Friday, August 14, 2009

using a Dob (Toronto)

14 Aug 09. Friday eve. Toronto. 9-ish. Humid.

Using the RASC Toronto Centre 8-inch Dobsonian and four included eyepieces. Thought something wrong with the focuser. Aligned the finder scope and Telrad. There wasn't anything in the kit for doing a collimation. But then maybe John B wants it that way.

9:25 PM. Split Izar with the 15mm, 10mm, and 7.5mm.

80% humidity on the OW.

9:39. I thought I'd try for Messier 94 (in Canes Venatici) but it was too bright still. I could barely see α (alpha) Canum Venaticorum.

9:45. I decided to do a Beginner's Observing Guide exercise. I ranked the stars in Ursa Major according to their brightness in a sketch. Fascinating! I've added the magnitudes...
  1. ε, 1.8, double, variable
  2. η, 1.9, suspected variable
  3. ζ, 2.0, multi-star system, suspected variable
  4. α, 1.8, triple, possible variable
  5. γ, 2.4, suspected variable
  6. β, 2.4, double, suspected variable
  7. δ, 3.1, double, suspected variable
That's not bad! It is interesting how far down I ranked Dubhe...

Needed my Messier Card to find M94.

I wondered why I was writing notes down, in the little note book, when I was at home, with computers at my disposal...

Lots of mosquitoes! I was hot. I had so many layers on it was making me sweat. Ha ha. A reason for a Lee Valley bug suit! Then I could wear shorts. And avoid chemicals.

9:53. Virgo was setting and the paws of the Big Bear were behind the houses and trees.

Sitting at the picnic table, under the big umbrella, fumbling with flashlights, I considered ideas for lighting. Perhaps I could make a red light to somehow suspend from the umbrella! I could tap into the power from the garage...

10:03. I was getting fed up! Lit some mosquito coils!

10:06. Double star 24 Com was too low, at least for city viewing.

10:20. Tried to star hop to κ (kappa) Herculis aka 7 Her. Took me a moment to realise the finder scope was not lateral inverted, despite the little mirror diagonal. Then I read the label: Orion 9x50 correct image finder. Duh. There you have it. Huh. That makes things a lot easier.

Star hopped from Alphecca to γ (gamma), δ (delta), and ε (epsilon). Then headed toward the equator and to π (pi) and ρ (rho) Serpens. The bright star (QY Ser) near ρ formed a straight line to 5 Her and finally κ. Nice. A wide double in the wide angle 32mm ocular. The main star is yellow; the companion dark yellow. Or orange. Both are faint.

WD = 1.

283° pre-lim. This was hard. The Dob was sticking. 282°.

DAMN! It was going behind the garage.

11:24. 1012mb, 80% hum, 22.4°C.

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