Randy Cox Observing Report - 03/21/09
All,
I also enjoyed our trip to The Starshine Observatory (Hap’s Farm). Hap has a very nice gentleman’s farms, with lots of land and very dark skies. Larry, Jim and I arrived at Hap’s shortly after 6:00 PM. We scouted the locale for a good spot and we were set-up by sundown.
The sky cleared shortly after our arrival and we were blessed to have average to above average seeing and transparency (as predicted by the Clear Sky Clock). I had a very difficult time predicting the weather for Saturday evening. In the end, the combination of visible satellite observations, several different weather prediction models and the clear sky clock, all came together.
We have decided to monetarily reward Mr. Danko, the creator of the Clear Sky Clock. His model, which uses data from the Canadian Meteorological Center, is almost always correct (more accurate than our local boys). Each time that we use the Clear Sky Clock to predict a clear evening, and the model predicts and s an accurate astronomical forecast, we (Larry, Jim and I) will each donate a dollar to the Clear Sky Clock fund. At the end of the year, we will forward our collected funds to Mr. Danko.
Larry had a great list of objects that was published in Starry Night. In addition to Larry’s list, I generated the following list of targets:
M53, M64 Black Eye Galaxy, Sleeping Beauty Galaxy, M106, M3, M51 Whirlpool Galaxy, Question Mark Galaxy, M63 Sunflower Galaxy, M94 Croc's Eye Galaxy, M102 Spindle Galaxy, M13 Hercules Globular Cluster, Great Hercules Cluster, M92, M65, M66, M95, M96, M50 Heart-shaped Cluster, M42 Orion Nebula, NGC884, M93, M101 Pinwheel Galaxy, M81 Bode's Galaxy, M82 Cigar Galaxy, Ursa Major A, M93, M104 Sombrero Galaxy, M49, M60, M61 Swelling Spiral and Saturn.
Around midnight, the good Doctor began working at a feverish pace. In the remaining three hours, Larry observed many of the viewable Messier items.
We had a wonderful evening! Special thanks goes to our host, Hap, thank you for your hospitality. I look forward to visiting Starshine Observatory in the near future.
Randy Cox
I also enjoyed our trip to The Starshine Observatory (Hap’s Farm). Hap has a very nice gentleman’s farms, with lots of land and very dark skies. Larry, Jim and I arrived at Hap’s shortly after 6:00 PM. We scouted the locale for a good spot and we were set-up by sundown.
The sky cleared shortly after our arrival and we were blessed to have average to above average seeing and transparency (as predicted by the Clear Sky Clock). I had a very difficult time predicting the weather for Saturday evening. In the end, the combination of visible satellite observations, several different weather prediction models and the clear sky clock, all came together.
We have decided to monetarily reward Mr. Danko, the creator of the Clear Sky Clock. His model, which uses data from the Canadian Meteorological Center, is almost always correct (more accurate than our local boys). Each time that we use the Clear Sky Clock to predict a clear evening, and the model predicts and s an accurate astronomical forecast, we (Larry, Jim and I) will each donate a dollar to the Clear Sky Clock fund. At the end of the year, we will forward our collected funds to Mr. Danko.
Larry had a great list of objects that was published in Starry Night. In addition to Larry’s list, I generated the following list of targets:
M53, M64 Black Eye Galaxy, Sleeping Beauty Galaxy, M106, M3, M51 Whirlpool Galaxy, Question Mark Galaxy, M63 Sunflower Galaxy, M94 Croc's Eye Galaxy, M102 Spindle Galaxy, M13 Hercules Globular Cluster, Great Hercules Cluster, M92, M65, M66, M95, M96, M50 Heart-shaped Cluster, M42 Orion Nebula, NGC884, M93, M101 Pinwheel Galaxy, M81 Bode's Galaxy, M82 Cigar Galaxy, Ursa Major A, M93, M104 Sombrero Galaxy, M49, M60, M61 Swelling Spiral and Saturn.
Around midnight, the good Doctor began working at a feverish pace. In the remaining three hours, Larry observed many of the viewable Messier items.
We had a wonderful evening! Special thanks goes to our host, Hap, thank you for your hospitality. I look forward to visiting Starshine Observatory in the near future.
Randy Cox
Larry Kuklinski Observing Report - 03/21/09
Yesterday was a crowning jewel of a night for myself, Randy Cox, Jim Kalvota and Hap.
The former three of us met at Hap's farm near Cochranton.
The night sky as predicted by Randy was near perfect until about 02:00 when weather moved in from the north. Hap is a club member with a burning interest in the night sky. In conversation, he is interested in expanding his passion with educational programs for the schools as well as establishing a permanent observation post on his beautiful, unobstructed land situated east of Meadville.
Randy had his 12" RCX up and running before twilight while I had issues with my Obsession. Before long the sky tuned dark and we were up in running.
The British magazine Sky at Night featured an Observing Challenge in their March issue. They presented a list of some 40 stunning sights to see in 8 hours. Because of the clouds we were able to view for nearly six hours. We missed several of the late sites because they had not risen: Summer Triangle, Epsilon Lyrae, Albereo, M27 and M29. Had the sky cooperated we would have completed the entire list.
Well what did we see? Early on we kicked off with the Orion Nebula and The Running Man Nebula just above the former. Other easy targets included the Pleiades, Saturn and its moon Titan, Aldebaran and the Hyades Open Cluster. The variable star Algol was on the list and the magazine asks us to reobserve it on March 25th and compare notes. In Andromeda we caught NGC752 before setting. M76 or the Little Dumbell Nebua was our next challenge and unfortunately we were unable to visit its brighter namesake M27.Staying in Perseus we moved over to M34 an open cluster. Over in the northwest we glimpsed the stunning Double Cluster. Rounding out the early sky was M38 in Auriga.
The March Observing Challenge was divided into four sessions of ten objects spaced apart in time. The sessions were: 20:10; 22:10; 00:00 and 03:30.
The second session included: M36, M37, M35 the Rosette Nebula (with an O3 filter), NGC2264 (The Christmas Tree Cluster), M48, M44, the twin star Castor and finally The Eskimo Nebula. We spent a lot of time on NGC2392. It was the battle of the scopes. My image of the Eskimo was brighter, but Randy's showed better resolution. Another planetary nebula, not on the list was The Ghosts of Jupiter. A most beautiful site in both scopes.
Next session included beautiful M13 and of course M92 and M5. Following the list we continued on to M95, M96, M66, M65 and M64, the Black Eye Galaxy. Last for this session was Alcor and Mizar.
The final session was scheduled for 03:30, but was cut short around 02:00 because of cloud cover rolling in from the north. The last object was spotted by Randy and it was the beautiful Ring Nebula.
The night was my best observing session. Besides the Observing Challenge numerous other objects were spotted and for completeness sake I will list some of them: M106, M104, "M40 the double star", M51, M97, numerous galaxies in the "Virgo Coma Cluster"-WOW.
In all it was a great night sky, no dew, no frost just some great fellow observers.
It is these attempted near all night sessions that kindle the flames of interest in Astronomy.
Hap, thank you for your hospitality.
Sincerely,
Larry Kuklinski
The former three of us met at Hap's farm near Cochranton.
The night sky as predicted by Randy was near perfect until about 02:00 when weather moved in from the north. Hap is a club member with a burning interest in the night sky. In conversation, he is interested in expanding his passion with educational programs for the schools as well as establishing a permanent observation post on his beautiful, unobstructed land situated east of Meadville.
Randy had his 12" RCX up and running before twilight while I had issues with my Obsession. Before long the sky tuned dark and we were up in running.
The British magazine Sky at Night featured an Observing Challenge in their March issue. They presented a list of some 40 stunning sights to see in 8 hours. Because of the clouds we were able to view for nearly six hours. We missed several of the late sites because they had not risen: Summer Triangle, Epsilon Lyrae, Albereo, M27 and M29. Had the sky cooperated we would have completed the entire list.
Well what did we see? Early on we kicked off with the Orion Nebula and The Running Man Nebula just above the former. Other easy targets included the Pleiades, Saturn and its moon Titan, Aldebaran and the Hyades Open Cluster. The variable star Algol was on the list and the magazine asks us to reobserve it on March 25th and compare notes. In Andromeda we caught NGC752 before setting. M76 or the Little Dumbell Nebua was our next challenge and unfortunately we were unable to visit its brighter namesake M27.Staying in Perseus we moved over to M34 an open cluster. Over in the northwest we glimpsed the stunning Double Cluster. Rounding out the early sky was M38 in Auriga.
The March Observing Challenge was divided into four sessions of ten objects spaced apart in time. The sessions were: 20:10; 22:10; 00:00 and 03:30.
The second session included: M36, M37, M35 the Rosette Nebula (with an O3 filter), NGC2264 (The Christmas Tree Cluster), M48, M44, the twin star Castor and finally The Eskimo Nebula. We spent a lot of time on NGC2392. It was the battle of the scopes. My image of the Eskimo was brighter, but Randy's showed better resolution. Another planetary nebula, not on the list was The Ghosts of Jupiter. A most beautiful site in both scopes.
Next session included beautiful M13 and of course M92 and M5. Following the list we continued on to M95, M96, M66, M65 and M64, the Black Eye Galaxy. Last for this session was Alcor and Mizar.
The final session was scheduled for 03:30, but was cut short around 02:00 because of cloud cover rolling in from the north. The last object was spotted by Randy and it was the beautiful Ring Nebula.
The night was my best observing session. Besides the Observing Challenge numerous other objects were spotted and for completeness sake I will list some of them: M106, M104, "M40 the double star", M51, M97, numerous galaxies in the "Virgo Coma Cluster"-WOW.
In all it was a great night sky, no dew, no frost just some great fellow observers.
It is these attempted near all night sessions that kindle the flames of interest in Astronomy.
Hap, thank you for your hospitality.
Sincerely,
Larry Kuklinski
No comments:
Post a Comment