Post by patrickm on Aug 27, 2011 22:04:25 GMT -6
The clouds finally cleared up on the north side around 10pm, so I decided to quickly take advantage for a few hours of close to home viewing. My back and now my stomach—thanks to my back meds—have been problematic, keeping me cooped up for the better part of the last month & forcing the cancellation of the first week of our vacation. While it was questionable to go out at all, I definitely made a wise decision sticking within easy walking distance to the house. Our birch tree has outgrown its specs and now completely covers our back yard, the spot lights are back on at Sunken Gardens, and Horner is a drive, not a walk, with all of my gear. I just didn't have that in me tonight, let alone pushing all my gear up the hill there. That really only left sleep—yeah, right—or a trip back to Waters Elementary.
The turf playground was free of soccer players and two of the light posts had burned out bulbs. It was significantly darker than our outreach night spot about 75' away! That's all the good news. The bad news is that while it was much darker, it is also still severely light polluted. Without a shroud, which I don't recommend in the city, or two hands cupped around the eyepiece, all views suffered from light glare and image doubling on FOV. Not cool! My small kingdom for an Astrobrella(TM).
That said, I had the complete run of the place! Only one dog walker bothered to speak to me, from the sidewalk while I set up. "Anything special" is now A Comet, which seems to go much further in satisfying their curiosity than whatever platitude I usually burp out. In spite of my entreaty, neither he nor any other neighbors turned up the rest of the eve.
After setup, I tried to block the most offensive lamp with a backpack, ep case, OTA case, mount case, cart totem pole but it crumbled after only a few minutes each time I set it up. I did manage to get WLUW on the PowerTank AM/FM radio, which is cool and a nice bonus. By 2am, I was listening to small Noir radio plays on left of the dial station. Good Io transit accompaniment!
With everything covered in dew and my back starting to ache, I packed in about 2:30 and headed home. The Io transit was the first one I've seen in this scope and I watched closely! COOL!
08/26/11 Waters
Double Double - Epsilon1 Lyrae
(Double Star in Lyra)
Observed: Aug 26, 2011 23:00:41
"Easily split w/good separation 13mm & 8mm"
Messier 110
(Elliptical Galaxy in Andromeda)
"Not yet"
Blue Snowball Nebula - NGC 7662
(Planetary Nebula in Andromeda)
Observed: Aug 26, 2011 23:42:58
"Nice. Faint clearing in center with averted vision, but bad seeing. No central star visible."
Messier 71
(Globular Cluster in Sagitta)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:05:19
"Very tough to make out under city lights. Averted vision helps a bit."
C/2009 P1 (Garradd)
(Comet in Sagitta)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:16:08
"Easier to nail than M71! Why? No tail here, but not expected in the city."
Neptune
(Planet in Aquarius)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:35:02
"Blue grey. Still not sparkling. Good seeing someday."
Jupiter
(Planet in Aries)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:50:44
"Seeing not great. Can't see GRS. What IS that black spot there? GRS finally visible at 01:49! Woo! As Mystrerious Black Spot disappears. GRS actually visible as a fainter spot than surrounding EB! Is Great but sure ain't red. Somewhere inside it is Io. Invisible to me."
Io
(Moon of Jupiter in Aries)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:55:57
"Transit started at 12:55. Nice!"
NGC 752
(Open Cluster in Andromeda)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 1:26:50
"Pretty, large open cluster. 58 stars counted."
Andromeda Galaxy - Messier 31
(Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 1:35:17
""
Messier 32
(Elliptical Galaxy in Andromeda)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 1:45:30
Messier 15
(Globular Cluster in Pegasus)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 2:20:51
"Spectacular and good night!"
The turf playground was free of soccer players and two of the light posts had burned out bulbs. It was significantly darker than our outreach night spot about 75' away! That's all the good news. The bad news is that while it was much darker, it is also still severely light polluted. Without a shroud, which I don't recommend in the city, or two hands cupped around the eyepiece, all views suffered from light glare and image doubling on FOV. Not cool! My small kingdom for an Astrobrella(TM).
That said, I had the complete run of the place! Only one dog walker bothered to speak to me, from the sidewalk while I set up. "Anything special" is now A Comet, which seems to go much further in satisfying their curiosity than whatever platitude I usually burp out. In spite of my entreaty, neither he nor any other neighbors turned up the rest of the eve.
After setup, I tried to block the most offensive lamp with a backpack, ep case, OTA case, mount case, cart totem pole but it crumbled after only a few minutes each time I set it up. I did manage to get WLUW on the PowerTank AM/FM radio, which is cool and a nice bonus. By 2am, I was listening to small Noir radio plays on left of the dial station. Good Io transit accompaniment!
With everything covered in dew and my back starting to ache, I packed in about 2:30 and headed home. The Io transit was the first one I've seen in this scope and I watched closely! COOL!
08/26/11 Waters
Double Double - Epsilon1 Lyrae
(Double Star in Lyra)
Observed: Aug 26, 2011 23:00:41
"Easily split w/good separation 13mm & 8mm"
Messier 110
(Elliptical Galaxy in Andromeda)
"Not yet"
Blue Snowball Nebula - NGC 7662
(Planetary Nebula in Andromeda)
Observed: Aug 26, 2011 23:42:58
"Nice. Faint clearing in center with averted vision, but bad seeing. No central star visible."
Messier 71
(Globular Cluster in Sagitta)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:05:19
"Very tough to make out under city lights. Averted vision helps a bit."
C/2009 P1 (Garradd)
(Comet in Sagitta)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:16:08
"Easier to nail than M71! Why? No tail here, but not expected in the city."
Neptune
(Planet in Aquarius)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:35:02
"Blue grey. Still not sparkling. Good seeing someday."
Jupiter
(Planet in Aries)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:50:44
"Seeing not great. Can't see GRS. What IS that black spot there? GRS finally visible at 01:49! Woo! As Mystrerious Black Spot disappears. GRS actually visible as a fainter spot than surrounding EB! Is Great but sure ain't red. Somewhere inside it is Io. Invisible to me."
Io
(Moon of Jupiter in Aries)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 0:55:57
"Transit started at 12:55. Nice!"
NGC 752
(Open Cluster in Andromeda)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 1:26:50
"Pretty, large open cluster. 58 stars counted."
Andromeda Galaxy - Messier 31
(Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 1:35:17
""
Messier 32
(Elliptical Galaxy in Andromeda)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 1:45:30
Messier 15
(Globular Cluster in Pegasus)
Observed: Aug 27, 2011 2:20:51
"Spectacular and good night!"
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