Photo Frenzy – August 16, 2009

Location: at home in Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: 0%
Transparency: above average (4/5)
Seeing: est. avg (3 or 4 out of 5)
Darkness: no moon, city glow
Wind: almost none (see below)
Temperature: 80º-85º
Humidity: 70%-85%
Dew Point: 72º-75º
Time: 9:00 pm – 1:00 am CDT
OTA: 8″ SC

Began with visual observation of Jupiter. Best view I have ever seen. Two main belts easily seen, two thin faint belts also visible in steadier seeing. All four Galilean moons visible: one left and three right.

Took photos of many targets using the D50. Most images had elongated stars varied in length and direction. In a couple of photos the stars are almost doughnut-shaped with dark centers. A few photos had no elongation, even at long exposures. Magnification shows elongated shapes are often irregularly shaped. My best explanation for the elongation is wind, although I felt no wind all night with only rare light gusts. Shutter is on 5 second timer. Perhaps I will try a longer timer next time.

Photos of M103 and M31 suffered from elongation. Photos of η Cas and Albireo (shown below) came out well. M76 was barely discernible even with a 30 second exposure at ISO 1600. Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC6543) small, vivid teal, somewhat hazy — maybe from initial dew buildup that I didn’t recognize until much later.

Also took several photos of Jupiter and its moons, none of which were very good because of (as yet undiscovered) dew on the corrector. Several photos of Neptune and Uranus showed good color but no detail.

Albireo (β Cyg - double star). Click image for large (1500x1000) size.

Clear Skies and Good Seeing – 18 October 2008

Location: my backyard
Time: 8pm – 11pm
cloud cover: none
temperature: low 60s
humidity: maybe 60% climbing to 80%
seeing: good (4/5)
transparency: excellent (5/5)
darkness: no moon, suburban light pollution
instrument: 8″ SCT

Don and Carol came, brought binoculars. We started by observing Jupiter. Polar cloud caps visible, almost convinced myself I could see the GRS. Four moons visible, Don and I remembered all names but Callisto.

Pointed out summer triangle Vega-Deneb-Altair and constellation Cygnus. Observed familiar double stars Albireo and epsilon lyrae.

Clusters next. Started with M39 OC in Cygnus: clear blue pinpoints. Then looked at M15 GC in Pegasus: fuzzy ball with several distinct stars.

Next came planetary nebulae M27 in Vulpecula and M57 in Lyra. Outline of M27 was distinct but dumbell shape difficult to discern. Carol’s eyes seemed more sensitive than Don’s or mine. Ring of M57 clear, Carol could see dim star at center. First time I remember seeing planetaries so clearly.

Moved to Andromeda M31. Again Carol could see some swirling where Don and I only saw fuzzy core.

Ice giants came last. Uranus was a nice cyan disk with a white spec, remarkable color. Neptune was small, hard to make out as a disk or any color.

Finally used binoculars to view rising Pleiades. Very nice view in 12×50. Air was still enough for me to see three or four stars with naked eye, in the past it seems like I mostly saw a collective glow.

Dew became a problem later, corrector began fogging lightly around 10:45 even with dew shield. Humidity had coated the binocular

Entry for September 20, 2006

Good seeing last night, although it seemed like there was more ambient light pollution than normal. Overcame starhopping problems with a little help from Sean and my $25 Academy 10×50’s. Saw Neptune, Uranus, alpha1-Capricorni and alpha2, and M31.

Also tried M8 and M20, but could not make out any nebula detail due to light pollution.

Night air was cool and dry, but still warm enough for mosquitos. Ugh.