Comet Machholz, Saturn and the moon

Conditions:
Clear, poor transparency, seeing 2/5, moon at 62.2% waxing gibbous

Targets Observed:
Comet Machholz, Saturn and craters Plato and Archimedes

Music
None

Notes
Another clear and cool night, and everything well placed for viewing the night's prime targets.

Started with Comet Machholz which tonight is in Eridanus, a dim constellation south west of Orion. The comet lies two biocular fields WSW of Rigel (beta Ori) and appears just less than one field away from Zaurak (gamma Eri). It forms a little triangle with two magnitude 6 stars. The comet is glowing at magnitude 4.8, and is very easy in binoculars, even with a full quarter moon in the sky. No tail visible tonight, but there is some distending and the coma shows an intensity, but not a prick of light in my scope at 91x.

Moved on to Saturn, which is in Gemini, and sporting Titan at a PA of about 240 degrees. A clear dark band could be seen across the face of the planet. Caitlin had her first glimpse tonight and it blew her away.

We finally took in the moon, which is waning past it's first quarter. Crater's PLato and Archimedes were in glorious relief. Only a little viewing was possible before the moon flitted behind the Douglas-firs.

Saturn...finally!

Conditions:
Calm, foggy, seeing fairly steady, but skies very murky

Targets Observed:
Saturn

Music
None.

Notes
Finally a planet. After nearly six months of skywatching, a planet swings into view on a clearish night and I pried open the fog and cloud to see it.

Saturn was beautiful, a dun coloured smudge at low power, but easily seen at high power with the Barlow. Ring structure was clear enough, but the conditions weren't good enough to make out any distinguishing features. It just looked like a little planet painted on the sky. Seeing Saturn is unreal. If we get clearer nights, I'll try to pick off some of the moons; Titan at least.

Stuff to look for when the sky clears

Conditions:
Cloudy for weeks, or too early to bed for me to enjoy the odd clear sky

Notes

Notes here about upcoming things to look for now that I have missed the Geminids which flew above the rain storm last night.

• Comet Machholz rises in the Northern Hemisphere


• Saturn is now prime for viewing


• A Java script utility for Saturn's moons

At play in the autumn jewel boxes

Conditions:
Clear, cool transparency 4/5, seeing 5/10 above and 2/10 to the west through the Squamish wind flow. new moon

Targets Observed:
Targets in Perseus, Orion and Taurus

Music
Irish mix

Notes
It's been a while since I've acquainted myself with the autumn sky and clear skies being so rare at this time of year, I was keen to see what I could in a general way.

The sky is littered with naked eye objects. This includes the open clusters of the Hyades and Pleiades, and the double clusters in Perseus as well as the big cluster around Mirfak. These are huge and deep and rich and great binocular targets.

In terms of clusters, I alos observed Kemble's Cascade a chain which leads to NGC 1502, a small cluster of about 45 stars. Also viewed NGC 1647 in Taurus, just a few degrees from Aldebaran. This is a pool of stars, including lots of pairs.

The seeing was crappy tonight as there was a Squamish blowing and the air column was appaling. This meant that most of the doubles and multiples I attempted were not resolvable. The quad in M42 in Orion was seen occaisionally but mostly just the three brightest. Lambda Ori was not resolvable and sigma Ori, another quad, only showed three stars, with the 10th magnitude one obscured by glare. No chance to split Rigel either, not that my scope is up to the task at any rate.

I also searched in vain for the diffuse nebula M78 in Orion but the sky was a little bright and far too unsteady to look there.

Overall a good night. No aurora, as I thought there might be, but a good orientation to the autumn jewels.

Eta Cas and a planetary conjunction

Conditions:
Murky, terrible, overcast and foggy

Targets Observed:
Eta Cass, Jupiter and Venus

Music
None

Notes
THis is actually an entry from November 4 and 5. On the evening, trying out the telescope with my dad, the conditions were clear all day and then in the evening the moisture had precipitated in the sky to become cloud and low fog. Through the murk though we spotted eta Cas, a beuatiful pair with a yellow primary and a red companion. it was all we could see through the cloud.

The next morning, riding the ferry to the mainland, I was mesmerized by the stunning conjunction of Venus and Jupiter.

Lunar Eclipse

Conditions:
Clear, transparency 4/5 Seeing 9/10, full moon in eclipse

Targets Observed:
Moon

Music
Game Four of the 2004 World Series

Notes
THe moon rose in eclipse around here but didn't clear the trees until around 8:30, by which time it was orange on the southwest edge with brightening beginning in the north west. As we tracked it, the edge of the earth's shadow crept over the rim and passed Aristarchus at the moment the Red Sox clinched their first World Series in 86 years.

There were some lovely colours as the eclispe progressed. Charcoal grey, a bloddy red-orange tint and later, Aine swore she saw blues and purples along the edge of the shadow.

The seeing was outstanding, allowing steady high powered views of the moon's surface, although it was almost too dark at times. The light on the surface was a lovely even tone, giving the impression of the moon as a smooth surfaced sphere gliding through the erath's shadow.

A stunning eclipse all told.

Objects in Pegasus, Andromeda, Triangulum and Aries

Conditions:
Transparency 1/5, Seeing 4/10, Moon at 8.3% waxing crescent, set

Targets Observed:
M31, M33, M76, M45, MGC7331, NGC7662, NGC752, Doubles 78 Peg, gamma Ari, gamma And

Music
2nd Test, India v Australia Day One

Notes
What a night. The conditions were not great, I was hoping for more transparency, but the air was relatively warm and there were no clouds or wind. I warmed up with 78 Peg, a close pair that I couldn't seperate. I began with hopes of finding some fuzzies in Pegasus, notably NGC7331 and NGC7662, a galaxy and a planetary nebula respectively. A combination of my unadjusted eyes and the moisture in the atmosphere made them invisible.

And so I scanned the shapes of these early fall constellations, asterisms that are not familiar to me. It took a while to orient, Triangulum, Aries and the two arms of Andromeda. When I did I turned to M33, a new target. Following a line from M31 through two stars like a gate and then down through Mu And and beta And another five degrees or so to a faint smudge that was M33. It's a face on spiral galaxy held within a triangle of 9th magnitude stars, but I could only just make out the slightly asymmetrical centre.

Excited by the discovery, I took a shot at another Messier object, M76 which is a planetary nebula near rho Per. Not much popped out, until sweeping the area, something very faint caught my eye. Sure enough a subsequent comparison of the star field confirmed my find. No structure could be resolved and while I was watching it and sketching, the transparency degraded noticibly.

Turning to some clusters, I found NGC752, which is a really large and pretty open cluster just northwest of beta Tri. It features some nice doubles and was quite the jewel box. I should come back and sketch it.

The deteriorating transparency was my cue to look for doubles. I found some lovely ones. Looking for gamma Ari, I stumbled upon an Albeirio-type pair a little further east. Gamma Ari itself is a lovely cat's eye pair. But the best was saved till last: the spectacular tight green and yellow pair of gamma And. I could stare at this pair for hours. Even thorough the Barlow they looked great.

As I was about to pack up, the Pleides came into few from behind the Douglas-fir. I'll sketch them another day, the sisters and their myriad components.

And all the while, India took a couple of quick wickets in the post-lunch session.