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August 21, 2004 Saturday Camp Highroad Equipment: 12.5 Starmaster Dob Telrad is dead. Had to navigate via wide-field eyepiece until Greg Piepol kindly lent me a replaceent battery for the Telrad. * M28 - intially mistook it for M22. An impressive globular of its own accord * NGC 6638 - globular in same field as Lambda Sagittari * M22 - huge! Twice as large as M28. Gorgeous. Nice range of star colors with some orange giants visible. There appears to e a dark nebula traversing one of the corners. * NGC 6642 - small globular near M22. Outer stars beging to resolve with 6mm ortho. * Star Cloud - M24 - Huge. Beautiful strings of stars. * M17 - looks great with 16 Nagler and broadband filter. * M71- Globular in Sagitta. * M27 - spectacular in 11mm Nagler! Mottling visible with OIII filter * Uranus - found after much effort. Less green than I remmeber it. * M31/M32/M110 - huge - M110 is well outside my widest fov * M33 - core visible in the east. Not too impressive yet. * M15 - easily resolved, compact * * * July 15, 2004 Thursday Camp Highroad, Aldie, VA Trans. 8, Seeing: 5 Cool, clear night Equipment: Starmaster 12.5 inch Dobsonian Tried using Paracorr on the Dob but it doesn't reach focus. Telescope in need of collimation - diffraction pattterns asymmetrical on either side of focus. easiy visible. * M4- Scorpius - Big sprawling globular almost looks like and open cluster. - easily resolvable with 32mm and 16mm eyepieces. * K3 2003 Linear seen through Alan Figgat's TEC 140 * Q4 NEAT in Ursa Major - easy to spot in 32mm eyepiece. Off-center cone with sligt flaring away from sun * M13 - on meridian - nice star chains - beautiful view with 11mm Nagler. * M51 - Spiral arms easily vsible. Great view with 11mm. * M80 - Scorpius. Outer stars rsolve with 9mmm ortho. * M62 and M19: Scorpius - small bright compact globulars. * M57- Good view near zenith. * M22 - spectacular with 16mm * M28 - bright rund globular in Sag. * M8 and NGC6530 * M17 - Omega Nebula - spectacular! Wrapped up around 12:45 am * * * July 9, 2004, Friday Camp Highroad, Aldie, VA Trans: 8, Seeing: 8 Equipment: Oberwerks 15 x 70 binoculars Forgot to bring the truss tubes for the Starmaster, so all observations were made with Oberwerks 15x70 binoculars on a bogen 3021 tripod. Conditions were mostly cloudy with smal breaks till 11:15pm, when the sky cleared up, allowing the following observations to be made: * M3 - globular Bootis * M13 - globular Hercules * M4 globular , Scorpio Observed several objects through Bob Traube's C11. By midnight, Sagittarius was high enough for observation. The Milky Way was easy to see between Sagittarius and Cygnus, but was not "crisp." Made the following Messier observations in Sagittarius with the 15x70s: * M8 Lagoon Nebula - large and bright. * M20 Trifid Nebula - large and bright. * M22 - globular - large and bright * M28 - globular - bright * M24- Sagittarius Star Cloud - huge! * M17 - Swan Nebula - bright, compact * M16 - bright, large * M18 - open cluster - small and bright * M23 - open cluster - large , faint and unresolved. Has a prominent star just to the west of it. * M25 - coarse open cluster to the west of M24 * M7 - large, coarse open cluster * M54 - globular, faint and small. * M70 - globuar, faint and small * M69 - globular, faint and small * M26 - large unresolved open cluster M11 - Wild Duck Cluster - open cluster looks like a globular in binoculars Packed up at 2:15 am. * * * July 8, 2004 Thurs. 10pm - 12:30 am Potomac, MD Trans: 9 Seeing: 7 Equipment: Orion 4 inch f/6 achromat on Bogen 3021 tripod An unusually clear night for mid summer. Recorded the following observations: * Vega and the double-double (epsilon Lyrae) Surprisingly little color on Vega at low powers. * M57 - with and without OIII filter. OIII is a little too strong for the 4-inch * M56 globular (in Lyra)- very small and dim in the 4". Has a nearby 9th mag star just to the east of it. Best viewed with 11mm Nagler and 9mm ortho. *M51 - very faint, low in the N.W. *M10 and M12 -globulars in Ophiuchus. Best viewed with 9mm ortho in the 4" * M13 - outer stars begin to resolve with the 7mm HD ortho. Star chains visible with the 6mm ortho. * M92 - compact and bright. Very dense Packed up around 12:30 am. * * * July 6, 2004 Tues. Potomac. Seeing: 7, Trans.: 7 Equipment: Oberwerks 15x70 and Orion 100mm f/6 achromat (both on Bogen 3021 tripod) After many hazy nights, the sky cleared after 10 pm, so I took the 15x70s and the Orion achro out in the backyard for some quick looks at the summer showpieces. M51 was difficult amd barely detectable in the 4-inch low in the northwest. M57 was easy and bright in the scope, as was M3. M3 was also seen easily in the 15x70s. M13 was easy but could not resolve it in the 4-inch. Did some sweeping in Ophiucus and sighted M10 and M12 for the first time. Neither was very impressive in the 4-inch, and both were affected by light pollution at ~35 degree elevation in the south. Packed up around 12:30 am. * * * July 2, 2004 Fri, Great Falls, VA - Observatory Park. Equipment: Vixen 102ED f/9 Transparency was awful for the weekly public night. Could only see a couple of doubles and a very red rising moon. * * * June 29, 2004 Potomac, Equipment: Vixen 102ED f/9 Observed Jupiter low in the west in Leo. Despite steady seeing, Jupiter is getting too low to afford good views. Also observed M57. Couldn't detect M51. * * * June 19-26 2004 Naples and Miami Beach, FL. Took my newly-purchased Oberwerks 15x70 binoculars to Florida to try to glimpse some southern objects along the coasts. Tried to see Omega Centauri, but without success. Its probably a little too little late in the year for this one as it doesn't get dark till past 9pm. Lots of light pollution even along the coasts in Naples and Miami Beach. - * * * June 8, 2004 4:00am -7:30am Great Falls, VA Equipment: Vixen ED102S f/9 Transit of Venus: Made it out to Observatory Park in Great Falls, VA in the pre-dawn to watch the transit of Venus. About a dozen telescopes were already on the field when I arrived. Although the weather showed some promise early, and the forecast called for a cloudless sky, there was a great deal of fog. The fog became increasingly thick as dawn approached. A steady stream of people arrived until about 7 am.The turnout at Observatory Park was estimated at about 250 people and about 50 telescopes and binoculars. Unfortunately, the fog did not begin to lift at OP until after 7:30 am, at which point the transit was over. Several other NOVAC members in the area were able to view the transit, including observers in Rosslyn and Alexandria, Mt. Vernon, George Mason University, University of Maryland Observatory, and Fair City Mall. One NOVAC member viewed the transit from Dewey Beach. Ironically, at least two of the official NOVAC observing sites were fogged out (Crockett and Camp Highroad), and one observer was unable to view through the horizon fog from Savage Farm. Very dissapointing. * * * June 7, 2004 8:30-11:30 pm Potomac, MD Seeing 6, Trans. 4 Equipment: Vixen ED102S f/9 Spent some time observing Jupiter under slightly-better thn average seeing. There was an Io shadow transit going on as well as a GRS transit. Could not quite split the SEB, but during moments of good seeing could detect some of the turbulence trailing the GRS. GRS showed no color and no detail was seen within it. It was interesting to watch the GRS overtake Io's shadow. The shadow itself was very sharp and dark, and the other satellites showed steady, colorful disks. * * * May 29, 2004 Potomac, MD Equipment: Vixen ED102S f/9 and Minolta 101 SLR Took some snapshots of the sun with the Minolta 101 attached to the Vixen as a warmup for the transit of Venus on June 8. Also took some shots of the 1st quarter moon. Will post the good ones once they're developed. * * * May 23, 2004 Camp Highroad, Aldie, VA Trans. 4, Seeing 4 Equipment: Starmaster 12.5" Dobsonian Evening - Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Comet NEAT - moon and poor transparency interfering with tail. M51- spiral structure visible despite poor transparency Coma/Virgo cluster Markarian's Chain first sighting! What a spectacular area of the sky! I had done a little galaxy-hopping in Leo but in Coma/Virgo there's almost nothing but galaxies! Observed: M84, M86, NGC4387, NGC4388, [NGC4438 + NGC4435], [NGC4461 + NGC 4458 - 11th mag foreground red star very close], NGC4473, [NGC4477 + NGC4479- very faint], NGC4459 - next to 9th mag star, bright and compact; [NGC4474 + NGC4468 - extremely faint]; M88 - bright!; M91- not very bright; NGC4516 - faint, near M88. Wrapped up the night with some bright objects, including: M3, M13, M4, M57, M81/82. Packed up around 1:30 am. * * * May 22, 2004 Camp Highroad, Trans. 4, Seeing 4-5 Equipment: Starmaster 12.5" Dob on a Johnsonian Type V tracking platform, and 8x40 binoculars There were about 10 of us at CHR tonight. Trnasparency was coming and going. We got some good views of Comet NEAT in Lynx during one of the clearings. It looked best in binoculars with a faint tail stretching at least a couple of degrees. Was also able to see it with the naked eye for the 1st time. Spent most of the time looking at Jupiter b/c of the poor transparency. The Johnsonian platform tracked well despite a haphazard alignment. It was a bit of a pain to set up, though, because the uneven surface of the top plate didn't allow the feet on the rocker box to get a secure footing. Need to get a flat piece of plywood to provide a flat surface for the dob feet. Took the scope down around 11:30p when everyone else departed. * * * May 22, 2004 1 - 4 pm Potomac Attached the Orion solar filter to the Vixen 102ED for the first time. Image is a little less colorful than in the Orion f/6 achromat. Very good contrast. Had a fairly good polar alignment in the backyard and the RA tracking seemed to be working well. Observed sunspot group 618 . * * * May 21, 2004 - heavy thunderstorms tonight. Been clouded out or rained out since last Saturday night. * * * May 14 2004 Potomac Seeing: 7-8 Equipment: Vixen 102ED f/9 First light with the Vixen 102ED. Seeing was good with good amount of detail seen on Jupiter. Observed detail within the SEB as well as te tail end of a GRS transit. As the GRS withdrew, a shadow transit of Io bega. The shadow was very crisp. Scope shows no color on Jupiter at any magnification. Sharpest veiws were with a 6mm plossl at 150x, but seeing occasinaly allowed detail to be seen at 300x. After Jupiter set behind trees, did a double and bright DSO tour. Was able to split Cor Caroli and Epsilon Bootis. Obsvered M3. M3 displayed some graininess but transparency and light pollution did not allow resolution of stars. Observed Albireo and Vega. Some slight purple in Vega but no halo. This was the only evidence of chromatic aberration seen all night. Split the double double. M13 was partially resolved. M57 Ring Nebula looked good. * * * May 8, 2004 9:10 -945pm Potomac, MD (Seeing 5, Trans. 7) Equipment: 8x40 binoculars and 4 inch f/6 refractor Comet Q4 2001 NEAT Q4 NEAT was easy to spot Saturday night with 8x40 binoculars from Potomac. It appeared as a bright fuzzy teardrop just a little over 10 degrees southeast of Procyon. During the period I observed it, from 9:10 to 9:45pm, it was about 20 degrees above the horizon. It is bright enough to be picked up in inoculars well before 9 pm if you know where to look. Rate it at around magnitude 3 or 4, although could not see it with the naked eye because of that charming lingering twilight also known as the Tysons Corner light dome. It has a definite brightening toward the core which is not quite stellar. The comet was around 15 to 20 arcminutes in diameter. Couldn't detect a tail but it was clearly elongated toward the northeast. After the comet disappeared behind the trees, looked at a few doubles with the 4-inch f/6. Gamma Leonis (Algieba): the companion definitely looks green. not dsure if its a contrast or chromatic abberation effect. Split at 67x. Epsilon Bootis (Izar): split at 140X bright pair Pi Bootis: pair of white stars split at 140x Zeta Ursa Majoris (Mizar): another pretty double. * * * April 28, 2004 Potomac, MD Seeing 5, Trans. 9 Equipment: Starmaster 12.5" dobsonian *observed Io transit of Jupiter * ~ midnight M13 - 1st sighting through the Starmaster - spectacular(!) even low in the eastern light pollution. M92 : also quite impressive. More compact than M13but with nice sprawling star chains emanating from the core. Stars resolvable to core. M57 Ring nebula: ring easily seen in the 12.5" despite low elevation in the east M3: observed near zenith. Very impressive. Resolvable to core with nice star chains in an 11mm Nagler. Wrapped up ~ 1 AM * * * April 18, 2004 Savage Farm. Seeing 6, Trans. 8 with banks of thin clouds Equipment: Starmaster 12.5" dob Evening temps in the 70s NGC 2392 Eskimo Nebula - Gemini - found it pretty easily tonigt during later part of twilight. Couldn't find it last night. IC2574 - Coddington's Nebula - while looking for M81/82 found a large galaxy in the vicinity close to another galaxy that is next to a double star (NGC 3077) Uranometria map 14 shows the two objects as a couple of degrees from M81/82. IC2574 is large ~25' elipsoid shaped ~12th mag but not at al difficult to see from Savage. 3077 is smaller ~7' but also easy to see just 5' from a component of a wide double-double. IC2574 is not lised in NSOG. Coddington's Neb has a 13th mag star at its eastern side (along the shorter axis) and a 14th mag star on ts southern edge. M81/82 - best detail ever seen on M82 - spectacular! M109 - low surface brightness galaxy to the east of Phad in the Big Dipper. Can see why I couldn't see it from Potomac. Mostly round with sligt elongation. Large. Fits in the field of a 32mm plossl with Phad. Very faint for a Messer object. * * * April 17, 2004 Savage Farm Seeing 4 Trans. 2 - 4 Poor transparency with occasional breaks in cloud cover. Equipment Starmaster 12.5" dob M108 and M97 in Ursa Major NGC2903 Leo - much improved over view from Potomac. Brigt elongated core visible within good-sized elongated halo. M51/NGC 5195 Coma Berenices Spectacular! Spiral structure and dark lanes clearly visible. Appears much larger than n Potomac. Clouds! Solid banks of clouds. Took down telescope around midnight. * * * April 16, 2004 Potomac Equipment Starmaster 12.5" dob M53 Coma Berenices. |
| This section of my site contains a log of my observations performed with various types of equipment. Links to sketches representing eyepiece impressions are included for some of the more interesting objects. |
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