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.

The Moon and the Ring did not disappoint

Spring has been tough for our public observing programs. It seemed we would never see a clear night. On June 12 our public night consisted of peeking at Saturn through openings in the cloud cover; that offered some very good, if unreliable viewing! A week later, on June 17, Alumni Weekend was kicked off with an observing night for attendees and we had both good attendance (30 to 40 visitors) and clear skies for most of the night. We spotted several of Saturn's many moons and saw hints of the great storm raging in the northern hemisphere of that planet's atmosphere. June marked the end of Saturn observation from Hiram due to a line of tall trees just across the property line from the Observatory.

Our first break for the public happened last night (July 9) when we had skies mostly clear of clouds. There was, however, enough moisture in the atmosphere to help make the Waxing Gibbous Moon's glow make the sky glow. In all 23 visitors attended and were treated to our usual exquisite views of the lunar surface. Especially striking, due to the timing of our observation, were the inky-black unlit floors of several large craters. The low sun angle at the terminator also highlighted crater walls and cast long shadows from mountain peaks in the lunar seas. Simply glorious.

Next we viewed the sparkling beauty of the red giant star Antares, at the "heart" of constellation Scorpius. Twinkling from a brilliant star is impressive through a telescope.

The bright sky made locating the M4 globular star cluster very difficult and a less-than-impressive sight! Once found all we could make out was a faint spray of stars in a "Moon-glowed" field of view.

To cap off the night I swung the big telescope so that it pointed high in the sky, fished a bit in a slightly less murky sky, and found M57 -- the Ring Nebula. At first I believed Lyra was too high in the sky for observing with the big refractor but, as it turned out, the elevation put the eyepiece at a very comfortable level for everyone present. We viewed the "gray donut" first at about 100X and, as the hour was growing late, many guests left after taking a quick look. Once everyone had taken a look, however, I swapped eyepieces and boosted the power to 133X. Between the different optics and the slightly greater magification, the Ring looked clearer and brighter -- it was probably the best view of that object I've had to date.

So while the warm, humid summer night didn't provide optimal seeing conditions the sky was clear for a change. We did enjoy a very good night of observing: the Moon and the Ring did not disappoint.

A changeable sky

Even before heading to Stephens Memorial Observatory conditions were changeable. The mixed forecasts called for partly cloudy skies with the chance of isolated thunderstorms. Seeing conditions, well, the forecast was from no good to okay. As it turned out, all of those things were true! I opened the Observatory and my first visitors for the night began arriving shortly thereafter. Due to neighboring trees, we hauled the portable 10-inch reflector out to the lawn to catch a look at the Moon which was floating in clear sky. Nice views enjoyed by all present. Even as we watched a shelf of clouds moved steadily from the northwest first obscuring, then covering the Moon. As a few more folks arrived we talked about telescopes and adjourned to the Observatory interior to see and discuss the big refractor. In all 23 people took a chance that the sky would be clear enough and visited. By about 10 PM we were all talked out, there were flashes of lightning in the sky along with rumbles of thunder. I closed up, picked up my gear and loaded the car. As I left I could see patches of clear sky and one of my intended showpieces --Antares, the red supergiant star in Scorpius-- shining through a "sucker hole" in the southern sky. In the west, flashes of lightning. It was a changeable sky indeed!

Photo: A massive thunderstorm brews on the horizon east of Hiram. Photo by James Guilford.

Public Night July 11

This was the first Public Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory since the dome shutter mechanism was repaired. Weather during the day made the night's activities doubtful. The region had suffered strong thunderstorms with plenty of lightning, rain, and wind. As predicted, however, the storms departed the area as quickly as they came and left us with a sultry evening and clear/clearing skies. The first of our 25 visitors for the night arrived early and helped dump the office dehumidifier tank --probably about 20 gallons-- and more visitors gathered as night fell. Daylight Saving Time has pushed twilight well beyond our 9:30 start time so we stalled until about 10:00 when stars began to become visible followed by our true target for the evening: globular star cluster M4 in the constellation Scorpius. As the skies darkened we could begin to see tiny, diamond dust-like stars resolving in the center of the cluster's diffuse cloud-like appearance. Despite that, star clusters aren't a sight that "wows" the public but our visitors paid polite attention and expressed interest in what they were seeing. We also viewed stars Antares and Altair, the latter impressing even yours-truly with its colorful brilliance. At 10:45 a thick bank of clouds moved in to cover the sky and put a stop to our improved seeing. A modest success, this night, but I can hardly wait to show people Jupiter and the Moon in a month or two; they're real crowd-pleasers!

Astronomy class semi-success

The weather forecast was all over the place for tonight's Hiram College astronomy class visit to the Observatory. Would it be cloudy, rainy, partly-cloudy, clear, clear but poor seeing? We saw all of those forecasts. It looked like it might clear up for the 9:30 start so we called it a "go" and opened up. About 18 students with their professor attended. Started off with the usual historical and interpretive talk about the Observatory and telescope while we waited for the sky to darken. We had partly-cloudy skies and sultry 80-degree air for the start, first viewing the red super-giant star Antares. Sometimes it winked out of sight as a cloud passed, then it would reappear. When everyone had seen the colorful blip, I moved the telescope to the neighboring star cluster M4. Seeing was not good but I could make out a faint cloud of stars and a few students also said they saw it. Many could not observe it. So the Clear Sky Chart prediction of poor seeing was pretty much confirmed. Clouds closed in at about 10:30 so all went home. The professor asked if we could schedule a lunar observation night during the last week of June or first part of July just before the end of the course. Hopefully we'll have a better night because the old telescope really shows its stuff with the Moon when viewed through its fist-size, low-power eyepiece. Driving home I encountered partly-cloudy skies, moderately-heavy rain, and clear skies! I'm happy not to be a meteorologist trying to forecast this!

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!

A good night to look at the stars

It was a good night to get out and look at the stars. I've not been at Stephens Memorial Observatory (SMO) for quite some time and have missed two excellent nights. Last night's sky conditions weren't as good as Saturday and Sunday night's but I wasn't up to going out. It's been a physically and emotionally draining week. I packed my observing kit into the car and took off for the dark(er) skies of Portage County. It's nearing summer solstice so twilight seems to go on forever. With trees tall around the observatory Jupiter, which rose before sunset, didn't clear the trees until a little after 10:00 PM. Seeing wasn't the best for that big, brilliant planet, but I could make out some of the colored bands of Jupiter's atmosphere. I went fishing for a couple of galaxies but never found them; I still have much to learn about aiming the big telescope! After a while I went back to Jupiter and, unfortunately, sky conditions weren't quite as good as earlier. In the mean time Scorpius had risen above the trees and, using red Antares as a guide, found the beautiful globular star cluster M4, 5,600 light years distant. In the eyepiece the cluster looked elongated vertically and not so densely packed as most of the globulars I've seen; I liked it all the more for that! I attached a digital camera to the century-old telescope and tried to image Jupiter but still am not happy with the results. Eyepiece projection produces soft images (maybe due to poor physical coupling) and the adapter is too long for prime-focus. I'll have to work on better coupling of the camera to the telescope and buy a short coupler. Closed up and left at about 11:30 PM with a sore neck (from looking up) but feeling refreshed. A last look back at the observatory building silhouetted against a very starry sky brought a smile to my face. A most excellent way to end the day!