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.

Sweeping star fields with Aine

Conditions:
Mostly clear bat 8:30pm. Cloud moved in around 10:30. Transparency 2/5, Seeing 7/10, new moon

Targets Observed:
Alberio, Brocchi's cluster, starfields of Cygnus.

Music
Rolling List

Notes
Just a brief session with Aine tonight, showing her some of the wonders of Cygnus. She liked sweeping the sky and found a star field that appealed to her. "Look at this," she said. A little Milky Way in Cygnus. Just a lovely time with her.

Came back out around 11:00pm to look for deep sky objects in Pegasus and a cloud had moved in. Lots of moisture in the air anyway, and I wasn't sure that I was going to see the targets I was looking for anyway, so with no planets up, I packed it in.

Quartet of craters north of Mare Crisium

Conditions:
Clear, moon at 79% waning gibbous, transparency 4/5, seeing 6/10

Targets Observed:
Craters Cleomedes, Buckhardt, Geminus, Messala and neighbours

Music
Jay Kishor - Amber

Notes
Clear and warm night, with lots of low level atmospheric turbulence flickering the lights on the mainland. But high above the moon, waning gibbous poses an entrancing object. With the 10mm piece in and the Barlow, the terminator lies across a gorgeous quartet of craters north of Mare Crisium.

Starting at Cleomedes, which is all in shadow, there are three small craters to the southwest which I have no names for. Cleomedes is 129km x 129km and is neatly circular. Between Cleomedes and Burckhardt is small Burckhardt E and then Burckhardt itself, an irregularly shaped crater which is 60 x 60 kms and has a small mountain, the very tip of which was still in sunlight.

Moving north, we come to Geminus which is spectacular. Complex walls and a high mountain that cast a shadow right up the east wall of the crater. Geminus is deep, at 5400 meters, and it's mountain is tall. Messala, a lot further north and almost cut off in the darkness of the terminator is the last of this quartet.

To the east of these larger craters are a bunch of smaller ones. I sketched 14 or so tonight.