What we saw
This page will be updated frequently as we hold observing sessions. All observations were made through the 12" refractor unless otherwise specified.
Friday, May 30, 2008
A cloudy night, but having come in to look for a manual Shianne wound up having well over an hour's conversation with "a very happy, enthusiastic family." ("It makes me wonder how many interesting people we miss when we don't open on cloudy Fridays.")
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Mike had returned from a multi-week trip that included a visit to Mauna Kea (he noted, "what a profoundly monumental experience it was to view the stars from above the clouds, while inhaling oxygen with telescope operators, on the summit of this revered dormant volcano."), so came by "on this clear, Moonless night for just a little casual, low altitude observing." He got Saturn and Ms 57, 81, 82, 13, and 53 for a few guests. Bernadette and Pon were also in attendance.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Clouds cleared at sunset so Art came to look for some things in Corvus and Coma Berenices that he'd not gotten to last spring. In the 40mm wide, NGC 4361, a planetary nebula, was about like the Crab or a little brighter; failed on the Antennae galaxies (NGCs 4038/39) and NGC 3887 (in Crater). He did not get to anything in Coma, but did get a couple of "off-the-path" (i.e., away from the clump of Messiers) galaxies in Virgo: starting with the Sombrero, he found NGCs 4699, 4697 (better than some of the Virgo Messiers!), 4753, and 4636. Clouds were moving in at midnight, so he ended with the Whirlpool and pal—tonight the spiral structure of the Whirlpool was at the extreme limits of visibility with most North Campus lights off. Mars and M44 are still visible in the same field of view in binoculars.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Final graduation weekend viewing; but much more importantly, the successful touchdown of the Mars Phoenix Lander!! The Astronomy Dept. held an open house to watch NASA-TV coverage, with an overflow crowd of 160 according to the Cornell Chronicle story; Art left immediately after touchdown, but by the time he walked back to Fuertes and dialed in Saturn before sunset, there were already 12 people waiting! A much mellower night, though, despite a steady stream of visitors (ca. 100 total). Saturn again had a cute moon configuration, with a triangle of moons right next to it, on the same side as Titan; tonight he was able to switch to M56/M66 mid-evening, though. By the end of the evening it had hazed up, but he got M3 for the last few visitors. Out on the deck, Shianne, Pon, and Steve (who the next day declared to the email list that this had been "the most awesome birthday ever!") got Mars/Beehive, Saturn, and M57 in Bob the Dob. Steve also hooked up a laptop with wireless connectivity to the projector in the classroom so as to display the first Phoenix raw images as displayed on the NASA website.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Second graduation weekend viewing night and it was Sardine City™, with over 300 visitors—Shianne noted, "We had a deck full of visitors before it even got dark!" She and Brandon manned Bob the Dob out on the deck (assisted for a while by Pon), getting Saturn, M13, M81/82, M57, the Blinking Nebula, and two passes of the International Space Station. Art meanwhile had Saturn dialed in before sunset and was inside doing crowd control all night long. Could not get off Saturn until 2330 because of the continuously replenished wall-to-wall crowd wanting to see it. (Titan was at about 4:30 relative to the planet, with three other moons directly opposite and right next to the planet in a tight almost straight line.) We finally got to move to M65/66 for the last 45 minutes. After the last customers left at 0026, Art stayed for sundry practicing: in Bob, M13, M4, M57, and ε-Lyrae; in Irv, M3; and in binoculars, Albireo, Jupiter (no moons visible), and was just barely able to make out M8+M20 together.
Friday, May 23, 2008
First of three consecutive viewing nights for Cornell graduation weekend. It initially looked like it would be a fantastic night; but the [expletive deleted] wind turned out to be from the north tonight, not the west, so it clouded over soon after sunset. About 60 visitors trickled through, nonetheless; the first few of them got to see Saturn and three moons, then during a few-minute break later on some others got to see it again. (Seeing would have been great; there was no blur at all to it!) The most frustrating thing was getting only a five-second glimpse of Mars directly in front of the Beehive Cluster in binoculars!! We finally closed for good at 2300.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
It having cleared by sunset, Art came to bag a few galaxies before moonrise. After using Saturn for focusing/atmospheric check (good calm air, four moons), he got NGCs 2903 (just west of Leo's nose), 4565 (the Needle), 4494 (cute little galaxy en route to 4565), the Sombrero, the Whirlpool + its buddy 5195 (had to dial them in since they were essentially overhead— spiral structure not visible despite most North Campus lights being off, since the Moon had risen by then), and quickly dialed in M87 to finish off. Closed at 2240.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Shianne decided that such a clear night could not be wasted for mere sleep, so came by. Saturn had four moons visible and "an unusual atmospheric band that appears a bit darker—more orangish—than the rest of the yellowish atmosphere." She attempted various Leo galaxies, to be foiled by a full moon, but found the open cluster Do43, M29, and the Blinking Nebula, NGC 6826.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
A training night. After using Saturn for focusing, Steve got M3, then Danny attempted NGC 5466 but it was not visible. Russell W. then refound M3. Danny got Mars, the Moon, M81/M82, and Albireo in Bob the Dob, and got the Starlocator for Bob to work; Steve also figured out how to point Bob correctly.:-) Some guests who came by got to see Saturn in Irv; Steve got M87, then he and Art attempted to get Polaris, but something wasn't working right.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Special open viewing night for Astronomy Day. Mercury was seen just after sunset, then there was much Moon and Saturn (five, possibly six moons visible). Also seen were Mars, M53, M65, and M66. Another slow and steady stream of about 40 visitors. Hazed over after 11pm, but not before Bari (who after almost a year in the club had not found anything yet!) was trained and found Saturn to the applause of her friends.:-)
Friday, May 9, 2008
The clouds (amazingly) stayed away, allowing a slow but steady stream of visitors (40+) to see things. Bob the Dob and the industrial binoculars were out on the deck, with Bob initially pointed at the Moon (an 18mm eyepiece is a very good one to use for the Moon with Bob!), while Irv, the main scope, began on Saturn. Over the course of the evening, Mars, M44, M13, Albireo, ε-Lyrae, and the Coma Berenices open cluster (Melotte 113) were found in various fields of view. Alex found M65 and M104; and at the end Mike got NGC 5248 (galaxy in Boötes).
Sunday, May 4, 2008
After an early evening meeting to hold CAS elections, multiple attempts were made to image objects with our new Orion Space Imager CCD camera. All, alas, failed. (Although an attempt to image a star resulted in a rare capture of the "Einstein Sausage!") Danny and Stephen did manage to get M58, M59, M60, and M13 for eye-viewing, though, and a number of Eta–Aquarid meteors were witnessed on this very cold night.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
While Shianne did homework downstairs, Danny again found the Virgo galaxies M58-59-60. Hazier than last time, so harder to see. (He wrote that he had also seen M97, the Owl Nebula; but since that is almost impossible to see from Fuertes under the best of conditions, it was highly unlikely; he agreed in later discussion that it may well have been wishful thinking.—Ed.) There was a peek at Saturn as it was clouding up.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Lisa and Brian gave a lecture on planetary weather on a beautiful spring evening. Guests started arriving already at 7:30, before sunset. Many happy guests were entertained with views of Saturn, Mars, and the Moon. Bob the Dob was set up on the deck, but "[we] couldn't find many deep-sky objects with it." A number of topics were debated, including "intelligent" design, determinism, and "lots of random weird stuff."
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Art came in briefly to debug the sidereal time display (the "On" and "Hold" labels on the toggle are backwards, *sigh*...). He found a family group of six and an Astro TA present, so showed them Saturn, the Moon, and gave them the nickel sky tour.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
There was a visit by a loud but very enthusiastic group of 50+ 7th graders from the Chapin School, a private NYC girl's school. Art showed them Saturn (to the inevitable exclamations of "It looks like a picture!"), the Orion Nebula, and the Moon. Much moon pollution, but good steady viewing: the Cassini Gap was plainly visible. Titan and three other moons were also visible. Art turned things over to Danny, who also looked at Saturn and the Moon. Equipment problems continue to annoy: the RA calibration disk does indeed stick at several points, there was a problem with the sidereal time display, and the screws holding the RA locking knob snapped on Danny.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Steve learned the basics of telescope operation from Pon and found, among other things, M13 and Saturn, after an Astro 102/104 lab finished.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
A good clear night; no haze or wind. Art found NGCs 2141 (open cluster near Betelgeuse), 2169 (the "37" cluster), 2264 (the Xmas Tree cluster), a very iffy find of 2194 (another open cluster near 2169), 2775 (faint galaxy in Cancer on the border of Hydra), M35 and its very faint neighbor NGC 2158, found that open cluster Cr89 was too big for the wide angle, and open cluster Cr97 was basically a couple of stars. Danny came and found NGC 2244 (Rosette Nebula cluster), then got M104 and the Leo galaxy NGC 2903. Mike meanwhile had gotten the club's new Dobsonian scope working, and it was christened by all three with a look at the Orion Nebula out on the lawn. After Art left, Danny found Virgo galaxies M58-59-60, while Mike tested the electronic navigating/locating system on the Dob—worked fairly okay, but needs better alignment, since while it found Saturn easily, it needed help finding M13 and M81/82. ("The wide field view of M81/82 was very nice!") Danny also passed his keyholder test.:-)
(Editor's note: on the club email list the following week, the new Dob was christened in the other sense of the word. The main scope being of late informally referred to as "Irv," the new scope, on Shianne's suggestion, is now "Bob the Dob.":-) No consensus has as of this writing been reached on a nickname for the Celestron.)
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Art made a final attempt to do a Messier marathon. Due to equipment problems that cost much time and ability to find targets near the North Pole, he finally conceded defeat just after 0230, having logged 44 Messier objects plus 11 others. Details are available on the Messier marathon page.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Noticing that it had cleared at sunset for once, instead of the other way around, Art came by to attempt as much of a Messier marathon as possible before moonrise. He found an Astro 102 lab just starting, vetoing the idea. He stayed to assist the TA, showing Saturn, M65/66, and M42/43 in the telescope, plus M45 in binoculars.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
A gamma-ray burst event (GRB080319B) had been recorded on March 19th (one
of five(!) on the day of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's death)
that was so powerful
that an afterglow object was, according to news stories, visible to the naked-eye (from
an estimated distance of 7.5 billion (yes, with a B!) light years). Art came by during the day to
check which sky-chart to use in finding it and did some quick solar observing. One tiny
(i.e., about the size of the Earth or a bit larger) sunspot was on the eastern limb just
north of the solar equator, with an obvious and much larger bright area nearby; only one
prominence of note was visible, also on the southeastern limb.
In the evening, Art came back to look for the GRB afterglow object. He might have seen it:
there were any number of faint points of light at the limits of visibility in the area,
but he couldn't match up the view with pictures from the web. He consoled himself with
logging some galaxies before the moon got too high: Ms 81, 82, 95, 96, 105, 65, 66, 51,
and NGCs 5195 (Whirlpool companion), 3384, 3628, 4565 (Needle galaxy), and a very iffy
4559. Good clear sky, no haze of note; closed at 2300.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Shianne came by and saw the Double Cluster and another Perseus open cluster, Tr2. She tried to find M76 but failed. The sky was a little hazy.
Friday, March 21, 2008
The sky was very hazy and a full moon washed out most targets. In addition, power to some parts of the building was out, leaving the entrance and hall in darkness, and confining music for J. S. Bach's 323rd birthday to the downstairs classroom. About 20 visitors came by, a decent turnout for Cornell's spring break. Art opened; Shianne, Mike, Pon, and Dounan (briefly) came by sometime later. We were able to show them M81 in the early evening (M82 was not visible—usually it's brighter, being edge-on) and M42 later on, plus Mars, Saturn, and the Moon, with M45 in the binoculars. The R.A. locking knob has finally been repaired.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Mike and Art attempted to do a Messier marathon despite the lack of an R.A. knob (via joint operation of the 'scope: see prior entry). The evening began all right but clouds moved in by 2200. Only 28 objects, including non-Messiers, were found: by eye, M45; by binocs, Ms 103, 34, 42, 41, 47, 46, 93, 35, 36, 37, 38, 50, plus NGCs 864/889, 957 (another open cluster right nearby), and Stock 23 (open cluster near Perseus' head); in the 'scope, Ms 77, 31/32, 76, and NGCs 7662 (Blue Snowball), 7789 (big open cluster in Cassiopeia), and 1973-75-81, the rest of Orion's sword. The Astro Dept. had scheduled a student service organization event for that night, and about 20 people filled the downstairs. We gave them the cloudy-night tour and closed. (Of course, by the time Art had finished the log entry after closing, the sky had cleared again... Too tired and disappointed to try to resume.)
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Shianne and Danny came by on a beautiful night with "delightfully crunchy snow" and only a very few clouds and little haze, to try some astrophotography. While they successfully downloaded the software to her laptop, they had little luck imaging Saturn or the Orion Nebula. The R.A. locking knob has now been removed entirely, so that it really needs two people to operate the telescope smoothly: one pans in R.A. using the "ship's helm" and the other stays at the eyepiece and pans in Decl.
Monday, March 3, 2008
A very warm and somewhat clear night. Shianne, Danny, and a Russell viewed the Orion Nebula and M41, but failed to find other nearby open clusters as the haze and then clouds grew worse. (One of the observatory's original purposes being the teaching of naval navigation, they then honored said traditional purpose via some ballistics practice, i.e., throwing snowballs off the roof.:-)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Art came in to practice M77 one more time, and figured out why he'd had problems the previous time around. He also did a fast practice of M78 and NGC 404 again. Lots of haze—M77 and NGC 404 were barely visible. Also, the R.A. locking knob is practically falling off and needs serious repair.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Art came in at sunset to practice various early-evening Messier objects and some alternates for the things that are too faint to get (Ms 74, 33, 110). Mike arrived soon thereafter. Practiced on the winter binocular-class open clusters Ms 41, 44, 46, 47, 35, 34, 36, 37, 38, 93, and St23; in the 'scope Mike got M77 after Art had some problems, then got the galaxy NGC 404 (in the same wide-angle field of view as β-And.). Art then got the Blue Snowball Nebula, NGC 7789 (Cassiopeia open cluster, huge and rich but all very, very faint stars—easy to miss), M34, NGC 1023 (galaxy a little ways almost due south of M34), and Ms 76, 108, 97, 109, 81, and 82. Meanwhile, the two Russells had arrived, and they and Mike went downstairs to try and load software for the new imager, and failed due to a lack of proper device drivers. Art left at 2150, leaving Mike and α-Russellorum to find Saturn.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Shianne came in and practiced a bit with calibrating the R.A. wheel and dialing in coordinates, not looking for particular things.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A midweek public viewing night for the total lunar eclipse, the last one visible from Ithaca until 21 Dec., 2010. A very cold and mostly clear night provided a flawless view of totality. Several hundred visitors enjoyed a "standard, beautiful eclipse," with the usual deep red and hints of turquoise. Shianne, Kim, Pon, Danny, Lisa, both Russells, Art, Mike, Hong Yu, Brian, Alex, Brandon, and Anthony were kept busy helping.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
An extraordinarily clear blue day that gave way to a spectacularly (mostly--this is Ithaca!) clear night: Shianne, Lisa, Danny, and a Russell came by. Lisa found M41 and the Orion Nebula; Danny found "an open cluster north of Orion." Shianne found the Beehive Cluster (M44). Saturn and the Moon were also viewed. Mike and some friends stopped by in late evening, and the night ended with "a slight linguistic debate that included cheese and aluminum."
Friday, February 15, 2008
We had a lecture by Jimmy and Dorothy on the death of stars, to a comfortably small audience (club members Kim, Elise, Shianne, Lisa, Russell R., Alex, Danny); the evening was thoroughly snowy and cloudy, so no observing. Instead, there was some archival work done on sundry folded documents written in German found in a desk drawer in the museum room. These looked like H-R diagrams (stellar evolution charts) but turned out to show data relating to water-height and a dam...
Monday, February 11, 2008
Art came by to practice the Ursa Major Messier objects, only to find that the new regulator on the dome motor had been reset and needed a password in order to work again; thus, a beautiful night was wasted. Shianne arrived just as he was leaving, but she did not know how to get the regulator working again.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Clear but frigid, with a killing wind! Art opened at 1800 for new member training; Pon had seven students over for an Astro 102 lab. Before the lab section came by, Art looked at Castor: the two primaries were visible and very tight. He also saw NGC 2331, a loose, faint open cluster, and the Xmas Tree Cluster, NGC 2264. Danny found M31/32 for Pon's students, then the Orion Nebula and the other sword components (NGCs 1973-75-81). Mars was observed, though no details were visible; and we had the term's first look at Saturn. Much atmospheric turbulence. Art also trained Danny on the winter binoculars-class Messier objects (both lying on the deck to keep out of the wind as much as possible...).
Monday, January 28, 2008
Art was by from 1900-2230. Much haze at lower altitudes, but things got better during the course of the evening. The passing near-Earth asteroid 2007TU24 was too faint to see at Fuertes (ca. magn. 11.5), but he got A Pile O' Stuff™: M77, NGC 752 (big open cluster), M33 (!-barely discernible as a dim glow filling the field of view in the 40mm wide-angle), M31/32 (M31 much fainter than usual), a very iffy possible sighting of M110, M103, NGCs 659 and 663 (tiny open clusters near M103), the Owl Cluster (NGC 457), the Crab (quite faint), each half of the Double Cluster, M79, M35 and its tiny, faint companion NGC 2158, a possible sighting of the open cluster DoDz4 (so loose and few stars that it was hard to tell if it was the cluster or background), NGC 2169 (the "37" Cluster), the Xmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264), and NGC 2244 (open cluster, part of the Rosette Nebula). He also passed by λ-Ori., a very nice, bright, tight double star.
Friday, January 25, 2008
The dome motor is finally fixed, with a new regulator! (It spins the motor up slowly, which reduces strain on the circuit breaker: no more loud BANG to startle visitors when we have to move the dome.) After the start-of-term business meeting with 15 members in attendance (discussing the lecture series, outreach, and a design contest for new CAS t-shirts), we saw Mars and the Orion Nebula in Irv (the new nickname for the telescope, since its official name, engraved on a plaque on the mount, is the Irving Porter Church Telescope :-); Mercury was visible at dusk just above the horizon; and with binoculars got the Pleiades, Hyades, Orion Nebula, M41, and M44. Clouded over by 2230; Bernadette passed her keyholder test, closing by herself.
Friday, January 18, 2008
First official public viewing night of the spring term. Art arrived at 1800, seeing Mercury low in the SW from the parking lot; Danny, Shianne, Brandon, Kim, Lisa, and others showed up at varying times later. The Celestron could not be set up due to ice clogging the mounting holes; we need to find a solution for this. Binocular targets included Mira, M45, Mars, and M42—very bad moon pollution, with M31 invisible(!). When a larger crowd of visitors came by, we opened the dome slit where it stood and observed whatever passed by, including Mira, Mars, M42, M45, and the Moon. Quite an impressive collection considering the immovable dome slit!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
A genuinely clear, moonless night, with a chilling wind, allowed for some serious observing with the C-14. Mike and Art arrived after 6pm and observed till about 8pm. Targets included comets Holmes and 8-P-Tuttle (both faint binocular targets), Mars, M42/43, open cluster St23 (much less interesting in a telescope, alas), NGC 2169 (the "37" Cluster), and an inadvertent stumble upon M35 while looking for the former. (The C-14 is very unwieldy, and its finder remains out of alignment—needs to be re-aligned during daytime at some point when it's not freezing out!) They also noticed that the variable star Mira was at its maximum apparent magnitude, ca. +2.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Art was by from 1815-1915. Being now equipped with correct coordinates,:-) he was able to find both Comets Tuttle and Holmes. Both are very faint hazes; Holmes was now about what the Crab Nebula looks like in the 40mm wide-angle, with Tuttle even fainter. There was much water haze, as it had gotten above 60 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. A spate of the usual binoculars suspects; Ms 31, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42/43, 45, 103, the Hyades, and the Double Cluster. Also, while getting to the Double, he was astounded to run into a completely different open cluster called St23, whose existence had been hitherto altogether unexpected by him: A Fine Little Object to remember for future public evenings.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
A clear sky at sunset, so Art came by at 1830 to see if anyone else might arrive so as to set up the C-14. Got the usual suspects in binoculars to say he'd observed something: Mars, Hyades, the α-Perseus Group, Ms 45, 31, 35, 36, 37, 38, 42, 103, and the Double Cluster. He was unable to find Comet Tuttle, and Comet Holmes was invisible. There was a high ice haze moving in; Mike came by at 1930, but they didn't stay. At least the deck is now shoveled off.
Monday, December 31, 2007
The sky out at Art's place had cleared somewhat by 2300, so he decided a good way to spend midnight of New Year's Eve would be observing things at the obs. Alas, the Ithaca skies were much cloudier by the time he drove in—only a hazy look at Mars in the binocs was possible.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A very peaceful Christmas night with a gorgeous sky, making it lamentable that the dome motor remains broken. Shianne took a break from her polishing and looked at the Moon, the Hyades, the Pleiades, and Mars in the binoculars, then lay on the deck for a bit and saw two bright meteors. Art stopped by briefly for a binoculars peek.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Shianne has been polishing the brass fixtures on the scope. Art stopped by as the clouds were breaking up, but there was such massive moon pollution that most binoculars targets were washed out: he managed M42, the Double Cluster, and M31 just barely. (Comet Holmes was invisible, and an alleged glimpse of M103 might well have been wishful thinking.) However, there was a very tight conjunction of the full Moon and Mars, less than a lunar diameter. After Art left, Mike arrived to observe the conjunction as well. He and Shianne set up the Celestron to finally observe Mars, which, just past opposition, was only about 55 million miles away (the closest it will be for the next nine years). They also tested the new flip mirror, observed the Moon and the Orion Nebula, and entertained one visitor—a Cornell police officer. Overall it was a windy, relatively mild night and an invigorating opportunity to finally do some observing, albeit between clouds.
Saturday, December 9, 2007
Tonight stated out as a somewhat clear night, so Shianne and Danny opened. After shoveling the deck, some minor observing was done: Mars, Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula in binoculars. Jen arrived, and "a most unusual sled" was found downstairs. Since it had clouded up again, there was only one thing to be done: go sledding down the slope with stairs towards Appel Commons. The evening concluded with research into the history of the "Shortnin' Bread" song.
Friday, November 23, 2007
About 10 people stopped by at the beginning of the evening but there weren't too many celestial wonders to show off tonight (due to the full Moon, dead dome motor, and clouds). Shianne set up the big binoculars for them to look at the Moon. Danny brought visiting relatives by, but it was clouded over at that point. The clouds off the lake finally stopped around 9:45pm, but the Moon was blotting out most things. Art showed six visitors the comet and pointed out stuff. We closed at 2215.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Clear skies at 8pm, so Art came to see Comet Holmes, He first checked on Uranus to settle the dispute from Nov. 2nd, and found that his distinguished colleagues Pon and Shianne had been correct that we had not seen Uranus last week; he stands duly abashed and chastised. Comet Holmes now takes up an entire quadrant of the finder scope, and about 60-65% of the field of view of the 40mm wide-angle. The northern edge is more well-defined while the southern half sort of trails away. It has an oblong inner coma shape, with some small faint blotch that appears to be the nucleus. An Astro 195 person came by to finish a lab so Art gave her and her friend the nickel sky tour and showed them M31/32. Brandon and Danny arrived so they did the comet again then Art showed Brandon how to get Polaris, and left. The Russells, Mike, and Shianne arrived later to brave the 20 degree Fahrenheit temperature. A few low clouds (or high fog, if you will) passed throughout the night, but they weren't prevented from finding M1, M35, NGC 2392, and Mars (with possible ice cap). On a more catastrophic note, as they attempted to move the dome late in the night, they were horrified to hear wooden teeth shooting out of the dome gear works. Evidently a gear, for some reason made of wood, and succumbed to age and the cold humid weather, and failed. The dome cannot be returned to its standard position or anywhere else until the motor is repaired.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
After a cloudy evening skies cleared late, providing the opportunity for some quality observing within days of the New Moon. Comet Holmes now shows a distinct direction to its motion, as the bright, primary coma is now clearly more diffuse and extended on one end. It has grown to take up more than half the field of view of the 40mm (at least 16 or 17 arc min.), though its ion tail is still only visible in long photographic exposures. The Orion Nebula and Crab Nebula were also quite impressive tonight, as was Mars. NGCs 1513 and 1245 (open clusters in Perseus) were also observed.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Mike stopped by to check up on Comet Holmes. Variable skies with occasional clouds off the lake permitted decent observations of the continually expanding comet. About 15 arc minutes in size, Holmes is now too large to photograph with his camera's fixed field of view and completely fills that of the 26mm Plössl eye piece.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Comet Holmes is still going strong! Jenn gave a much-anticipated lecture on the Big Bang to a full classroom. The lecture was immediately followed by observing! We saw mostly Comet Holmes through the main scope, although Alex did get a chance to train on M36 and Art may have found Uranus. We also had the Celestron set up out on the deck, through which we saw Mars, M31, M32, and the Ring Nebula. With the binoculars we found the open cluster in Taurus, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and many other sights. David found the Orion Nebula to conclude this exciting, beautiful night at the observatory.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Public opening night for Comet Holmes! We had a good turnout with a lot of enthusiastic guests. The comet could fit across the finder scope about six times.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Kim and Shianne came to view Comet Holmes, which is now so large that it
appears through the finder scope how it used to appear through the main scope
with a 26mm eyepiece. It can fit across the finder scope about eight times and
across the main scope with the 40mm eyepiece about 5 times. The red filter
made all the stars around it disappear and made it considerably dim. The green
and yellow filters seemed to make it slightly larger. The other filters didn't
do anything.
Later Mike and Elise came by and, although they did not play with filters while
looking at Comet Holmes, did have their hand at a bit of astrophotography.
It was beginning to get chilly and cloudy, but overall a very nice night for
observing (at least for Ithaca!)
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Mike, Art and Danny took another look at the Comet Holmes. It was wider and many stars were visible through it. Mike took some images. We showed one Astro student the comet as well as M31 in binoculars. Danny got training on how annoying it is to see Polaris. Clouds shut us down just as Shianne arrived.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Jimmy Hartzell gave a lecture titled "Death of the Universe" to a moderate-sized audience on this rainy night.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Tonight Mike, Art, Kim, Shianne, Pon, and Brian K. viewed the remarkable Comet Holmes, which made for an amazing event when it brightened from magnitude 17 to magnitude ~2.5 over the course of a night. The sudden increase of over 600,000 times in brightness made for the appearance of a new "star" in the constellation of Perseus. On the previous night, immediately following the presumed outgassing that resulted in the increased brightness, the comet appeared shockingly stellar to the naked eye, and nothing more than a fuzzy star through the telescope. Over the next night the coma increased to give an appearance resembling a planetary nebula.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Mike opened at dusk to view Comet Loneos, which at about +6 magnitude was visible in binoculars and easily found in the finder scope a few degrees south of Arcturus. It was distinctly green in color, but no tail was visible. A few cirrus clouds moved in at about 8pm, prompting him to close up shop. These same clouds produced a fine paraselene (moon dog) just as he left.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Mike, Danny, Shianne, Jenn, and Lisa came on a wonderfully clear autumn night, graced by the peak of the Orionids. We enjoyed several dozen meteors, including many bright ones, at a rate of about 20 meteors per hour.
Friday, October 19, 2007
The cloudy night tour preceded CAS's weekly lecture for once, as technological difficulties required that the lecture begin late. However, the patience of the audience paid off, and in due time Laura and Bari gave a spirited account of the science and allure of meteor showers.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Lisa and Brian gave a lecture on comets. It was mostly cloudy but miraculously cleared a little past 8pm. We found the Ring Nebula, M34, M13, and Albireo. Tried to find the galaxy NGC 891 (a different, very faint galaxy in Andromeda) but without success. It was so clear we could see the Milky Way! It was quite cold, but after the crowds left we also viewed M39, Mars, and M1.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Sam started the night with a nice lecture about Kepler and clear (though hazy) skies allowed public viewing to follow. We started with M13, then NGC 129 (open cluster in Cassiopeia). Danny found M31, Pon found M33, then Russell found M38. Mike found Mars, then an eager new member, Hong Yu, found it again.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Today is the 50th anniversary of the space age! A clear but hazy night. Art found Neptune, Russell got the Saturn Nebula (NGC 7009), Danny got M72, Art got Uranus, and Danny got NGC 7331 (a galaxy in Pegasus, pretty good even with haze). Shianne took over at 10:20pm. Danny stuck around too and they found NGC 129 (Cassiopeia open cluster) and tried to find NGC 891 (faint galaxy in Andromeda) and M33 but could not for the haze.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Ken Ferguson gave an informal talk on Tycho Brahe to a not empty classroom. Rain, Thunder and Lightning prevented us from opening for public viewing to night.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Training for new folks; Doug and David on their first night found β-Andromedae, the Owl Cluster (NGC 457), and M103. David got M103. Dan got M103, M31, M34, and γ-Andromedae. Art did M32, M76, and showed three visitors on the lawn the nickel sky tour. Also saw M13, the Double Cluster (NGCs 864/889), and the Pleiades in binoculars.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Kim and Pon came to the observatory with Elise so that Elise could take her Key
test. She found the Andromeda Galaxy. Everything went smoothly and she passed.
Meanwhile, Pon set up the Celestron telescope out on the deck. Danny stopped by
while Elise was testing and Shianne arrived shortly before Elise closed.
Shianne looked at M34 and M74; Sam Located M77 all by himself. On the deck we pointed
out Camelopardalis and the Lynx to ourselves before ending the night with a view of
the Crab Nebula and the waxing Mars (which we attempted to image).
Friday, September 21, 2007
Tonight it was busy. We had Rob West give a lecture on planetary imaging as part of the CAS lecture series. It was a moderately popular lecture, filling the classroom with ~30 people. However, we also had the privilege of hosting a second lecture, given by Ryan Anderson, an astronomy grad student, in conjunction with a dorm group visit. Ryan discussed solar system exploration with the aid of a lot of pretty pictures. Public viewing followed: in addition to the normal public, we had a large (~40) group from Alice Cook House again, led by Prof. Phil Nicholson, for which we also set up the Celestron. Prof. Jean-Luc Margot also brought a small (~10) group of students. We showed them the moon, Jupiter, and the moon again (Sinus, Iridum, Copernicus, etc.), and finally Andromeda briefly before the sky clouded over.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
We came up at 10 pm and spent the duration of our stay looking for Neptune. Using coordinates a few days old, Elise, after getting lost but finding herself again, found Neptune! Mike also found Neptune of his own volition.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Astro 103 Lab. Great night for observing! Pon saw Albireo, M31, the Ring Nebula M57, Jupiter, and the moon.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Sarah Morrison gave a lecture on Martian History to a comfortably full classroom of about 25. She was the first to use the new projector! She had fantastic false color images of Mars that almost made up for the stormy cloud cover. We gave guests the cloudy night tour but lightning's fast approach sent everyone hope early.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The night was really clear, so Pon decided to practice star hopping a bit. He found M51 and M92. As Pon was leaving, Art brought a friend from out of town in who'd never been to Fuertes while an undergrad. He showed her M13, M31, M32, the Owl Cluster, and the Double Cluster in the binoculars.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
We had our bylaws meeting and updated the majority of CAS procedures. It has been rainy and foggy today and opening for tonight is doubtful.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Pon gave a fantastic lecture on Cosmology to a full (and warm) classroom of people. We found Jupiter for the crowd (including the residents of Alice Cook house, led by Prof. Phil Nicholson). We tried but failed to find the globular cluster M56, so then found M13 instead. The crowds died down, which allowed Russell to get some training, but it was too cloudy. It was a very full Friday, even though we closed early due to weather.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
[Afternoon] We took preliminary inventory and also did some solar observing of
some prominences which we showed to passing guests.
[Evening] Mike and Elise opened on the third consecutive clear night for a bit
of observing. Mike located NGC 7009 (the Saturn Nebula), Neptune, M72, M73, M30,
and may have been
able to detect the faintest hint of NGC 7293, "the Helix," but was not convinced.
Elise gained some experience by finding M2 without assistance.
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Clear night, perfect for training eager new members. Trained on M4, Jupiter, the Owl Cluster, M13, and M57.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Having for the most part recuperated from Tuesday's early morning adventure, last year's CAS members held the first general body meeting of the semester, and met the next generation CAS—a whole classroom full of them. ClubFest worked its magic once more: even more people showed up this year, than last. Public viewing night followed. It was very busy and crowded probably because the sky was beautifully clear and because Prof. Lloyd said he was going to send all of his Astro 101 students our way. We showed Jupiter, the Rocking Horse Cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Ring Nebula, and the Moon (through bino-viewers) and then Lisa and Jenn practiced on Mars and M103. Eight and half hours is a long time, but well worth every minute!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Lunar Eclipse observations: A clear cool night. Partial eclipse began around 4:50 am with the total eclipse beginning at 5:50 am. The total Lunar Eclipse became partially obscured by sunrise and, being low on the horizon, made it so that we had to view off the curbside or at Appel's parking lot. Also saw some nice anti-crepuscular rays (thanks, Mike!) after the moon disappeared. We shall have to see if the moon comes back tonight.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Fine night with mostly clear skies, save a few patches of altocumulus, just shy of the Full Moon. Viewed Jupiter (Which now falls below the tree line by 10:30 pm EDT), and then provided an amorous couple a view of the lunar terminator (Solar terminator on lunar surface?). We pointed out constellations to additional guests before focusing on open clusters NGC 7261, 7235, 7243, 7209, and 7789. Next we attempted, but failed, to see sb giant NGC 7640, and ended with NGC 7662, "The Blue Snowball."
Saturday, August 18, 2007
We had a special request to open the observatory tonight from a visiting family. It was hazy and cloudy, though so we were hard-pressed to find something exciting in the scope. It cleared up for a bit around the summer triangle, enabling us to get Vega in the scope. We tried to get M57, the Ring Nebula, but haze triumphed before we could find it. Nonetheless, the family was very pleased with their visit.