Sidewalk astronomy at the library

Westlake (Ohio) Porter Public Library requested a sidewalk astronomy event to take place during their Customer Appreciation Week. We were only too happy to oblige. After dicey late-afternoon cloud cover the sky cleared in time for setup at 7:30 and viewings from 8:00 to 9:15 off the sidewalk adjacent to the (brightly-lit) parking lot. Still a fellow astronomer (with an 8-inch SCT) and I (with my 6-inch refractor) showed curious visitors Jupiter, the Hercules Star Cluster (M13), the Ring Nebula (M57), and the great Andromeda Galaxy (M31). I was pleased at the performance of my scope's electronics for, after eyeballing polar alignment and a one-star computer alignment, the scope tracked Jupiter exceptionally well and found M57 on the first try! No disconnects and good tracking all evening. The Ring was very difficult for most viewers to spot in the eyepiece but it was actually the best view I've had of it. M13 through the SCT was a beautiful sight, M31 was its usual fuzz-ball self but not bad at all, and Jupiter was best viewed shortly after sundown. Seeing was unsteady at lower angles and as the planet sank lower in the sky occasional good seeing ended and the planetary disk was unclear. The good moments revealed multiple cloud bands in addition to the two big equatorial belts so patient viewers got a good look. Closed up shop at the appointed hour and answered cosmological and planet detection questions from a very curious adult visitor. It was cold (lower 40s F.) so good to get indoors.

Big open night for the Moon

Saturday, Oct. 11 was a Public Night at Stephens Memorial Observatory. Another amazing turnout! I did my best to keep an accurate count but I'm afraid that with 135 clicks on my counter I still managed to miss some attendees at Saturday night's Public Night. The announced main subject was the Moon though we started out with views of Jupiter -- Jupiter was in clear air while the Moon was behind clouds -- at 7:30 (a full half-hour before official opening). Three of the Galilean satellites were on one side of the planetary body with number 4 not visible. When I learned it had emerged from the clouds, I swung the telescope over to the waxing gibbous Moon --90 percent of full-- and we stayed there all the rest of the night. The crowd was mostly adult, general public, with a smattering of students (maybe half a dozen). Many good questions about astronomy and the history of the observatory. The last visitors left at about 10:30 (official closing was 10:00) after getting a view of the Pleiades and a bevy of hot, young, blue stars.

Brilliant ISS passage

I normally don't watch for overflights of the International Space Station. After the showing it made during Saturday's Public Night at the Observatory, however, I decided to watch again Monday night. From our balcony (aka "Chaunticlair Observatory") I began watching for the distinctive unblinking light at a little after 7:40 PM EDT. Still in fairly bright twilight the bright, moving "star" appeared as expected in the west-southwestern sky and climbed high overhead. Predicted brightness was -3 magnitude and it was brilliant. Because the Sun had not set long before, I watched the ISS as it made a complete arc overhead and down into the east ... it did not disappear into Earth's shadow before it was obscured by distant trees. Most impressive was just how bright the ISS was in the not-very-dark twilight sky.

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.