short sessions

Last night I was home late from work but was still able to observe.  It's one of the advantages of having an observatory -- I rolled it away when I got home to let the scope cool while I had dinner and took care of my evening chores.  So when I was ready, at around 9:30pm, I needed only step outside to enjoy the views.  I simply gazed at the moon with binoviewers, enjoying all the features and wrecked rubble.  I had my atlas with me but chose not to open it or try identifying anything.  Seeing was poor, unfortunately; but it will be good tonight.

Thursday night I was out briefly for some moon gazing and to try for some closer doubles.  Seeing was only moderate, and transparency off, so it wasn't very successful.  At 553x:

STF 840: B maybe elongated?  Not sure.  Seeing too poor, need the 20"?
06H 06M 28.04S +10° 45' 01.2" P.A. 126 SEP 0.4 MAG 9.80,10.10 SP F0 DIST. 225.73 PC (736.33 L.Y.)

STT 124: Briefly split in the best moments, 1 second out of 10.  Yellow-white and small, hard blue B.
05H 58M 53.23S +12° 48' 29.8" P.A. 305.8 SEP 0.33 MAG 6.11,7.37 SP K2III+A5V DIST. 243.31 PC (793.68 L.Y.)

Fab 5: Maybe a misshapen disk -- but not steady
06H 31M 40.54S +05° 46' 08.8" P.A. 18 SEP 0.9 MAG 7.23,9.56 SP A1P DIST. 80.45 PC (262.43 L.Y.)

433 Eros

Last night was a rare clear night, so observed with Big Blue.  I planned to go out in any case, but in the afternoon Ray Howard posted on TAC that near-earth asteroid 433 would occult 6.7 mag star HIP 33731 in Monoceros at 10:50 -- so I printed out the finder charts and planned to observe it at the end of the night.

Transparency was on the poor side and seeing not any better, with badly bloated stars; so I kept magnification mostly low at 170x.  Nevertheless, it was a decent session:

I started out on the moon looking at all the usual features, but in this session, many small craters were shadow filled small pocks on the surface.  Wrinkle ridges and hills all seemed more pronounced.

STF 840: Wide blue-white and slightly red pair, 1 delta mag. [A,BC seen.  BC is 0.4" and would make a great target for a night with better seeing]
06H 06M 28.04S +10° 45' 01.0" P.A. 248 SEP 21.4 MAG 7.17,8.95 SP A0V+F0 DIST. 225.73 PC (736.33 L.Y.)

STT 124: Seeing not good.  Bloated yellow star with bluish B just attached to the edge, like a wart...  B is very faint, small. [On another night this would have been a clean split]
05H 58M 53.23S +12° 48' 29.8" P.A. 305.8 SEP 0.33 MAG 6.11,7.37 SP K2III+A5V DIST. 243.31 PC

STF 848 / NGC 2169: Close bluish pair near the center of the cluster of ~25 stars, a fair brightness range, no center, loose.  Nice!  [WDS seems to list every star in the cluster as part of the system; AB likely it.]
06H 08M 30.36S +13° 58' 15.8" P.A. 111 SEP 2.5 MAG 7.28,8.15 SP B1V+B2V DIST. 300.3 PC (979.58 L.Y.)

NGC 2194: Small round cluster, very faint stars in a mist.  Washed out.  ~5 slightly brighter stars in front of the mist.

STF 950: This is the brightest star, forming the trunk, of the Christmas Tree cluster, NGC 2264.  Bright white and wide 4 delta mag B star, well separated.  Spent some time at 71x to look at the cluster as a whole. [here again the whole cluster is the system, WDS?]
06H 40M 58.66S +09° 53' 44.7" P.A. 214 SEP 3 MAG 4.66,7.79 SP O7VE+B2: DIST. 281.69 PC (918.87 L.Y.)

NGC 2661 / Hubble's Variable Nebula: I didn't expect to see much and I wouldn't call it bright, but clearly present direct vision as a sharply triangular nebula with a bright "nucleus" star.  It is certainly the most comet-looking non-comets, and why Messier didn't notice it is a mystery. 

14 Mon / STF 938: Bright A and very faint 4 delta mag B
06H 34M 46.33S +07° 34' 21.0" P.A. 209 SEP 11 MAG 6.45,10.60 SP A0VS DIST. 115.47 PC (376.66 L.Y.)

STT 142: Wide finder split, 1 star is red the other, in the scope, has a 2 delta mag well-separated companion. [The closer pair is the pair.]
06H 29M 55.96S +07° 06' 43.2" P.A. 355 SEP 8.2 MAG 7.12,10.57 SP B2.5IV/V DIST. 409.84 PC (1336.9 L.Y.)

STF 926: In a triangle of stars which point towards the Rosette Nebula.  Blue-white and slightly red, 1 delta mag, wide. [A star is FAB 5, 0.9" and 2 delta mag, would make a good target under better seeing.]
06H 31M 40.54S +05° 46' 08.8" P.A. 287 SEP 10.8 MAG 7.23,8.62 SP A1P DIST. 80.45 PC (262.43 L.Y.)

Rosette Nebula: In the 80mm finder using a 35mm erfle and OIII filter, it was faintly there as a fat, irregular ring of darkness or smoke.  Could tell something there mainly from how the stars cut-off in the field.  In the scope at 71x and OIII, I could more clearly "see" the absence of stars and sense the cloud.  I moved around the edges and could fit each quarter of the nebula in the field at a time. 

All these rich fields of stars!  What we've been missing all this time during the rainy season.  I'm reminded of how happy observing makes me feel.

STF 1126: Not split at 170x on this night
07H 40M 06.99S +05° 13' 51.9" P.A. 178 SEP 0.82 MAG 6.55,6.96 SP A0III

STF 1103: pretty blue-white and orange-red, close but split.
07H 30M 33.61S +05° 15' 16.8" P.A. 247 SEP 3.9 MAG 7.12,8.64 SP B9 DIST. 187.62 PC (612.02 L.Y.)

STF 1056: Wide reddish pair.
07H 15M 34.34S -01° 51' 36.8" P.A. 299 SEP 3.9 MAG 8.04,8.88 SP G0 DIST. 246.91 PC (805.42 L.Y.)

NGC 2301: Finder find as a few brighter stars in a line with a round mist in the middle.  In the scope it is a large half a degree group, loose with a faint mist of stars in the middle.  There's a nice bright blue and orange pair in the center dominating the scene.  Strings of moderately bright stars radiate from the center; there is a string of brighter stars running tangentially to the mist.  A very nice cluster.

433 Eros occulting HIP 33731:  The highlight of the night!  My notebook says Holy Sh**!!  Star occulted by an asteroid,  Zip it was gone, UT 05:51:05.  Blue star and reddish well split B (not sure of doubleness).   Gone for more than a heartbeat but before I could catch my breath, then zip it was back.  Wow that was so cool.  It completely disappeared, I could imagine as if a shutter passed over it, then blackness!  No star where there should be one...then it flipped on again!  Wow! 
I found the star about five minutes beforehand and was careful to relax and keep my eye open, I didn't want to blnik and miss it.  I resisted the temptation to look at my watch -- I wished at that moment to have someone or something reading out the time.  And in a moment of just looking it flipped out, dark long enough for me to marvel that I was actually seeing it, then it came on again.  I didn't notice if it occulted the B star too.  What a great feeling.

busy day

During the day yesterday, I created a wider hole in the 6" telescope's tailpiece and was able to have the focuser work properly.  I bought a 2-3/8" hole saw, the size needed for the drawtube, but as I started to drill it wandered from center and I knew I would ruin the tailpiece if I continued.  So I got a file and began widening the hole by hand, which took about 40 minutes of effort.  I painted it then installed it in the evening, and had a look at M42 again.  Still a bit of defocus at the outer edges, I'm not sure how much it will bother me, or if there is some error in the lens mounting.  In any case, onward to constructing the mount.

I also spent some time with my 15x70 binoculars, seeing M42, M35, M47, and so on.  Still a very pleasing view and actually comparable to the 6" -- which only prompts me more to transform the 6' into a binoscope, given the views which may be possible.  Fun to see three satellites, one after the other, track north through Orion.

Later in the night I set-up Big Blue, and had a go at some double stars and the moon.  Seeing was only average and transparency was off (and the moon was full), so I stayed at 270x for the session; my sense of separation scale was messed up accordingly:

STF 684: Fine white and yellow, 2-3" at this scale, 2 delta mag. [20,000 light years is actually quite a large distance for the average double star...] 

05H 22M 11.04S +45° 04' 53.9" P.A. 141 SEP 1.5 MAG 7.72,9.34 SP B8III DIST. 5882.35 PC (19188.23 L.Y.)

ES 576: Pretty finder split, white, near equal to 0.5 delta mag. [AC seen; AB 13th mag]

05H 24M 22.85S +42° 36' 37.0" P.A. 237 SEP 42.7 MAG 8.10,8.90 SP A2

NGC 1857 would be a pretty little misty open cluster if not for the moon.  It's in a nice swath of stars of different magnifications and colors.

STF 699: Wide yellow and blue-white, half delta mag.

05H 25M 38.50S +38° 02' 41.1" P.A. 345 SEP 8.9 MAG 7.90,8.61 SP A1V DIST. 308.64 PC (1006.78 L.Y.)

STF 698: Orange-yellow A and lilac B, wide, finder split.  1 delta mag.  Pretty.

05H 25M 12.94S +34° 51' 18.6" P.A. 347 SEP 31.2 MAG 6.65,8.33 SP K2III DIST. 125.47 PC (409.28 L.Y.)

79 Aur: Bright light orange with 2-3 delta mag finder split wide pair.

M38, M36: Surprisingly good, even with the moon.  Fill the field with stars.

BU 1053:  Nice!!  Blazing white and close but nicely split light blue B, 2 delta mag.  Another star, 3 delta ma, is further out, may be a 2+1. [Just a double.]

05H 53M 28.64S +37° 20' 20.7" SEP 1.9 MAG 6.91,8.83 SP F5 DIST. 68.54 PC (223.58 L.Y.)

STF 799: Hairline split but definite in the best moments, white, half delta mag.

05H 52M 13.88S +38° 33' 36.4" P.A. 158 SEP 0.8 MAG 7.30,8.26 SP B8 DIST. 211.86 PC (691.09 L.Y.)

Nu Aur = H 5 90: Bright orange with a much fainter wide split.

05H 51M 29.39S +39° 08' 54.5" P.A. 206 SEP 55.9 MAG 3.97,11.40 SP K0III DIST. 70.62 PC (230.36 L.Y.)

STT 132: White A and slightly red B.  Fine pair but probably ~5".  2 delta mag.

06H 08M 11.68S +37° 58' 57.9" P.A. 332 SEP 1.8 MAG 7.16,9.63 SP A2V DIST. 184.5 PC (601.84 L.Y.)

STT 131: Very close, need seeing to resolve 2 delta mag white A and light blue B

06H 07M 25.84S +36° 16' 28.7" P.A. 277 SEP 1.5 MAG 7.04,9.45 SP B9II DIST. 301.2 PC (982.51 L.Y.)

To end the session I spent about a half hour on the moon using the binoviewers.  I followed the limb all the way around and can confirm, the moon is not round, there are mountains and depressions which cause it not to make a perfect sphere.  I then traversed its face and traced out the varying webs of rays and crater formations.  Very satisfying.

surgery required

It cleared up enough last night to take the 6' outside to test focus.  The 31mm bottomed out the in focus and did not quite reach focus -- this will mean I need to cut out a wider hole in the aluminum tailpiece to make room for the focuser drawtube.  It will make the changes irreversible, but it's ok: I can reach focus at 22mm no problem, and by adding a tube extender to the diagonal, I can reach focus with the 13mm and 8mm too. 

With the 31mm the whole of Orion's sword fits in the view very comfortably, though the stars on the outer 20% of the field are more out of focus than those in the center -- is this coma?  I see a similar effect with the 22mm; though with this view I began to see the greenish tint to the Orion Nebula.  The 13mm eyepiece has the best view.   I moved on to view the moon, which had very dark sky around it -- contrast seems very good in the scope.  Best view with the 22mm, the whole of the nearly full moon, showing streaks of rays and bright pockmarks of new craters.

I need to decide, though, whether to have a tracking mount for this scope.  I suppose it is not too much trouble to bump it along but I have grown accustomed to its convenience.  I think as a first step I'll do alt/az, but if I find a cheap enough mount I may buy it.

focusing...

More rain this week so no new observations to report.  I spent a few hours (took longer than it should have!) installing a new focuser on the 6" f5.  I chose a relatively inexpensive Newtonian focuser since it seemed short enough and had a flat mounting plate.  Unfortunately, the drawtube diameter is larger than the opening in the tail plate, but I decided to install the focuser anyway to see if it would reach focus.  It took me a while to find the center on the aluminum tail plate and to find the correct sized hardware to mount it with, but eventually, I succeeded.  It was pretty well centered according to a laser I put in the focuser and shined on the objective.  Pointing to a ridgeline a couple miles distant, I was, fortunately, able to reach focus with the 31mm -- but just barely, bottoming out the focus!  The 22mm focussed no problem, but with the 13mm I need to screw it into the diagonal halfway up the eyepiece mounting area.

So it works, if barely.  A problem I did not anticipate is that the field illumination is poor, maybe 50%, if that.  This is due to the tube length.  I realize now to optimize the scope for 2" eyepieces I need to shorten the tube and add a larger focuser, as I read others have done with similar scopes.  Oh well, I'll use it as is for now; after all the goal is to make a binoscope out of it.  Now onto the mount, for which I need to find the correct sized bearings....

I should mention: while using the 22mm I noticed a bird zip into view and then hover -- a hummingbird.  I refocused and was able to get a sharp outline of the shape of its body.  Then, it pirouetted and I saw the brief bright ruby red flash of its neck feathers before it zipped out of sight.

rich field possibilities

I was able to obtain a Jaegers 6" f5 refractor, along with an extra matching objective, for relatively little money recently.  With a 31mm Nagler it should get nearly 3.5° TFOV!  And the extra objective means there is a chance to build a bino-scope out of the pair, which would be quite amazing.

I had the refactor out last night on a totally inadequate mount, but it was enough to get the scope pointed at the sky to see what it could do.  The focuser is very old and at 4" racked in height did not have enough in-focus for my 31mm or even 22mm Nagler, but I could use my 13mm Ethos.  Fit just about all of Orion's sword in the view, and pretty sharp stars too (though the seeing was horrible and transparency not much better).  It gave me hope that under a dark sky it will be quite good. 

I've ordered a new focuser (a 2" for Newtonian, but it will work fine).  I drew a ray trace on the back of some wrapping paper (which conveniently had a grid of 1" squares printed) and I am sure the tailpiece hole cut out and 2" drawtube will not clip the light path.  I also ordered a light shield for the end of the tube to replace my homemade one.  All that's left is an end cap to protect the objective and a mount.  I've been browsing the internet to get some ideas for DIY Alt/Az mounts, since I don't want to spend much more money.  I have a couple ideas.  Ultimately I want to make the mount lift adjustable so I can have the eyepiece at the altitude axis, like the springsonian, and I could just sit or better yet stand to use the scope.  The bino-scope is a longer term and more expensive possibility, but one I want to follow through on -- imagine the views through it...

bino-might

After a severe and cold storm moved through the area these last couple of days, leaving the Bay Area hills shivered in snow, there was some clear sky tonight.  Transparency was not great, and seeing was predicted to be worse, so I used my 15x70 binos with mirror mount in the back yard for about an hour.  M42, M43, and Orion's Belt to start, with the fine arcs and loops of stars around.  Meissa, showing more stars than can be seen naked eye, as Galileo discovered.  Up to M35, large and loose.

Then scanning around I came upon a fairly large milky haze, oval to rectangular, but with very soft edges.  I thought it was M45 out of focus.  But then I realized it was supernova remnant M1 -- which really surprised me as I remember four years ago when trying to find it with the new to me Big Blue on a similar cold night I could not find it, despite my best star hop.  It must have been the larger context of the binocular view.  This is one of the Messiers which certainly could be confused as a comet, unlike many of the star clusters.

Speaking of which, I swept up M41, M52, M47, M46, and finally the Beehive, M44, looking very fine and sharp (and complete) in the binocular view.

So the binos win again and help make for an enjoyable night of it.