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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Very Mini and brief Observation Session
19 January 2010

Rare is the clear night now, with heavy clouds day after day, with not a decent night for any observation. Today, the Sun was out and the temps quite comfortable...so I call fellow Chicago Astronomer Steve out for a get reacquainted with our telescopes session and lug them out of winter storage.

He brings out his 90mm Mak and I my Celestron C5...and we set up by the Adler Planetarium...

We do the crescent Moon first, and find the atmosphere ok with seeing, and comparable views thru both scopes. But, we were goofing around more than observing..and before we knew it, clouds were creeping in from the west, cutting our session to sheer minutes.

So I swing to the east where it's still clear and observe Mars, but it was still too low in the muck for decent views. It's very bright now and it will be a good opposition in a few days. Here, you can see my new green 50mw laser direct from China - pointing the way toward Orion.

- In a shoot out with Steve's 5mw green laser, the 50mw is brighter and thicker. It will make a great addition to my arsenal and will attach it to the C11 beast as a guide.

Catching the Orion Nebula, conditions were still good enough to make out the Triangulum nicely and the "thumb".

But the clouds were now too much to fight and off we were for burgers and beers - astronomy for another night. But at least we got our astro fix, albeit short.

[Paulie pchris00]

Glad to hear you got a little taste. If I would have seen you were going out when you first posted on FB, I probably would have come out, but I started lunar observing at 2 PM for about an hour, then went back out just before sunset. I was definitely in a planetary/lunar minset last night, although I snuck a couple of quick peeks at M31 & M42. I caught Jupiter before it set, and had a few looks of steady seeing, althoug it's not in a great viewing position now. I spent quite a bit of time lunar observing, both fascinated by some particular cratering (I don't have the lunar map I was using yesterday, and I'm not seeing it on the one I'm using now), and exploring the polar regions.

Mars rose rather early, but I waited a couple hours (hence all that lunar observing) for it to get higher above the horizon. I was giving the Red Planet looks every so often, because I knew the clouds would move in sooner or later, and I didn't want to miss it altogether. Just before 8 o'clock, I gave it a good, long look, since I was freezing and the seeing had improved a bit. I'm sure I saw the polar ice cap and darker regions on the disk. If I don't get another look at it in the next week before its closest approach, I'm glad I stuck it out last night.

I was really hoping to see Saturn, even if it was just above the horizon, to complete my night, but it was time to warm up a bit before getting ready for work. I was ready early, just in case Saturn was out, but when I walked out the door, clouds filled the sky, except for one small opening. There, Mars was looking down on me before it too was blotted out.

All in all it was a nice observation session, until I looked through my January Sky & Telescope when I got to work. I found out the Moon was jsut above Uranus last night, the only planet (in our solar system anyway) that I've never seen. With all the time I spent looking at the Moon, I could have easily spared time to see something new to me. It really bummed me out to know that after it was too late, so I guess I've learned to do my homework BEFORE I set up the scopes. Oh well. It was good just to get out for a long session, although I wouldn't mind some warmer nights sometime soon.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie,

Are you saying that you have seen every planet except Uranus?

Now, although the IAU says Pluto is not a planet.....we know it really is. Neptune = a blue dot and Uranus a green dot. Just dots...but quite cool to see first hand.

I have observed all 8 planets, except Pluto...and maybe with the C11 I have now, it will be a good possibility.

Spring time goals.

[Paulie pchris00]

Nope, I've never seen Uranus. I've seen Neptune 4 times, twice at Valpo University (with Triton, no less) with the 16", and twice last summer when it was at a conjunction with Jupiter, and thus was easy to find. In the big VU scope, Neptune's blue is so cool. I have probably seen Uranus, because I've spent a few nights looking for it, and had to have scanned the Dob over it, but nothing ever caught my eye. I think once spring arrives maybe I will try hunting down Uranus, the old fashioned way, by sketching star fields and watching for the planet's motion. Pluto isn't even on my radar for now. I'm adding a pic of Netune and Triton that VU posted on their website after the Halloween 2008 observation.

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