Astronomy thread/Kìng a teri tanhìyä tìftia

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

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Toliman

I observed Perseids tonight. I was with several my friends on one place with very dark sky. Weather and sky conditions were good whole night.

Seems that there was a bit more meteors than previous years but many of them was less bright. There was relatively lack of really bright pieces.
The brightest meteor had approx. -8 mag and he flew across almost whole sky (gorgeous piece!). The most nice moment of night was when three bright meteors (all brighter than 0 mag) fell almost simultaneously in same part of sky (all in area of Pegasus constellation). 

Vawmataw

Very nice! No perseids for me this year (and not due to clouds) :(
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Toliman

Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 05:22:06 PM
Very nice! No perseids for me this year (and not due to clouds) :(
:(
So where was a problem?

Vawmataw

Quote from: Toliman on August 13, 2018, 05:29:11 PM
Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 05:22:06 PM
Very nice! No perseids for me this year (and not due to clouds) :(
:(
So where was a problem?
The location is not suited for astronomy.
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Toliman

Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 05:48:30 PM
Quote from: Toliman on August 13, 2018, 05:29:11 PM
Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 05:22:06 PM
Very nice! No perseids for me this year (and not due to clouds) :(
:(
So where was a problem?
The location is not suited for astronomy.
:(
Not even for bright meteors?

Vawmataw

Quote from: Toliman on August 13, 2018, 06:04:06 PM
Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 05:48:30 PM
Quote from: Toliman on August 13, 2018, 05:29:11 PM
Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 05:22:06 PM
Very nice! No perseids for me this year (and not due to clouds) :(
:(
So where was a problem?
The location is not suited for astronomy.
:(
Not even for bright meteors?
well it's basically a small parking, it's not fun to stargaze in a parking.
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Toliman

Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 07:01:54 PM
Quote from: Toliman on August 13, 2018, 06:04:06 PM
Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 05:48:30 PM
Quote from: Toliman on August 13, 2018, 05:29:11 PM
Quote from: Vawmataw on August 13, 2018, 05:22:06 PM
Very nice! No perseids for me this year (and not due to clouds) :(
:(
So where was a problem?
The location is not suited for astronomy.
:(
Not even for bright meteors?
well it's basically a small parking, it's not fun to stargaze in a parking.
Ah, it's true.




I observed the Sun today and there was surprisingly one sunspot. Nothing spectacular but better than nothing.
I also observed thin Moon crescent annd daytime Venus.

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Ma Toliman, what setup do you have for observing the sun?

Just got back from the Lasen Astronomy Festival and the Oregon Star Party. The story this year was heat and smoke.

I got to the Lassen festival just in time to get camp situated and prepare to set up my 'scope. But the group leader from our club recommended I not set up (due to smoke and poor sky conditions at the time) and instead me 'emcee'. I did this, and of course, the sky cleared. However, the spot I usually occupy wqs profitably used by some new astronomers from Sacramento, California, who would otherwise not had a place to set up. We had a good night, but attendance was way down due to the nearby Carr wildfire. (There were refugees from the fire staying in the park as well. 900 families lost their homes in that fire.)

The next day, a couple of us had a long talk with the park ranger who oversees the astronomy program. It turns out that the astronomy featival is one of the biggest activities the park offers, and is the most popular by a factor of 10 to 20(!) The park is now working on a 'serious' astronomy program where we can do non-public astronomy. It will also be held in a lower, but much quiieter part of the park.

I also did some public solar astronomy during the day. Despite there being 3 other solar 'scopes set up in the plaza, I was busy the whole time!

The night session started out smoky like the night before, but cleared up. this time, I did set up my 'scope, and had a good night, looking at planest and a few high-in-the-sky deep sky objects.

The defining moment of this year's Lasen festival was having a child, with his parents, walk up to me (while I was the emcee) and ask if there was any chance of seeing an ISS pass. I told him I would check, and much to my amazement, discovered there was a pass starting in just 5 minutes! (They did not know this, AFAIK). In any case, it absolutely made this kid's day to ask and be immediately rewarded. We actually had two nice ISS passes this evening.

Gotta get back to work, will talk about the baking and smoking we got in Oregon in a later post!

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Toliman

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on August 14, 2018, 03:40:36 PM
Ma Toliman, what setup do you have for observing the sun?
I use classic white light filter.
What you have for solar observation?

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on August 14, 2018, 03:40:36 PM
The defining moment of this year's Lasen festival was having a child, with his parents, walk up to me (while I was the emcee) and ask if there was any chance of seeing an ISS pass. I told him I would check, and much to my amazement, discovered there was a pass starting in just 5 minutes! (They did not know this, AFAIK). In any case, it absolutely made this kid's day to ask and be immediately rewarded. We actually had two nice ISS passes this evening.
Nice! :)

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Ma Toliman, the solar 'scope, which belongs to the club, is an older Coronado H-alpha 'scope. It has a single stack etalon. It is fitted to a equitorial mount salvaged from a number of low-end refractors that were donated to the club. The refractors are peing repurposed as white light solar 'scopes.

On Sunday, we had an unfortunate event happen in our club. Jim Fahey, the guy I mentioned in my previous post about Lassen, who had me be emcee the first night, had a massive heart attack. Lucky for him, they were able to get a stent into him the same evening, and five more(!) on Monday. He'll be OK, but will be unable to do astronomy for months. So, he has resigned as vice president of the club and given up custody of club's the 20 inch 'scope. I could now end up with both of them.

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Toliman

It would be nice to have own H-alpha telescope :)

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on August 16, 2018, 03:55:01 PM
On Sunday, we had an unfortunate event happen in our club. Jim Fahey, the guy I mentioned in my previous post about Lassen, who had me be emcee the first night, had a massive heart attack. Lucky for him, they were able to get a stent into him the same evening, and five more(!) on Monday. He'll be OK, but will be unable to do astronomy for months. So, he has resigned as vice president of the club and given up custody of club's the 20 inch 'scope. I could now end up with both of them.
Oh :( I hope that he really will be OK.

Toliman

Next good nighht of astronomy here :)
Tonight after midnight sky was lear here and sky conditions were very good.

I observed many open clusters in Perseus and Auriga + M31 Andromeda and M33 Triangulum galaxy. Clusters were nice and I was able see many details in both galaxies (especially dust lines at M31).

And I also observed Uranus and Neptune.

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Update on Jim Fahey: He's very weak but not slowed down. He plans to be at tonight's public star party just to be there! These stents produce such quick results, I know of a guy who was at a trade show in the morning, had a heart agttack, had a stent or two put in him and was back on the show floor that afternoon!

Ma Toliman, you might want to check out an interesting object in Andromeda. It's called the 'andromeda parachute', and is a gravitationally lensed galaxy that is bright enough to see in a reasonable telescope (at least 12 inches aperture IIRC) Due to the smoke at OSP, I never did get a chance to look at it, or any other level 3 challenge object :(

And speaking of OSP, here's the continuation of the story.

After the Lassen Astronomy festival, I returned to Reno to regroup, and catch the last night of a Chinese lantern festival that had been running in Reno for the past six weeks. They were auctioning off a few lanterns that evening, and I wanted to try and get one for myself. I did, in fact succeed, and ended up with two corn flower lanterns, each standing about 4 1/2 feet (1.4 meters) high. The only caveat was I had to pick them up Tuesday morning, when I should have been on the road to Oregon. After a little calculation, I worked out if I picked them up promptly at 9 AM, I could drop them off at my house, which is on the way to Oregon, and be on the road, probably by 10 AM. This put me at OSP at 6 PM, well in time to get situated and be ready to observe.

Like all good plans, it didn't work ;) There was some delay getting the lanterns ready, and we decided at the last moment to display them in the lobby of the TV station I work at, for a while. So by the time all was taken care of, I didn't hit the road until 10:30 AM.

The drive to Oregon was flawless, but loooong! Despite minimal stops (I don't mess around when I drive long distance), it took 9 1/2 hours, not the advertised 8 hours. I got on site two minutes before the site closed to traffic for the night. I hurridly picked up a spot to srt up. It was less than ideal but still in a good area. I had no time to set up a tent, so I slept under the stars that night. If there had been a little more privacy, I would have done that every night! I had brought some cold meat to eat in case something like this happened, so I didn't have to worry about preparing dinner.

The skies were a different story. Smoky. Up to above the ecliptic. Only the zenith was reasonably clear, and that wasn't very good, either. I was dog tired from the long, hot drive and didn't feel like setting up my 'scope. I finally did set it up, but I couldn't get it to collimate. So, I gave up and got a good night's rest.

The next day, I spent putting my camp together, which was a slow process. 104 degrees F (40 degrees C) heat made me work for a while, then rest. The tents for the star party activities arrived real late, so I also suddenly found myself assembling and testing the AV system. And I'm glad I did, as there were two surprise unscheduled presentations that evening. I barely had a chance to eat dinner before it was too dark to cook.

Conditions Wednesday were no better than Tuesday night. I solved the collimation problem (hardware had worked loose), but now the digital setting circles were behaving very badly. After a frustrating evening, I decided to get a good night's sleep. I set up the solar panel to charge the battery in the telescope, and discovered a nearly indestructible, military grade connector had somehow become damaged, and I couldn't plug the charger into the 'scope. Luckily, the battery was fully charged, and had enough power available for the next several nights, as long as I didn't run the mirror cooling fan.

Thursday was a repeat of Wednesday, but I could relax more. The heat was still unbearable. At the morning swap meet, i managed to score a Sky Quality Meter for just $50. I also picked up some meteorite samples from a meteorite dealer who was displaying there. This was the first time I had seen many of the meteroite types, so now I have samples to use for public events. I also did AV for several presentations throughout the day and evening. I also tried out my new griddle. It was great, at least for breakfast sausage.

Thursday evening's sky conditions were a repeat of Tuesday and Wednesday. I did find a problem with the digital setting circles, but they still didn't track as they should. Another unproductive night under the smoke ;)

Friday was a little cooler and there was a little breeze. I tried pancakes on the griddle, and ended up with a pile of pancake bits. But this is something I need to practice! There were several presentations again that day, including one on doing your own mirror coating. There was a guy with a 40 inch Dob there who did his own mirror coating, with good results. However, the coating is only good for a few months.

Things finally improved on Saturday. It cooled significantly as they day went on. In the morning, there was a kids vs adults astronomy quiz, ad for once, the adults won! (It's heavily biased towards the kids.) Later that day was the door prize drawing. OSP has a really good door prize drawing, and I walked away with a Meade 15 mm, 100 degree AFOV eyepiece, one of the major door prizes. I also won a pair of beautiful 'coffee table' astronomy books. The evening presentation was on LIGO and collorbative astronomy.

The skies weren't perfect, but they were much better Saturday night. And much to my pleasant surprise, the digital setting circles on my 'scope suddenly decided to work. (The problems might have had something to do with the excessive heat.) I put my nose to the grindstone, stayed up until 3 AM, and did enough observing (and sketching at the eyepiece) to earn my level 2 deep sky observing pin. This is the second such pin I have earned! In contrast to previous nights, it got cold enough I finally had to don my winter coat.

Sunday morning, I had my sketching judged, and got credit for all 23 objects I observed. Only 16 were needed to earn the pin, so I received my pin with no question. I then helped members of the OSP committee pack up all their equipment for next year. This was supposed to take all afternoon. It took 45 minutes. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and looking through my star charts. etc. I purposely took my 'scope down so I could concentrate on enjoying the Persieds, and doing tome time lapse astrophotagraphy. I also looked at a boring sun (nothing going on!) with the solar 'scope.

I packed my camp and drove home Monday morning. Even though OSP had officially been over for more than a day, there were still a couple dozen folks there still set up and observing. Some of them will stay at least another week. The drive home was also uneventful, other than trying a different route home. On the route, a critical intersection was under construction, and I missed the turn. I had to do a lot of backtracking to make up for that missed turn, and nearly missed it again.

But despite the four smoky nights, I feel it was a very successful trip, and definitely not time wasted! I hope to go next year (July 30-August4), but it looks like there are multiple conflicts, even a year out :(

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]

Toliman

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on August 17, 2018, 05:18:44 PM
Update on Jim Fahey: He's very weak but not slowed down. He plans to be at tonight's public star party just to be there! These stents produce such quick results, I know of a guy who was at a trade show in the morning, had a heart agttack, had a stent or two put in him and was back on the show floor that afternoon!
O.o ... it's remarkable.

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on August 17, 2018, 05:18:44 PM
Ma Toliman, you might want to check out an interesting object in Andromeda. It's called the 'andromeda parachute', and is a gravitationally lensed galaxy that is bright enough to see in a reasonable telescope (at least 12 inches aperture IIRC) Due to the smoke at OSP, I never did get a chance to look at it, or any other level 3 challenge object :(
Irayo :) I will try observe it when I will again under dark sky.

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on August 17, 2018, 05:18:44 PM
I hope to go next year (July 30-August4), but it looks like there are multiple conflicts, even a year out :(
:( I hope that it will not happen.

Toliman

I have again clear sky so I observed after midnight till morning.

I observed galaxies in autumn constellations (NGC7331, NGC235, NGC247, M77, M74, NGC891 + few less bright), globular clusters M15, M2 and NGC288 and again any open clusters in Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Perseus and Auriga.

Galaxy NGC253 was nice and interesting - it's very bright galaxy but unfortunatelly with low declination. However I was able to see nice structure of this galaxy.

Vawmataw

A year ago tomorrow there was a total solar eclipse crossing the entire United States...
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Toliman

Quote from: Vawmataw on August 20, 2018, 06:07:27 PM
A year ago tomorrow there was a total solar eclipse crossing the entire United States...
True, but sadly it was not for me...

* Still remember last nice Eurpean solar eclipse at March 2015.

Vawmataw

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Toliman

Eltur tìtxen si :)




Tonight, I shortly observed Moon surface and Mars. Seeing was quite good, finally quite good view on Mars again.

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Is Mars starting to clear up? It still looked pretty dusty at OSP, although I could see a little of the polar ice cap.

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]