Unexpected Saturn

Unexpected business led me to visit Stephens Memorial Observatory Tuesday night. Since I was there and the sky was nicely clear, I decided to open the dome and do a little observing.

Orion is low in the west these nights and the great nebula (M42) was actually only visible through the bare limbs of the neighbor's trees. The view was splendid, however, and at low magnification, the cloudy expanse took on a fan shape. The stars of the Trapezium were clearly displayed, nestled in the gauze.

Using star Sirius to set R.A., and my notebook computer's The Sky software, I was able to use the telescope's ancient dials to locate the "twin" star clusters M46 and M47 -- not visible to the unaided eye. Declination settings are not visible on the old scope at this time so I had to do some fishing. Still, it was gratifying to be able to get in the right neighborhood using the telescope's century-old devices. The clusters were more attractive through binoculars --a glowing path of cloud across the dark field-- than through the telescope though, at low magnification, M46 filled the eyepiece with diamond-dust stars.

Turning the telescope further east as the Moon was rising, I located Saturn. The ring system is still close to edge-on and opposition took place only a few days earlier (March 22). The planet was crisp and bright and, faintly visible nearby, were some of the Ring World's family of moons. It was a lovely sight. I had my camera with me so tried a few afocal (hand-held, lens-to-eyepiece) shots. At settings: ISO 800, f/8, 1/10 sec., I got a fairly good shot (seen here, cropped to imitate an eyepiece view) that depicts the ring plane's angle and even hints at the rings' shadow on the planetary body. Of course, the moons don't show at all being much too dim by comparison.

I closed up at about 10 PM with the Full Worm Moon rising and drowning out the light-songs of everything nearby. A good night of unexpected astronomy.

Hazy sky but good turnout

Saturday, March 27: During the Public Open Night we had 48 visitors come to the Observatory. Despite high, thin clouds, we were able to enjoy acceptable views of the Moon at about 30-power and 133-power magnifications. We got the season's last look at the Orion Nebula but the view was poor due to those thin clouds above our heads -- looking at clouds (the nebula) through clouds (Earth's weather) is not very good. When Saturn rose high enough to clear neighboring trees and thickening clouds near the horizon the big telescope was turned in that direction. Though not as crisp a view as a good night would afford, we were able to see the planet's ring system nearly on edge to us and, during times of somewhat better seeing, make out the shadow of those rings falling on the planetary disk. We could also see several of Saturn's moons including Titan. (Note: Saturn was at opposition on March 22.) Sky conditions continued to deteriorate so that, by closing time, about the only object visible in the sky was a bright but very hazy Moon. Still it was a good night enjoying views of our universe from Stephens Memorial Observatory. Temperatures in the upper-40s, light wind, Moon was waxing gibbous.

Clouds chasing us

Saturday, February 20: It has been a very cloudy year so far -- only two "officially" clear days since last December. There may have been several clear sky nights but they were so extremely cold that the warmth of the house had a stronger pull than did the stars! There was just enough clear sky at the 7:00 starting time that I opened Stephens Memorial Observatory to visitors for the first Open Night of 2010. Seeing conditions, however, were mostly fair to poor so our visitors got mostly not-so-exciting looks at the Orion Nebula (M42) before Earthly clouds obscured the glowing clouds in Orion some 1,599 light years distant. For only a very few minutes in the entire evening a clearing appeared in the clouds and the nebula splendidly burst forth in the telescope eyepiece; unfortunately only three or four people got to enjoy the view. I only got a glimpse at it myself before urging visitors to look but what I saw was marvelous -- lovely, silken, glowing clouds cradling a nest (The Trapezium) of brilliant "little" stars. Magnificent. Turning the telescope to the east we were able to see planet Mars as a small pinkish disk -- not bad for sky conditions but not good enough to see a polar ice cap, much less any surface markings. Mars was relatively close at 67.7 million miles from Earth. As clouds overhead swallowed Mars, the telescope was swung around and aimed at Earth's Moon, clouds scudding across its face. Cloud cover greatly reduced the Moon's brilliance and gave it an unusual, low-contrast, gray appearance. Everyone got a look at the first-quarter Moon in surprising detail. Along about 8:00 the thickening clouds hid the last traces of Luna and I closed the doors and the dome shutter against the 32-degree night air. About 35 visitors had come through in the space of one hour and, despite the poor conditions, most seemed pleased with the experience.

Good Night at the Observatory

Tonight's public night featured the Moon and we had at least 80 people. Folks were very enthusiastic and why not... the views were great, especially for young children because the Moon was very high in the sky favoring short people looking through the eyepiece. Early arrivals also saw Jupiter, latecomers also saw Luna at 122 magnification and some of the stars of the Pleiades.

A mother visited again with her young daughters... one a burgeoning scientist. They were the last to leave the grounds. The young lady was enthralled by our views of the Moon, to be sure, but also loved the blue stars of the Pleiades. As they left I also pointed out a very few major constellations that had great stories in Greek mythology... something her school class is studying: Cassiopeia, the Pleiades, Orion.

Before heading home I checked out another potential site for a new observatory. The sky there was much "wider," being unobstructed by property line treelines. The ground was very wet, however, giving some worry. An exciting location, otherwise.

It was a good night at the Observatory.

Not sleeping in

It's a Saturday morning, a time when I normally sleep in; I need a bit of "catching up" at the end of most weeks. Looking out of the south-facing bedroom window I could see the sky had gone from thin overcast at bedtime last night to glorious clarity this morning. I went downstairs, grabbed my binoculars, and headed out to the stoop for a quick look 'round. What a nice sky, indeed! My old friend Orion was dominating the southwestern sky so I started with the belt -- the nebula (M42) glowed with glittering stars all around. Then I explored the vicinity of a very bright star to Orion's left... is that Sirius? Yes, indeed, with the beautiful open cluster M41 to his south: the heart of the "big dog." The sky was clear enough, even through the neighboring bare trees, that I could see a triangle to the southeast of M41; I later learned that was Canis Major's rump! North of Sirius was another, less impressive, open cluster M50. Of course no clear binocular autumn sky would be complete without a visit with the Seven Sisters: The Pleiades or M45. So clear and diamond-like the stars this morning. In my slippers, I stepped out on the sidewalk a bit to see if I could find Saturn. Yup! Not a good handheld binocular target, Saturn's distinctive golden cast was a giveaway. Neighbors' lights and hunger for breakfast brought me back indoors but I'd had a bit of pre-dawn stargazing which helped me feel better about not sleeping in.

Library sidewalk astronomy

Last night (Nov. 11) the astronomy club offered sidewalk astronomy experiences to visitors at the Westlake Porter Public Library. It was a chilly evening with breezes of around 15 MPH as we were setting up but the sky was clear. It was clear, at least, until we were ready to begin observing -- that's when clouds moved-- in making it very difficult for us to get stellar alignments for our computerized telescopes. No connectivity problems with my telescope and, had we a good alignment, the telescope would have performed exceedingly well. I think 6-inch is improving with age. The offering ran from 7:00 to 9:00 PM and, as time passed, the clouds did as well. Seeing, however, was only fair. Still we were able to offer decent views of Jupiter and observe Io disappear as it converged with Jupiter's limb and began a transit of the planetary disk. My scope performed well at 200X on Jupiter though the atmosphere kept the view softer than it might otherwise have been; it is very rare for me to run the scope at that power and reassuring to see how well it worked. We were also able to view --though not very clearly-- the Ring Nebula (M57), Uranus, and Neptune. Over the course of the evening we entertained around 30 viewers and we four astronomers were very eager to get packed up and warmed up at the end.

October Open Night

We had another good Open Night Saturday (Oct. 10). We started out with a local Cub Scout group seeking to earn their Astronomy Belt Loop awards. The two (one kid was very late arriving to make it three) boys and their dads got a look at the Observatory and telescope, we reviewed terms and computer images ranging from "planet" and "star" to "galaxy" and "universe" and, with adults arriving at about 7:30 for the 8:00 opening, segued into the evening's observing just before 8:00. Those adult early arrivals shared in the Scouts' lesson and all seemed attentive and interested. A good number of College students were in attendance for the Public segment including a group of four who seemed particularly interested in the telescope and what we were seeing. There was much "texting" and iPhone photography! In all something just over 33 people visited and looked through the scope.

Skies were clear but seeing was only fair to good with even the temperate zone cloud bands at Jupiter only faintly visible, not at all like September's views! I had some difficulty locating M31 in the dark gray sky but views of it were good. Andromeda's getting too high in the sky now to comfortably observe through a large refractor so that's the last time we'll offer it as a subject til next year. Then we looked at the Perseus Double Cluster and more than one person thought it looked like scattered diamonds filling the field of view... beautiful. It would look better at even lower magnification but I haven't a longer focal length eyepiece!

As I exited the Observatory at about 11:00 and began trudging (with something like 40 or 50 lbs. of gear) to my distant parked car, I gave the clear, eastern sky one last glance. There, hanging not far above the village center, was the beautiful Pleiades star cluster. Memories of boyhood and my first realization that the "Seven Sisters" was something different, something special, came flooding back. I stood, admiring the view for a bit longer then, shifting the loaded baggage on my shoulders, headed up the sidewalk smiling.