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:)
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
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:
Friday, July 10, 2009
The Team Photos
Just in case you missed it...here is the team.
Celestron/Vixen SP-C102 (also known as "The Grand Old Refractor)
Tele Vue Pronto (also known as "Tasco Tonto")
Antares 105
William Optics Zenithstar 80 Fluorite (poppa's, not mine)
Celestron/Vixen SP-C102 (also known as "The Grand Old Refractor)
Tele Vue Pronto (also known as "Tasco Tonto")
Antares 105
William Optics Zenithstar 80 Fluorite (poppa's, not mine)
Triple Treat: Iota Cassiopeia
In the astro-community this triple star is well known. But to newcomers and those who have not yet dabbled into the world of double and multiple stars, Iota Cas is one of those rare treats in the night sky. Worth the look and not at all hard to find even with a simple red-dot finder.
Rule Breaker Moment: It is suggested that you use a 90-100mm aperture to split the A-B component of this multiple system. Since the Pronto falls below that criteria, some would think that the Pronto was somehow incapable of splitting it. However, the-little-scope-that-could keeps on going and it split it nicely. While it would be true that with a little more aperture, it would be more pleasing, the little "rule breaker" was at it again.
A-B are not so tough. Epsilon Bootis is tougher and so is Delta Cygni. Iota Cas is not subject to the same glare and magnitude differential like some other double stars, so if you're scope falls below 100mm, it's not out of reach, it just might not be the brightest. I suppose it depends on what you were expecting. The B component is 2.3" apart from the yellow A component while B is decidedly blue. The C component of the triple is 7.3" away at a fainter magnitude of 8.2. Again, not a problem in light polluted skies at 70mm.
The only detriment to this was the altitude. It was quite low in the sky but in moments of steady seeing, it pulled together nicely. Since Iota Cas is in the general area of the Double Cluster, some may overlook it's potential which is unfortunate because Iota Cas is a real eye catcher. So take a look at it!
Iota Cas is one of two "personal memorialized" stars in the sky. We dedicated it to our dear friend and observing buddy Les Swaby who passed away some time ago. This was his favourite object to look at so we think of him when we turn our scopes to Iota Cas.
M:)
Rule Breaker Moment: It is suggested that you use a 90-100mm aperture to split the A-B component of this multiple system. Since the Pronto falls below that criteria, some would think that the Pronto was somehow incapable of splitting it. However, the-little-scope-that-could keeps on going and it split it nicely. While it would be true that with a little more aperture, it would be more pleasing, the little "rule breaker" was at it again.
A-B are not so tough. Epsilon Bootis is tougher and so is Delta Cygni. Iota Cas is not subject to the same glare and magnitude differential like some other double stars, so if you're scope falls below 100mm, it's not out of reach, it just might not be the brightest. I suppose it depends on what you were expecting. The B component is 2.3" apart from the yellow A component while B is decidedly blue. The C component of the triple is 7.3" away at a fainter magnitude of 8.2. Again, not a problem in light polluted skies at 70mm.
The only detriment to this was the altitude. It was quite low in the sky but in moments of steady seeing, it pulled together nicely. Since Iota Cas is in the general area of the Double Cluster, some may overlook it's potential which is unfortunate because Iota Cas is a real eye catcher. So take a look at it!
Iota Cas is one of two "personal memorialized" stars in the sky. We dedicated it to our dear friend and observing buddy Les Swaby who passed away some time ago. This was his favourite object to look at so we think of him when we turn our scopes to Iota Cas.
M:)
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Observing Challenge: Psi Cygni
Yet another challenging double star in the constellation Cygnus. I've been hanging out around here because it is currently in a favourable position in the sky given my limited view of where I was. Psi is listed as a challenge for small scopes and upon it's discovery I could say that a small scope with good quality optics won't have any problems seeing this. Just remember what to expect. Psi has a magnitude differential of 5.0 and 7.5 with a separation of 2.9 arc second. It took me a while to locate it mostly because of the seriously light polluted skies of Mississauga and adding to it, I was just using a red dot finder. The Pronto had no problem splitting this star into it's components with a nice black space in between at about 152X. Seeing helped. It was a steady night. This fine double star is a great example of colour differential, one orange and one blue. It was a nice site.
How I found it was basically scanning very slowly the region just northwest of Deneb somewhat perpendicular to Delta Cygni using low power. Nice thing is the Pronto almost acts as a finderscope in itself. However, I will still maintain that it would have been a lot easier to find in darker skies where you can see more reference stars to get there a tad quicker.
How I found it was basically scanning very slowly the region just northwest of Deneb somewhat perpendicular to Delta Cygni using low power. Nice thing is the Pronto almost acts as a finderscope in itself. However, I will still maintain that it would have been a lot easier to find in darker skies where you can see more reference stars to get there a tad quicker.
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