I was eleven years old when I was given my first telescope back in 1988: a 60mm red tube Tasco refractor on an alt-azimuth mount. It opened up a larger window to the heavens for me, and granted me some very memorable observations of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. For nearly ten years that telescope was a constant companion as I observed the night sky, but then it slowly found it’s way into the attic, and began gathering dust while I started to pursue a career as a musician, and a sound engineer.
As the time passed — I still don’t know why? — I began to feel the pull of the night sky again. It is hard to explain, but perhaps it’s the feeling of oneness that astronomy gives me — the knowledge that we are part of something uniquely special, and wholly inexplicable. Whatever the reason all I knew was that I wanted to be back out there drinking in the wonders of the universe.
To reacquaint myself with the night sky I bought myself a pair of Bresser 10×50 binoculars. Every amateur astronomer worth their salt should own a pair of binoculars — big or small they are an indispensable tool. I always looked at the glossy adverts for the large telescopes in the monthly astronomy magazines, but never felt it was the right time to be splashing out a sizable sum of money for such a serious instrument. Instead I stepped up the binocular ladder, and purchased a pair of Strathspey 25×100 binoculars — a sound astronomical investment, and one that I would advise any budding astronomer to make.
Since then I have traversed my way across the solar system; through the galaxy, and beyond into the vast gulf of interstellar space. However like all astronomers I can’t help wanting to get just that little bit closer to the cosmos; in my case the Moon and the planets as well as some of the brighter deep sky objects. I’ve always had a love of refractors, and when I saw that David Hinds had an Easter special on a Celestron Omni XLT 120mm refractor mounted on a solid GEM, I couldn’t resist jumping at the chance to own one.
I have to confess that I was quite daunted by the task of setting up a telescope on an equatorial mount, but after a few practice runs I soon got the hang of it. The scope’s first light came early on Friday morning, (17.04.09) and polar aligning it proved to be easier than what I thought it would be thanks to some handy advice I received on Twitter from @craiggold who runs the excellent new blog Starmunchers . My target for the session was Saturn which gave me an excuse to use the new 6mm Celestron Omni Plössl — one of two eyepieces — that I had purchased along with the scope. The conditions were not great, and in atypical fashion the clouds rolled in just after I had set everything up. This left me wondering if my session had bought it there and then; I decided to wait the clouds out which eventually cleared partially thanks to an easterly breeze.
With some clear sky above I set about locating Saturn using the finder, and the included 25mm eyepiece which I have to say really impressed me. The view across the whole field was tack sharp, and quite contrasty with zero chromatic aberration. Even at 40x magnification Saturn’s edge on rings were clearly visible as were some of the brighter Moons, but when I popped the 6mm Plössl into the diagonal I was presented with a wonderfully crisp planetary display.
Although there was some mild chromatic aberration, and the seeing wasn’t all that great I did manage to observe a slight opening between Saturn’s rings as well as two vague ochre bands in the northern, and southern hemispheres. In orbit around the giant planet I could easily see the three moons Titan, Rhea and Iapetus, but for some reason Dione eluded me. The view was utterly hypnotic, and I spent just over an hour tracking it across the sky, but it wasn’t long before my fun was brought to an abrupt end by an armada of cumulus cloud that quickly overtook the starry sky. I can honestly say that this was the most exhilrating observing session that I’ve had in a long time. Saturn was a mesmerizing sight, and I’ll certainly be returning to this distant planet as often as I can before it fades into the summer sky. As far as the new scope is concerned I am absolutely delighted with it, and would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of upgrading to a larger instrument.
Tags: Bresser 10x50, Celestron Omni XLT 120, Iapetus, Rhea, Saturn, Strathspey 25x100, Tasco 60mm, Titan
Posted in Astro Art, Observing | 2 Comments »
Sunday (05.04.09) marked the end of MoonWatch week, which for me has been a fun event to celebrate even if the weather has not always cooperated. On this occasion the promising blue evening sky had given way to the fog like veil of cirrostratus cloud later that night, which I would have cursed at any other time if it weren’t for the hazy lunar corona that it was helping to create.
With Regulus in Leo sitting just above the Moon I decided to use the Bresser 10×50s mounted on the tripod to make a wide field observation. Trying to identify the number of lunar objects that I could see at this magnification was also quite fun. Near the southern terminator I could partially discern the Mare Nubium while to the north I could easily make out the giant ray crater Copernicus and the Mare Imbrium. The vast bay of the Sinus Iridium and the dark, lava filled crater Plato were also clearly visible in and around this area.
Looking eastwards I had no problem observing the dark stains of the brightly lit Maria — this included the Mare: Serenitatis, Vaporum, Tranquillitatis, Crisium & Foecunditatis — while the bright rays of Langrenus and the outlines of Petavius as well as Furnerius were all visible. I also managed to catch (with some added scrutiny) the smaller ray craters Manilius, Menelaus and Proclus, all of which looked like minute pin-pricks of light against the lunar surface.
By the time I had finished making a preliminary sketch the cloud cover had grown just that little bit thicker. It looked more and more likely that a blanket of stratus would begin to roll in from the west quite soon so I was happy to have made the observation when I did. All in all I have to say that this short lunar jaunt was the perfect way to end the first MoonWatch week. The second MoonWatch week won’t take place until late October, just after Jupiter SkyWatch week — both of which I’m really looking forward to. In between then and now I’m hoping to complete the Binocular Messier Club list and make some headway with the Lunar 100, which is more than enough to keep this amateur astronomer busy for some time.
[Post edited: 07.04.09]
Tags: Bresser 10x50, Copernicus, Langrenus, Leo, Lunar Corona, Manilius, Mare Crisium, Mare Foecunditatis, Mare Nubium, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Vaporum, Menelaus, Moon, MoonWatch, Petavius, Plato, Proclus, Regulus, Sinus Iridium
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Time, as they say, waits for nobody and when I look back towards the beginning of the month I am left wondering where all the time has gone. March began (01.03.09 & 02.03.09) by bidding a fond farewell to comet Lulin as it started the long journey back out towards the distant reaches of the solar system. Around this time I also logged the open cluster M47 from the Binocular Messier Club list with the 10×50s, but with an elevation of around +18° M47 offered a rather sketchy observation as it drifted through the southern sky glow. I had also tried to catch two other open clusters in this part of the sky: M46 (which is very close to M47) and M50 in Monoceros. Both remained hidden from view, again due to the sky conditions, but I am going to make every effort to catch these two objects before they disappear into the summer evenings.
Besides my Lulin and Messier observations, the beginning of the month (05.03.09 & 06.03.09) also offered me the perfect opportunity to study the cratered surface of the waning gibbous Moon and score a number of objects from the Lunar 100 list. The most notable objects included the Vallis Alpes, the crater remnant Hipparchus as well as the mysterious Bessel Ray and the ancient crater of Clavius. Aside from viewing a good many Lunar 100 objects I also took the time to explore many features beyond the scope of the list and I made wonderful observations of prominent impact craters such as Reinhold, Herschel, Eudoxus, Aristoteles and many more.
Beyond this point bad weather conditions brought things to an abrupt end for almost two weeks, so it was nearer to the end of March (21.03.09) before I managed out, this time turning my gaze towards two faint galaxies in Canes Venatici: Messier 94 and Messier 63. However, the immediate interference of a neighbor’s extremely intrusive light combined with the neck breaking altitude of +41° put paid to a more in-depth observation. I dare say that I will return to these two deep sky objects in the next few months when they are both in a better position.
Following on from this I then spent some time a few mornings later (24.03.09) hunting down three more Messier objects: the open clusters M29 and M39 in Cygnus as well as the planetary nebula M27 in Vulpecula. I couldn’t have asked for better conditions and I easily tracked down the two open clusters but the urban terrain combined with a low position in the sky unfortunately prevented me from viewing M27. In addition to my deep sky observations I serendipitously caught two satellites through the 25×100s as they shot over the eastern sky. After some digging around on the web I whittled my options down to two possible designations: A0-27 and ITAMSAT 1. I’ve never been very good at catching iridium flares or tracking satellites, so I still have some niggling doubts over the identities of the two space craft, but it seems as though A0-27 and ITAMSAT 1 are my best bet.
To finally wrap things up I took in a short view of Saturn and the cloud enshrouded Titan as they sat serenely under the watchful eye of Leo. Upon making this observation I originally thought that I’d also seen the small Saturnian moon of Iapetus, but later investigation revealed that it was in fact HP 54954, a 9th magnitude G class star about 365 light years distant. So unfortunately, no cigar.
In retrospect March has definitely been a celestial smorgasbord, but as MoonWatch week is upon us UK amateur astronomers I plan to spend much of my time gazing at the checkered lunar surface. Hopefully the elements will cooperate and grant me some decent Moon watching weather.
Tags: A0-27, Aristoteles, Bessel Ray, Bresser 10x50, C/2007 N3 Lulin, Canes Venatici, Clavius, Cygnus, Eudoxus, Galaxies, Herschel, Hipparchus, HP 54954, ITAMSAT 1, M27, M29, M39, M46, M47, M50, M63, M94, Monoceros, Moon, Reinhold, Saturn, Strathspey 25x100, The Sunflower Galaxy, Titan, Vallis Alpes, Vulpecula
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Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) was discovered back in July 2007 by Ye Quanzhi and Lin Chi-Sheng from Lulin Observatory in Taiwan. Within the next few days this very same comet will make it’s closet approach to the Earth at just 0.41 astronomical units, the equivalent of 61 million kilometers. What the weather conditions will be like over Central Scotland at this time will be anyones’ guess, but I’m not going to hold out much hope for a clear sky.
However, as luck would have it, I was offered the opportunity to observe Lulin early this morning as the thick blanket of stratus that had been bearing down over Falkirk was slowly torn apart by high altitude wind shear. Finding the comet was a breeze and my Bresser 10×50 binoculars easily revealed the diffuse, ball like coma and the bright nucleus, but minus the tail or the anti tail.
After spending some time observing with the 10×50s, I decided to set up the 25×100s to see how much more detail I could pull from my light polluted skies. With direct vision the coma was still quite diffuse but I could easily discern the bright nucleus as well as a faint hint of the green hue that Lulin is emitting due to the gaseous out jetting of cyanogen and diatomic carbon. Averted vision caused the entire coma to brighten noticeably and revealed a tenuous glimpse of the dust tail trailing after the comet, but the ion tail was sadly still elusive. This really was a magnificent and thrilling sight and I took the opportunity to produce an isophote drawing which was used for reference when creating the final sketch above.
Unfortunately the clouds decided to quickly reclaim the sky and although my session only lasted around 30 minutes I am extremely glad that I got the chance to observe Lulin. I dare say that my sketch would have yielded far more detail had I made an observation from a dark sky site, but you work with what you’ve got. I’d love to spend another morning under the stars in the company of this comet, especially with better weather conditions, but the prospects of that happening look pretty slim. If you’ve not done so yet, I would highly recommend taking in a view of this stunning comet - you won’t be disappointed!
Tags: Bresser 10x50, C/2007 N3 Lulin, Strathspey 25x100, Weather
Posted in Astro Art, Observing | 5 Comments »
What began as an A-one observing session early on Thursday morning quickly ended under a blanket of cirrus cloud. I had planned on taking a look at Messier 13 and Messier 92 in the constellation of Hercules, but it seemed that the weather had other ideas.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I’d say visibility was around 3 - I could still see some of the brighter stars but it was like trying to peer through an opaque window. Using the 10×50s I drifted down from Mizar and Alcor in Ursa Major and landed on what I thought (at the time) was eta Herculis and pi Herculis but was in fact iota Draconis and theta Draconis. I really didn’t realise how off target I was, but even if I had been in the right part of the sky, M13 and M92 were probably lost to me anyway.
After half an hour of fruitless searching I decided to abandon these two DSOs for another night when conditions were less stringent. As I turned to head back in doors I saw the glimmer of Saturn above the roof tops towards the south and decided to break out the 25×100s for a closer look. This time around Titan was not as bright (due to visibility) and took on an almost pink hue while Saturn offered up a rather vexing surprise. As I foucused on the distant gas giant I could make out a thin, very faint line running through the planetary disc. As I gazed through the large bins I really began to question what I was seeing. Were my eye’s decieving me or was I observing the rings of Saturn? I took the time to make a quick sketch of the observation in my notebook which I then transposed into a digital render. While this could have been my eye’s playing tricks on me, I think sometimes you’ve just got to trust your own vision and go with what you’ve observed. Seeing is believing and believing is seeing as they say.
Tags: Alcor, Bresser 10x50, Hercules, M13, M92, Mizar, Saturn, Strathspey 25x100, Titan, Ursa Major
Posted in Astro Art, Observing | 2 Comments »
