10 April 2010

Galaxy Song Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour, That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned, A sun that is the source of all our power. The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see Are moving at a million miles a day In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour, Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'. Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars. It's a hundred thousand light years side to side. It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick, But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide. We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point. We go 'round every two hundred million years, And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions In this amazing and expanding universe. The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding In all of the directions it can whizz As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know, Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is. So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure, How amazingly unlikely is your birth, And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space, 'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth. from The Meaning of Lift Monty Python

International Dark Skies Week
4-10 April 2010

Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2000-2400 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	Cloud Cover Clear Temperature 59° F Wind Light Breeze gusting to Moderate Breeze Wind Chill Effect Heat Index ° F Humidity Low Barometric Pressure 30.20" Hg Rising (3) KNYC METAR 102351Z AUTO VRB06KT 10SM CLR 14/M04 A3023 RMK AO2 SLP227 T01441039 10167 20133 53008 Feels Like Cold Transparency Good Seeing IV due to scope shake
Instruments	West Marine Raiatea 7x50 binocular w/Baader AstroSolar filter film- Charlie Takahashi 102mm F/8.2 refractor - Peter 1.5" TeleVue Plossl 32mm, ##° FoV, 31.8x 1.25" TV Nagler 13mm, 82° FoV, 97.7x 1.25" TV Plossl 7mm, 82° FoV, 181.4x
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway Peter Tagatac

Stellarium graphic

Peter emailed this evening saying that he would be at either TotL or TPO so I headed up after dinner. I stopped very briefly at DR to look for Mercury but didn’t see anything in the late twilight that was bright enough that I would judge it to be a planet.

When I got to Bethesda Fountain I noticed that it was very dark around the fountain itself and observed that there are no street lights anywhere around the plaza. Thinking this would be a good observing location I went out to the lake where I thought it would be the darkest and afford the most unobstructed sky. Unfortunately there is a string of spotlights mounted under the deck of the Boathouse Restaurant that shine out across the surface of the water and are very troublesome any time you are looking north.

I continued on to TPO and stopped there. I scanned TotL from the police call box to the east to the dormitory tree to the West and didn’t see Peter so stayed there and did some observing waiting for Peter to arrive at TPO or TotL. From TPO I identified without reference to Planetarium, the following constellations and asterisms:

• entire Big Dipper and one Leap of the Gazzel (UMa)
• Polaris, Kochab and Pherkad (UMi)
• Arcturis and Izar (Boo)
• Alpheca (CrB)
• all of Leo but the Sickle
• Saturn
• Castor and Pollux (Gem)
• Mars
• Procyon and Gomesia (CMi)
• Sirius and most of the dog’s body (CMa)
• the major stars of Orion but not the Sword
• Arcturus through the trees
• Aur

  Naked-eye I could not tell if ε Aur was as bright as ζ Aur or not. In the binoculars they appeared to me to be equal in brightness

I scanned TotL and found Peter setting up there so proceeded up to meet him. On arriving there at 2030 EDT I found that he had been set up at TotL East for a couple of hours and had observed Mercury in crescent phase until it set into the trees around 2020 EDT.

The wind seemed to be a lot brisker at TotL than it was at TPO. I don't know if it was the difference in time or because the hill south of Turtle Pond was sheltering TPO from most of the wind. Whatever the case it was shaking the telescope and making observing difficult not to mention that it felt cold.

Target Saturn Constellation Vir Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100410.2030 EDT Comments Titan was obvious out to the right a good ways. Rhea was faint and off to the left about a ring diameter from the edge of the rings. There was a slight line of ring shadow separating the rings from the planet’s disk. Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 158.58° E Distance Light Time (from Earth) 8.57 AU 1 h 11m Distance (from Sun) 9.51 AU Angular Size 19.3"x17.2" Ring Angular Size 43.8"x1.88" Ring Inclination -2.47° Magnitude 0.7 Altitude 32.19° Stellarium graphic

While looking up at Saturn I saw a very fast bright white meteor streak across the sky N to S. I checked Planetarium and the only stream active tonight is the Virginids and this could not have been one of them. Later in the night I thought I saw a faint streak of light go behind the tree by the police call box heading S to N. This was likely a Virginid. Peter also saw a meteor heading on a similar trajectory.

Target Satellite Constellation Category Satellite Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100410.2130 EDT Comments Around about 2130 EDT Peter picked up a satellite that flared multiple times as it tracked S to N across most of the sky. By the time I saw it it was near UMa/UMi and was no longer flashing. Peter called out at least three flashes and I have never seen an Iridium listed for more than two flashes. It was also too late for an Iridium unless it was a tumbling iridium but they seem to be fairly faint objects. I checked my list of upcoming Tumbling Iridiums from CalSky and there were none listed close to that timeframe and the ones listed were all in the mag.6-10 range so definitely not naked-eye objects. It was probably a spent Meteor 3M rocket which was in UMa about that time at mag. 3.3.

Target Mars Constellation Cnc Category Planet Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100410. EDT Comments Someone wanted to see Mars so Peter got it in the scope and thought he saw a central darkening but when he checkeed Mars Map there was nothing indicated. I could see what he was seeing but it was not constant and I couldn’t decide it if was something that was really there or an artifact of seeing. Stellarium graphic Meridian graphic Object Class Classical Planet Elongation 104.30° E Distance Light Time (from Earth) 1.10 AU 9m 11s Distance (from Sun) 1.66 AU Angular Size 8.47" Magnitude 0.4 Central Meridian 147° Altitude 58.58°

Target M44, Praesepe, Beehive Cluster, NGC 2632 Constellation Cnc Category DSO: OCl Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100410. EDT Mag. 3.5 Surface Brightness 13/sq’ Size 80’ Shape Circular to Triangular Difficulty 6 diffuse Distance580 ly Location Where is M13 graphics Stellarium graphic References Deep Sky Observer’s Guide: 111, 113, 117-118, 140, 175 Observers Sky Atlas: E9 Comments While we were in Cnc Peter dropped the scope on M44 which fills the eyepiece even at low power. I liked my binocular view much better even though the cluster was fainter because it gave it some context. Having seen the cluster before I didn’t focus the scope for my vision which was a mistake because I can’t say anything about star color differences or differences in brightness levels. All the stars looked like little comets to me.

Target Vesta Constellation Leo Category Asteroid Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100410.2210 EDT Mag. 7.0 Distance Light Time 1.67 AU 13m 56sec Distance from Sun 2.35 AU Elongation 120.26° E Location Stellarium graphic References Observer’s Handbook 2010: 241, 241 Comments Peter asked about other things we could look at and I noticed that Vesta was hanging off the tip of the Sickle of Leo so Peter found it and it was not very impressive. It looked just like 20 Leo which was right above it. Vesta is in the last half of a leisurely loop through the Sickle.

Target M81, NGC 3031 Constellation UMa Category DSO: Gal Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100410. EDT Magnitude 7 Surface Brightness 12/sq' Size 18' Shape Elongated Difficulty 6 Distance 13,000 ly Location Where is M13 graphic2 References Deep Sky Observer’s Guide: 22, 56-67, 71, 171, 178 The Observer’s Sky Atlas: N8 Comments This object is supposed to be easy to see and seen in binoculars but I only detected it and Peter said it was much fainter than it should have been. Since we didn’t see this “easy” object we didn’t try for the fainter ones nearby.

Target ε Boo, Izar Constellation Boo Category Double Star Time yyyymmdd.hhmm 20100410.2315 EDT Location Catres du Ciel graphic Magnitude 2.5/4.9 2.6/4.8 2.7.5.1 Color 1.1/0.1 Orange/Blue Yellow/Green Separation 2.9" 3 2,8 Visibility 1 References Deep Sky Observer’s Guide:144 Observer’s Handbook 2010: 290 Observer’sSky Atlas: E15 Comments Peter didn’t see anything but when I got to the scope I definitely say two stars separated by a thin black line with the secondary in the 11:00 position. I called them yellow and blue but don’t remember which star was which color. When Peter increased the magnification I could not see it as a double star. This double is described as Very Tight. Stellarium graphic