46p again

Viewed the comet again last night, but under very much worse conditions.  The sky was hazy with fog and high clouds, and the waxing moon was placed near Auriga, washing out the sky.  I spent about 15 minutes searching by sweeping in the finder and in the 12.5-inch, before deciding the better way was to star hop using the finder chart.  I did eventually find it, but it was very tough; a "breath on a mirror" in the finder and a hazy quasi-stellar point with some haze around it in the scope.  I tracked it for about 20 minutes to be sure of movement.  The coma was very faint and diffuse.  Moonlight was pouring into my tube however I think by focuser baffle did its job to block the light.

I then turned to the moon itself, which still showed pretty well despite the fog haze.  Binoviewers.  I especially enjoyed the Aristarchus Plateau and had a really good look at the Marius Hills, the first time I recall seeing them.  Both these features have a strikingly square appearance, due probably to uplift and different shading of the surface.  I wonder why?  Reiner Gamma showed really well, the paisley shaped bright feature with its elongated bright oval and squiggly tail.  Seeing was not very good so I didn't push magnification very high.

2.1x42 in bino mount

Spent a little while tonight with the Vixen 2.1x42 on the binocular mount.  There were high thin clouds, some in long rollers visibly passing through the sky like Pacific waves underneath the moon.  I tried to imagine the clouds were interesting nebulousness...  I could see enough to confirm I can use the mount with these binos too.  Having them steady while trying to focus helps a lot.  And it's always a treat to see Orion head to toe, Betelgeuse to Rigel.  And the Pleiades and Hyades in the same FOV.  Tried to see the comet 46p but no luck.  These will be great to use during the next great comet, whenever it should come. 

46p wirtanen

Forecast was for clear skies last night but stepping outside around 9pm there was a thin layer of cloud/fog overspreading the sky.  It was still possible to see the brighter stars and the moon, but transparency was highly compromised.  I was disappointed because I wanted to observe comet 46p Wirtanen, now at magnitude 5, and it was forecast to be cloudy for the next week at least.

I hesitated to roll off the shed and set-up Big Blue.  I started to head inside, but decided to try to find the comet with my 7x35 binoculars -- and after a while I thought I could make out a small round glow where the comet was to be.  So I thought, what the hell, give it a shot.

Soon enough I swept up the comet in my 80mm finder, still the faint glow but now with a quasi-stellar nucleus, then settled in to view at 101x in the scope.  The comet was in line with the base of three stars which formed an equilateral triangle.  This would make it easy to track movement.  My tracking platform was nearly dead on, with a very slow drift to the west after 20 minutes.  In the scope the halo was round and very diffuse.  With the comet filter the psudo-nucleus was muted and the halo was less round; in fact it was pushed to the NW to form the beginnings of a fat tail.

I tracked the movement of the comet over the next 40 minutes.  I made sketches every 10 minutes and the movement was obvious; the triangle stretched into a diamond with the comet as the fourth "star."  In between I watched the just-past quarter moon set, lit side down like a fishing float, glowing yellow in a haze of cloud.  After making an observation of the comet I was startled to see the moon set behind the ridge of a neighbor's house.

Always very cool to observe a comet moving.  I'm glad I stayed out for it.

7x50s

Last night another clear sky, but seeing was forecast to be poor, so I kept BB in the stable.  I used my binocular mirror mount, this time with the 7x50s.  I'm glad I made the mirror yoke adjustable for different focal length binos; the 7x50s needed it slid all the way up the rail.  Once again, stunning views, this time with a 12 degree field.  M45 with a huge field of stars around.  All of the Hyades comfortably in the view.  Scanning from M37 to M36 and M38.  Stock 1 in Perseus.

Orion with its belt and sword as it rose over the meridian tree.  This was a special view, since I had the upper branches of the redwood tree in the view along with the belt, sword, and the Great Nebula.  It gave a earthly scale to the celestial scene, and reminded me of my human life in relation to the rest of the universe.  This feeling is the driving force behind my observing and I hope never to forget it.

I'm convinced the mirror mount is the only way to use binoculars for astronomy.  I hope to have it out to a dark sky soon.

clear window

The clouds parted in the early evening last night and a clear window to the sky opened up, perhaps for the last time this year.  I tried to make the most of it and stayed out as long as I could, three arcs of the equatorial platform.  Seeing was variable, 6-8/7, and my targets were over my roof so it wasn't perfect.  But nonetheless it was a happy time.  I was glad I had some charts prepared.  Big Blue:

STT 33: Pretty yellow-white and red-orange pair, wide, 1.5-2 delta mag.  340x  Nearby X Cas a very pretty red. 
01H 37M 22.87S +58° 38' 14.7" P.A. 77 SEP 26.9 MAG 7.26,8.96 SP B3IV DIST. 833.33 PC (2718.32 L.Y.)

BU 396: Bright white and 3-4 delta mag blue, ~2", well split.  340x
01H 03M 37.01S +61° 04' 29.4" P.A. 67 SEP 1.3 MAG 6.06,8.62 SP F0II DIST. 613.5 PC (2001.24 L.Y.)

BU 258: Barely split at 340x, a brightening in the first diffraction.  Wanted more certainty so went to 553x, clean split, 2" 3 detla mag.
01H 13M 09.82S +61° 42' 22.3" P.A. 262 SEP 1.5 MAG 6.50,8.80 SP B9V DIST. 201.61 PC (657.65 L.Y.)

STF 96: Mostly notched but moments of hairline split with seeing  1.5 delta mag.  Very tough!  Yellow-orange stars.  553x.
01H 12M 41.24S +65° 00' 32.9" P.A. 286 SEP 0.9 MAG 7.92,8.92 SP F0 DIST. 218.34 PC (712.23 L.Y.)

35 And: Yellow-white A and red-orange B, wide finder split, 2 delta mag.

BU 781: Very fine faint pair, need to wait for seeing.  1", 1 delta mag.
00H 51M 36.19S +68° 59' 14.0" P.A. 23 SEP 1 MAG 8.41,9.33 SP A2

STF 65: Equal pair, white-yellow.  Wide and pretty bright
00H 52M 45.61S +68° 51' 59.3" P.A. 220 SEP 3.2 MAG 8.00,8.02 SP A2 DIST. 255.75 PC (834.26 L.Y.)

A2901: Elongated to notched with seeing.  Seeing not cooperating.  553x & 885x
01H 01M 30.15S +69° 21' 30.7" P.A. 65.4 SEP 0.4 MAG 7.12,7.84 SP B9 DIST. 273.97 PC (893.69 L.Y.)

BU 513: Searched around the swollen, shimmering bright A star disk and felt there was a faint close B trying to resolve in the first diffraction at 553x.  Apodizing mask cleaned up the image but no B resolved.  Could just be a trick -- there's a faint blue star, very wide to the north which could be it.  [AB is 0.5" and 2 delta mag so not seen; likely saw AD which is 12.6 mag 54".  AC likely too faint at 13.2.  One to try in the 20-inch someday.]
02H 01M 57.55S +70° 54' 25.4" P.A. 346.5 SEP 0.5 MAG 4.65,6.74 SP A3V DIST. 35.26 PC (115.02 L.Y.)

NGC 654: Open cluster, near some doubles I was viewing.  Switched to 170x.  Red star dominates, but the cluster's brighter white stars form a mini Cassiopeia asterism with a moderate concentration of faint stars in the center of the "W."

NGC 663: Fairly large, about half a degree.  Appears in the finder as a fine mist to the south of an arc of three stars.  Brighter stars form a delta wing asterism with many fainter stars scattered within.  Several orange and red stars in the mix.  Increasing power to 553x, I viewed three Struve pairs within the cluster making a triple double:
STF 151: Equal, fairly faint but by no means the faintest in a very rich field.  Visible in finder.
01H 45M 59.32S +61° 12' 45.6" P.A. 39 SEP 7.2 MAG 10.59,10.98 SP B4
STF 152: A about 11th mag and B wide separation 1.5 delta mag. [not physical].
01H 46M 04.90S +61° 13' 41.8" P.A. 106 SEP 9.4 MAG 9.04,11.20 SP B5 DIST. 310.56 PC (1013.05 L.Y.)
STF 153: Well separated ~10", 1 delta mag pair
01H 46M 34.53S +61° 15' 45.0" P.A. 69 SEP 7.7 MAG 9.36,10.38 SP B2II

NGC 659: Brighter stars form a keystone asterism with a spur of three closely separated stars sticking out the east side.  An thick arc of fine fainter stars spreads beneath it running NE-SW.  Nearby 44 And, which is a wide split yellow and white optical pair, 2 delta mag.

BU 1103 = 44 Cas: Extremely fine, extremely faint spec consistently in one spot in the diffraction, 1", when seeing perfects.  Need a slight averted vision to see it.  [12-fold system with many fainter stars about.]
01H 43M 19.75S +60° 33' 04.8" SEP 1.6 MAG 5.78,12.10 SP B8IIIN DIST. 320.51 PC (1045.5 L.Y.)

Arn 55: Very wide separation 1 delta mag.; physical double  [This is the AD pair of a more complicated system.  AB = V773 Cas = BU 870 which is 6.29/8.68 0.3"; AC = GUI 2, 6.29/16.00 16.8".  Both of these would be great targets for the 20-inch.]
01H 44M 17.96S +57° 32' 11.8" P.A. 45 SEP 160.5 MAG 6.29,9.92 SP A3V DIST. 84.96 PC (277.14 L.Y.)

STF 163: Pretty orange star in the finder.  Wide separated blue B, 2 delta mag.
01H 51M 16.93S +64° 51' 17.9" P.A. 38 SEP 34.5 MAG 6.80,9.13 SP K4+IB-IIA DIST. 5882.35 PC (19188.23 L.Y.)

STF 234: Light orange star, definitely elongated, maybe notched, but no convincing split.  553x & 885x.  Tough little Struve...
02H 17M 23.00S +61° 21' 06.5" P.A. 222.3 SEP 0.64 MAG 8.74,9.40 SP G2V DIST. 59.14 PC (192.91 L.Y.)

STF 263: At the end of an arc of three stars of similar magnitude.  The pair is wide, 2 delta mag.  [I saw AB.  Quadruple system but with a lot of complicated orbital dynamics going on: AB, AC, AD, BC, BD, CD]

STF 277AB: Could not see the faint component.  Seeing / transparency may be failing.
02H 36M 55.29S +59° 53' 01.1" P.A. 140 SEP 3.1 MAG 7.81,11.38 SP B9.5IV DIST. 375.94 PC (1226.32 L.Y.)

STF 283: Well split light orange pair, half delta mag.  [AB seen; AC 13.9 mag]
02H 40M 31.92S +61° 29' 02.2" P.A. 210 SEP 1.8 MAG 8.38,9.03 SP G8III+

Sti 1797: Pretty orange and blue stars, 2-3 delta mag, well separated 10"
02H 10M 24.05S +56° 17' 49.6" P.A. 140 SEP 9.3 MAG 7.53,11.85 SP K2III DIST. 117.23 PC (382.4 L.Y.)

I ended the night looking at M45 at low powers in both the finder and in the main scope.  The scope showed mistiness in the field which made me think the eyepiece was fogging up but is the nebulosity.  WIshed I could have stayed out longer.

color

I had a short binocular session in my back yard last week.  I viewed M31 and M32, hazy patch with an intense core.  M15 was small, hazy, and round with a glowing middle.  Also watched a very slow satellite make it's silent way through northern Pegasus.

What was really special was finding a widely separated pair (if they are a pair) of bright orange and blue stars to the north of Lyra and Cygnus.  Very Alberio-like in color, but much more widely separated.  The orange star had a 3 delta mag companion close in to it.  I thought I wanted to look at atlases and figure out what it was, but decided not to.  I'd rather leave it as a beautiful memory, which maybe I can return to sometime in the future when I'm in the mood for the kind of daydream observing the binocular mirror mount lends itself to.