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.