Friday, January 28, 2022

tried to spot the Pup (Bradford)

Just in from an attempt to view the Pup. The companion to the dog star Sirius.

I tried back on 3 Jan '22, after the backyard campfire. My winter coat still smelled of smoke. Mmm. 

My guess back then for the tight, faint companion was not right...

Seeing was poor tonight. Noted that as soon as I walked through the driveway to the backyard. Worse than before. Oh well, I thought. I'm already out the airlock.

Used the cooled loaner Orion Intelliscope XT10 (without intelligence) again. Collimation still off a little but, once again, I did not feel like tryin' to fix it. 

Dumbass stoned neighbours yelled at each other again while I set up. Sheesh. Don't make me angry. I'm trying to de-stress here you pickled prattling pyromaniacs!

This evening I remembered to use the loaner baader planetarium Mark IV zoom eyepiece. Once centred on the brightest start, I cranked it. Doesn't go to 11... I went to 8mm, max zoom. That was a bit more than on the 3rd where I used my Nagler 9mm.

Sketched the region...

Sirius and neighbours sketched (v2)

North is down; west (drift) is left.

(New version of scanned sketch image with better brightness and contrast.)

I wanted to record the ambient conditions but when I shone the red flashlight on the display, the Oregon Scientific portable weather station was blank. Admittedly, I had not checked the unit beforehand. But certainly the cold was a factor.

As expected, I didn't need dew heaters.

My torso was OK (but cooling despite two long sleeve shirts, fleece sweater, vest, and MEC winter coat). My face was cold, really cold in my cheeks, so I put my balaclava on. Feet were fine in the Baffin Island boots. My legs were warm thanks to the new insulated bib overalls by Carhartt. Really happy with the coveralls! Yeh. Thanks, Mom!

Still, I had no plans to do anything else... Did not view Rigel. Did not go for M42. Did not take in σ (sigma) Orionis. Just α (alpha).

Quiet when I packed up. Briefly scanned the whole sky. Transparency so-so. Some cloud wisps here and there. 

So, I will check my software tools to see how it compares to what I think I saw... 9 o'clock?

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The New Tecumseth page from Environment Canada showed the conditions as follows:

EXTREME COLD WARNING
Current Conditions 
-22°C

Observed at: Egbert
Date: 11:00 PM EST Friday 28 January 2022
Condition: Not observed
Pressure: 102.8 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: -21.8°C
Dew point: -25.7°C
Humidity: 71%
Wind: NW 6 km/h
Wind Chill: -27

I had not noticed any wind... Lee of the house?

I believe that's the coldest air I've ever observed in.

Good to get some photons from outer space.

Good to get out of these four walls for a bit.

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I forgot to switch to Kelvin last night. It was 256 degrees out! Toasty! :-D

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I continue to monitor the thread "I tawt a taw a Pup" on Cloudy Nights!

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Nope.

Checked SkyTools. It shows the B star at the 4 o'clock position (right side of the sketch). I thought I was seeing something on the left... Will need to try again.

The search continues...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Welcome back! Glad you braved the cold to check out the night sky. I on the other hand observed Sirius from the stairway window on my way up to bed around 11. I had to ask Tony what it was as it was soooo bright. I think I noticed a very faint star to the right of Sirius for a moment or two but can’t be certain. You are one brave soul to be out in those temperatures. You rock!