Friday, August 31, 2007
Astronomy class visits observatory
I hosted the Hiram College Fall Semester Astronomy class at Stephens Memorial Observatory this morning at 9:00. They were given a brief history of the Observatory and telescope and we observed the Sun. The sky was mostly clear and temperature was around 70 degrees. Using the Cooley Telescope's relatively new Baader film filter, we observed, when seeing was good, granulation and a small sunspot group surrounded by faculae. The 12 students seemed to enjoy the visit and were encouraged to attend public nights. We'll also be hosting some student-only observing sessions.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Total lunar eclipse
Total Lunar Eclipse! This was the first lunar eclipse that I've observed that ended at totality with the sun rising which means I only saw the first half of "the show." Never mind, it was an excellent experience! It was well worth my getting up 90 minutes early! I watched the Moon move from the shade of Earth's outer shadow or penumbra and into the deep inner cone of darkness, the umbra. Within the space of a bit more than an hour Luna changed from a full, golden disk to a dull coppery remnant in the western sky. Sunrise erased the last traces of the spectacle from sight a little after 6:00 AM Tuesday, August 28.
At about 4:45 AM, I stepped out on to our western-facing porch and carried my camera (Canon Digital Rebel XT, set at ISO 400), already mounted to its tripod, down to the walk. From there I shot my first photos of the mostly-bright Moon; it was fully inside the Earth's penumbra at that hour and beginning to enter the umbra. I worked out the best exposure settings and tested the focus. Next I moved to the court at the end of our driveway apron, set up the tripod there, shot a few more images. From there I swung the camera around and got a few images of Orion rising above the trees... long time, old friend! Those shots, along with one of the Pleiades and neighboring Hyades star cluster, came out surprisingly well.
Progressively, stopping here and there, I began working my way up the hill stopping on the pavement several times to look up and maybe make another image or three -- no cars at all, thank goodness, just some guy on a bicycle who seemed surprised to see me. Then I took a non-stop hike to a place just across from the town square.
On a knoll beside a nursing home, overlooking the police station and the Columbia River valley beyond, I set up to stay til the end. Staff on break from the nursing home called across in the morning darkness, "is there a lunar eclipse?" "Yep," I yelled back, "and it's nearly in totality now!" "Wow, I thought it was," they answered after taking a peek, "but I didn't hear about it on the news." I tried different exposures, zoomed in and out, refined focus. In all, about 70 digital shots. None of the lunar images is truly sharp but several are "keepers."
Nonetheless, these are my best lunar eclipse images yet and certainly reflective of the visual experience. Next lunar eclipse is in February of 2008. I hope it's clear because that one should be a very good show for us Mid-Western North Americans! Next time, the camera rides a telescope!
At about 4:45 AM, I stepped out on to our western-facing porch and carried my camera (Canon Digital Rebel XT, set at ISO 400), already mounted to its tripod, down to the walk. From there I shot my first photos of the mostly-bright Moon; it was fully inside the Earth's penumbra at that hour and beginning to enter the umbra. I worked out the best exposure settings and tested the focus. Next I moved to the court at the end of our driveway apron, set up the tripod there, shot a few more images. From there I swung the camera around and got a few images of Orion rising above the trees... long time, old friend! Those shots, along with one of the Pleiades and neighboring Hyades star cluster, came out surprisingly well.
Progressively, stopping here and there, I began working my way up the hill stopping on the pavement several times to look up and maybe make another image or three -- no cars at all, thank goodness, just some guy on a bicycle who seemed surprised to see me. Then I took a non-stop hike to a place just across from the town square.
On a knoll beside a nursing home, overlooking the police station and the Columbia River valley beyond, I set up to stay til the end. Staff on break from the nursing home called across in the morning darkness, "is there a lunar eclipse?" "Yep," I yelled back, "and it's nearly in totality now!" "Wow, I thought it was," they answered after taking a peek, "but I didn't hear about it on the news." I tried different exposures, zoomed in and out, refined focus. In all, about 70 digital shots. None of the lunar images is truly sharp but several are "keepers."
Nonetheless, these are my best lunar eclipse images yet and certainly reflective of the visual experience. Next lunar eclipse is in February of 2008. I hope it's clear because that one should be a very good show for us Mid-Western North Americans! Next time, the camera rides a telescope!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Perseid meteors fizzle
The weekend's Perseid meteor shower was a bit of a bust for me. I didn't have much ambition and the sky conditions were rather hazy with a few passing clouds. Not great inspiration for staying up til all hours to watch for "falling stars." I stepped outside a few times Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights and bagged about six meteor sightings but wasn't inspired to head to darker skies. Tonight, however, was a beautiful night! The humidity and haze were down, it was nicely cool, and the sky was cloudless. I stepped outdoors at about 10:30, binoculars in hand, and decided to take a look around. The light-polluted sky was clear enough to display a good number of stars, Jupiter, with Antares nearby, shown brightly to the south, and, OH! a single bright meteor streaked north to south as I gazed skyward! Later I believe I spotted a very faint meteor headed in the same direction. Checking out the northeast sky with the binoculars and yes!, I was able to find the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with no trouble at all so we've got a shot at showing it off at the next observatory open house. In the binocular field of view the galaxy was a faint fuzz-ball, rather indistinct in the bright skyglow, but it was there! I was too tired to go to the club meeting tonight and too tired to haul myself out to actually observe. The sky, however, is a wonder to behold no matter how you behold it!
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