Camp Asbury visits observatory

This morning Stephens Observatory hosted a group of 18 from a local church camp, vising as part of a "Space Week" program. Despite the hazy, hot, and humid conditions, seeing was surprisingly good. I pointed the grand old 9-inch scope, with its nice new Baader solar filter in place, at the sun and shared the view. We had a nice spidery little sunspot (designated Sunspot 961) to look at and could also make out granulation in the solar atmosphere. (View similar to the SOHO photo at right but in white light, not orange.) I'd never seen granulation with my own eyes and enjoyed the experience as much as or more than did the kids ... though they certainly were an enthusiastic and bright group. Just before I left I learned a respected previous Observatory director, J.R. Andress, had sneaked in for a personal visit to see what I've been up to. He left a note in the Observatory log to that effect and that he liked what he saw; also leaving his contact info.

Open: Alumni Day and night

The sky had a thin covering of milky clouds all day. Still, I had announced a daytime SMO open house and nighttime stargazing session for Hiram College Alumni Day and I had to honor my commitment. The daytime, solar viewing session didn't do much. We had 12 visitors between 9 AM and Noon and we didn't look at the Sun -- the clouds made for an indistinct solar disk and the Sun itself was a blank showing no sunspots at all. Visitors, however, did seem to enjoy seeing the telescope and talking about it and the Observatory. The adult daughter of former Observatory director J.R. Andress stopped by with her dog and recollected spending many pleasant girlhood nights under the dome with her father. Time passed quickly. I closed up and headed home. The evening saw a somewhat thinner cloud layer. It was, however, in evidence. I headed to the Observatory knowing that people would see stars overhead and wonder why we weren't open for the evening if I didn't show up. I knew that whatever we might look at would run the risk of being quite unimpressive. As darkness fell more and more stars appeared but, as expected, close examination with telescope and binoculars revealed the filtering effect of those, now invisible, high clouds. Would anyone actually show up? Then the people started arriving. The Observatory dome was full of visitors before Jupiter rose above the trees. Still they waited patiently and expectantly as the bright planet inched its way into visibility. The view was not very distinct but, with patience, we could just make out Jupiter's two major cloud bands. The Galilean moons shown like golden stars in a pattern to the left of the planet. By the time the evening finished --with a man and his two young daughters, all on bicycles at 11 PM-- we had entertained 36 nighttime visitors between 9:30 and 11:00 PM. Even though Jupiter was all we could view on this night of murky skies, our guests left apparently happy and impressed. People do still love the starry realm and it's a pleasure to share it with them.

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!

Astronomy Day 2007

April 21, 2007: Astronomy Day -- I finished installation of the clock drive (hanging the drive weights) Friday afternoon and tested it during a private observing session that night at Stephens Memorial Observatory. Opened on Saturday (April 21) at 6:00 PM for open house hours as advertised, but nobody showed up. The observing session, however, was quite another matter! The cool spring air was nicely transparent offering our 51 guests (between about 8:30 and 11:00 PM) very good views of Saturn and several of its moons at a time when the shadow of the ring system falling upon the planetary body gave the image "a 3D effect," as one visitor exclaimed. Someone else exclaimed that it "looks like a picture." Viewers of all ages (myself included) also glimpsed atmospheric banding and, at 255X, the Cassini Division! The Moon impressed as well many saying they had never seen anything like it. The images, by the way, were quite exquisite. And the clock drive runs flawlessly and tracks very well though I can see it operates with some speed differences depending upon what direction it is tracking. Following the Moon, low in the west, the telescope held its aim for a long time. Not unexpectedly, several of the men were fascinated by the spinning governor and gears of the clock -- one man stood there for minutes watching it! The visitors were roughly half students and half non-students and members of both groups either went out and came back with family or friends or excitedly phoned them telling them to come visit. A very common question was, when are you doing this again! Apparently students learned of the public night from an all-campus email. The public got word from a newspaper article. It was a fine night for all involved.

Reinstalled Cooley clock drive

Spent the evening at Stephens Memorial Observatory (SMO) tonight and finally got the mechanical clock drive reinstalled. I still must hang the drive weights and test the system (especially running speed) but I believe the hard part is done. To celebrate I took a look at Saturn. That was a little difficult because it was very high in the sky. I wound up kneeling on the floor to observe. Skies were clear but not the most transparent. Still the view was very good at around 100X. There was a hint of banding in the body of the planet and I could make out the shadow of the planetary sphere falling across the ring plane. Too uncomfortable to view for long, though! The Moon had risen so I used the brilliant --BRILLIANT-- full disk to better align the finder scope. It will probably take two hands to do that job right, but aim is better than it was. I had two visitors: a man with his son who saw lights on and decided to see the telescope. They arrived just after I did so they got no observing and apologized for dropping in and distracting me from my work. Hey, it is great to have such interest in the reawakening of SMO! Closed up the dome at 9:45 PM and headed for home. The sky went from clear to overcast during my trip home so I guess things timed out just fine.

Comet seen and lost

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) has been thrilling skywatchers around the world for several days now. Discovered in August 2006, it continues to brighten as it approaches the Sun and it is now reported to be the brightest comet seen in 30 years. Our wonderful Northeastern Ohio cloud cover had hidden the view from us. Well, I saw it tonight! Briefly, thanks to the clouds clearing (mostly) around sunset. I went to the roof of the library (where I work) during my dinner hour taking along my camera and tripod. It was a beautiful sunset with orange and red colors illuminating jet contrails in the western sky. As the twilight dimmed and Venus sparkled to the southwest, I spotted Comet McNaught glowing a ghostly white between the orange jet trails. It was bright, even at about 5:30 when I first sighted it. Still, as the night fell so did the comet. Already low in the sky, McNaught sank behind the trees far to the west of the building before it really became photogenic, having been visible to me for only 10 minutes or so. Still, I saw it with and without the telephoto lens: my first comet of the year! So, with freezing (20 - 30 degrees F.) metal tripod in hand, I headed back into the building and back to work.

Waiting for sunset

Drove to Letha House Park and the CAA's observatory site for a night of observing. Packing the telescope equipment, folding table, and other gear in the 1997 Honda Civic is a lot of effort but it fits in the hatchback better than the other car!