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.

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.