Schudel Family - Astronomy Log

• Who: Daniel
• Time: ???
• Weather: ???
• Location: Farrington Boat Ramp - eastern ramp
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE and 12.4 Plossl
• Viewing Plan
  • Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune are up all night
  • The Moon doesn't rise until around 2AM the next day
  • Deep Sky Objects - M13, M27, M57, M92, NGC6826
  • Binary Stars - Albireo, 61 Cygni, Mizar/Alcor
  • More Deep Sky - M8, M11, M16, M17, M20, M22, M24, M25, M27, M55, M57, NGC6633
  • CN - IC 1396, LDN 906, M2, M15, M29, M30, M39, NGC 6939, NGC 6871, NGC 7000
  • CN - IC 1396, M2, M15, M30, NGC 6888, NGC 6946, NGC 6960, NGC 6992, NGC 7000, NGC 7009

• Who: Daniel, Vickie, Grandma and Grandpa Schudel, Karin
• Time: 22:00 EDT
• Temperature: ~76 degrees F
• Location: Leeward Court
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE
• Viewed
  • Albireo
  • Mizar/Alcor
  • M13

• Who: Daniel, Abigail - and a very large crowd for the Perseids
• Time: 20:00 - 22:00
• Temperature: mid-80's
• Location: Ebenezer Church Recreation Area
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE
• Viewing Plans
  
  • Sky View and here.
  • Planetary - Venus, Saturn, Mars
  • Deep Sky Objects - M13 (globular cluster), M27 (nebula), M57 (nebula), M92 (globular cluster), NGC6826 (nebula), M56 (globular cluster)
  • Binary Stars - Albireo (colorful blue/yellow binary), 61 Cygni, Cor Caroli, Mizar/Alcor
  • Perseid Meteor Shower - peaks night of 8/12, morning of 8/13.  Perseus (radiant of the shower) rises near to 12 midnight localtime.

• Viewing Results
  • Moon - Slender crescent
  • Venus - Abigail was the first to spot this at 19:50
  • Mars
  • Saturn - through the Astroscan and through a few other 6" scopes
  • M13
  • Albireo
  • Not a single meteor - it was too early

• Who: Daniel
• Time: 21:20 - 23:45 EDT
• Weather: mid-70's with occasional cloud cover
• Location: Farrington Boat Ramp - eastern ramp
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE
• Viewing Plans
  
  • Sky View and here.
  • Planetary - Venus, Saturn, Mars at sunset.  Jupiter, Uranus after midnight.
  • Deep Sky Objects - M13 (globular cluster), M27 (nebula), M57 (nebula), M92 (globular cluster), NGC6826 (nebula)
  • Binary Stars - Albireo (colorful blue/yellow binary), 61 Cygni, Cor Caroli, Mizar/Alcor

  • ---

    More Deep Sky - M8, M11, M16, M17, M20, M22, M24, M25, M27, M55, M57, NGC6633

• Viewing Results
  • M13
  • Cor Caroli - Low on the horizon - easily found, but could not separate.
  • Mizar/Alcor - Easy to separate.
  • Albireo - Separation was easy - but color difference was not evident.
  • M4 - Very, very faint.  FOV included Antares and Sigma Scorpii at opposite edges.
  • M80 - Nearly indistinguishable from a star.
  • Albireo/22:00 - Slight color difference is noted.
  • M57 - Too small to be recognizable
  • Satellite/22:30 - Seen in Vulpecula.  Identified as: Cosmos 2360 Rocket.
  • M27 - Very difficult to find.  The nebula had an interesting shape - definitely not round.
  • M92 - Easy to find, bright core with a diffuse outer layer.
  • M5 - Standard looking globular.
  • Epsilon Lyrae - Could not split the individual doubles.
  • M57/23:10 - Darker sky did not help.
  • Albireo/23:10 - More color is evident.
  • M56 - Unimpressive and dim.
  • 61 Cygni - Easy to find and separate.
  • Satellite/23:32 near to NGC6826 - Unidentified.
  • NGC6826 - Very difficult to find - FOV star charts with dim stars plotted helped to hop to NGC6826.  It took a lot of patience before I could make an object out.
  • 23:45 - Clouds moved in from the North.

• Who: Daniel, Abigail, Bennetts, Meldrums, Sousas
• Time: 20:30 EDT
• Temperature: 80 degrees F
• Location: Medoc Mountain State Park - Group Campsite Field
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE
• Viewing Plans
  • Venus, M44, Saturn, Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum Venaticorum), M81/M82, M3, Mizar/Alcor, Polaris
  • Previously Seen - M3, M44, M51, M94
  • Comet C/2009 R1 (McNaught)
  • Stellar - SS Virginis, Iota Cancri, Mizar/Alcor, Polaris, Gamma Leonis, Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum Venaticorum)
  • Easy - M3, M5, M51, M64, M83, M101, M104
  • Difficult - M63, M84, M86, M87, M102, M106,  NGC4449, NGC4565, Mel 111, NGC 5566, NGC 5585, NGC 5689, NGC 5746, NGC 5813, NGC 5838, NGC 5907
• Viewing Results
  • Venus, Saturn, Arcturus, Cor Caroli, M13, M3
  • Seeing conditions were quite poor.  There was a large amount of dew and condensation.  A very bright light on the group campsite bathhouse bathed the entire field in light.  A way to temporarily shield this light is needed for next time.

• Who: Daniel, Allen D., Mark S.
• Time: 22:30 EDT
• Temperature: 80 degrees F
• Location: Medoc Mountain State Park - Five Acre Field
• Equipment: Allen's 20" f/5 Obsession
• Viewing Results
  • Very impressive!
  • M57 - Ring Nebula
  • NGC 6543 - Cats Eye - I could see the central star
  • M20 - Triffid Nebula
  • M8 - Lagoon Nebula
  • Veil Nebula (NGC6960, 6992, 6995) with an OIII filter - was very impressive and very large.  52 Cygni, near NGC6960, was an electric blue due to the OIII filter.
  • Flashing Nebula - can't find any references to this name
  • A few globulars that I lost track of

• Who: Daniel, Vickie, Abigail, Adah, and the Krebs Family
• Time: 20:30 EDT
• Temperature: 80 degrees F
• Location: Krebs'
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE
• Viewing Plans
  
  • Sky view - star clusters on / off
  • Venus, M44, Saturn, Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum Venaticorum), M81/M82, M3, Mizar/Alcor, Polaris
  • Previously Seen - M3, M44, M51, M94
    
  • New and Reasonable - M53, M64, M83, M104, NGC 3242
    
  • New and Challenging - M63, M65, M66, M84, M86, M87, M95, M96, M97, M105, M106, M108, M109, NGC 3115, NGC 3628, NGC 4449, NGC 4565
  • Stellar - SS Virginis, Iota Cancri, Mizar/Alcor, Polaris, Gamma Leonis, Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum Venaticorum)
• Viewed
  • Venus

• Who: Daniel
• Time: ??? EDT
• Temperature: ??? degrees F
• Location: Farrington Boat Ramp - eastern ramp
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE
• Viewing Plans
  
  • Previously Seen - M3, M44, M51, M94
    
  • New and Reasonable - M53, M64, M83, M104, NGC 3242
    
  • New and Challenging - M63, M65, M66, M84, M86, M87, M95, M96, M97, M105, M106, M108, M109, NGC 3115, NGC 3628, NGC 4449, NGC 4565
  • Stellar - SS Virginis, Iota Cancri, Mizar/Alcor, Polaris, Gamma Leonis
    
• Viewed

• Who: Daniel, Vickie, and Dad
• Time: 21:00 EDT
• Temperature: ~55 degrees F
• Location: Leeward Court
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE
• Viewed
  
  • Mars
• Notes
  • We just sneaked a peak at Mars before the clouds took over

Info

• Who: Daniel
• Session Moderator: Dr. Steve Danford of UNCG
• Time: 20:30 EDT
• Location: TCO
• Equipment: TCO - 32 inch f/13.5 reflector
• Sky View: Cluster PDF / Galaxy PDF (created with XEphem)

Would Like To See

• Leo Triplet - M65, M66, NGC3628
• Owl Nebula M97, and M108
• Barred spiral galaxy M109
• Planetary nebula NGC3242
• Edge-on galaxy NGC3628
• Eskimo Nebula NGC2392
• NGC4565
• M81 and M82
• M51

Visual Observing

• Castor - Visual binary star system.  Castor is actually a quadruple star system.
• Mars - Very difficult to make out any detail of the disk.
• NGC2392 - Clown Face/Eskimo Nebula - I could see the structure of the concentric layers of this nebula.
• Saturn - Very beautiful - with faint spears of rings on either side.  The shadow of the rings was noticeable.
• M82 - I was able to see and discern the dust lanes.
• M81 - I was unable to make out any spiral structure - but did recognize the component of the galaxy outside of the galaxy core.
• Two satellites - at 22:36 localtime, two satellites passed overhead, one following the other and slightly offset.  The dimmest was "Cosmos 2360 Rocket".  The other was very bright at first, then dropped sharply in magnitude.  At its brightest - it rivaled Venus.  This second object remains unidentified.
• M3 - Absolutely stunning.  The cluster occupied about 75% of the eyepiece FOV.  Hundreds of individual stars were discernible.  What was also amazing was seeing the "ripple" and "wave" motion of the atmosphere and how it affected the view of this cluster.
• Vesta - Actually viewed through the Astroscan.  Vesta has dropped off in magnitude noticeably since I started tracking it.

CCD Work

• Gamma Leonis - The binary star system was used to adjust the focus of the telescope.
• Saturn - Dr. Danford snapped hundreds of images of Saturn in an attempt to capture one at a point with cooperative atmosphere.  The photos were for a student that was studying the motions of Saturn's moons.

Notes

• I arrived at 20:20 for the 20:30 observing session.  The observatory was already packed full, with about 12 people still after me.  Early arrival is not necessary because everyone does get a chance to view every object.
• The strategy I used that worked well was to be the last person to view an object - then go outside and view through my scope.  I then reenter when the remaining line is short for the next object.

• Who: Daniel
• Time: 21:30 EDT
• Temperature: ~64 degrees F
• Location: Farrington Boat Ramp - western ramp
• Equipment: Astroscan with 21.5mm RKE
• Viewed
  • M44 - Beehive: Mediocre early in the night - better around 22:00.
  • Saturn
  • Vesta: It was possible to view Vesta and Algenubi (Epsilon Leonis) in the same FOV.
  • M67
  • M81 and M82: Viewing of the pair seemed to be better than 2010/03/19 session.
  • M51
  • M94
  • Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum Venaticorum): I could easily split the two stars.  The magnitude difference was very apparent.
  • M3: Very beautiful with a radial symmetry.  There was a well-defined center with a graceful drop of density/intensity.
• Notes
  • Robert N. and Jon S.T. from CHAOS were observing also.
  • Light from vehicles made observing tonight very tough and frustrating.  The warm night, and holiday weekend, brought out a lot of boat ramp traffic.