We are wishing for clear weather over there for the Wednesday eclipse of the Sun in Shanghai. Our man, Malcolm Park, President of the North York Astronomical Association continues to update us on his adventure. Lets hope it clears up...but the forecast is not looking promising.
Check out his blog, Cygnusx1 here
Monday, July 20, 2009
Drive-In Astronomy
I have been frequenting (why was does that word sound so wrong?) the 5 Drive-In in Oakville on a few occasions where it has actually been clear. I have been tempted to set up the Pronto on a whim just to see what would happen. There are literally hundreds of people there hunkered down in their cages watching the big outdoor screen. Karen and I sit outside of the car taking in the film but both of us have drifted off staring at the night sky if the movie is iffy, watching planes make their finals (or takeoffs) from Pearson Airport and looking at, or literally staring at some old familiar sites. Screen One roughly faces north so The Great Bear makes a dive this time a year towards it. Usually we have spotted Jupiter rising over the diner during the film and as we go home late, it's soaring above the parking lot. Saturday night I was trying to split Mizar and Alcor naked eye. I used to be able to do that. Let's face it, my eye's aren't what they used to be. I also left my wallet there and I have to go retrieve it. Silly me!
It could be an interesting outreach for people to learn. Not sure how the management would feel, but it's not a bad thing I suppose. Perhaps I will be more subtle and just use my 8x42s instead. But the Pronto, being small enough, just might do the trick and just keep it at a minimum towards the back. Of course, there is the possibility of using the facility as an outreach during non-movie times, something to consider.
M:)
It could be an interesting outreach for people to learn. Not sure how the management would feel, but it's not a bad thing I suppose. Perhaps I will be more subtle and just use my 8x42s instead. But the Pronto, being small enough, just might do the trick and just keep it at a minimum towards the back. Of course, there is the possibility of using the facility as an outreach during non-movie times, something to consider.
M:)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Uranometria, Struve 2668 and The Living Star Atlas
I was fortunate last night to do a trial run of the Antares 105 and the TV Pronto all at once. Two scopes that are very, very different in how they approach the night sky, granted they are both refractors, they are very different. 8X50 finder scopes are generally adequate for most if not all types of night sky star hopping, but they start to show their limitation with really super-detailed atlas's like Uranometria. Last night I cracked open the Uranometria for the first time in 2009 and immediately felt out of touch and out of whack with the image scale. But after a few false starts, I turned to the Pronto for some interpretation and sure enough, it showed an incredible amount of detail as a finder telescope. It was clearly much better than any standard 8X50 finder scopes obviously with it's shear quality of optics. The Pronto was not physically attached to the Antares, it was sitting on an AZ-3 Mount beside it. There are no plans to adapt the Pronto physically to any telescope at this time.
Struve 2668--With the Pronto as the finder and the Antares as the primary observing scope I was able to do two things at once. Searching for Struve 2668 in Cygnus I could not really make out what I really needed to star hop in the 8X50, but the Pronto began to show details I really hoped to see. Struve 2668 was not all by itself. It's located in a small open cluster known as Do 5 which the 8X50 failed to see, but the Pronto readily saw beside a "wall" of four dimly lit stars. I wasn't just finding, I was observing at the same time. That's a nice feeling. Struve 2668 is a very nice double but not a very bright one and the companion is not easy to spot at first. No problem though in the Antares 105mm. The magnitudes are 6.3 and 8.5 respectively with a separation of 3.4".
Next time someone calls your small, high quality refractor a glorified finder scope, thank them! The Pronto and the Antares 105 make a great team.
M:)
Struve 2668--With the Pronto as the finder and the Antares as the primary observing scope I was able to do two things at once. Searching for Struve 2668 in Cygnus I could not really make out what I really needed to star hop in the 8X50, but the Pronto began to show details I really hoped to see. Struve 2668 was not all by itself. It's located in a small open cluster known as Do 5 which the 8X50 failed to see, but the Pronto readily saw beside a "wall" of four dimly lit stars. I wasn't just finding, I was observing at the same time. That's a nice feeling. Struve 2668 is a very nice double but not a very bright one and the companion is not easy to spot at first. No problem though in the Antares 105mm. The magnitudes are 6.3 and 8.5 respectively with a separation of 3.4".
Next time someone calls your small, high quality refractor a glorified finder scope, thank them! The Pronto and the Antares 105 make a great team.
M:)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Tele Vue Pronto and the "Living Star Atlas"
One of the better reviews of the Tele Vue Pronto courtesy Cloudy Nights, titled Tele Vue Pronto and the Living Star Atlas
While this blog is not really about equipment reviews, from time to time they will be posted. The Backyard Astronomer Blog will remain predominantly an "observing" blog rather than an equipment shootout.
Enjoy
M:)
While this blog is not really about equipment reviews, from time to time they will be posted. The Backyard Astronomer Blog will remain predominantly an "observing" blog rather than an equipment shootout.
Enjoy
M:)
Monday, July 13, 2009
A night of splits and a gas giant (and some Moon)
I finally dedicated a night to observing, and I mean actually doing some hunting and observing as opposed to just prowling around the night sky looking at whatever. At first it looked like we'd be clouded out, but that did change back to clear so we were full steam ahead. Spent most of my time in Cygnus again while I was waiting for the grand prize to clear the horizon. Seeing was a tad iffy.
We were lucky to catch Saturn on it's downward spin towards the horizon. Saturn is increasingly difficult and I felt a tad sorry that we are in the "wave goodbye" stage of it's observing time. But still, it was nice catch in the evening twilight. Something to build on as the evening progresses.
Why do dill flavoured chips taste better while observing???? I don't know.
Then I split things. The telescope was the Antares 105mm Refractor. The location was Saddington Park in Mississauga.
Antares: Low and behold it actually did show a companion but I have to say that it's one big disco ball at that altitude. Granted with iffy seeing, this will happen. I called Karen over because her eyes are better than mine and she has grown accustomed to by annoying habit of finding double stars. She saw it too. So it confirms that at 105mm, this should work. I hope some of you split it in South America instead. Up in Mississauga, it's just a tad too low. But I love the "fiery pale colour" of Antares with a tad of green from the companion. Lovely double, but not in Mississauga.
Struve 2741--Cygnus: Where am I? Oh right, Cygnus. But here's the catch. Silly me should have brought the Sky Atlas 2000.0 but I opted just for the Pocket Sky Atlas thinking that city observing only requires that. Well, that wasn't the case, but anyway (I have issues with scale because my mind gets numb). Moving right along, 2741 is located at 20h 58.5m RA, +50 28' DEC and is easily accessible by star chart. I rate this pair as a "cute pair" because it is. It was very pleasing at about 238X with the seeing permitting. I show this as a blue-white pair and easily split at 2.0".
Then the clouds rolled in: It went from Rated G to R pretty quickly. Enough is enough with this whacky weather where all the promises of "clear skies" went out the window just as I started to observe 2741...TEA and COOKIE TIME!
Then it cleared, back to Rated G.
Struve 2732--Cygnus: 20h 48.7m RA, +51 55' DEC. With the sky now clear, mostly anyway, I moved on to this neat little pair but be careful here. Magnitude Differential Warning!But it's not that bad. I could easily make out the companion and with a split of only 4.3" which is not terribly difficult. But as stated, the primary does outshine the companion with a mag. differential of 6.4 and 8.6 respectively so it is a challenge, but nowhere near impossible for a modest aperture.
49 Cyg--Cygnus: 20h 41.0m RA, +32 18' DEC. 49 Cyg tops off the evening of splits as the Grand Prize is just about to clear the trees at Saddington Park, but anyway. 49 is striking and not too difficult. I have to issue another Magnitude Differential Warning, but be careful of reading too much into the hype although it is 5.8 and 8.1 respectively. Found it fairly easy to identify the companion. It is suggested to be of grey colour, I found it blue again. The primary did not wash out the companion as in 2732 but it was a challenge. Nice thing is, 49 Cyg is easy to locate with an 8X50 finder so you will have no difficulty.
Jupiter: After all the splits, tea, cookies and a few naughty words aimed at the clouds, it was off to Jupiter. Seeing was a problem because Jupiter as most of you reading this are aware, is low for us Northerners. But it's good to see old Jupiter again in the sky. I had the power way to high at one point so I backed down to about 125X and we were making out the festoons in the belts as best we could. Four moons were up at this time so that added to our observing pleasure.
Jupiter at 20: As with everything astronomy related, this will be my 20th year observing the great Jupiter. I first saw it through my trashy but humble Magnicon 234 way back in 1989 before I really knew anything about astronomy so we go back a bit, Jupiter and I. It's always nice to see in the night sky and the sky never feels right without it, IMHO. Good to have you back Jupiter!
Moon: Luna was fun time. Ron and I decided to try and take hand-held shots of the moon and it worked somewhat but we could do better.
Then I tired. Time to go home to bed. I was pleased with tonight because we saw four new objects (Antares companion counted as one) so all in all, a good night (sans clouds)
M:)
Pics from last night:
We were lucky to catch Saturn on it's downward spin towards the horizon. Saturn is increasingly difficult and I felt a tad sorry that we are in the "wave goodbye" stage of it's observing time. But still, it was nice catch in the evening twilight. Something to build on as the evening progresses.
Why do dill flavoured chips taste better while observing???? I don't know.
Then I split things. The telescope was the Antares 105mm Refractor. The location was Saddington Park in Mississauga.
Antares: Low and behold it actually did show a companion but I have to say that it's one big disco ball at that altitude. Granted with iffy seeing, this will happen. I called Karen over because her eyes are better than mine and she has grown accustomed to by annoying habit of finding double stars. She saw it too. So it confirms that at 105mm, this should work. I hope some of you split it in South America instead. Up in Mississauga, it's just a tad too low. But I love the "fiery pale colour" of Antares with a tad of green from the companion. Lovely double, but not in Mississauga.
Struve 2741--Cygnus: Where am I? Oh right, Cygnus. But here's the catch. Silly me should have brought the Sky Atlas 2000.0 but I opted just for the Pocket Sky Atlas thinking that city observing only requires that. Well, that wasn't the case, but anyway (I have issues with scale because my mind gets numb). Moving right along, 2741 is located at 20h 58.5m RA, +50 28' DEC and is easily accessible by star chart. I rate this pair as a "cute pair" because it is. It was very pleasing at about 238X with the seeing permitting. I show this as a blue-white pair and easily split at 2.0".
Then the clouds rolled in: It went from Rated G to R pretty quickly. Enough is enough with this whacky weather where all the promises of "clear skies" went out the window just as I started to observe 2741...TEA and COOKIE TIME!
Then it cleared, back to Rated G.
Struve 2732--Cygnus: 20h 48.7m RA, +51 55' DEC. With the sky now clear, mostly anyway, I moved on to this neat little pair but be careful here. Magnitude Differential Warning!But it's not that bad. I could easily make out the companion and with a split of only 4.3" which is not terribly difficult. But as stated, the primary does outshine the companion with a mag. differential of 6.4 and 8.6 respectively so it is a challenge, but nowhere near impossible for a modest aperture.
49 Cyg--Cygnus: 20h 41.0m RA, +32 18' DEC. 49 Cyg tops off the evening of splits as the Grand Prize is just about to clear the trees at Saddington Park, but anyway. 49 is striking and not too difficult. I have to issue another Magnitude Differential Warning, but be careful of reading too much into the hype although it is 5.8 and 8.1 respectively. Found it fairly easy to identify the companion. It is suggested to be of grey colour, I found it blue again. The primary did not wash out the companion as in 2732 but it was a challenge. Nice thing is, 49 Cyg is easy to locate with an 8X50 finder so you will have no difficulty.
Jupiter: After all the splits, tea, cookies and a few naughty words aimed at the clouds, it was off to Jupiter. Seeing was a problem because Jupiter as most of you reading this are aware, is low for us Northerners. But it's good to see old Jupiter again in the sky. I had the power way to high at one point so I backed down to about 125X and we were making out the festoons in the belts as best we could. Four moons were up at this time so that added to our observing pleasure.
Jupiter at 20: As with everything astronomy related, this will be my 20th year observing the great Jupiter. I first saw it through my trashy but humble Magnicon 234 way back in 1989 before I really knew anything about astronomy so we go back a bit, Jupiter and I. It's always nice to see in the night sky and the sky never feels right without it, IMHO. Good to have you back Jupiter!
Moon: Luna was fun time. Ron and I decided to try and take hand-held shots of the moon and it worked somewhat but we could do better.
Then I tired. Time to go home to bed. I was pleased with tonight because we saw four new objects (Antares companion counted as one) so all in all, a good night (sans clouds)
M:)
Pics from last night:
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