Sidewalk astronomy at the library

Westlake (Ohio) Porter Public Library requested a sidewalk astronomy event to take place during their Customer Appreciation Week. We were only too happy to oblige. After dicey late-afternoon cloud cover the sky cleared in time for setup at 7:30 and viewings from 8:00 to 9:15 off the sidewalk adjacent to the (brightly-lit) parking lot. Still a fellow astronomer (with an 8-inch SCT) and I (with my 6-inch refractor) showed curious visitors Jupiter, the Hercules Star Cluster (M13), the Ring Nebula (M57), and the great Andromeda Galaxy (M31). I was pleased at the performance of my scope's electronics for, after eyeballing polar alignment and a one-star computer alignment, the scope tracked Jupiter exceptionally well and found M57 on the first try! No disconnects and good tracking all evening. The Ring was very difficult for most viewers to spot in the eyepiece but it was actually the best view I've had of it. M13 through the SCT was a beautiful sight, M31 was its usual fuzz-ball self but not bad at all, and Jupiter was best viewed shortly after sundown. Seeing was unsteady at lower angles and as the planet sank lower in the sky occasional good seeing ended and the planetary disk was unclear. The good moments revealed multiple cloud bands in addition to the two big equatorial belts so patient viewers got a good look. Closed up shop at the appointed hour and answered cosmological and planet detection questions from a very curious adult visitor. It was cold (lower 40s F.) so good to get indoors.

Big open night for the Moon

Saturday, Oct. 11 was a Public Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory. Another amazing turnout! I did my best to keep an accurate count but I'm afraid that with 135 clicks on my counter I still managed to miss some attendees at Saturday night's Public Night. The announced main subject was the Moon though we started out with views of Jupiter -- Jupiter was in clear air while the Moon was behind clouds -- at 7:30 (a full half-hour before official opening). Three of the Galilean satellites were on one side of the planetary body with number 4 not visible. When I learned it had emerged from the clouds, I swung the telescope over to the waxing gibbous Moon --90 percent of full-- and we stayed there all the rest of the night. The crowd was mostly adult, general public, with a smattering of students (maybe half a dozen). Many good questions about astronomy and the history of the observatory. The last visitors left at about 10:30 (official closing was 10:00) after getting a view of the Pleiades and a bevy of hot, young, blue stars.

Brilliant ISS passage

I normally don't watch for overflights of the International Space Station. After the showing it made during Saturday's Public Night at the Observatory, however, I decided to watch again Monday night. From our balcony (aka "Chaunticlair Observatory") I began watching for the distinctive unblinking light at a little after 7:40 PM EDT. Still in fairly bright twilight the bright, moving "star" appeared as expected in the west-southwestern sky and climbed high overhead. Predicted brightness was -3 magnitude and it was brilliant. Because the Sun had not set long before, I watched the ISS as it made a complete arc overhead and down into the east ... it did not disappear into Earth's shadow before it was obscured by distant trees. Most impressive was just how bright the ISS was in the not-very-dark twilight sky.

Jupiter, Andromeda, and the Space Station

It was the monthly Public Night at Stephens Saturday, September 20. The late afternoon and early evening sky were not promising offering a mix of thin and thicker clouds swirled over a background of pale blue. As the Sun set, however, things improved. Jupiter came first and the first observatory visitors arrived at 7:30 -- a full half-hour before the advertised opening! The telescope revealed very good views of the planet and the Galilean moons. Aside from seeing several of the great planet's cloud bands, even some of the detail within the bands, I saw the Great Red Spot for the first time ever. Early viewing actually was best with seeing diminishing as the night went on. Also viewed were the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) looking every bit the huge fuzz-ball in the low-powered eyepiece. From there I moved the scope to the Double Cluster in Perseus: NGC 884 and NGC 869 at distances of 7,600 and 6,800 light-years respectively, and then by steps, back to Jupiter. A highlight of the night was passage of the International Space Station high overhead beginning at about 8:24. It shone brilliantly and arced steadily across the sky and low into the east where it finally fell into Earth's shadow and disappeared after a transit of several minutes. The last visitors of the evening arrived just before I was to close and they caught a glimpse of Jupiter just before it dropped behind the neighbor's trees at 10:00. In all about 50 visitors came to Stephens, 10 or 12 of them members of the College's new astronomy club. After closing I visited the Hiram site where the Aurora Astronomical Society proposed a new club observatory. The site is quite excellent protected from ambient light on all sides by trees and offering decently distant horizons. Clouds moved in and were obscuring the skies by 11:15 and overcast by midnight.

Cincinnati: Old Glass

Saturday night, August 30, I received a special treat. Visiting the Cincinnati Observatory Center I was invited to enjoy a private viewing of Jupiter through the 11" Merz und Mahler refracting telescope. That telescope went into operation on April 14, 1845 in Cincinnati and has been in nearly continuous use since. Saturday had been a very hot and moderately humid day so it took some time for the atmosphere to settle and for the dome to cool. While we waited for things to settle down my host conducted me on a detailed historical tour of the two buildings that comprise the Observatory Center. What a fine place it is with such history -- all concerned should be commended for their efforts in its rescue and ongoing restoration. Later I was treated to a fine view of the great planet and its Galilean moons. The evening's best views included relatively pale renderings of Jupiter's two major cloud bands along with several others. The moons appeared to resolve to tiny disks, no notable spots on the planetary body, but seeing remained unsteady enough to prevent much better observing. I was allowed to move the scope around a bit and fished for nearby objects. Surprisingly, though Jupiter was in the constellation Sagittarius, I didn't find any of the nearby globular star clusters. I did see what appeared to be an open cluster but could not identify it. No matter. It was a thrill and an honor to, at least temporarily, be the most recent user of the oldest operating professional observatory in the United States.

The telescope's optical tube is constructed of wood. The drive system is electrical having been converted from spring-powered some time ago. A modern Meade diagonal and eyepiece are used but the objective lens is original to the telescope. Photo by James Guilford.

Fantastic open night

Saturday night was the occasion for the monthly Open Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory (SMO). The advertised object for viewing was Jupiter. By the time the two-hour event was over more than 134 visitors had entered the dome and looked at the giant planet through the big telescope! I could not believe it; what an incredible turnout! Seeing conditions varied from fair to very good but most visitors got decent views of our Solar System's largest world. The two major cloud bands were nearly always visible and often distinct and many viewers reported seeing, as did I, additional bands in Jupiter's cloud tops at 104X. We were able to see the four Galilean moons: three strung out on the right side (as seen through the eyepiece) of the planetary disk --Io, Ganymede, and Callisto in order moving outward-- and Europa close by the limb on the opposite side alone. Europa entered occultation at 9:36 PM EDT when it moved behind Jupiter. I've seen the Galilean moons many times before but never had watched an occultation even in stages (between visitors' turns at the scope). The final visitors of the night were also treated to spectacular views of Earth's own brilliant Full Moon, each filing out of the dome happily impressed. I had changed from my 32mm Plossl to the fist-sized low-power eyepiece for a full-disk view. That old occular must have a focal length of close to 100mm to offer that kind of image -- I really need to measure it one day! Closed up a little after 11:00 PM hoarse, tired, and excited. It was an fantastic open night.

2008 CAA Convention; glimpse of Jupiter

The 2008 edition of the Cuyahoga Astronomical Association's OTAA Convention saw good attendance and an enthusiastic crowd July 26. While attendees enjoyed themselves, however, the hot and muggy conditions were well suited to the hazy and cloudy skies that dominated the evening's events.

Case Western Reserve University's Department of Astronomy Chair Heather Morrison was keynote speaker. She delivered a talk on current research and exciting new results coming from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey; it was entitled "The Four-Dimensional Galaxy and the Square Telescope." {The Sloan instrument is a reflector design housed inside a square wind baffle making it appear to be a square telescope.}

The ever-popular raffle took place after dinner. Prizes ranged from shirts and gift certificates to software and an Orion Aristocrat Executive desktop telescope {pictured below}. I won the brass telescope! Though intended mainly as a desk piece, it's actually very nice! I hope to try it out tonight on Jupiter. I'm happy to have won the grand prize though the Vixen eyepieces were awfully nice.....

Many individuals brought telescopes with them, "just in case," but only a couple were actually assembled in the field. One belonged to CAA member Bob Wiersma whose mammoth long-tube 8-inch refractor {pictured above} impresses everyone who sees it.

As night fell a few "sucker holes" opened up in the sky revealing brighter stars and brilliant Jupiter. Through Wiersma's refractor viewers could easily see Jupiter's major cloud bands with hints of other detail and the four Galilean moons resolved to disks. It's a fine telescope I've seen many times before but never got to use.

Clouds soon filled in most of the holes and many attendees went home. It was, however, a good night and despite the cloudy skies, most folks left smiling.

A break in the weather

I had a public open night scheduled for July 12. The weather forecasts and the weather conditions called for mostly cloudy skies all night with a high chance for rain. Reality set in, however, with breaks appearing in the clouds at about 8:00 PM. I headed to Stephens and arrived a little after 9:00 --our announced start time-- to find a family of four waiting at the door. No sooner had I uncovered the telescope and opened the dome than the clouds began to break. At first we grabbed a few seconds of viewing at a time through passing holes in the clouds. Soon, however, the clouds scudded away to the east and we had a clear view of the waxing gibbous Moon -- our main subject for the night. After the family left there was a quiet period when I played with my camera once again to grab a few afocal shots of the Moon as I did a month earlier.

I put the camera away as more people began to arrive. We viewed the Moon at about 30X through the excellent vintage eyepiece and again at about 100X through a modern Plossl eyepiece. Later we waited for Jupiter to rise in the southeast above the neighbor's trees. Those were awkward moments waiting but those who stayed were rewarded with very good views of the huge planet. At 100X we could make out two major cloud bands, perhaps a bit of detail in the atmosphere around the bands, and the four Galilean satellites arranged to one side --on the right, as seen through the eyepiece-- in two pairs.

In all 29 visitors came to the Observatory. The clear sky was a welcome surprise and I was glad I trusted my instincts and made the trip to Hiram; I was going to cancel. The last visitors left at about 11:10 and I, sweating profusely in the warm (~ 80 F) and extremely muggy atmosphere (ground haze and mists, heavy dew on everything), was happy to close the dome and head home in an air conditioned car! By midnight the sky had become 100 percent overcast once more and rain developed overnight ... that part followed the experts' predictions!

Images: The waxing gibbous Moon as seen through the eyepiece of the Cooley Telescope of Stephens Memorial Observatory. Fuji Finepix S7000 digital camera: ISO 400, 1/200 sec., f/4.5, July 12 at about 8:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Large image is in color; detail shows color removed. South is up. Photo by James Guilford.

Moon with a view

I spent Saturday night at the observatory first sweeping up --dead ants everywhere-- and then experimenting with the 9-inch telescope. Three local high school students saw that the front door was open and stopped by for a visit. I spoke with them a bit about the observatory and telescope, gave them a look at the Moon, and sent them on their way -- this was not a scheduled open night! The Moon was big and bright and, unfortunately, was washing out 'most everything else in the sky. My main target for the night was to have been the grand M4 globular star cluster in Scorpius. Couldn't see it... too close to the Moon. So I tried something I'd not experimented with before and hand-held my FinePix digital camera to the ca. 1900 telescope's fist-sized eyepiece and shot some photos. The big eyepiece presents bright, sharp low-magnification views and is my favorite for observing any phase of the Moon; it turns out to be perfect for the "afocal" photographic technique as well. A couple of the images were quite good and I am delighted with them. Converting the images to grayscale seemed to help so that's what I am displaying here. First is the whole, waxing gibbous phase disk... about three days from full. The second image is detail from the full disk shot.

Later I practiced use of the telescope's clock-driven right-ascension (R.A.) clock and indicator. With some effort I was able to find the beautiful galactic pair M81 & M82 in the northern sky; that was the first time I'd been able to find those galaxies with the big scope! The view wasn't so good as the slightly hazy sky was lit up, even that far north, by that old devil Moon, but the success boosted my confidence. I should now be able to more easily find charted objects... I still must master aiming in declination to really locate things! In all, a good night.


Photo: The waxing gibbous Moon as photographed through the eyepiece of the 9-inch Warner and Swasey telescope (ca. 1900) of Stephens Memorial Observatory. Color removed in Photoshop. Fuji FinePix S7000: ISO 400, 1/290 sec., f/5.6. Photo by James Guilford, June 14, 2008.

Barely an observation

I attended a meeting of the Aurora Astronomical Society (AAS) outside Aurora, Ohio Saturday night, June 7. They had a brief meeting, mostly it was intended for non-members and as an introduction to the night sky. Inside the pavilion of the Moebius Nature Center a presentation was given using Starry Night software as a flat-wall planetarium. Once the sky darkened enough we adjourned to the parking lot where several members had set up their telescopes for a star party. A student brought his homebuilt Dobsonian-mounted reflector, a Meade-branded Dobsonian was also there, and one Meade SCT was set up. We viewed the crescent Moon, Mars (very near the Moon this night), and Saturn, all close together in the western twilight. The day had been cloudy but there was a brief period around sunset that allowed those views with fair, hazy, seeing conditons. Typically the Moon was most affected by the thin, high clouds, Saturn was clear and bright, and Mars was too tiny at this point to present any detail. Had to leave before the sky darkened enough for deep sky objects but it was a good evening anyway. The sky closed in again anyway as we headed home.

Bad forecast, a good night

It was a beautiful day and the forecast called for a clear night with good seeing. Ugh-ugh! I had decided to take my 6-inch Meade to the CAA Observatory at Letha Park in Medina County and meet up with some friends there for a night of celestial beauty -- nights like the one forecast don't often come around when we can take advantage. So Saturday evening I headed to the southwest. As I was driving I noticed a sheet of thin but substantial clouds hanging on the western horizon. If they were moving, they were slow. I was first to arrive on site and, as others followed, we watched and worried as the thin layer edged overhead. By the time a few stars had appeared the cloud sheet had thinned but it was still there.

My LXD75 behaved itself this time -- no connection problems between the handbox controller and the mount during setup and not a single blip all night! Polar alignment was off a bit but the GoTo control put me close enough to, with a little fishing, find Saturn. Saturn looked pretty good, even at 133X with a bit of banding and the ring shadow visible on the planetary body. Lower-power views showed several moons. The sky never did get very dark, thanks to the thin clouds, and seeing varied from fair to poor. Again with the GoTo system getting me close, I was able to fish M104 --the Sombrero Galaxy-- from the skyglow. Same with M81 & M82 --Bode's and the Cigar Galaxy-- showing in the same low-power view; not as beautiful as I remembered but pleasing anyway. The Sombrero looked like a long, thin star cluster rather than the appearance of a diffuse cloud we see when we visually observe many others through a small telescope. Mars, now very distant, was a bright dot at low power and a squirmy "star" at high power and definitely not worth looking at. I saw my first Iridium flare --sun reflected off a communications satellite-- and spotted a satellite coasting through my telescope field of view. Several people saw meteors, one seen through a telescope!

In all a good night with friends and a fine shakedown operation after a long, long time away from my own big telescope and it was good not to have electrical problems. Overall, I was especially pleased with how well my telescope performed compared with others' this night! I need to use it more often and under better skies! Dew and chill sent us home at around midnight.

Astronomy Day 2008

For the first time in years I did not tend a club table at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History; nobody asked and I came to believe there would be no outside group presence there at all. I learned, too late, that clubs would be there. We've rarely had many visitors to our tables there but I did enjoy hobnobbing with members of other clubs. The evening and night, however, were spent at Stephens Memorial Observatory on an open house that ran straight into observing. Temperature was bout 60 degrees with very light breezes. The skies were poor to fair --high thin clouds diffused views of the Moon which were pleasant but "foggy." Surprisingly, after dark, Saturn was observable at fairly high power and the views were quite exciting. We had good views at about 100X, better views at 133X, and excellent viewing (at times) at 266X. The air seemed quite smooth if one could get past the hazy clouds! There were hints of color in the planetary body along with occasional glimpses of banding and the ring shadow was visible upon the face of Saturn. Even more interesting was seeing a bit of a break in the ring system caused by the shadow of the planet falling across the rings as they passed behind. I don't believe I've ever seen that before! I pointed it out to our guests who readily observed the same. I may have caught a glimpse of the Cassini Division but it was so fleeting I could not be certain. The skies remained otherwise murky for the balance of the evening with clearing trends at about closing time... still not good enough to visually locate much of anything so we closed, on schedule, at 11:00. In all we hosted 23 happy visitors from about six years of age to about 60.

Visited the Cincinnati Observatory Center

It's hard to believe nowadays but years ago the state of Ohio was a leader in the science of astronomy. The two oldest existing observatories in the U.S. are here in the Buckeye State: the Loomis Observatory in Hudson and the Cincinnati Observatory Center with its two domed buildings and its original telescope dating to 1843. (Shown here is the "new" telescope: a 1904 Alvan Clark & Sons 16-inch refractor.) I was visiting as a participant in the Antique Telescope Society's special thematic workshop "The Vintage Astronomical Observatory: Thriving in the Twenty-First Century." The Cincinnati observatory is a success story for, while most research roles for this science center dropped away a long time ago, the institution and its assets survive and flourish. Public interest in the historical and educational value of the place keep it going.

While we had free run of the facilities the weekend weather was uncooperative. I was able to catch a fleeting and somewhat fuzzy glimpse of Saturn "Saturn's Day" night through the big Clark and that was about it. It was a surprisingly good view --for literally couple of seconds until the clouds closed back in-- with several moons, some cloud bands (on Saturn) and even the Cassini Division visible! Hanging out with the Observatory's astronomers was fun, though. Casual conversation and hands-on experiences with the equipment made for an enjoyable night despite the ugly sky. I was honored to be allowed to open the dome's shutter for the night, crank up the drive weights (all 350 lbs.), and I was allowed, even requested, to operate the great telescope's slow-motion control. That machine runs great: even a little twist of the hand-operated R.A. knob was enough to smoothly nudge the behemoth instrument a bit to one side to center Saturn in the field of view. I was very disappointed not to have been able to look better and longer through what is plainly a tremendous telescope. I had no chance to observe though the 1843 Merz and Mahler 12-inch scope which has, outside of its scientific work, afforded the public views of the heavens through the entirety of its existence. I must return there one day. Big thank-you to the staff of the Cincinnati Observatory Center!

The coming weekend isn't looking good for this year's Astronomy Day open house and public night at Stephens. Long-range forecast is for mostly cloudy with a chance of rain Saturday, May 10. We shall see. It's that kind of frequent weather that helped drive major observatories out of business in Ohio. Encouraging, however, is what seems to be increasing public interest in the night sky and it is personally gratifying to be involved in that.

Saturn shows but not students

Tonight (Saturday) I had the observatory open from 9 to 11:00 PM at the behest of the student environmental group at Hiram College. This open night was to be a part of their Earth Day activities. Unfortunately --or not-- this was also the college Springfest and the poor old observatory was up against a pop music concert, an orientation day, and other activities. We had only two visitors --a student couple-- at Stephens the whole time. Gave them a look at Saturn with moons Titan, Rhea, and Dione visible and told them about the observatory, telescope, etc. Sky conditions were clear but seeing was generally not very good with high-altitude water vapor preventing the sky from being very black. I couldn't find dim objects, not even M44 (The Beehive star cluster) but Saturn looked surprisingly good; the shadow of the ring system could be seen on the planetary body. Maybe a hint, now and again, at cloud banding on the planet. I took a look at Mars but between seeing preventing high-power views and Mars receding and becoming quite small, it was not very interesting. That was about it for observing! A bat had moved back into the dome and/or shutter as had a nest-building bird or two. And one of the shutter closing ropes snapped when I slammed it shut for the night! It looks like this one will be an easy fix but I fear future breaks will be higher and harder to repair.

Not tonight you don't

I thought it rather optimistic! Monday night was clear and lovely but not a good night for me scheduling-wise for an Observatory session. Tonight my schedule is clear but the sky is not. Rain is expected tomorrow. That's life, I guess! I did confirm the position of Saturn last night, floating beautifully beside bright Regulus, found Mars, and watched Orion sinking into the Western sky. If we are able to open to the students and public Saturday night, Saturn is going to be tricky... the big refractor is going to be tipped high, very high, which means the eyepiece is going to be very low. Still, it will be worth the effort -- it nearly always is.

Clouds, rain, it's springtime in Northeast Ohio

We were unable to open the Stephens Memorial Observatory (SMO) for the scheduled March public night due to clouds and snow. We were unable to open the SMO this past Saturday night (April 19) due to clouds and rain. Yes, it's springtime in Northeast Ohio where, it seems, most nights are unsuitable to astronomy which is, for one reason, why our best observatories closed years ago and/or our best instruments moved to more suitable climes. The student environmental group at Hiram College requested we open SMO this coming Saturday night as part of their Earth Day observance. Will we be lucky and have decent skies? Meanwhile, there's a possibility of good skies Tuesday night --rain forecast for Wednesday so, of course, clouds may be moving in-- and I hope to get out to SMO for practice and testing of some imaging techniques.

Saturn Observation Night

Saturday night, Feb. 23, was our observance of the Saturn Observation Campaign's international Saturn Observation Night. At Stephens Memorial Observatory we officially opened at 8:00 PM --though there were visitors at the door well before then-- and had good skies for the occasion. Immediately after opening the first of the night's 33 visitors had a look at the beautiful stars and clouds of the Orion Nebula. The dome's aperture was pointed south in its parked position and, when I opened the shutter, there was Orion in all his glory! One young boy was single-minded in his interests. He didn't care to see the nebula, he was there to see Saturn! Nothing else would do! He complained repeatedly to his mother who assured him, as did the astronomer, that we would soon see the ringed world. Once everyone had a look at M42 I turned the dome to face east, swung the century-old, 9-inch Cooley Telescope around and began our viewing of Saturn. The young enthusiast was pleased.

We had a good, clear night with decent seeing conditions. While the rings, as viewed at this time, are approaching edge-on, we could make out the gaps between the ring system and the limbs of the planet and careful observers were fortunate to be able to glimpse atmospheric banding. At least four moons were also seen. It's always gratifying just how impressed visitors are when they first see Saturn through a good telescope. I quickly lost track of how many folks exclaimed, "Oh, WOW!" as they peered through the eyepiece. "Just like a picture," was also happily repeated. Everyone from grade-schooler to grandmother was delighted with the view. It was cold in the dome --about 28F degrees-- so once most visitors got a good look, they took off for home. Many happily took home JPL picture sheets showing an excellent planetary portrait taken by the Cassini spacecraft, doubtless to show others what they were fortunate to see with their own eyes.

Most visitors arrived in the first hour, then there was a long period of quiet when only one or two people were in he dome with me. A couple, the man being an amateur astronomer, stayed long enough that we stepped outdoors and, with unaided eyes, spotted The Beehive (M44) star cluster. It looked very fine through my 10x50 binoculars!

Though we were supposed to close at 10 PM, we had a group of late visitors who not only stayed to see Saturn but the Orion Nebula and the rising waning gibbous Moon, as well. Saturn and the Moon are always crowd-pleasers.

A fine lunar eclipse

After a day or two of nail-biting, monitoring forecasts of sky conditions, the Clear Sky Clock tipped the scales for me... Wednesday night's sky would be clear and we would be able to see the Feb. 20 total lunar eclipse.

I packed up only one extra eyepiece --the great antique scope has a wonderful low-power ocular that presents the entire lunar disk-- and bundled myself up. It was a c-o-l-d night!

As the eclipse was getting underway a freshly-cleared sky began to cloud up. A thin layer of cloudiness obscured all detail from the Moon just as Earth's shadow was taking a good chunk out. And a little snow fell through the dome slit! Gad! Just as I was beginning to give up hope, however, the sky quickly cleared and we had good seeing for the rest of the night!

The view of the Moon through the 9-inch refractor was typically spectacular. Even the full Moon looks great through that scope with its fist-sized eyepiece. During the partial phase of the eclipse, however, there was a time when the lunar limb was relatively bright, the central portion of the disk was bluish, and the dark shadowed region took on a reddish hue. Quite beautiful. During totality the Moon took on a pale coppery color; it was not a particularly colorful eclipse. Impressive and beautiful, nonetheless. Saturn, near opposition, was also near the eclipsed Moon (the bright "star" to the left of the shining Moon in the photo above) so during the hour-long totality I swung the telescope over to give visitors a look at the ringed world. Even at low power --Saturn quite small in the field of view-- visitors were excited to see it. At about 100X the excitement grew. Seeing was only a little better than fair for while we could make out the gap between the inner rings and the planetary body, no shadow could be seen and no detail within the ring plane. Two or three moons were visible. I'm hoping for better conditions for Saturday's Saturn Observation Night. As totality was ending I swung the scope back to the Moon to watch bright light begin its progress across the disk.

In all more than 44 visitors came into the observatory -- there were probably more but people were coming in to look through the telescope and going out to enjoy the sky with their own eyes ... they were getting into the event!

The last visitors left at around 11 PM and I was finally free to try some photos. A little too late, however, to get the shot I wanted... looking at the Moon along the telescope and through the dome. The Moon had already brightened to the point that I couldn't balance the exposure. It's a nice photo anyway and I'll use it for some things, it's just not the picture I had imagined. It was getting late and my feet and hands were getting cold --it was 18 degrees F. in the dome-- so I closed up and went home.

A fine lunar eclipse.

Astro Webcam test

So what do you do in this digital age with the excellent lenses you purchased over the years for your 35mm film camera? Well one thing you can do is purchase an adapter from an Australian company that will mate your beautiful Minolta 250mm f/5.6 RF Rokkor-X mirror lens with your trusty Philips ToUcam Pro II Web camera. What you get from that is a very good Web cam with excellent optics for all sorts of uses -- especially in getting "live" images from a telescope into a computer and, potentially, on to the Web.

I did my first test imaging with the rig Saturday night (Feb. 16) with the Moon at waxing gibbous phase. The image shown here (test image #5) was made with at 7:22 PM using my Toshiba notebook computer and Microsoft Vista, CoffeeCup Software's Webcam 4.0, the ToUcam and 250mm telephoto lens . The camera setup was attached to a simple fixed photographic tripod. Looks good! Not quite as sharp as I remember the Meade images, but not bad for a first try! Excellent color and detail. Mount this rig to a telescope with a clock drive and we'll have something!

In late 2004 I began doing some digital imagery, first using the Philips Web cam and my 1,000mm Meade 390 refractor. I was very pleased with the results. I even used the setup to webcast the total lunar eclipse Oct. 27 - 28, 2004 from the roof of Westlake (Ohio) Porter Public Library! My only disappointment was not being able to show the entire lunar disc -- the small size of the CCD chip made for magnified views of the Moon and I was unable to test and correct the setup before eclipse night. It was fun, however, and people enjoyed it (from as far away as Texas), and mine was one of the few "live" transmissions on the Web! Now, with shorter focal lengths and excellent optics, I can image the entire face of the Moon or, with proper filtration, the Sun.

I'll need to do more testing: For one thing, the CoffeeCup Webcam software, though it does have some excellent features, doesn't seem to allow control of camera exposure and the image preview was inaccurate.

Unfortunately the weather doesn't look promising for the Feb. 20 total lunar eclipse and my observatory lacks high-speed Internet connectivity. I may, however, take that fancy new notebook in and see if I can reach my dialup connection toll-free --doubtful-- and if I can, that would open some new possibilities!.

Beginning

This is the new home for my astronomy journal formerly hosted on member pages at EarthLink. Much more content will be added in the coming days and weeks as I move it here.

Mars strikes again!

What a night! Thanks to a Page 1 story in the Ravenna Record-Courier about Mars with references to our January 12 Open Night, more than 184 visitors looked through the old scope!!! There was a line of people literally out to the street! Of course the disappointing reality of Mars observation presented most folk with a small featureless pale disk in the eyepiece --the night's sky was clear, but seeing was fair to poor-- still, there was a lot of excitement and interest. Many assorted questions about the telescope, the Observatory, Mars, and astronomy. If you were good and lucky you could see a hint of shadow within the disk representing surface markings. That's the mystique of Mars for you: lots of interest and potential disappointment! I'd wanted to show off other objects but had to stay fixed on Mars until just before 10 PM. I was able to give the last group a look at the Orion Nebula which was spectacular before clouds finally began to close in. I'd printed 10 star charts as hand-outs before driving out to Hiram ... I didn't want to print too many! Yeah... 184+ visitors! I still can't believe it.