Blog All Title

To avoid any more of John G's posts (just kidding) I'm going to put up a bit of a report from Cherry Springs where a number of your fellow HAA members have been braving the elements.

I would have posted something earlier but for some reason (operator incompetence???), I haven't been able to connect to the internet here, even though everyone else could. After many hours of trying, I had given up. But now that everyone but Steve and I have left and we have some time, I borrowed his wireless card to try in my computer and we finally got it working (after disabling my built-in wireless). Strange that the only 2 places that I could not connect to a wireless access point has been here at Cherry Springs and at StarFest last year. Are the Wireless Astronomy gods conspiring against me?

As any of you who have been monitoring the conditions here know, it has been very wet. I arrived on Wed in hopes of an early start. But it rained most of the trip here and during set up. Even after set up, the rains and wind got worse. We had damage to Steve's tent similar to what happened to Jim's last Sept here. Fortunately mine survived.

Ann and Alex Tekatch, Matthew and Janice Mannering, Ed Smith, Steve Germann, Marg Walton and Bruce Peart arrived to join in on the fun and round out the HAA contingent. A few others who had indicated they might come, understandably changed their mind.

Wed and Thurs nights were complete wash outs with rain changing from light to heavy almost continuously through this entire time. Fri did improve and we had enough sun for some to get minor sunburns. I even got some solar observing in, but nothing of consequence to be seen. Fri night remained moderately clear to allow us to see Saturn, Vega, M57, Scorpius, M4, Scutum and various bits and pieces between the various clearings. The Milky Way was very nice - probably as good as it ever gets at Binbrook, but not the best we've seen here. It wasn't the best night we've seen down here in the past, but at least we got a few hours of real observing in. (But little astro-photography - just too unsettled and variable.)

Light rains returned at about 3am and then it was wet most of Sat. Sat night did have a few breaks which allowed us to play Name That Constellation in the Least Number of Stars (one of our observing director's favourite games). We also got a chance to celebrate Matthew's birthday!

Since it was a star party, there were a number of interesting talks. Among them, we had a 3D tour of Mars (complete with the glasses), exploring extra-solar planets and how amateurs could and were contributing to the real science in their discoveries, updates on the Hubble, and interacting galaxies. They were all quite good and well received - plus as a bonus, it got us out of the rain. The big thing I really enjoy about these type of events is meeting people we've met before, making new friends and contacts, promoting the HAA and checking out the toys that vendors bring. (Honest I didn't spend too much.)

Considering the weather, many from other clubs did not arrive, and some decided to leave early since the forecasts obviously were not improving. Attendance was down due to the weather, but those who stuck it out had a good time.

Steve and I are planning to stay at least one extra night (and being hardy Canadians) didn't leave early. As of Sun afternoon, there are only about 7 or 8 others remaining to wait for the better conditions which are forecast for Sun and Mon.

Hopefully some more reports and photos will follow.

cheers,
Don

Saturday night (June 6th) the Moon will occult the bright star Antares.

Antares is a first magnitude star and the brightest in the constellation Scorpius. As the moon travels in its orbit, it will first cover the star and then a short time later it will uncover it. Although the event will take place low in the south-southeast (15 degrees above the horizon at the start of the occultation) it will be visible to all.

The moon will be full, and easy to find. Antares is occulted at about 10:40pm, so a little before that look for a bright star to the upper left of the moon. Binoculars or a telescope will certainly enhance the view. When the occultation occurs, Antares will instantly disappear behind the limb of the moon. At approximately 11:18pm it will reappear to the upper right of the moon. Again, it will be a sudden event.

Occultations can be lots of fun and very exciting. The times given here are approximate (since times are location dependant), so be sure to keep a close eye on Antares as the moon approaches. You can time the occultation accurately for your location if you have a shortwave radio capable of picking up CHU time signals ( http://inms-ienm.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/time_services/shortwave_broadcasts_e.html ). Keep an ear on the radio while you keep an eye on the star. A telescope will give you the best view, but binoculars will provide a very aesthetically pleasing view. Antares is bright enough that you should even be able to see it with the unaided eye.

Have fun, and feel free to share your observing experiences here on the blog, or by contacting observing@amateurastronomy.org.

The occulation will take place low in the southern sky.

Antares will disappear behind the upper left limb of the full moon.

Our biggest mini star party of the year was this morning.
We arrived last night to set up for it.

After some coaxing, Don arrived way early to unlock the gate and let me in. I wanted to be all set up before sunset. I watched the sunset, big and red, with a touch of pastel oranges and purples in the high clouds to the west, and realized that M74 and M77 were not going to be there by the time i got the scope set up and the clouds cleared.

Well, after installing 2 new silver handles on the GWS so i can pick it up and put it on the EQP, the sun was down. The process of collimation of the primary and alignment of the finder with the main scope took another 15 minutes... That was the good news. The bad news was that the clouds, predicted by the CSC (but not the American simulations) really did persist. Those of our number willing to set up scopes in advance did so, and we waited for the clouds to clear, after seeing a nice sunset.

It was about 10 PM before the clouds parted, but that did not stop us from having hours of conversation, some even about astronomy(!).

The Sky Quality Meter (SQM) was reading about 18.4 in the darkest direction of the sky, and 17.8 towards Hamilton, which is not much better than a night with a half moon, but that's because of all the high clouds. Kerry called home to get Bill to clear the skies, and he reported the clouds would be gone a few minutes after 10 but he was 'doing everything he could' from there.

I could see Saturn and Mars glowing right through the clouds, and decided to swing the GWS in their direction. After a few seconds I was able to announce that Saturn is in the GWS, and conversations and cookie eating contests were suspended while everyone got pretty fine views of Saturn. Jim and Don also pointed at Saturn. The high clouds made it a bit dimmer, which was good, but still nice and sharp.

Near 10 PM, some of the regulars decided to pack up and head home. We bid them a safe trip but also reminded them of the impending great skies.

This was the night for me to get the XTi to do some imaging through the GWS, along with a Barlow. Mars was so bright that I had to use 1/10 second exposures! It was not long before my card was full. Thanks Kerry for helping me to get it focused.

I also got some excellent shots of Saturn, and will be combining them with DSS soon.
Don imaged a litany of DSOs. Then dewed up. He deployed his backup scope, and continued to image. Jim also dewed over, and discovered a connection failure on his dew shield (the power cord was not pushed into the socket all the way). Luckily several other dew-free scopes remained available. It was about -2C, and there was frost on my car.

Jackie's mission of viewing the Antenna Galaxy in Corvus paid off at last. We used star charts to point the GWS, and Kerry used GOTO to point her scope. The result was something that for a fleeting second actually looked to me like a stylized W with a loop in the center. I hope the photos bear that out. (not, see below)

We could see Vega, and Deneb, and M57 looked fine, as did the double double, which Kerry was able to see. On closer examination I had to admit the stars were elongated, but i was not seeing pairs.

By the time we left, the SQM was reading about 20.2, in the direction of Corvus, which is pretty good for Binbrook.

We packed up a bit after 2:30, after spending as much time as possible hunting DSOs against looming fatigue. 3 of us headed for TH, to discover that once again, all the donuts were in the trash bin. Oh well, the drinks were good, and i was still full of excellent cookies, and hot chocolate from the park.

___________________________

Update and Photos By Kerry:

What a night and such an incredible turn out. Practically the entire gang showed up. It was a little worrisome in the beginning because it didn't look like the clouds would clear out nicely... but thankfully it got dramatically better after 10pm and after midnight the entire sky was almost cloud free.

Icy waters of Binbrook at night:

The Gang:

and Dave in the distance with his brand new C8-SGT:

We got a real treat near the end of the night/early in the morning, thanks to Jackie's obsession with this antenna galaxy. We finally found it in the GWS and could almost make out structure. While we were enjoying the views I dialed it up in Carte du Ciel on my laptop and started imaging it. What an interesting looking pair of interacting galaxies. It was really low in the south and there is a lot more interesting structure that could have been picked up with more exposure time.

I couldn't believe I stayed out so late. I also imaged M81... I'll get to processing that later. We also watched the summer triangle and Scorpius rise and got a sneak preview of a few late spring/summer targets.

Update by Tim Harpur
Well, it was a nice turnout despite the uninvited clouds. I didn't manage to get any astro-photos so I took the opportunity to take some "standard" photos instead.

A group of us took advantage of a late day break in the clouds to head out to Binbrook for some observing just as the initial sliver of the new moon was just dipping below the horizon.

Tim and Therese were out visiting after a day running around Waterloo and then dinner with Mike. Tim didn't bring any equipment, but he was providing sage guidance to Therese about the pros and cons of the various equipment that was set up. I quickly set up my binoculars and we were able to observe several of Jupiter's moons. Tim and I could only make 2, but Therese's keen eyes were able to resolve one of the points into 2 distinct moons (later confirmed in the scopes). With her sharp eyes, she's going to make a great observer.

I didn't bring along any of my little green friends from Fri night at the Parks Canada Discovery Centre, but Jackie was busy entertaining the local furry residents. The raccoons housed in a tree near our observing site appeared to be fascinated by her shiny cases and camera. One was even bold enough to come right to her feet. Judging by the way she jumped, I got the distinct impression that Jackie wasn't quite as enamoured with the raccoons as they were with her. Being the shy wallflower that she is, she didn't want to be the center of attention for the local fauna so relocated a little further away, into the midst and the safety of other observers. Dispite the disruptions of the animals, she's a real trooper and returned to trying out her new XTi on her great little 80mm APO. We also had a great serenade by the coyotes for a little while, but they chose not to venture quite as closely.

Kerry meanwhile was busy snapping away at Comet Linear. It looked like she was able to get quite a few good shots. They'll be something to look forward to once she gets them posted. She also noted a couple of smaller NGC galaxies in the area. I think she also managed to grab a few Messiers amongst all the shots she took. She was well set up with her C6, 80mm APO and Canon 300D.

After struggling with getting my Mak set up, I was finally able to start doing some observing. With Tim and Therese, I initially spent my time looking at some more conventional objects like Jupiter, M57 and a few other clusters. Later, thanks to coordinates provided by Kerry and after several re-alignment attempts, I was able to get Linear into view. A lot larger in the 7" f/15 Mak than had been observed Fri night with the 100mm f/5 richfield, but alas still no observable tail. As midnight approached, I tried for Neptune and Uranus. Neptune never resolved into a disk, but its blue-green colour was evident. Regrettably Uranus was obstructed by trees East from our location.

After granting us a few good hours of observing, the weather gods decided it was time to bring the clouds back shortly after midnight. We were fortunate to have our dew shields with us as well since some dew was beginning to form. Those that had been imaging switched over to viewing to take in a few more objects before we were forced to leave for the night. Finally by around 1am we packed up and headed off to pleasant dreams of a fine night observing under the great skies of the Binbrook Conservation Area.

Update By KerryLH :

I had a real nice time... I got to see Neptune for the first time thanks to Don. It was funny how the racoons were so intersted in Jackie and her equipment; I guess they like shiny new things just like astronomers. Anyway my main goal was to capture comet Linear. After finding the RA and Dec coordinates on Carte du Ciel (free astro software) I plugged it into the keypad of my CG5-GT mount and several seconds later there it was in the middle of the eyepiece on my 80mm scope. I managed to take several images which I stacked manually in Photoshop. I'll try a re-process of it later to get rid of the noise. Since the comet was touring through a cluster of galaxies I ended up capturing NGC5689 and NGC5676(in the widefield shot). You can sort of make out NGC5689 to the right of the comet. It looks like a small edge on spiral.

Comet VZ13 Linear
By Kerry

M101 second attempt
By Kerry

UPDATE by Jackie

I was very excited to get out to Binbrook Sunday night with my new Canon Digital SLR XTi and apo scope. The sky was beautiful at dusk and I captured Venus, working on my focusing:

My first Widefield view was of Jupiter and the constellation Scorpius, still working on the focusing (a little post-processing added the constellation lines):

Binbrook, Canon XTi 55mm @F/2.8 ISO 1600, 1 sec (unfocused)

I love the camera! I have bought a T-adapter so I can take close-up shots through the telescope. Watch me now!

- Jackie

PERFECT WEATHER FOR 07-07-07 AT BINBROOK

"... and gentlemen in England now abed, will think themselves accursed they were not here..." runs the great speech from Henry V. We happy few who were out at Binbrook had a spectacular treat: perfect weather, very few bugs, sputtering meteors, several bright planets and a wonderful southern sky with a brilliant milky way... and no clouds.

I opened the park at sunset and was set up, ready to observe with the 80mm apo on a TAL mount or image with the digital rebel, by 9:15 pm. Jackie did her alignment thing and started to observe the shadow transit of Ganymede by 9:25. Tim Philp and his friend Therese pulled in a minute later with his 8" dob ready to go in a trice; Steve's VW climbed the hill and disgorged a full binocular observing station, several green lasers and a Meade motor-driven reflector. A time-exposure can make darkness seem like daylight:

Dusk brought out Venus, then Jupiter, then Saturn as the sky darkened. Most were steadily watching the shadow of Ganymede complete its transit (seemed to be about 10 minutes faster than Starry Night showed it), with the 4 Jovian moons clustered to one side of the planet. For Jackie, who missed last night's shadow transit of Europa, Ganymede's shadow was both exiting to watch and a rare event.

Once the sky became dark, imaging started in earnest, with focus on Scorpius and Sagittarius. Tim and Therese toured several Messier objects with the push-pull scope, falling behind Jackie and Steve's tally using the go-to and her wonderful little apo. The sky was clear though the seeing was only fair. Therese learned to identify the Teapot, here's a much-reduced image:

To really appreciate how the Milky Way looked, you'd have to turn your gaze higher to see it spreading up from the Teapot, through Scutum and Aquila... like this:

I was more satisfied with the Nikon 50mm F/1.8 lens I used tonight, than with last night's Soligor lens. Star images showed no coma in the larger-sized image which I will post on my astro-gallery.

If you looked way up, the Milky Way ran right through Cygnus and showed a little colour overhead (a rarity for the Hamilton area). Tim took his friend on a tour of M57 and several globular clusters through the Milky Way, using a green laser as his finder (and it worked like a charm). I took just a small piece of the overhead sky shots, to show how beautiful Lyra looked. M57 is visible (between the yellow dashes), and Epsilon Lyrae is well separated (between the blue dashes):

Tim and Therese left at midnight but Jackie, Steve and I stayed for quite a while longer - several meteors including one at least mag minus 3 that swept slowly from the NE into Aquila, sputtering as it went. We listened for a sonic boom, but I didn't hear anything as loud as when the raccoon fell into a garbage bin (apparently they can't get out).

As the last quarter Moon rose over the lake, Steve and I imaged it and Jackie looked through a 5" scope and a set of big binoculars (she loves that terminator). The temperature had fallen below 20 degrees when we finally packed up about 1:30 am.

A great night and to our friends who didn't come out, take advantage of what comes by! November is only 110 days away and you'll look back fondly on warm, clear summer nights!