The StarLog Blog: 2004

Sep 7, 2004

A Tale of Two Clusters

Observer: Tom Campbell
Location: Iola, Kansas (Long: 95°24'W Lat: 37°55'N)
Equipment: Discovery DHQ 8" dobsonian
Eyepieces: 1.25" Plössls - 25mm (49x), 15mm (81x), 10mm (122x), 6mm (203x)
Time: 10:00pm - 11:30pm CDT (03:00-04:30 UT)
Transparency: Clear (9/10) [No Moonlight]
Seeing: Stable (8/10)
Weather: Temperatures in the low 60s. There was no breeze.

Observing Summary:
DELPHINUS: Gamma, Struve 2718
OPHIUCHUS: NGC 6633
SERPENS: IC 4756

Tonight, my primary goal was to search for some easy binocular targets for my astronomy class. But the night was so clear, I decided to go ahead and set up my telescope. While its mirror was adjusting to the outside temperature, I observed and wrote down a list of several binocular objects (mostly Messiers and some wide doubles, but also a few other goodies).

After spotting IC 4756 and NGC 6633 through binoculars, I couldn't resist the temptation to look up these old friends again with my telescope. It had been a couple of years since I wrote them up in an observing log.

IC 4756	Serpens	Open Cluster	10:40pm CDT
Mel 210	RA: 18h 38m 54s	Dec: +05° 26'	Mag: 4.6

This open cluster appeared large, and even at 26x, it more than filled the field of view. Most of the stars were about the same magnitude (moderately faint), and several dozen were visible. A few bright stars were interspersed throughout the cluster, but they appeared as foreground stars.

NGC 6633	Ophiuchus	Open Cluster	10:45pm CDT
Mel 201	RA: 18h 27m 42s	Dec: +06° 34'	Mag: 4.6

This open cluster was smaller than IC 4756, but it still looked good at 26x. A few dozen stars were visible. The cluster appeared elongated, with stars of varying brightnesses.

Through my binoculars, both IC 4756 and NGC 6633 could be seen in the same field. This pair of clusters was a study in contrasts. Although both are listed at magnitude 4.6, IC 4756 is large and full of dim stars, whereas NGC 6633 is somewhat compact and full of brighter stars. I had to use averted vision to see the stars in IC 4756, but several of NGC 6633's stars were easily seen with direct vision.

Struve 2718	Delphinus	Double Star	11:30pm CDT
	RA: 20h 42m 36s	Dec: +12° 44'	Mag: 8.0, 8.0

This double was fairly close. Although I could split it at 49x, the best view was at 88x. Both stars appeared very similar in magnitude and white in color. It reminded me of a pair of beady eyes staring back at me through the eyepiece.

Gamma	Delphinus	Double Star	11:35pm CDT
Struve 2727	RA: 20h 46m 42s	Dec: +16° 07'	Mag: 4.3, 5.1

The brighter star of this pair appeared yellow, while its companion appeared white. It could be split at 49x, but the best view was at 122x.

After reviewing my records, I discovered that I had reached a milestone. Tonight's observation of Struve 2718 marked the 450th unique object I have recorded since I began writing StarLogs in January, 2000. The very first object I logged was another double, in a sense: the shadow of Earth on the Moon during a total lunar eclipse. My pace has been somewhat leisurely, but under the humid skies of Kansas, I think an average of 100 new objects per year is pretty good.

Aug 15, 2004

Finding A Few Faint Fuzzies

Observer: Tom Campbell
Location: Iola, Kansas (Long: 95°24'W Lat: 37°55'N)
Equipment: Discovery DHQ 8" dobsonian
Eyepieces: 1.25" Plössls - 25mm (49x), 15mm (81x), 10mm (122x), 6mm (203x)
Filters: 1.25" O-III Narrowband
Time: 10:15pm - 11:30pm CDT (03:15-04:30 UT)
Transparency: Clear (8/10) [Bright Moonlight]
Seeing: Stable (8/10)
Weather: Temperatures in the low 60s. There was no breeze.

Observing Summary:
CYGNUS: NGC6888
DRACO: NGC6503
PEGASUS: NGC7217

Saturday night's sky was beautiful, and I set my telescope out to observe, but random clouds kept appearing overhead, and blocking the view of the constellations I was trying to observe in. So, after a few hours, I abandoned my post and hoped for another chance this weekend.

Luckily, Sunday night's sky was also beautiful. It wasn't quite as transparent, but it was cloud-free, which made up for it. Tonight's targets were a few from various projects I'm working on. They were near the limits of my backyard viewing conditions, but I hoped I could bag a few of them.

NGC 6888 | Cygnus | Nebula | 10:25pm CDT
Crescent Nebula | RA: 20h 12m 01s | Dec: +38° 23' | Mag: --

Using an O-III filter brought out this nebula in my backyard sky. Its shape resembles the letter C, and three bright stars are embedded within it. 88X provided the best view of this ghostly arc, but no real detail could be discerned.

NGC 7217 | Pegasus | Spiral Galaxy | 10:40pm CDT
| RA: 22h 07m 52s | Dec: +31° 22' | Mag: 11.0

From my backyard, this galaxy appeared really faint. Even at 122X, the galaxy appeared fairly small and its shape was difficult to determine, but was somewhat round. Using averted vision, a stellar core would sometimes pop into view.

NGC 6503 | Draco | Spiral Galaxy | 11:15pm CDT
| RA: 17h 49m 28s | Dec: +70° 09' | Mag: 10.9

This galaxy was difficult to find. I missed it the first time because it was lost in the glare of a fairly bright field star nearby. The best view was at 88X, and the galaxy appeared elongated and cigar-shaped, but not quite symmetrical. The center of the galaxy was a bit brighter than the edges, but no stellar core was discernable.

There were some other slightly fainter galaxies on my list, but they refused to show themselves tonight. I'll have to save them for another day.

Aug 11, 2004

Paint the Sky With Stars

Tonight's observing plan was to simply observe the Perseid meteor shower. I grabbed my recorder, portable CD player, my reclining lawn chair, and set up shop on my patio. My musical selection tonight was Enya's "Paint the Sky With Stars" CD. I hoped that the Perseids would do just that.

I observed pretty diligently from about 10:15pm to 12:30am CDT. My dad came out and watched with me for a while, allowing me to go inside and get a warmer jacket (who'd have thought, in August!). I added his counts to mine for the 5 minutes I was indoors.

There weren't as many Perseids as I had hoped, but what they lacked in quantity, they more than made up for in quality. Several of them were brighter than Vega. Most appeared white, but I did see two yellow meteors and one red one.

Here's my detailed report, broken up into 15-minute segments:

10:15p-10:30p
2 meteors

The first meteor I saw tonight was bright and red, streaking north to south low in the eastern sky. A good omen, I hoped.
=====

10:30p-10:45p
5 meteors

The first meteor in this time segment was also bright, but white, passing through Ursa Minoris.
=====

10:45p-11:00p
2 meteors

Just before 11:00p, a nice bright yellow meteor zipped across the low northern sky, going northeast to northwest.
=====

11:00p-11:15p
4 meteors
=====

11:15p-11:30p
3 meteors
=====

11:30p-11:45p
3 meteors

A few clouds are coming in from the north. They are fairly thin, but show up brightly from my town's skyglow.
=====

11:45p-12:00a
3 meteors

By midnight, the clouds had moved off, leaving the sky clear once again.
=====

12:00a-12:15a
1 meteor

The one meteor during this time period was worth the wait. It started out as a medium-bright meteor heading south, but quickly began to brighten into a yellow fireball, finally disappearing behind some trees in the south. It's long trail remained visible for several seconds afterward.
=====

12:15a-12:30a
3 meteors
=====

TOTAL: 26 meteors / 2.25 hrs = 11.5 meteors/hr

Jun 14, 2004

Flag Day Fireworks

Observing Summary:
BOOTES: NGC-5248
HERCULES: Comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR)
URSA MAJOR: Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)

Tonight's weather forecast was iffy. By sunset, however, the clouds had managed to stay away, so I took a chance and set up. I wasn't disappointed.

In honor of flag day, I thought I'd look at some celestial fireworks tonight. My favorite fireworks displays have comets, spinning galaxies, and big starbursts. As luck would have it, so does the current nighttime sky.

C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) | Hercules | Comet | 10:30pm CDT

This comet was fairly faint, looking about like a Messier galaxy in terms of brightness. The shape was difficult to determine. The nucleus was nearly stellar and perhaps slightly elongated. The nucleus was surrounded by some nebulosity, but a direction for the tail couldn't really be discerned.

C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) | Ursa Major | Comet | 10:55pm CDT

This comet was bright, although not as bright as it had been earlier this year. The shape of this comet reminded me of a greenish globular cluster whose bright core couldn't be resolved. The shape of the comet was slightly oval, but it was difficult to tell exactly which direction it was facing.

NGC 5248 | Boötes | Spiral Galaxy | 11:20pm CDT
| RA: 13h 37m 32s | Dec: +08° 53' | Mag: 11.0

Finding this galaxy was a starhopping adventure. At this time, Boötes was nearly over the county hospital, and the limiting magnitude was about 4.7. I had to use a low-power eyepiece to find it. I started at Eta, which was just visible through my Telrad. From there, I jumped to 70 Vir, and then 71 Vir. From there, I hopped sideways to the double star Burnham 612, and then finally over to my target.

This galaxy was just barely detectable from my backyard. In fact, I missed seeing it the first time I tried to locate it. The spiral galaxy was fairly large and elongated. With direct vision, it almost disappeared completely. Using averted vision, a nearly stellar core was visible. The best view was at 88x, but no spiral structure was visible.

I ended my evening under the stars by looking at M13. This globular starburst was a good finale to my show. Then I took a quick peek at M57 to catch a glimpse of the smoke ring left behind by all the celestial fireworks

May 6, 2004

The Fingerprint of God

Observer: Tom Campbell
Location: Iola, Kansas (Long: 95°24'W Lat: 37°55'N)
Equipment: Simmons 10x50WA
Time: 9:00pm - 9:30pm CDT (02:00-02:30 UT)
Transparency: Clear (8/10)
Seeing: Stable (8/10)
Weather: Temperatures in the upper 60s. There was a little breeze.

Tonight, it was about 9:00pm CDT when I got home, but I wanted to try and
spot Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT). I grabbed my binoculars for a quick peek. It's
low enough in the sky to be a difficult target for me, and I actually had to
sneak into my east neighbor's yard (she doesn't mind) for it to appear over
our western neighbor's 2-story house.

Through binoculars, Comet NEAT appeared as a wide oval smudge, reminding me
of a fingerprint. The bright coma was nearly in the center. The background
sky was still too bright to make out any real detail in my binoculars.

While letting my brother Terry look at the comet through my binoculars, I
just casually scanned the sky. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a glint
appear towards Virgo. Looking, I saw what appeared to be a fairly bright
satellite going nearly parallel with the eastern horizon. It started fading,
and I just started to tell my brother about the satellite when it suddenly
erupted into a bright orange streak! It was a meteor! A second later, it was
gone, but that was the first meteor that I remember seeing fade and then
brighten again.

As I was telling Terry about what I had just seen, another glint caught my
eye overhead. This time, it was a satellite, reflecting the Sun for a few
seconds before quickly fading to become barely visible.

After Terry had satisfied himself with his view of the comet, I took the
binoculars and aimed them at Jupiter. Tonight, three of the moons were far
enough away from the glare of the gas giant to detect. Ganymede and Europa
were barely visible on the eastern side of the planet, and I could see
Callisto on the western side.

After that, I just played around for a while with the binoculars, making
sweeps of various parts of the sky and taking advantage of the comfortable
temperature. I saw Corvus peeking over some treetops in the south, so I used
my binoculars and followed my recently-discovered "Sombrero Highway" from
Gamma Corvi to M104 (The Sombrero galaxy), which appeared as a faint, oblong
smudge. Other objects I viewed included Berenice's Hair (Mel 111), M44 (The
Beehive cluster), M67, and M35.

May 5, 2004

Little Bear Tracks

Observing Summary:
URSA MINOR: Alpha, Pi-1, HJ-2682, Struve1798, Struve1840, Struve1841, Struve1905

I knew that the Moon would be rising within a few hours of sunset tonight, but the twilight sky was so beautiful, I just had to set up my telescope. Knowing the sky would never get truly dark tonight, I opted for some double stars. The "Spirit of 33" double star observers have picked Ursa Minor this month. This constellation is well-placed in my sky, so I picked some of the easier ones from their list.

This double is fairly faint, but both stars are about equal brightness. The tight pair could be separated at 122x, but the view was better at 203x. Both stars appeared white.

This double was easily split at 49x, but the best view was at 122x. The bluish secondary is a couple of magnitudes fainter than the yellow-white primary.

Pi-1 | Ursa Minor | Double Star | 10:20pm CDT
Struve1972 | RA: 15h 29m 12s | Dec: +80° 27' | Mag: 6.6, 7.3

This nice-looking double was fairly wide, easily split at 49x. I preferred the view at 81x, however, due to better color contrast. The brighter star is white, and the fainter companion has a tinge of yellow.

I always like looking at this double. Although I could easily find the faint companion at 49x, the best view was at 81x. At this magnification, the primary is yellow-shite and the companion is pale blue. It reminded me of what the Earth and Sun might look like from perhaps a moon of Saturn.

HJ2682 | Ursa Minor | Multiple Star | 10:40pm CDT
| RA: 13h 40m 42s | Dec: +76° 51' | Mag: 6.7, 9.0, 9.7

This was a triple star system, easily split at 49x. Increasing the magnification to 81x revealed some subtle colors. The brightest component was pale yellow-white, but the other two stars were a bit too faint to be able to detect colors. The faintest component is about halfway between and off to one side of the brighter two components, forming a triangle.

The best view of this double was at 81x. The primary was white or blue-white, but I was unable to determine a color for the much fainter companion.

The brightest component of this double forms an almost identical wide optical binary with the brighter star in Struve1840. In fact, both pairs looked very similar, except Struve1841 appeared to have a little different position angle, the secondary star was a little fainter, and it was a little more separated from the primary.

The nearly full Moon was peeking up over the eastern treetops, marking an end to the night's observing. Too bad, because it was a beautiful night. The temperatures stayed fairly constant tonight, allowing the mirror to stay within a half degree of the outside air for most of the evening.

Apr 26, 2004

Clusters by the Light of the Moon

Observer: Tom Campbell
Location: Iola, Kansas (Long: 95°24'W Lat: 37°55'N)
Equipment: Discovery 8" DHQ dob
Time: 9:00pm - 10:30pm CDT (02:00-03:30 UT)
Transparency: Clear (8/10)
Seeing: Mostly Stable (7/10)
Weather: Temperatures in the lower 50s. There was little or no breeze.

Observing Summary:GEMINI: NGC2129, NGC2395, NGC2420
VIRGO: M104

I've been wanting to view a few Herschel open clusters in Gemini, but the weather and my schedule hasn't been cooperating. Tonight, the nearly First Quarter moon was in Gemini, but the sky was so clear, I decided to give it a try anyway.

NGC 2129 | Gemini | Open Cluster | 9:00pm CDT
| RA: 06h 00m 42s | Dec: +23° 19' | Mag: 6.7

This cluster contained two bright stars and several fainter ones. The brightest star had a slight yellowish color. The overall shape of the cluster reminded me of the letter D, and was best viewed at 122x. Most of the stars were along the border of the cluster.

NGC 2395 | Gemini | Open Cluster | 9:15pm CDT
| RA: 07h 27m 12s | Dec: +13° 37' | Mag: 8.0

The overall shape of this cluster was triangular, with faint stars scattered randomly throughout. Perhaps a dozen stars were seen with averted vision. Perhaps due to its faintness (or the brightness of the nearby Moon), this cluster was disappointing.

NGC 2420 | Gemini | Open Cluster | 9:30pm CDT
| RA: 07h 38m 24s | Dec: +21° 34' | Mag: 8.3

This cluster appeared rich, with several stars packed into a rather small area. I have added this to my list of things to observe when I have a darker sky. The shape was fairly circular.

M 104 | Virgo | Galaxy | 10:00pm CDT
Sombrero | RA: 12h 39m 59s | Dec: -11° 37' | Mag: 9.0

I saw Corvus peeking above the tree line, and decided that before I headed back inside, I'd take a look at M104. Tonight, I noticed on my star charts that there was a chain of bright stars leading from Gamma Corvi to M104, so I thought I'd try this new route of starhopping tonight. Sure enough, at low power, each star along this "Sombrero Highway" was just about one FOV away from each other. The last "star" in the chain was actually a Sagitta-shaped asterism which pointed right to the galaxy.

The galaxy's dust lane was very noticeable, as usual, but the seeing was getting worse so that the galactic core "below" the dust lane was only visible occasionally with averted vision. Regardless, this galaxy always impresses me. The best view tonight was 81x.

A few weeks ago, somebody on one of the Internet astronomy boards stated that he mounted an indoor/outdoor thermometer to his telescope, to determine when his mirror had cooled down sufficiently. I did the same thing, and it was fascinating. The seeing started out pretty decent, but worsened as the night wore on. Checking my thermometer, I noticed that the outdoor temperatures were dropping faster than my mirror was cooling. What started out as only a 2° temperature difference when I started had increased to about 6° when I finished up! Add to that the fact that the relative humidity (my thermometer shows that, too) had climbed to 76%, and it was little wonder that the seeing was getting worse.

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