29 January 2010

Observing Location	Drip Rock
Observational Period	2000-2030 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Isolated Temperature 20° F Wind Gentle Breeze Wind Chill Effect 9° F Humidity Moderate Barometric Pressure 30.28" Hg Feels Like Brass monkey weather Transparency Excellent Seeing Excellent
Instruments	West Marine 7x50 Raiatea binocular - Charlie
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway

I had three goals for tonight:

1. to see Mars and M44 and the Moon and M44;
2. to try to split some double stars; and
3. not to freeze my tukhus off.

Almost immediately the Palm reported a low battery although it had just come off the charger and was fully charged and the battery capacity meter is reading 95%. So I had nothing to take notes on since I didn’t bring a notepad with me tonight. I also didn’t have a reference for where my double stars were since the batteryies are also flat in my book light and there is no convenient street light here with which to read Karkoshca which is sitting in my binocular case.

Target M42 Orion Nebula, 1976, NGC & M43, NGC 1982 Constellation Ori Category DifNeb Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100129.2006 EST Size 40/12 ly Distance 1400/1400 ly Age My Visibility 6 Location Where is M13 graphics Cartes du Ciel graphic References Karkoschka E4 Comments There was a ball of light nebulosity in the area of M42-M43 and also some nebulosity around 42 Ori and 45 Ori. Stellarium graphic

Target &sigma Ori, 48 Ori Constellation Ori Category Multiple Star System Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100129.2010 EST Magnitude 3.8/6.6 3.8/6.6 Separation 41.5" 12.9" Color -0.2/-0.2 -0.2/-0.2 P.A. 10:00 9:00 Visibility 3/2 Distance 1090 ly Location Cartes du Ciel graphic References Comments I think there might be something at 2:00 but can’t hold the binoculat still enough to be sure. Karkoschka indicates the secondary is at 10:00.Even factoring in phase rotation that isn’t what I “saw”. If you rotated this image clockwise a bit (I am having trouble with Carted du Ciel not rotating the sky appropriately) it is more or less what I saw. Cartes du Ciel graphic This is what I should have seen. Stellarium graphic

Target Mintaka, δ Ori Constellation Ori Category Multiple Star System Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100129. 2012EST Magnitude 2.2/6.8 Separation 52.4” Color -0.2/-0.2 P.A. 12:00 Visibility 2 Distance 1090 ly Location Cartes du Ciel graphic Stellarium graphic References Karkoshca: E5 Comments I don't remember what I saw here now but the separation is great enough that I should have split the double.

Target Moon Constellation Cnc Category Lunar Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100129.2015 EST Comments Lunation 1077 Phase Age Distance Light Time (from earth) 353,462,000 km 1.18s Elongation 176.56° E % Illuminated 99.9% Morning Terminator Colongitude (λ E) 87.76° Evening Terminator Colongitude (λ W) 267.76° Libration in Latitude 2° 14' Libration in Longitude -0° 11' Magnitude -12.9 Angular Size 33' 53" Altitude 33° 50' Virtual Moon Atlas graphic The libration arrow is at the top of the image and so small that it is not well illustrated here. The Moon is painfully bright to look at in the binocular. When it is off to the side of the image I can see it reflecting off the side of the lenses. It is so bright that I can’t find any of M44. Carted du Ciel graphicAgain the phase rotation problem with Cartes du Ciel. Mars and the Moon should line up nearly horizontally left to right. Stellarium graphic It doesn’t look like the image is large enough to make out anything but the grossest of details on the lunar surface but that will be better assessed when there is a terminator to observe.

Target Mars Constellation Cnc Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100129.2020 EST Comments Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 175.46° E Distance Light Time (from Earth) 0.665 AU 5m 32s Distance (from Sun) 1.65 AU Angular Size 14.1" Magnitude -1.3 Central Meridian 53 ° Altitude 34.35° When I first saw Mars above Rockefeller Center from 6 Ave it looked white. Here in the park where there is less light pollution it looks a little orange. I can’t make out M44 in the binocular. When Mars is on the left edge of the FoV Mars is just outside of the right side of the FoV. They are 6.57° apart center to center so roughly 6.29° apart edge to edge and my binocular has a nominal 6.6° FoV. ? Since you are looking at two slightly different FoV with a binocular is the FoV the same dimension vertically as it is horizontally. It would seem that it should be slightly wider than it is tall.

Target Castor Constellation Gem Category Multiple Star System Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100129.2023 EST Magnitude 1.9/2.9 Separation 4.7" Color 0.0/0.1 P.A. 10:00 Visibility 2 Distance 52 ly Location Cartes du Ciel graphic Stellarium graphic References Karkoshca: E7 Comments Not Seen much too close for my optics

Target Mekbuda, ζ Gem, 43 Gem Constellation Gem Category Double Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100129.2025 EST Magnitude 4/7.6 Separation 101" Color 0.9/0.6 P.A. 1:00 Visibility 3 Distance 52 ly Location Cartes du Ciel graphic Stellarium graphic References Karkoshca: E7 Comments I don’t remember whether I saw the secondary or not but I don’t think I did.

Target ε Aur Constellation Aur Category Binary Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100129.2025 EST Magnitude 3.0 - 3.8 Distance 3000 ly Location Cartes du Ciel graphic Stellarium graphic References Comments The whole of the Kids fits comfortably into my FoV. I still think ε Aur is dimmer than η Aur which appears close in brightness to ζ Aur.