Had dinner around 7 PM. I tried to reduce carbs again, like last night, to improve alertness. Lora said, "The new you?" Oh no. Make no mistake. I'm not drinking and eating these greens and protein for science.
8:16 PM. Changed to evening wear. Used OFF spray (like last night) on gloves (versus directly on skin). I also used repellent on my RASC toque this time. Lora said something that reminded me to take my B-complex vits.
8:28. I checked the weather from the Wiarton Airport.
- Pressure: 101.4 kPa falling
- Current Temperature: 21.5°C
- Dewpoint: 13.0°C
- Humidity: 58 %
Phil and I helped Kiron with some of the number crunching one should do with a telescope and eyepieces. For example, we reviewed powers, eyepiece, telescope maximum, minimum, pupil diameters, resolution, etc.
9:33. I spotted Arcturus a few minutes back. Somehow, from the lawn chair, this evening, I was able to focus quickly at infinity.
I opened the GBO roof and powered the Paramount. Started observing Saturn in the Celestron 14".
Titan was visible. I saw Tethys for a second... initially, with the 32mm. Bumped to 27mm to improve the view.
9:43. I could see a moon right near Titan. Checked the software. Ah, it's Rhea.
I tested Kiron's laptop with VMA after initiating the process of upgrading the video drivers. It worked! I fixed a Vista problem! Wow. Now the disc of the Moon was showing (including a remarkably thin crescent) along with the coord grid. And we didn't need to roll back to an old version. He was pretty happy.
9:52. I just picked off Dione between Rhea and planet!
10:00. I had set an extra early alarm to prepare for the ISS pass. I configured the C14 with a 32mm eyepiece and TV101 with MallinCam at zero integration. Turned on the TEC (assuming it was for cooling, but not knowing that it meant Thermoelectric Cooling System) switch. Checked cables. Got the ladder ready.
10:17. I issued the 5 minute warning for ISS fans...
10:28. We just finished watching a very good ISS pass. Another incredible view in the eyepiece, possibly the best to date. Everything worked well. I remembered all the steps necessary.
The camera and monitor worked. We were on the station. But the camera was, even at zero integration, still overwhelmed by the brightness. Perhaps if we make a mask for the TV101 objective, we could attenuate the input...
The crowd was very happy!
10:50. Ralph and I started a long test of viewing faint fuzzies with the MallinCam and monitor, making notes of which ones rendered well. This will mark the beginning of the "summer favourites" list for public events in the GBO.
As Tony and I found a week ago, many targets appear better at integration setting 7, as it yielded a darker sky. This will be important if there is any moonlight.
I wondered if the Garnet Star colour would show on the camera/monitor. As Dietmar was imaging, we put that on the list to be checked later.
I took an SQM reading: 21.16. A better reading. But we all agreed the skies were not good. Transparency was way down. When I viewed M13 in Stu's Dob, it was washed out.
12:22. Dietmar, Millie, and Ralph went in to take a break. I grabbed a Red Bull and headed back to the big 'scope. I started checking my top ten list...
I had a note that 57 Aquilae was kind of in the middle of nowhere. So it might prove a challenging star hop... But once there, it is an easy wide split through the telescope. It's not a great candidate for video presentation as the stars are just touching double star on monitor... That suggests the minimum separation we want to use is 36".
θ (theta) Serpentis is a great double star for optical viewing for star parties. Easily separated and they look like car headlights.
I had noted 61 Cygni on my top ten list as "too tough?" but I would argue that it's easy. Same sep. as θ Ser.
12:57. Ralph returned. We viewed a couple more objects.
I was pretty tired. Ralph said he was too.
Tried some whole sky viewing on my back from one of the picnic tables. Reviewed my constellations. Tagged satellites. Caught the odd meteor.
Borrowed Steve's iPad for a few moments so that I could try SkyGazer by Carina Software. Pretty cool stuff.
Couldn't wake up. I shut down the C14 and let Ralph know.
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It was curious watching Dietmar tread carefully through the observatory, carefully not to bump into his rig. His night vision was gone after staring at his laptop screen for some time, without any red filtering, without a dark red colour scheme. It was a very peculiar feeling, being full dark adapted, watching him move as if blind.
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The MallinCam List... so far.
- M17, the Omega or Swan was good on the LCD monitor
- M16, the open cluster was good; with 14 integration we could see the nebulosity
- M26, a good OC
- M11, the Wild Duck was good
- M14, was very good at 14
- M27, the Dumbbell was excellent at 14
- M71, diffuse globular cluster, good at 14
- M56, compact globular cluster, good at 14
- M57, very good, the central star is just visible
- ε1 & ε2 (epsilon 1 & 2) Lyrae, easily split from one another (but splitting each pair is not possible)
- M29, nice open cluster, good at 14
- M15, good globular cluster, good at 14
- ν (nu) Draconis, excellent bright double, good at 7
- μ (mu) Bootis, interesting double (the second is a double split optically)
- 32-33 Comae Berenices, good double, nearly equal brightness
- M2, good
- the North America nebula did not show, even at 14 integration
- the Double Cluster does not fit in the camera monitor view; you can only show one cluster at a time; and that's no fun
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