October Open night

Open night at Stephens Memorial Observatory: Arriving in the dark I met two of my regular attendees: a woman and her 80+ year-old-mother. They drive up from a place about an hour away for every one of these sessions, even when it's the same objects for observation -- in this case it was the Moon. The drive took less time tonight so they arrived early. By the time the event was over we had 19 visitors aged 4 years and up look through the century-old refractor; we might have had more visitors but there was a big Cleveland Indians baseball game on TV. Guests were treated to superb views of the first-quarter Moon, however, as the atmosphere was extremely clear and mostly steady. I don't think I've personally ever seen the Moon so clearly with my own eyes! Using a massive antique eyepiece that I'm really growing to love we viewed the entire Moon at about 40X. With a modern eyepiece we saw excellent details within craters along the terminator and in the lunar maria at about 100X. After closing (10 PM) I experimented to see how high I could push the power on the old scope. I went as high as 370X but the image was too soft. I did get acceptable results at 270X, however, which was a shocker. The telescope still isn't tracking well when pointed south, however, so I couldn't stay fixed on any lunar detail for very long. I couldn't find the planet Neptune --1.5 degrees from the Moon this night-- in the orb's bright glare so I turned the telescope away from the Moon and targeted the Perseus Double Cluster: NGC 884 & 869. They filled the great antique eyepiece with diamond-like lights delighting our guests more than I had expected. This night was also to be the peak of the Orionid meteor shower but I saw not one "shooting star." Best viewing was after Moonset but I wasn't about to stay up that late or get up very early -- things to do Sunday!

"Discovering" NGC 1981

They say there's a difference between looking at a celestial object and observing it. A case in point was this morning's appreciation of Orion. The weather was very humid and warm for October --about 72 degrees at 6:20 AM-- when I stepped outdoors on our westward-facing stoop to check out the dark morning sky. Despite the humidity, the sky looked clear and Orion floated high above our roofline. I decided to take a better look so fetched my 10 X 50 binoculars. Of course Orion's sword was the real target of the morning. I could easily see the cloud of M42, The Great Orion Nebula, which is a favorite to view using telescopes. I was surprised to note I could just make out the glow of the Trapezium with the handheld binoculars. The heavy air, it seems, was also very steady. Looking around in the field of view I appreciated the surprising clarity of the stars then noticed something I'd never really seen before... a loose group of tiny points of light just at the top end of the "sword." A star cluster? Beautiful, but was it really a cluster? I swung the binoculars around to check out a very bright star to the south --Sirius-- like a mercury vapor light in the sky. Then a quick look at brilliant red Betelgeuse in Orion and I headed back into the house ... had to get ready for work! Checking the books later I learned that the sprinkling of stars I had "discovered" for myself was, indeed, a cataloged loose open cluster: NGC 1981. The two-minute session with my binoculars may have been a quick look, but seeing the cluster was observation. A pleasing way to begin the day.