The mosquitoes were already bad. Put on layers. And started to sweat. Grace and Tony offered their butane-powered Thermacell thing for me to try. I started it inside the THO and left for a bit to let it work.
Returned Ian's camera and cable and Dietmar's 2" adapter. I was not going to image. I was looking forward to a good viewing session.
10:01 PM, July 13, 2013. Took in Saturn. Saw Titan to the right, a moon below, Rhea, a moon left, Dione, both about the same distance from the planet.
naked eye;
Celestron 11-inch SCT
on NexStar GPS alt-az by Go To
Celestron 11-inch SCT
on NexStar GPS alt-az by Go To
10:13 PM. I thought I'd try the (anti) cord-wrap feature of the NexStar hand controller. But then realised that if I was going to use the lectern as a mobile workstation, cord-wrap would probably not be an issue. Fired up SkyTools and ASCOM. Checked I was already on COM2.
10:19. Slewed to a nearby double star, HD 121444, in Virgo. I thought I saw the two stars. It was tight. And very different mags (SkyTools said magnitudes 7.8 and 11.0). Kept staring...
I saw it! A north-south orientation. The secondary was on the south side of A, almost in-line to bright star HD 121496 which was a quarter of a field away. A looked blue-white; B looked dark orange. Neat, the double was one corner of a large rhombus. Actually, considering the star in the middle, a bow tie.
10:28. Viewed 35 Comae Berenices. I wondered if I had viewed this before. [ed: I had.] I saw a wide pair, orange and blue. Perhaps green? SkyTools 3 Pro made it clear I was seeing the AC pair, at 28.7 seconds of arc. The AB pair, at 1.0", was likely not possible. I strained to see the slightly brighter B star to no avail.
10:44. I returned from the GBO. I asked to borrow the Tele Vue 10mm eyepiece (and 1¼" adapter). I hoped it would help me dig out 35 Com B.
I spotted J125328.4+211731 to the north-east. A 13.77 mag star. So, no problem going faint...
10:47. I noticed good diffraction rings around stars, signalling decent collimation. But still no B. ST3P said it was PA 199° and sep. 1.03" as of 2013.5. Maybe too tight for me? I've seen things in the 1 range... Poor conditions? Maybe too tight for the 'scope? Meh.
[ed: Plotted the orbit in ST3P. Oh oh. A and B are only getting tighter...]
10:53. Landed at the orange and blue 2 Canum Venaticorum. The RASC Observer's Handbook says gold and blue. It was pleasingly close at 78x. Lovely.
10:58. Popped over to Messier 106 (M106). Big. A canted spiral with a bright centre. Saw a bit of mottling.
11:01. A satellite went through the field, to the north.
11:05. I panned over to big bright arrow of stars. I saw the fuzzy cloud near the mag 9 star SAO 44095. It made me think of reflection nebula around stars. NGC 4217. It did not look oval shaped. [ed: Photos reveal an edge-on galaxy with a very dark lane at a slight angle.] I noted the orange star on north side of arrow, HD 106556, a K star. The others were blue-white.
11:12. Wow. Took in the very faint, long and thin, NGC 4244. It is also known as The Silver Needle and Caldwell 26. I thought it extremely large.
11:16. A double star, spotted nearby, to the east of the Needle. HD 107341. Gold and blue, fairly tight. aka Σ1632.
Took a break. Yummy tarts from the kitchen.
Looked at the Lagoon (Messier 8 or M8) in Steve's little refractor 'scope. Impressive view despite the small aperture. A Takahashi FS-60B, f/5.9, 60mm of course. The eyepiece was a Tele Vue Ethos 13mm.
I found an empty GBO with the C14 trained on M51 and companion. Nice. Good detail.
11:57. I finished my break. Viewed NGC 4088. It was very faint. Smaller than 4244. It was not symmetrical. [ed: Photos show a very distorted galaxy, with a gentle S-curve shape.] It was angled north-east to south-west.
12:01 AM, July 14, 2013. Eyeballed NGC 4085. Wow. It was very small. Nestled in the notch of a triangle of stars. South of 4088. It looked good with averted vision. Wow. Very neat these two contrasting galaxies in the same field.
12:18 AM. Did a big slew, over to Aquila. Tony, in the 'hood, helped me turn the roof. I was trying to track down Σ2424C. I saw yellow and blue, equally bright stars.
12:31. I thought I had arrived my target initially. Nope. Turned out I was at HD 176486 (or Σ2426). Yellow and blue. Equally bright. There was a wide double to the north and a faint tighter double to the west.
12:35. Wow. I spotted the C star of HD 176486 to the south. A mag 13.3, super faint star. It was at a 90° angle to A and B. A dark orange colour perhaps? That was crazy. Another indicator of good collimation! Yes. And the seeing was good too.
Tried the 10mm but it was bad.
12:39. The "wide double" I had seen to the north-east of 176486 was not considered a double star system. HD 176544 was to the east and HD 230357 to the west. But, SkyTools showed the latter, itself, was a tight double! OK.
12:43. Briefly, when the atmosphere went steady, I could split HD 230357. A very tight double. Two equal pale white stars. Very very close. Good seeing showed a thin black line. They were oriented north-east to south-west. ST3 said they were 1.60" apart! And mag 10.4 and 10.1.
12:46. The equally bright (but faint, mag 10, 11) stars to the west were not a pair.
That jump from north to south was the only bad or poor slew I had all night...
12:51. At last, I arrived 11 Aquilae. It was pale yellow and blue, the A and B stars. Again, I wanted to track down the C star...
1:07. I was pretty sure I had seen it, the C star, of 11. It was dim, very faint. It was on the opposite side from 176483 and 484. OK. Log it!
1:09. Risa drifted by. Said good night. See you...
1:12. I headed back to HD 180994, near NGC 6781. But, despite trying hard, I was not convinced I could split the very tight pair. Tried low and high power.
1:27. A lark... Tried to split γ (gamma) Coronae Australis. It was just a shimmering blob. Crazy low. Crazy tight. It's best in late August, according to the planning software. Next!
1:37. Viewed Neptune. Lovely colour. But could not see Triton (mag 13.5). Boo!
1:40. I felt tired. Felt myself falling asleep again. Considered wrapping. But sat there...
1:42. Out of the corner of my eye, through the vertical slot, I spotted a bright meteor. East bound. Fast mover. And then it suddenly popped out. Strange direction?
1:47. Remembered to take a reading with the Sky Quality Meter. Stepped outside the THO. Got 21.07 twice then 20.98. It reported 17°.
I partially shutdown. Did some of the THO closing. Roof in the final orientation. Considered that I'd be leaving tomorrow. And that I didn't want to hog the THO any more. Returned the RASC stuff to GBO. Lugged a bunch of my equipment back to house. Would box up the N11 in the daylight.
2:10. As I exited the THO Steve and Justin told me there was aurora. Cool! I thought they were talking about the meteor. I went to porch. Grace, Tony, and Risa were there. The aurora was fairly faint but occasionally brightened up. A nice way to end a great night!
§
Risa put one of her aurora shots on Facebook.
10:19. Slewed to a nearby double star, HD 121444, in Virgo. I thought I saw the two stars. It was tight. And very different mags (SkyTools said magnitudes 7.8 and 11.0). Kept staring...
I saw it! A north-south orientation. The secondary was on the south side of A, almost in-line to bright star HD 121496 which was a quarter of a field away. A looked blue-white; B looked dark orange. Neat, the double was one corner of a large rhombus. Actually, considering the star in the middle, a bow tie.
10:28. Viewed 35 Comae Berenices. I wondered if I had viewed this before. [ed: I had.] I saw a wide pair, orange and blue. Perhaps green? SkyTools 3 Pro made it clear I was seeing the AC pair, at 28.7 seconds of arc. The AB pair, at 1.0", was likely not possible. I strained to see the slightly brighter B star to no avail.
10:44. I returned from the GBO. I asked to borrow the Tele Vue 10mm eyepiece (and 1¼" adapter). I hoped it would help me dig out 35 Com B.
I spotted J125328.4+211731 to the north-east. A 13.77 mag star. So, no problem going faint...
10:47. I noticed good diffraction rings around stars, signalling decent collimation. But still no B. ST3P said it was PA 199° and sep. 1.03" as of 2013.5. Maybe too tight for me? I've seen things in the 1 range... Poor conditions? Maybe too tight for the 'scope? Meh.
[ed: Plotted the orbit in ST3P. Oh oh. A and B are only getting tighter...]
10:53. Landed at the orange and blue 2 Canum Venaticorum. The RASC Observer's Handbook says gold and blue. It was pleasingly close at 78x. Lovely.
10:58. Popped over to Messier 106 (M106). Big. A canted spiral with a bright centre. Saw a bit of mottling.
11:01. A satellite went through the field, to the north.
11:05. I panned over to big bright arrow of stars. I saw the fuzzy cloud near the mag 9 star SAO 44095. It made me think of reflection nebula around stars. NGC 4217. It did not look oval shaped. [ed: Photos reveal an edge-on galaxy with a very dark lane at a slight angle.] I noted the orange star on north side of arrow, HD 106556, a K star. The others were blue-white.
11:12. Wow. Took in the very faint, long and thin, NGC 4244. It is also known as The Silver Needle and Caldwell 26. I thought it extremely large.
11:16. A double star, spotted nearby, to the east of the Needle. HD 107341. Gold and blue, fairly tight. aka Σ1632.
Took a break. Yummy tarts from the kitchen.
Looked at the Lagoon (Messier 8 or M8) in Steve's little refractor 'scope. Impressive view despite the small aperture. A Takahashi FS-60B, f/5.9, 60mm of course. The eyepiece was a Tele Vue Ethos 13mm.
I found an empty GBO with the C14 trained on M51 and companion. Nice. Good detail.
11:57. I finished my break. Viewed NGC 4088. It was very faint. Smaller than 4244. It was not symmetrical. [ed: Photos show a very distorted galaxy, with a gentle S-curve shape.] It was angled north-east to south-west.
12:01 AM, July 14, 2013. Eyeballed NGC 4085. Wow. It was very small. Nestled in the notch of a triangle of stars. South of 4088. It looked good with averted vision. Wow. Very neat these two contrasting galaxies in the same field.
12:18 AM. Did a big slew, over to Aquila. Tony, in the 'hood, helped me turn the roof. I was trying to track down Σ2424C. I saw yellow and blue, equally bright stars.
12:31. I thought I had arrived my target initially. Nope. Turned out I was at HD 176486 (or Σ2426). Yellow and blue. Equally bright. There was a wide double to the north and a faint tighter double to the west.
12:35. Wow. I spotted the C star of HD 176486 to the south. A mag 13.3, super faint star. It was at a 90° angle to A and B. A dark orange colour perhaps? That was crazy. Another indicator of good collimation! Yes. And the seeing was good too.
Tried the 10mm but it was bad.
12:39. The "wide double" I had seen to the north-east of 176486 was not considered a double star system. HD 176544 was to the east and HD 230357 to the west. But, SkyTools showed the latter, itself, was a tight double! OK.
12:43. Briefly, when the atmosphere went steady, I could split HD 230357. A very tight double. Two equal pale white stars. Very very close. Good seeing showed a thin black line. They were oriented north-east to south-west. ST3 said they were 1.60" apart! And mag 10.4 and 10.1.
12:46. The equally bright (but faint, mag 10, 11) stars to the west were not a pair.
That jump from north to south was the only bad or poor slew I had all night...
12:51. At last, I arrived 11 Aquilae. It was pale yellow and blue, the A and B stars. Again, I wanted to track down the C star...
1:07. I was pretty sure I had seen it, the C star, of 11. It was dim, very faint. It was on the opposite side from 176483 and 484. OK. Log it!
1:09. Risa drifted by. Said good night. See you...
1:12. I headed back to HD 180994, near NGC 6781. But, despite trying hard, I was not convinced I could split the very tight pair. Tried low and high power.
1:27. A lark... Tried to split γ (gamma) Coronae Australis. It was just a shimmering blob. Crazy low. Crazy tight. It's best in late August, according to the planning software. Next!
1:37. Viewed Neptune. Lovely colour. But could not see Triton (mag 13.5). Boo!
1:40. I felt tired. Felt myself falling asleep again. Considered wrapping. But sat there...
1:42. Out of the corner of my eye, through the vertical slot, I spotted a bright meteor. East bound. Fast mover. And then it suddenly popped out. Strange direction?
1:47. Remembered to take a reading with the Sky Quality Meter. Stepped outside the THO. Got 21.07 twice then 20.98. It reported 17°.
I partially shutdown. Did some of the THO closing. Roof in the final orientation. Considered that I'd be leaving tomorrow. And that I didn't want to hog the THO any more. Returned the RASC stuff to GBO. Lugged a bunch of my equipment back to house. Would box up the N11 in the daylight.
2:10. As I exited the THO Steve and Justin told me there was aurora. Cool! I thought they were talking about the meteor. I went to porch. Grace, Tony, and Risa were there. The aurora was fairly faint but occasionally brightened up. A nice way to end a great night!
§
Risa put one of her aurora shots on Facebook.
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