While Thursday night offered up a mediocre sky with some pretty bad transparency, Friday night exceeded my expectations by delivering an almost spotless sky. The transparency was slightly better but the difference from the previous night was marginal. I wanted to make the most of the clear skies by pursuing M3 in Canes Venatici as well as returning to my search for comet 144P/Kushida and Messier 52 in Cassiopeia.
My first target for the night was Kushida and after searching for a few minutes with the 25×100s I landed on the star HP 19148 and the small triangular asterism where I would find the elusive comet. However, if you are an suburban backyard astronomer like me then your chances of catching this comet are pretty slim. At magnitude 10.8 Kushida is a fairly dim target for light polluted skies, but I persevered nonetheless and resorted to using averted vision (as I had originally done) to try and pin it down. If uncertainty had harassed my very first observation of this comet, then I was in no doubt this time around. Through the large bins Kushida took on an extremely diffuse star like appearance that winked in and out of view and showed very little detail. I spent between 23:00 - 23:10 UT struggling to take in the tenuous view but under my illuminated skies this was as good as this comet was going to get.
I soon turned my attention to the constellation of Canes Venatici and began my hunt for Messier 3, an easy globular cluster lying 33,900 light years away from Earth. With a magnitude of 6.2 M3 should have be quite an easy find for the 25×100s, but as I swept down from Cor Caroli the sky just disappeared in a haze of orange murk. Hoping that a lower magnification would ease things I turned to my Bresser 10×50s, but even they failed to penetrate the artificial brume that clung to the eastern horizon.
Reluctantly I abandoned my search for M3 and turned to Cassiopeia to resume my search for Messier 52. However I just couldn’t resist another look at M35 in Gemini and spent a few moments soaking in the light from this gorgeous open cluster before moving on to Cassiopeia. Still using the 10×50s I swept out from Ι Cephei in the constellation Cepheus instead of using Caph in Cassiopeia as a starting point and within a matter of moments I had the faint glow of Messier 52 within my FOV. As open clusters go M52 did not look as substantial when compared to M103 - even using the 25×100s I have to say that M103 delivered a far nicer view. With averted vision the open cluster even showed some real granularity and gave up some of the stars hiding at it’s core which made for a really thrilling observation.
By this time it was 23:44 UT and I had to cut my session short, but I was delighted that I had finally seen Kushida and wiped Messier 52 from my observing list. I’ve made plans to return to Canes Venatici and take in a sucessful obsevation of M3, I also want to take a closer look at M35 in Gemini so hopefully the clear skies will continue into the weekend.
Tags: 144P/Kushida, Bresser 10x50, Canes Venatici, Caph, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Cor Caroli, Gemini, I Cephei, M103, M3, M35, M52, Strathspey 25x100
Posted in Observing | 1 Comment »
The last few weeks have been tough: 144P/Kushida has been virtually non-existent and my deep sky observing has just gone straight out of the window. However, much to my relief Thursday night offered a clear spell, albeit a short one. The sky transparency wasn’t all that great, but I certainly wasn’t complaining - you take what you can get under these kind of circumstances.
I decided that I wasn’t going to squander any of my precious time chasing after Kushida when I could be catching up with my deep sky observing. My targets for the night were Messier 35, an open cluster in Gemini and Messier 103 and Messier 52, both open clusters in Cassiopeia. I set up the tripod from about 22:40 UT and was just finishing mounting my Bresser 10×50s when a cloud layer rolled in over the western horizon and quickly obscured the sky. To add to that, it also began to rain so I had to pack up and head indoors to wait and hope for the skies to clear.
Somebody up there was listening because within half an hour the clouds had drifted away leaving behind them a reasonably clear sky. I headed back out at around 23:20 UT, this time just with the 10×50s hand held and immediately trained them on Gemini. By using the stars Tejat and Propus as a guide, M35 wasn’t at all hard to find and instantly jumped out at me from the 7° FOV. At a magnitude of 5.3 M35 is a fairly bright DSO and under suitable sky conditions the open cluster can even be made out with the naked eye. Through my bins the cluster offered a wonderful view with some subtle granularity, but that could possibly have been down to the atmospheric conditions. After spending some time studying M35 I moved on to Cassiopeia, but not before stopping to take in some of the sights in Auriga. Namely M36, M37 and M38 which for me are just some of the finest distant open clusters observable in the night sky. If you’ve not looked at these three open clusters before, do so - you won’t be disappointed.
Finding M103 in Cassiopiea was no hard task as the open cluster sits quite close to the star Ruchbah, but at magnitude 7.4 M103 is not as vivid as M35 in Gemini and is not quite as dense. I’d have to agree with Harlow Shapely who classified M103 as a loose and poor cluster, but while M103 lacks the pizazz of M35 it still makes for a noteworthy observation. Messier 52 on the other hand proved to be a harder nut to crack as it remained elusive to me no matter how many times I swept out from the star Caph towards the constellation Cepheus. Visibility really wasn’t tack sharp and some thin fractocumulus clouds were impeding my view so my lack of success was probably down to that.
As the conditions steadily declined I decided to wrap things up and return to M52 at some future point when the weather proved to be far more agreeable. I’d also like to return to M35 and M103 with the 25×100s but that’s for another time. For the moment I’m happy I was able to get out and score two DSOs off the list and take in some satisfying observations.
Tags: 144P/Kushida, Auriga, Bresser 10x50, Caph, Cassiopiea, Cepheus, Gemini, Harlow Shapely, M103, M35, M36, M37, M38, M52, Propus, Ruchbah, Tejat, Weather
Posted in Observing | No Comments »
It’s been almost a fortnight since I posted any fresh material up here, but it really has been an on-going battle with the weather. Saturday night offered some respite from the stormy conditions that hit the east of Scotland by late afternoon and I was able to get out for half an hour with the Bresser 10×50s to take in a view of Messier 41 in Canis Major. The hazy visibility and the local light pollution really didn’t do this beautiful open cluster any justice, but it was still nice to get out and do some star gazing for a change. In addition to this I’ve also been doggedly trying to pursue 144P/Kushida as it glides through the constellation of Taurus, but I’ve had very little success with this elusive comet. My last observing session was over two weeks ago and since then I’ve only managed to snatch the odd hour or two during the last couple of nights, but still to no avail. Bad sky transparency and general light pollution have ensured that my runs at Kushida have become a frustrating chore rather than an exciting challenge. Still I am optimistic that I can grab a decent if not better observation of this ghostly comet as it slowly reaches perihelion in the next few days.
Even although the weather has proved to be a thorn in my side when it comes to observational astronomy, I have found myself becoming more and more interested in it as a subject. The formation of cloud systems particularly interests me, which I have began to photograph over the last week or so. On the back of this I decided to start a new project called White Light which is built upon the open source photoblogging software Pixel Post. White Light join Flickr (you can view my photostream over at http://www.flickr.com/photos/photonjunkie/) will serve as a testing ground for my photographic skills and as a to showcase for some of my more interesting ’skyscapes’ which I hope you will enjoy. While I try to harmonize my passion for astronomy with my new found cloud obsession, I really do wish that the weather would clear up just enough so I can catch a glimpse of Kushida. As someone once said: “Of all ills that one endures, hope is a cheap and universal cure.” I guess I’ll be clinging on to that cheap and universal cure then . . .
[Post edited 07.02.09]
Tags: 144P/Kushida, Bresser 10x50, Canis Major, M41, Taurus, Weather
Posted in Observing | No Comments »
Since RevAaron over at Caffeinated Astronomy began following comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin), his observations and reports have inspired me to spend a little time doing some comet hunting of my own. While comet Lulin skims the dawn horizon and remains (for me) an elusive object, comet 144P/Kushida is well placed for extended observing. Riding high up in the constellation of Taurus, comet Kushida currently has a magnitude of around 10.7 and promises to rapidly brighten as it climbs towards perihelion at the end of January.
With clear skies on Monday night I set up my 25×100 binoculars and began my run at Kushida from 21:30 UT onwards. It was easy enough to locate the position of the comet using a finder chart but it was another thing actually gleaning any substantial detail from it. Sky conditions were excellent - transparency was good as was the seeing but the glare from the waxing gibbous Moon really impinged on my observation and all but washed Kushida away.
Using averted vision I believe I was able to just discern the extremely faint green/blue smudge of the comet but I was not entirely trusting of my own vision. Undeterred by the Moon light I persevered with my hunt for 144P/Kushida but after a further 45 minutes of continued scrutiny I gave in to the futility of my search and called it quits at about 10:20 UT.
While the results of my observation were very ambiguous, it was a good chance to lay the groundwork for further observations that I plan to undertake in the coming weeks (weather permitting). Hopefully with a little luck I can catch a good concrete sighting of this comet as it reaches perihelion towards the end of the month.
Tags: 144P/Kushida, C/2007 N3 Lulin, Comet, Strathspey 25x100, Taurus
Posted in Observing | 1 Comment »