Astronomy thread/Kìng a teri tanhìyä tìftia

Started by Vawmataw, December 31, 2012, 11:38:07 AM

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Toliman

My sky was totally unexpectly clear from midnight to morning (and sky conditions were very good) so I finally can observed :)
It was productive night - approx. 50 galaxies, 18 globular clusters and two comets

galaxies:
many small galaxies in Virgo cluster (+ M104 Sombrero Galaxy) and also bright galaxies in Ursa Major and Canes Venatici (M81, M82, M63, M94, M51, M101 ... )
the most beautiful was M104 and M51 (both my favourite)

globular clusters:
M3, M5, M53, M10, M12, M107, M14, M13, M92 and 9 other less bright

comets:
41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak (nice and quite bright core)
C/2015 V2 Johnson (less bright now, but good visible)

Vawmataw

#1281
So I decided to stargaze tonight. It was a cold -4°C, but that's how astronomy works!

I wanted to observe the comet 41P, but I guess I'll pass. Ursa Major is quite high in the sky.

Still, I observed many objects, such as M3, M34, M35, M36, M42, M44, M48, NGC 457, NGC 869/884, NGC 1647, NGC 2169, NGC 2244 and NGC 2264. I also observed Jupiter and its moons.

By the way, I like to be able to see Leo Minor quite well!
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`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

The last two weekends, our club was supposed to go out and do some observing together at a dark sky site. Both times, the event was called due to stormy weather during the day. But by evening, despite the forecast, the skies cleared and we had good conditions, but no event :( That said, we would have had a lot of problems with dewing last Saturday evening. So, no Messier marathon this year. :(

I'm going down to Pahrump, Nevada in a couple weeks, and will be staying with my friends for a few days. I might take a 'scope down there, because despite being close to Las Vegas, they tend to have excellent skies there.

Starting to make long-term preparation for the Oregon Star Party and the total solar eclipse visible during that event in August :)

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Toliman

#1283
Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on March 28, 2017, 04:22:08 PM
So, no Messier marathon this year. :(
:(

I successfully absolved Messier marathon tonigh :) It was nice night with excellent good sky condition, even zodiacal light was very good visible :)
I saw all Messiers (except globular cluster M30 which is unobservable from my latitude in this time). The most difficult object of evening was galaxy M74 but it was visible and the most difficult object of morning was globular cluster M55 (but also this was quite good visible thanks excellent sky conditions). All other Messiers were visible good (difficult to observe were only few the most southern globular clusters in Sagittarius but all was visible)

I observed also a lot of NGC objects (mostly galaxies of Virgo cluster + few little NGC globular clusters in spring constellations), two the brightest comets of this days (41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak and C/2015 V2 Johnson) and Jalso upiter - there was visible shadow transit of Io :)

Vawmataw

#1284
The clouds broke down, so it's possible to observe Mercury and the Moon but not to stargaze.

Here are bad pictures.
I need to draw the Moon I saw tonight. It had the perfect gray lining and the perfect crescent.
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`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Txantsan, ma Toliman on your good Messier Marathon. I remember seeing M77 on my first Messier Marathon when most people missed it. Since then, M77 has been harder than M74.

The two best Messier Marathons I have ever done have been from my friend's place in Pahrump. On both occasions though, I missed M30 because it comes up behind their house and in the Las Vegas skyglow. I use their house as a block to the lights of Pahrump, which are especially annoying.

I'll have to hope for a nice clear evening soon, and get off from work early so I can see the zodiacal light this season.

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Vawmataw

I didn't take the telescope out but the camera instead. I took a picture of the Moon and another one of Mercury. Enjoy!
I also enjoyed an ISS pass of magnitude -3.
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Toliman

Yesterday I sucessfully found Mercury during evening twilight and tonight I observed again shortly Jupiter and his moons. Sky conditions were quite good. There were visible many structures in Jupiter's cloudy belts.

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on March 30, 2017, 07:01:46 PM
I remember seeing M77 on my first Messier Marathon when most people missed it. Since then, M77 has been harder than M74.
Hmm ... if sky is not too dakk (twilight) for me is M77 more easy than M74 however both this galaxies really are not easy on light sky during twilight.
M74 has quite low surface brightness (agains other Messier's galaxies) but M77 has bright core (which is (on light twillight sky) for me better visible than core of M74).
So M74 is for me during Messier marathon the most difficult object of evening. (and the most difficult object of morning is for me globular cluster M55).

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Now that you mention it, you are correct. It was M74 I found by beginner's luck. M77 is normally not hard to find.

Last night was exceptionally clear at my place. If it wasn't for work and having to spend all my spare time on legislative matters, it would have been a fine night for astronomy. The one bummer was the moon was sitting right in the middle of where I would expect to see the zodiacal light. By the weekend, that should improve. Hopefully, we'll have a clear night. Maybe I'll observe for a while to get my mind off of preparing exhibits to hand out to lawmakers. Getting lawmakers who are philosophically opposed to your viewpoint to change their mind is exceedingly hard to do, especially seeing how partisan things have gotten in this country :(

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Toliman

Tonight (last 2 hours of night) sky was still totally clear (against forecast) so I can observe again.

I observed Saturn (very good despite his currently low declination), I saw his 4 the brightest moons (Titan, Rheha, Tethis, Dione). And I observed some deepsky too - globular clusters (in Ophiuchus, Hercules and Scorpius) and open clusters + nice clusters in area of Scutum star cloud (with wonderfull M11).

Toliman

Yesterday evening I longly wondered about stargazing because sky was clear but sky conditions were not too good. But before midnight it changed and I went observe.
ky conditions after midnight were much better. I observed many globular clusters again, few galaxies and open clusters, saturn with Jupiter and two comets.

Jupiter was quite interesting - one of the two main cloudy belts looks as a bit lighter than normally.

Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is brighter than C/2015 V2 Johnson, but C/2015 V2 Johnson looks as a bit more nice for me.

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

I can't wait to get free of the mess I am involved in, and get back under dark skies.

This last weekend, I ordered the remaining parts needed to install the digital setting circles on my 16 inch 'scope. I elected to go with military grade connectors because they mate positively in only one position, they are easy to mate/demate in the dark, and they don't break.

I've also started to order stuff needed for the total solar eclipse this summer. It is looking like I might be able to use our high-end HD TV camera to shoot moving video of totality. I need to determine what filters are available for the lens on this camera, and get them ordered.

I also see that Meade/Coronado has some very tempting prices on a double-stack H-alpha solar telescope. That is something that is useful almost any time. But it is expensive enough I think it still goes on to the wish list.

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Vawmataw

I stargazed yesterday night. It was between 22:30 and 23:00. I watched the Moon, Jupiter and its moons, one of the star clusters in Auriga (M36 or M38), the Christmas tree and M48.
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`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

I spent much of the weekend retrofitting my 16 inch 'scope with digital setting circles. I am really anxious to get this dome, but had to discipline myself to take the time to do it right. This was also my first time to really take this 'scope apart and learn how the original owner (a woodworker) built it.

Finally, all the measurements, fitting tests, etc. were complete, and I was ready to begin. The first step was to enlarge the hole for the azimuth bolt to accept a larger bolt that includes a bronze sleeve. This should make the rotation of the 'scope much more repeatable for the rotary encoder attached to a hole in the head of this specially modified bolt. This was surprisingly challenging because the hole was a large fraction of the correct diameter, and had to be straight through a rather thick piece of wood. So, I made a jig to help me drill a straight hole, and I am glad I did, Because of the existing hole, plus the hole being slightly off axis from where it should have been, the drill bit wanted to 'bite' and 'stick'. But finally, I succeeded in drilling a good, true hole through both the bottom of the rocker box and the ground board. I spent the remainder of that day familiarizing myself with a new router I would use to make the depression in the bottom of the rocker box where the azimuth bolt head will be located.

The next day, I prepared to rout out the depression. Not being real familiar with how to use a router, I practiced on a piece of scrap wood, and that went well. Then, I commenced on making the depression in the actual rocker box. This would take four passes of the router, removing 1/8 inch (about 3 mm) of material on each pass. The first three passes went flawlessly. On the fourth pass, the depth stop on the router slipped, and I ended up routing the depression 1/4 inch (about 6 mm) too deep :( Frustrated that I had made such a stuipd mastake, I went to the hardware store to either get a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to fill in the hole to the correct depth or a series of washers that would fit around the bronze sleeve. The wood was the more difficult of the two possible solutions, but also would restore the strength of the bottom of the rocker box better. But in any case, the hardware store had closed early for Easter, and I was out of luck. Bummed, I went home kxetse mìkam mehinam :(

This morning, one of my co-workers found a piece of 1/4 inch plywood (actually, a very slightly thicker piece, which is good in this case) and made an insert to fit the hole. This evening, I can glue this in, and let the glue set for a couple of days. I can then re-bore the hole for the sleeve, and hopefully be back where I was Sunday evening ;)

In the meantime, I determined how much room I have for a battery, and ordered an appropriately sized sealed lead acid battery. The battery should have enough capacity for a long weekend of observing, plus powering a fan the original owner had installed for cooling the primary mirror prior to observing each night. Last, but not least, I hope to install a red LED on each corner of the rocker box to show where the corners of the rocker box are, when using the 'scope at public star parties.

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Vawmataw

That seems to be a big job. I haven't really worked with wood in my life, so I admire this work. Do you have any update?


I haven't stargazed a lot during my trip to Greece, but I did look up. The light pollution in Athens is very bad, so I saw the brightest stars. The bright Zeus was watching us above the horizon.

The best sky I had was in Arachova, not far from Delphi. While I was walking to the hotel from the St. George celebration, I could see a dark sky with many stars.  I'm not sure if I saw the Milky Way, but anyway my eyes weren't adapted at all. It was wonderful.
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`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Sounds like you had a nice trip, anyway. I hear Greece is a very interesting place, and it would be fun to visit sometime.

Did you see anything new because of the lower latitude?

I was just in Las Vegas for a week. Not much of a night sky there, but they have in general toned down the bright lights there over the past decade or so. Things weren't much better this time in Pahrump, Nevada, where I spent the last few days of the trip. There wasn't a lot of time available to stargaze, as there was a lot of work to do. There was also a stiff, cold wind every night except the last night I was there. In fact, it has been a long time since I can remember winds like that there.

This coming weekend, I will be doing some solar astronomy in a public venue. I have a white light solar filter for my telescope, but hope to get the club's H-alpha 'scope to use for this event. There may also be some night sky astronomy Friday evening, if time and weather permits.

I just learned that there will be a number of opportunities to do some public astronomy at one of my favorite National Park venues, Lassen Volcanic National Park. These one night events will be good prep for the extended solar eclipse trip to Oregon this summer :)

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Vawmataw

QuoteDid you see anything new because of the lower latitude?
No. You would need to go to the latitude of Cuba or lower to actually see something new. Athens is about 9 degrees lower, which is a more or less significant move on the huge night sky.
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Toliman

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on May 02, 2017, 04:24:46 PM
Sounds like you had a nice trip, anyway. I hear Greece is a very interesting place, and it would be fun to visit sometime.
Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on May 02, 2017, 04:24:46 PM
Did you see anything new because of the lower latitude?

Yeah, greece is really interesting and nice country.

If we tell about Greece and astronomy, I have quite good experience with southern coast of Crete (during summer)- it has latitude 35°N, it's quite difference in compare to my latitude (50°N) especially during observation of deepsky in Sagittarius and Scorpius - 15° is here significant diference.

Toliman

Finally, night sky was clear before morning so I can observe.

I observed Jupiter (GRS and many other structures was nice visible), saturn and few deepsky in summer constellations (mostly nebulae in Cygnus and globular clusters)
I observed Veil Nebula (both parts was wonderful), North America and Pelican nebula (nice too) and planetary nebula M27 (the best, my favourite). I saw also many globular clusters (M13, M92, M5, M3, M10, M12 and other) and wonderfull opec cluster M11.

Forecast for next night looks very good :)

Vawmataw

I looked up on May 19, but it was a short session. Lately the weather is anormally bad.
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