Post by DaveMitsky on Jul 10, 2014 15:54:17 GMT -6
On Saturday night, July the5th, I watched some of the Harrisburg fireworks display from a vantage point on a hill just off one of the routes to the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's Naylor Observatory. After the finale, I headed to the observatory. When I arrived, four ASH members were already observing. Unfortunately, the conditions were far from optimal. Thin cirrus clouds covered a good bit of the sky.
The observatory is in what once was a rural area but there are still plenty of open spaces and a lot of people were setting off fireworks of their own. The evidence of that was plain to hear for several hours, as the sounds of exploding gunpowder echoed throughout the night.
I had a look at M57 through a small Newtonian on a GEM and then entered the French Dome, the home of the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain. Using a 2" 40mm University Optics MK-70 (162x), I calibrated the Argo Navis on Altair and checked its accuracy by giving the fine open cluster M11 in Scutum a quick look.
Next, I put the Moon into view. I scanned the terminator, noting craters such as Plato, Eratosthenes, Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, Arzachel, and other features like Montes Apenninus. The conjunction of Mars and the Moon looked great through the 5" f/5 achromatic refractor that serves as a finderscope for the 17" classical Cassegrain. The two shallow-sky objects were about 23 arc minutes apart at the time.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-the-moon-and-mars-meet-up-in-night-sky-saturday/
The fellow using the 3556mm focal length 14" f/10 Meade LX200GPS SCT in the King Building had 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta in the same 47 arc minute field of view with a 2" 40mm University Optics MK-70 (89x). These two asteroids came to a historic close approach on July 4th and July 5th. Seeing the two brightest and most massive asteroids in the same field of view made my night.
www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/super-close-pairing-ceres-vesta/
After a bit of searching, I was finally able to locate the two minor planets with the 17". At the time, 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta were separated by about 36 arc minutes and were not visible simultaneously in the tiny 26 arc minute maximum true field of view of the 6477mm focal length 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain.
I wasn't about to forget M80, the Firecracker Globular Cluster, again. I slewed the 17" classical Cassegrain to the head of Scorpius and located M80. I replaced the 40mm with a 2" 30mm Explore Scientific 70 degree eypiece (216x). The 30mm provided a fine view of this condensed globular cluster.
www.universetoday.com/39320/messier-80/
Unfortunately, seeing NGC 6946, the Fireworks Galaxy, was out of the question. There was just too much high cirrus cloud cover in the north for this faint face-on spiral galaxy. In fact, I tried M51 first and it was barely visible.
So this night turned out to have firecrackers, of both the real and DSO nickname type, and fireworks, but not of the galaxy variety.
www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/n6946.shtml
M22 in Sagittarius was my final target through the 17". M22 was situated in a relatively clear patch of sky and a 2" 40mm University Optics MK-70 (259x) really brought the third-best globular cluster in the sky to life. M22 is surpassed only by NGC 104 (47 Tucanae) and NGC 5139 (Omega Centauri).
www.theskyscrapers.org/m22-globular-cluster-in-sagittarius
At that point, I decided I had had enough and closed up the dome. The clouds were making DSO observing difficult and I was a bit exhausted from the previous night's trip to a dark site.
I had a peek at M11 through the 14" Meade SCT before calling it a night. This time I only saw one deer on the way home.
Dave Mitsky
The observatory is in what once was a rural area but there are still plenty of open spaces and a lot of people were setting off fireworks of their own. The evidence of that was plain to hear for several hours, as the sounds of exploding gunpowder echoed throughout the night.
I had a look at M57 through a small Newtonian on a GEM and then entered the French Dome, the home of the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain. Using a 2" 40mm University Optics MK-70 (162x), I calibrated the Argo Navis on Altair and checked its accuracy by giving the fine open cluster M11 in Scutum a quick look.
Next, I put the Moon into view. I scanned the terminator, noting craters such as Plato, Eratosthenes, Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, Arzachel, and other features like Montes Apenninus. The conjunction of Mars and the Moon looked great through the 5" f/5 achromatic refractor that serves as a finderscope for the 17" classical Cassegrain. The two shallow-sky objects were about 23 arc minutes apart at the time.
www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-the-moon-and-mars-meet-up-in-night-sky-saturday/
The fellow using the 3556mm focal length 14" f/10 Meade LX200GPS SCT in the King Building had 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta in the same 47 arc minute field of view with a 2" 40mm University Optics MK-70 (89x). These two asteroids came to a historic close approach on July 4th and July 5th. Seeing the two brightest and most massive asteroids in the same field of view made my night.
www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/super-close-pairing-ceres-vesta/
After a bit of searching, I was finally able to locate the two minor planets with the 17". At the time, 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta were separated by about 36 arc minutes and were not visible simultaneously in the tiny 26 arc minute maximum true field of view of the 6477mm focal length 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain.
I wasn't about to forget M80, the Firecracker Globular Cluster, again. I slewed the 17" classical Cassegrain to the head of Scorpius and located M80. I replaced the 40mm with a 2" 30mm Explore Scientific 70 degree eypiece (216x). The 30mm provided a fine view of this condensed globular cluster.
www.universetoday.com/39320/messier-80/
Unfortunately, seeing NGC 6946, the Fireworks Galaxy, was out of the question. There was just too much high cirrus cloud cover in the north for this faint face-on spiral galaxy. In fact, I tried M51 first and it was barely visible.
So this night turned out to have firecrackers, of both the real and DSO nickname type, and fireworks, but not of the galaxy variety.
www.caelumobservatory.com/gallery/n6946.shtml
M22 in Sagittarius was my final target through the 17". M22 was situated in a relatively clear patch of sky and a 2" 40mm University Optics MK-70 (259x) really brought the third-best globular cluster in the sky to life. M22 is surpassed only by NGC 104 (47 Tucanae) and NGC 5139 (Omega Centauri).
www.theskyscrapers.org/m22-globular-cluster-in-sagittarius
At that point, I decided I had had enough and closed up the dome. The clouds were making DSO observing difficult and I was a bit exhausted from the previous night's trip to a dark site.
I had a peek at M11 through the 14" Meade SCT before calling it a night. This time I only saw one deer on the way home.
Dave Mitsky
