Moon and Milky Way

Milky Way and the Moon - the "Tea Pot" of Sagittarius and constellation Scorpius are visible on opposite sides of the central tree. The bright star above Moon is Arcturus.

The Cuyahoga Astronomical Association hosted a public star party the night of Saturday, July 29. While I did not take my telescope to the event, I was happy to have attended and brought my camera setup. I spoke with several people, answering questions about the night sky and pointing out a few areas of interest. I was also able to observe planet Mercury through one of the club's telescopes. The tiny world was in a crescent phase - the first time I've witnessed that (Mercury can be very difficult to observe due to its proximity to the Sun and obstructions along the local horizon.). Aside from viewing Jupiter and Saturn via others' telescopes, my main interest was trying out my camera and lens setup on the Milky Way.

Moon - July 29, 2017

Light from the waxing Crescent Moon and from the nearby city of Medina made the Milky Way's star lanes appear as misty clouds but they were more noticeable in photographs. I hope to return some time soon, on a moonless night, and make a few more efforts at local Milky Way photography before human-made light pollution makes it impossible.

A small meteor streaks through the wispy clouds of the Milky Way. July 29, 2017.

Faint-Fuzzies for Open Night

This seems to have been a very cloudy summer and most of the daylight hours of this day were no different: overcast to mostly-cloudy skies dominated. Amazingly, and as predicted, we got the clear skies we needed for our "faint fuzzies" night of public observing at Stephens Memorial Observatory. Best seeing was from about 9:30 to 10:00 -- after that a high haze seemed to set in, illuminated by natural and artificial light pollution. Still, these were some of the best conditions we have enjoyed in quite some time. While the skies were at their best our few --only 7-- attendees (conflict with Ohio State football??) saw the Milky Way stretching from Sagittarius in the south-southwest, high overhead, and into the northeast and constellation Cassiopeia -- even the dark dust lane of the Milky Way was visible. We viewed the cottonwood seed-like wisp that is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and considered why it is that faint-fuzzy objects don't look like magazine photos when viewed with our own eyes, even through telescopes. We also viewed a beautiful globular star cluster (M22), its approximate 70,000 stars some 10,600 light-years distant in Sagittarius. Then we looked high overhead and found the Ring Nebula (M57); putting the big old refractor so near the zenith was made possible through use of the star diagonal for our 1.25-inch eyepieces. Not only was observation easy but no ladder-climbing was required -- an office chair worked just fine. During the night's event I spied two speedy, faint meteors through the dome's slit -- one coming in north to south, the other (a bit brighter) headed east to west. As the last visitors of the night departed Jupiter and the Moon were rising over Hiram -- a fitting end to a fine night of stargazing.

A fine night out

After a long period of hazy, hot, humid, and cloudy weather we caught a break... last night's skies were predicted to be about as good as they ever get here. So I went out on an independent session to the astronomy club observing site near Spencer, Ohio -- something I have not done in far too long a time. Skies there are not as dark as they were a few years ago, but a paved parking lot, no street lights, and official permission for the activity made it acceptable.

I got a late start and had to forgo opportunities to enjoy and photograph a marvelous sunset over a broad valley. I did, however, arrive on site in time to use the fading twilight in setting up my equipment. As the last light faded the Milky Way emerged, visible from near the southern horizon to overhead and a bit beyond. Along the horizon were the summer constellations: Sagittarius and Scorpius. Saturn was sinking into the murk of the western horizon but I got a hazy glimpse of the ring world through another's telescope, already set up.

Due to not using my own telescope in some time, I suffered some difficulties in setup and alignment. I couldn't even find Polaris in the telescope mount's alignment optic and so "eyeballed" it. Surprisingly, the alignment was very good and for the rest of the night the scope was able to center or come close to all objects I asked its GoTo computer to find.

Though the sky was cloudless, it did suffer overall from light pollution or, perhaps, some lingering natural twilight. Viewing of a number of Messier objects was only fair. My old friends M81 and M82, which can be a lovely sight within the same eyepiece field of view, were barely discernible against the gray background sky. I did view, for the first time, M20 --the Trifid Nebula-- but observed no nebulosity, only the associated star cluster. The "Whirlpool Galaxy" (M51) could barely be seen at all though M31 --the Andromeda Galaxy-- put in an appearance looking, typically, like a cottonwood seed fluff.

I love refractor telescopes but frequent issue is that, when aimed straight up, the eyepiece can be uncomfortably low to the ground. So I happily got a nice view of the Ring Nebula (M57), which at that hour was high overhead, through the SCT of a companion.

In all, I viewed M11, M20, M22, M31, M51 (barely), M57, M81, M82, all in the space of a couple of hours. Then came the Moon.

As the waning gibbous Moon rose, its glow obscured the lovely path of the Milky Way and made it increasingly difficult to see any but the brightest deep sky objects. So I pointed my telescope towards Jupiter.

Jupiter emerged from behind the Sun earlier this year minus its dark southern equatorial cloud band or belt. I was eager to see. Though still low in the sky and rising at nearly the same altitude as the Moon, I was able to get a decent view of the planetary disk. Observed at several magnifications, with and without ND filter and sure enough, only one dark band was visible. I thought I could see hints of the Great Red Spot but, with the planet still low in the atmosphere, couldn't confirm that. I hope to get a better view of Jove next month but, at least, I got to see it!

I aimed the telescope at planet Uranus but that distant world was barely a dot in the eyepiece.

My project for the night was to attach my Canon EOS 50D digital SLR camera directly to my big Meade refractor -- using the 1,200mm optic as a telephoto lens. I'd never tried it before and it worked beautifully. There was some difficulty achieving sharp focus which was a surpise to me. Add to that the fact that I did not yet have a cable release for the camera and I was happy to get usable images at all. I did, however, get one very good shot out of the experiment (shown here) and will be ordering a cable release soon. That little device will help me minimize vibration -- I had to trigger the shutter by pressing the shutter release button by hand; an action that shook the entire telescope and did not help picture taking.

Packed up and left at about 11:15 a happy fellow.

Image: The Moon... both cursed and loved by amateur astronomers worldwide. It brought an early end to deep sky observing tonight but, itself, made a great subject for viewing and photographing. Canon EOS 50D: ISO 400, 1/400 sec., Meade achromatic f/8 refracting telescope: 1,219 mm. August 28, 2010, 10:54 PM. Photo by James Guilford.

Hot Jupiter!

Saturday, August 15 was a Public Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory. It was hot, hazy, and humid and, though viewing was set to begin at 9:30, folks began arriving just a little past 9:00 -- a sign it will be a busy night!

As twilight began to fade I trained the telescope on the red giant star Antares. The idea was to nudge the telescope a bit as the sky darkened and look at the neighboring star cluster M4. That didn't happen as constellation Scorpius was sinking into the trees to our south and west taking the star cluster with it.

I made an attempt to locate the beautiful star cluster M15 but could not find it. As Jupiter was rising from behind trees to our east, moved on to that planet. Lower-level air was hazy but the atmosphere was quiet and seeing steady. We were treated to some excellent views of Jupiter at low power (about 30X) and, much later, at 104X. The equatorial cloud belts were visible nearly all of the time and we occasionally saw traces of the north and south temperate cloud belts. Truly impressive.

The excellent turnout --more than 50 visitors including at least three children-- made it difficult to change magnifications and celestial objects during the course of the evening. Those who stayed late and were patient saw the higher magnification views of Jupiter plus a good look at the "faint-fuzzy" M31 -- the Andromeda Galaxy (actually looking quite bright with central brightness and extended nebulous area). A couple of satellite passes and at least one meteor (likely a late Perseid) were seen through the dome slit.

Light pollution illuminated the hazy lower atmosphere making low-elevation skies murky and bright. Stepping outside and looking directly overhead, however, we could easily see the great band of the Milky Way stretching across the sky, replete with dust lanes. The star cloud did not quite reach down far enough to the south to join constellation Sagittarius before being swallowed up in the bright Earthbound haze.

Last visitors to leave were a couple who were curious about constellations and what star cluster it was they saw the other night -- the Pleiades. We spoke for several minutes sharing meteorite experiences in the front lawn. I closed up the Observatory at about 11:30. It was a hot night but the seeing was excellent.

The telescope's R.A. tracking is pretty bad. Troubleshooting shows the clock is working well and the gear train is transmitting motion so the conclusion is the R.A. collar is slipping. I hope to address that problem within the next month.

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.