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.