had to work pretty hard to salvage the conjunction photo but wasn't all that pleased with the results. Since I had a decent clock-drive sitting mostly unused, I decided to mate my camera to that and see what I could get. Not a pioneering venture, to be sure, but I've actually never piggybacked a camera to a telescope before! A quick trip to the local Ace Hardware store produced the stainless steel quarter-inch screw and a pair of rubber automotive washers I'd need to mate the telephoto lens tripod mount to the telescope's dove-tail mounting bar. Shortly after dark on this clear but full Moon-lit night, I toted the Orion SkyView Pro tripod and mount out to the sidewalk. After a rough alignment with Polaris, I attached the camera rig to the mount and did 10 exposures: about five each of Orion's Sword and the Pleiades star cluster -- both in the twilight western sky. I'll definitely need to use the DSLR's advanced feature that allows its view finder mirror to flip up before beginning exposure -- several shots were ruined by vibration. Focus was a bit more of an issue than I expected. Tracking? Well, I expected it to not be perfect but it appeared good enough for exposures of up to 15 seconds. Given all that, I'll share my results here. I know they're not very good but I also know that, using this same camera gear with better mount and alignment, I'll be getting some very nice images of the stars in the not-too-distant future!

Venus joins the Pleiades

A clear evening sky gave me the opportunity tonight to see planet Venus floating right below the beautiful naked-eye star cluster, the Pleiades (M45). The combination was beautiful through my binoculars, just before 8:30 PM EDT. I decided to make a quick try at recording the scene with my camera and 400mm telephoto lens mounted on a tripod. The problem, of course, is that an exposure of any decent length will cause the stars to form curved lines as they appear to move through the sky. Even my brief five-second exposure was no different... it looked great in the camera's built-in LCD preview panel but pretty sad on the big computer screen. So I used a bit of crude Photoshop work to round out the stars. The result won't make the pages of Astronomy or Sky & Telescope magazines but it's not too bad and saved the shot. This, and a very intriguing result from the nearby Orion Nebula (M42), makes me eager to get out on another clear night and spend some time with the camera mated to a tracking mount or piggybacked on a telescope!

The Photoshop work, by the way, was a duplicate layer used with "blending mode" set to "Darken" and then used as an offset filter. The offset filter is nudged around until the best combination of masking and brightness is found. I found the process described in a forum discussion on Cloudynights.com.

More moons than ours in this conjunction

Tonight, and for the next couple of nights, Earth's Moon joins this spring's conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in our western evening sky. Tonight the clouds cleared just in time for the show and I stepped outdoors, tripod-mounted camera in hand, to record the sight as best I could. The three objects, on the list of brightest in the night sky, formed a very elongated triangle with Jupiter and the Moon forming the base, and brilliant Venus at the peak. The three were visible in bright twilight but really came into their own around 8:30 EDT. Later, as I processed my photos, I was surprised and delighted to see I not had captured Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon but, in a tighter shot, a couple of Jupiter's moons as well! The nighttime portion of the Moon's face is lit by Earthshine. Canon EOS 50D: ISO 800, f/4, 1/4 sec., 200mm — James Guilford, 8:34 PM EDT, March 25, 2012

Mars mystique strikes again!

I arrived at Stephens Memorial Observatory early in order to sweep up the inevitable accumulations of bird poo and nesting materials that blow down from the dome's ill-sealed shutter. The first of the evening's surprises happened when I touched the pull rope to open the shutter to a then-clear sky. I heard scratching sounds -- usually the sign of birds roosting and nesting above. In the spring time, especially, I hate the sounds of bird activity at Stephens; birds build their nests, lay their eggs, and rear their young in a space that becomes precarious when the dome's shutter is opened. In recent years we usually see one brood (eggs, chicks, or unfledged young) lost due to falling from a destroyed nest or trapped inside the dome. This time, however, I glanced above and was momentarily shocked for I saw a black, furry animal scrambling to escape and prevent a fall. Skunk!? Er, no. The frightened furry was one of Hiram's many black squirrels. I've never seen a squirrel in the dorm or in the shutter and hope they don't nest there but maybe they'll keep the birds from nesting. I'm hoping for the best, anyway.

Cleaning barely complete, the telescope uncovered and prepped for the first Open Night of the year, I decided to try my chances at seeing Venus. The planet has recently been in conjunction with Jupiter in the Western evening sky and, though below the neighboring treeline, the trees were bare and I could spy brilliant Venus between the branches! Yes! For the first time at Stephens I was able to see Venus, resolved as a half-lit disk! Then the evening's first visitors arrived... three young ladies and their grandmother, half an hour early. I offered them a look at Venus but, by then, the planet had slipped behind a tree trunk and could not be seen. Oh well, let's see if we can view the Orion Nebula, barely above the trees in the southwest and now visible in the darkening sky.

I swung the big refractor around, found the nebula, and focused. Not bad for a twilight view: the veil of the nebula was visible and several stars of the Trapezium were nestled within. I offered the girls a look at M42. Er, no. In that brief time between adjusting the telescope and fetching a ladder for the kids, clouds covered Orion. Eeek! All right then, we'll go to the other part of the sky and look for Mars, now glowing red in the east and not long after opposition.

Mars, 67 million miles away this night, quickly came into view as a crisply-defined coppery disk. Unfortunately there was only a hint of mottling within the disk, no clear indication of surface features. Grandma and the girls got decent looks at the Red Planet before, yes, those pesky clouds engulfed it! By then other visitors began to arrive. The sky became overcast with occasional "sucker holes" and thin spots. Well, this will be a short night, I thought.

I answered questions, recounted the history of the telescope, talked about the Observatory, all the while watching the sky and keeping at the telescope. When Mars would penetrate the gloom, I'd  re-aim the scope, call people over to look, they would see an even less-distinct reddish disk, and it would disappear. Apologies. And so it went for the entire evening. There was no sense in trying to chase the holes and point at some star or other that managed to be briefly seen through the overcast. Still, more visitors dropped in.

Over the course of the evening we counted 42 visitors, most or all of whom caught a glimpse of Mars. They were, to a person, patient and good-humored making it a pleasant night that ended with the last departing around 10:30.

Not long after that, as I was deciding whether to close early, the clouds parted overhead exposing a deep, dark sky! The night was filled with stars and with my unaided eyes I was able to make out the Beehive star cluster (M44) nearly overhead. It was beautiful through binoculars. No more visitors, however, so I closed the place up.

Everyone could see it was an overcast sky as they headed out to visit us. They could see a star or two, only occasionally at best, and still they came. Such is the draw held by the mystique of Mars!

We'll try again April 14.

Ptolomaic vs. Tychonic

Competing Concepts of the Solar System - Philosophia Britannica - Benjamin Martin

Last Christmas my brother presented me with a thoughtful and interesting gift. Carefully rolled within a golden cardboard tube was a page from an unbound book. The sheet, yellowed with apparent age, was nonetheless in good shape. On the illustrated face were two sets of concentric, multiple circles -- depictions of competing concepts of the organization of our solar system. Turns out the page was an original, bought by my brother from a company that specializes in such things! Here's what was printed on an insert that accompanied the sheet:

"This is an original engraving from the 1771 edition of the Philosophia Britannica by the British author, mathematician and master instrument builder Benjamin Martin (1704 - 1782) contrasting diagrams of the planetary system according to Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe - note anthropomorphic sun at the centre of the latter.

"At his well equipped Fleet Street shop Martin made beautifully crafted telescopes, octants, and microscopes, as well as elaborate orreries and planetaria. Trained as an engraver, it is believed that Martin himself engraved some of the plates that illustrated the work."

For all of its age the sheet is in remarkably good condition. The worst of it is creases, the result of folding. I'm pressing the page now, in hopes that some of the curl and crease will subside. Still in all, a notable piece and a lovely gift. Thanks, Will!