Has this been the summer from some bad dream, or what?!!!! Heat! Drought! Floods!
Heat! Smoke! Heat! Clouds (no rain)! Heat! And now we are going into the cooler season
still with heat!

It is a bit difficult to write about cool season observing when I am sitting in the computer
room at home in 95 degree temps. Actually, I turned on the AC a few minutes ago and
am beginning to cool off now. Wouldn't it be good to be able to turn on the AC outside?
Well, we can't do that, only God can and I think He has other plans for a while.

Don't worry, the seasons will bring cooler weather and we will have many nights of
comfort in which to observe our favorite objects as well as a few new ones. Some our
favorite objects are appearing earlier in the night, too. Our skies have been void of the
giant planets for a while but are back now, and the Pleiades are ushering in the winter
group of constellations.

We have had some great auroral displays this summer, as well as a pretty cool Perseid
shower. Many of us hope that those were just tastes of what is to come this autumn
season with the Leonids and Geminids and of course, with even more spectacular
aurorae. Someone (initials John Wagoner) requested that I schedule an auroral storm on a
weekend New Moon night with no clouds and a week's notice. All I can do is ask the Big
Guy, and I don't mean Ed.

There are several links to aurora sites on my personal web page if any of you want to
check them out. I'm not very good at keeping my page updated, but with the help of Paul
Greenhalgh, Canada, it is cleaned up and running fine. Paul has been quite a wonderful
help and knows his stuff when it comes to astronomy.

Knowing about astronomy is why we are all into the hobby of observing. Also, learning
more and sharing what we know are other reasons. I have learned much from many of
you this past year, and I hope I have reciprocated with my share. Here is more from me to
you:

Easy to observe objects include:

The Pleiades (M-45) is almost always the easiest object in the sky this time of year. As
Taurus rises earlier and earlier, the weather gets colder and colder. Some people mistake
the Pleiades for the Little Dipper, but it is not that asterism at all. It is commonly called
the Seven Sisters. On a good, clear night people with good eyesight can count many more
members of that group than the seven. With binoculars even more members can be seen,
and if scanned with a telescope, the number of members is nearly countless.

Before the Pleiades rises we can find another easy object which is in the constellation
Pegasus. M-15 is a rather large globular cluster of 6.0 magnitude. Scan the area which is
about 2 degrees north and 3.5 degrees west from Epsilon Peg. You should come across it.
Inside this globular cluster is a planetary nebula for the difficult category.

There are several easy to find objects in Auriga. Three M objects can be found either
with the unaided eye or with binoculars. M-36, M-37, and M-38 are open clusters and lie
between Taurus and Auriga.

Perseus holds a couple of objects that are easily found. They lie in the band of the Milky
Way Galaxy as it extends from Cassiopeia. NGC 869 and 884 are both 4.5 magnitude
open clusters. These are observable for unaided viewing but binoculars will bring in
more detail. A wide angle eyepiece in a telescope provides a great view of this duo as
well.

Moderately difficult objects to find and/or observe:

M-1, the Crab Nebula, may be considered easy by many observers, but for those others
who are just approaching this level of experience, it may prove to be moderately difficult
to observe. Look up to the point of the southern horn of Taurus and it will be located just
southeast of the star. It will appear as a hazy oval in small aperture scopes, but 8-inch or
larger scopes will start to show some detail.

Do you want to see the twin of the Milky Way Galaxy? NGC 7331 in Pegasus is what has
commonly been used to show what scientists think our home galaxy looks like. Locate
Eta Pegasi, then scan about 4 degrees north and slightly west. NGC 7331 is a very nice
spiral galaxy. Look SSW from NGC 7331 only about half a degree and you will come
across Stephan's Quintet, NGC 7317, 7318A, 7318B, 7319, and 7320.

Those of you with a more southern view might find it fairly easy to find M-79, a globular
cluster, in Lepus. It is about 8th magnitude and is fairly small. If you make a line between
Alpha and Beta Leporis, continue the line to the SSW another 4 degrees and you should
come across it.

Difficult to find and/or observe objects:

Look inside M-15 for the planetary nebula K648. It is very small and very faint at about
14 mag. M-15 is in Pegasus.

Difficult to observe for many of us is the Veil Nebula in Cygnus. This constellation has
many nebulae, clusters and other objects to view, but the Veil is one of the most popular.
Look for the star 52 Cygni, and you are in the right area.

The last thing I will mention in the difficult category is the Horsehead Nebula in Orion. I
have seen it visually only once and that took a 16-inch reflector, a perfect night, and the
expertise of an observer who was far more familiar with the field than I. This was many
years ago, and I have not seen it visually since. Go to the field of Zeta Orionis. You may
see NGC 2024, a bright nebulosity nearby. The Horsehead is just below Zeta.

Planets:

Planetary observers might look for the Great Red Spot on Jupiter as well as the moon
crossings. High power views can also show festoons and other atmospheric phenomena
on Jupiter. Saturn has features too, and they can be followed with great excitement for
planetary observers. Let's not forget to find Mars, Uranus, Neptune, and tiny Pluto.
Mercury and Venus will play hide and seek with us over the next few months, but
observers can see them easily when they know where they are.

Moon:

Lunar observers can see occultations of stars from time to time. These are kind of fun,
but short. If you see a star near the lunar limb, keep an eye on it for a while and see if it
get closer or farther from the limb. If it gets closer, you may be in for a treat by seeing
our Moon pass between us and that star. As you watch, the star will "blip" out of view.

Meteor showers for this season:

Oct. 08-09 Draconid peak
Oct. 21-22 Orionid peak
Nov. 02-04 Taurid Peak
Nov. 16-18 Leonid Peak
Dec. 12-14 Geminid Peak

Other dates:

Sept. 13 Full Moon
Sept. 22 Autumnal Equinox
Sept. 29 Rosh Hashanah begins
Sept. 27 New Moon
Oct. 08  Yom Kippur begins
Oct. 13  Full Moon
Oct. 27  New Moon
Oct. 29  Daylight Saving Time Ends (Fall back 1 hour)
Oct. 31  Hallowe'en
Nov. 07 Election Day (Go out and vote)
Nov. 11 Full Moon
Nov. 23 Thanksgiving Day
Nov. 25 New Moon
Dec. 11 Full Moon
Dec. 21 Hanukkah begins
Dec. 21 Winter Solstice
Dec. 25 Christmas Day
Dec. 25 New Moon
Dec. 25 Partial Eclipse

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