sick and damp (Union)

I probably should not have gone out.

Intrument: Edmund Scientific 6-inch Newtonian
Mount: equatorial
Method: star hopping

It seems that I am making up for lost time, experiencing my third bad cold in two months. I had a long run, about 15 months of good health. Presently, not feeling well, the usual cold symptoms. But the prediction of clear weather drew me in. And the New Moon!

Early this morning, I packed up the car with a change of clothes, toothbrush, cold medicine, astronomy gear including (new) baader eyepiece and (third time with charm) green laser, a few items for Mom and Donna's impending mega garage sale, and belated birthday presents for Mom and Steve... After arriving at Mom's and taking a brief break, I began the afternoon astronomy setup.

Remembered to shut off all the security lights. Remembered to align the telescope mount to magnetic north, minus the magnetic declination of 8° 53' west. Documented the dewpoint and predicted low. Removed the 2" barrel from the baader eyepiece and affixed the 1¼" adapter. Got out Mom's observing chair. And remembered to put the dark red cell over Mom's iMac monitor.

§

9:15 PM. I was outside, bundled up, and ready to go. Orion, low, behind the big tree. I noticed the Pleiades over the peak of the den roof. But when I tried to sight it with the 'scope, I saw that it was blocked. Already too low. Too bad. That should be very nice in Mom's 6" Newtonian with the baader planetarium 36mm eyepiece... Oh well. I pondered what else I might use for a wide-field target. The double cluster between Perseus and Cassiopeia was already too low as well. Hmmm.

In the meantime, I decided to target Saturn. Before popping in the Meade 18mm, I remembered to remove the middle adapter ring. Pretty. Titan off the right, I assume. [Yep.] A number of field stars above and left. Could make out the north equatorial belt in the planet's clouds. The air was fairly steady. But something bugged me a little with respect to the view. Can't put my finger on it. I could focus and get it crisp. But slightly, there was something a little unsatisfying. Something to do with my eyes? The scratch in the left eyeglass lens? I dunno...

I think I can tell that the ring angle is closing...

I thought about going to the Meade 4mm. But didn't I have a problem with it before? That I couldn't move the focuser rack-and-pinion far enough? I tried it and, yes, the focuser cannot extend (out) far enough. So, again, this eyepiece in the Edmund is useless! Unless I can figure out some way to change the focuser.

There is a lot of vibration on the deck. Oh, to have a permanent observatory...

Oh. Polaris was visible. Let's see how I did on my alignment. Pretty close. Maybe off by a degree? Or less? That's not bad. I could tell it was off a little because Saturn would drift, even with the motor running, out of view.

9:31 PM. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a quick meteor travel through Orion, heading east to west, essentially parallel to the line between Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, just a bit lower. Again, brief. Quite faint with a brief train. A Lyrid? A bit late for it, no?

It was very clear to the south and south-west! I could easily see Cancer and the head and body of Cetus. It really is dark out here at Mom's... Ah! Cancer. I could try for some double-star and DSO targets in The Crab. In fact, naked eye, I could see the Beehive (M44), near the central star, δ (delta). Ah, and that would be a good wide-field target...

Popped in the 36mm. Took a look. No stars. Adjusted the focuser. Blurs reduced in size, just a little bit more... Jam! What?! I hit the limit of the rack-and-pinion again! Inward, this time. So, close. It looks like I only need another turn or two. Crikey. This is not good. We have 5 eyepieces now. And only 3 work in the Newt. And 2 of those are basically the same!

I took the 2" to 1¼" adapter out and gently moved the eyepiece close to the focuser shaft: it worked! I could get it in focus! Sure, there was hand-shake. Not a practical solution. But an interesting test. Maybe if I could get a "compressed" or shorter adapter... I'll have to look into that. Or maybe fabricate something?

I reinserted the Edmund 1" eyepiece and centred to the middle of Praesepe and took a moment to focus well. I could see a couple dozen fine blue stars with the odd yellow one.

Maybe I should have brought the binos out for these wide objects.

I considered, for a long time, going for β (beta) Monoceros. While I could make out a number of the constellation's stars between Cetus, Cancer, Orion, and Canis Major, the target was tangled in the branches of the big tree. I decided I did not want fight that.

My papers were feeling a little damp. I looked at the telescope tube as I ran my finger along it. Dew! The Telrad glass plate was coated. Oh boy. 9:53 PM. The temperature was between 2.1 and 1.3°C. Relative humidity was between 58% and 70%. No denying it.

I hauled out the custom AC-CLA adapter and plugged it in. I pulled out the ole' Kendrick dew heater and plugged it in. Clicked it on to test for power: check! Knowing that the broken Kendrick 2" eyepiece dew heater wrap was back in Toronto on my desk, I pulled out the 8" heater and coiled it, several times, around the focuser and eyepiece. And finally I popped into the garage to retrieve the custom Telrad heater: this would be its first official assignment! Set the controller to max. and, while I waited, took in some constellations.

Steve came out 'round then. He had my beer, "Thanks, dude!" I was back on the Beehive trying to get the 'scope to settle and track. I offered the eyepiece to him but I'm not sure he saw anything... The 'scope was very sensitive to jarring and an accidental touch. Perhaps the clutch was slipping. Still, even on target, M44 was not very exciting.

As Mom and Donna came out, I re-aimed to Saturn. They enjoyed that.

We talked about a few stars and constellations.

"What's that pink one?" asked Mom pointing to the bright star in the east. I checked my planisphere. "That's Arcturus," I said. "It's a red star. It's pretty low. I see how you can get the pink colour."

I pointed out Saturn, Regulus, M44, and some naked-eye faint fuzzies (or "little clouds") in Auriga with the laser. They were very impressed with the bright green beam and the dust particles move through it.

"What's the really, really bright star to the south-west?" Sirius, of course.

When Mom asked, "What's the bright star over there?", I gave her the laser. She hit her target. "Ah, that's Betelgeuse, one of the shoulders of Orion." That worked out well! She could, without ambiguity, point to objects she was curious out. I'll have to remember that technique in the future—to give the inquirer the pointer.

The laser worked quite well despite the temperature. But then, I was keeping it in my hip pocket.

I offered to chase a couple of galaxies in Ursa Major over head but Donna was tired and anxious to leave. We chitchatted for a bit and then they headed home. Mom never returned outside. Probably a good thing. I've not had much luck before with these targets. As well, the Newt is not easy to use for circumpolar objects.

Frustrated, I felt I needed to find something new! OK. Having forgot or misplaced my Sky and Telescope winter constellation list, I jumped directly to Haas's double stars book. Scanned quickly, without trying to read the detailed description, for "showcase" doubles in Cancer. ι (iota) sounded good. Let's go.

11:00 PM. For some reason, I had a really hard time with the Telrad. The angle of the tube? My right eye? My vision? My cold? Sick? Tired? Sick and tired...? Finally, I was sure I had it bull's eyed. Through the 48x eyepiece was a very pleasing double star with a handful of nearby fine white field stars. The main star was a light yellow or straw colour; the slightly fainter companion was... blue. Aqua? Green? No, I'm pretty sure a medium blue. Somewhat close at the low power.

Viewed iota-1, not to be confused with iota-2.

I was done. It was 11:19 PM. 81%, -0.5°C. And my cough was getting worse.