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Zodiacal Light

So I had read about the Zodiacal Light in one of the astronomy magazines and now that I live in a good dark place I was wondering if I could see it. What is the Zodiacal Light? From the wikipedia page:

The zodiacal light is a faint, roughly triangular, whitish glow seen in the night sky which appears to extend up from the vicinity of the sun along the ecliptic or zodiac. In mid-northern latitudes, the zodiacal light is best observed in the western sky in the spring after the evening twilight has completely disappeared, or in the eastern sky in the autumn just before the morning twilight appears.

I did some quick googling and found that the best time to see it is 2 to 3 hours before sunrise and certainly when the moon is goon. It is so faint, they say, thay any light pollution or moon will make it impossible to see. Sunrise was at 6:49AM so I set the alarm for 4:45AM and it fails to go off, but fortunately Jeannette had also set hers, she has a conference is Boston this weekend, so her alarm woke me. I dressed quickly and dashed out of the house, driving to Coast Guard beach, a local beach in the Cape Cad National Seashore that faces north east.

I drove down the road with high beams on, to make sure that I didn't hit any coyotes, turned into the parking lot and got out.

There it was. The only dark adaptation I had was from driving down a dark road. It was clear that it wasn't the Milky Way, that was visible to the right and all across the sky.

Photo from http://www.astrophoto.com/ZodiacalLight.htm

I stayed and observed for a bit, quickly grabbing M41 just beneath Sirius and of course M42 in Orion. I was pleased to see how gorgeous M42 was. I look at it a few weeks ago as it rose one evening and it was too low to show its glory. High in the sky, well, it was wonderful as usual.

But back to the Zodiacal Light. I primarily brought the binoculars to give me something to do while I dark adapted. I knew I wasn't going to wait half an hour to get fully dark adapted so playing around the the Canons gave my pupils a few minutes to expand. The light extended from the horizon (obviously) and rose about half the way towards zenith, going up at a slight angle to the right, maybe 60 to 70 degrees. It was not colored at all. I can see how it would be mistaken for a false dawn except the shape was all wrong, it was a soft triangle.

What I saw wasn't as bright as the internet photo above, nor was there a birdhouse, but that shows approximately what I saw. I'll try and take my own photo of it one of these days.

What causes it? Quoting the wikipedia again:

The zodiacal light is produced by sunlight reflecting off dust particles which are present in the solar system and known as cosmic dust. Consequently, its spectrum is the same as the solar spectrum. The material producing the zodiacal light is located in a lens-shaped volume of space centered on the sun and extending well out beyond the orbit of Earth. This material is known as the interplanetary dust cloud. Since most of the material is located near the plane of the solar system, the zodiacal light is seen along the ecliptic.

And curiously, Dr. Brian May's, thesis, A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud, was on the Zodiacal Light. Dr. May wrote the thesis in the early 70's but abandoned astrophysics to become the lead guitarist for the rock band Queen.

The Veil and M32

Midway through the Red Sox game I paused the DVR and headed outside for an hour of observing. My goal was to ensure that I had captured The Veil Nebula a few weeks ago when I wasn't sure I had grabbed it.

I bundled up and reclined my beach chair. The Veil was at a comfortable 50 or so degrees up, just about perfect for binocular viewing. Any lower and you are looking through too much air, any higher and the seating gets uncomfortable.

I followed my pointer stars in the chart from the wonderful Sky and Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas. Lets see, draw a line from those two naked eye bright ones, then look for a row of three, then two real close to each other. Then down a bit.

I had only been outside about 10 minutes when I finally saw the very dim glow of the NGC 6992 / NGC 6995 complex. This is definitely what I saw a few weeks ago. I very carefully confirmed all the stars in the chart against the plethora of stars in the sky. Yes, I had it.

(Image from Wikipedia, you should click the link if you want to see a huge image of the Veil)

I then tried for the other 2 "parts." Both NGC 6979 and 6960 should have been easy pickups, the pointers are obvious, but alas, no matter how much I tried they never jumped out at me. Oh, I'll go on record saying that with averted vision I saw a haze where 6979 is, and once, just once I thought I saw a brightening for 6960.

All in all I'd say it was a pretty good outing for a pair of 50mm binoculars without OIII filters! I hate getting all ready and then not doing some more, so even with the lure of the Sox calling, I spun the chair around and looked a The Pleiades, no counting stars, no splitting doubles, just looking how pretty it is!

I then reclined fully and went up to Andromeda. I've seen the galaxy a lot this time, but tonight I wanted M32. Again, carefully, I looked at the star patterns and sure enough, there was a very small dim spot that didn't appear stellar, just where the chart said it should be. Yay!

And for a bonus, I also got to see what I guess was a tumbling satellite. It moved very slowly through the star field, flashing very brightly about every 5-6 seconds. It took about a minute to traverse M31. What a nice bonus.

Things that make you go "Oh!"

Remember when you first saw the rings of Saturn or the Orion Nebula, how stunning they were to you. Did you gasp or say something, or maybe you just held your breath. Those times are rare because with experience, the things we look for are not as impressive. Sure, search for that dim DSO might give you more satisfaction now than those object do now, but that satisfaction lies from the challenge, not the beauty. I got to say "Oh" tonight when I wasn't expecting it, and that was wonderful.

But let me set the stage.

I've been enjoying my binoculars so much recently I went on a book buying spree. I happily picked up Philip Harrington's Star Watch. This is a great book that gives the usual overview of things in the sky, then breaks into seasonal sections, covering 125 objects.

What makes the book special is the organization and detail. I love the seasonal layout. (I've also picked up his Touring the Universe through Binoculars which, uhhh, divides the sky alphabetically! Yuk.) And I love the detail that he goes into. For the most part, each object gets an entire page. There is a star chart every couple of pages, making it easy, in the dark, to cross reference the text and the chart. There are photos and sketches of many objects. The sketches are particularly useful since, unlike modern photos, they show you what you can actually see. Each object is also rated on a Wow factor and more importanly, you are given a separate Wow for binocuars, small telescopes, and large telescopes.

One of my favorite binocular objects in the sky is M7.

(M7 image courtesy seds.org)

I don't know why I like this open cluster so much, perhaps because it was one of the first objects, if not the first object, that I found without using the GoTo feature of my telescope. I found this a week or two after getting my Canon 15x50IS binoculars.

M7 is in Scoprius and this summer has been rough for me for the Scorpius/Sagitarius section of the sky. I'm not sure why, I've had time to look elsewhere but not here. So after avidly reading the section containing M7, I anxiously awaited the time when I could head out.

I also decided to go out to Pilgrim Heights. I've used this dark site before, but as I noted in an earlier blog entry, I'm not at all fond of going here alone, coyotes you know. But, I wanted to see if I could do it so I headed out.

The good news is that I was able to spend an hour and a half there. The bad news is that I was never comfortable. Oh well, perhaps with exposure I'll get used to it.

I got to the site after dark, but not completely dark. The western sky was still a nice Maxfield Parish blue, beautiful, but not great for dim DSOs low on the horizon. You see, I'd waited until late September and these objects are very low on the horizon.

My first attempt was for M4, a globular that I've found before from light polluted Manchester, but at only 15 degrees above the horizon, I needed more dark.

So I went over to M7 and M6, I didn't even need the charts for those friends. They were nice, but I'd seen better M7s before. I guess I waited too late in the year. I bounced back and forth between them and where M4 should have been, waiting for more dark. Of course I looked at the Double Cluster and M31 since I was just killing time.

Eventually I grabbed M4, it was around 7:30 and Stellarium tells me it was only 12 degrees above the horizon then! It was quite dim and I don't think I would have seen it without knowing that it was there. I then looked for M80, couldn't find it. (I would try several times again that evening but I never nabbed it.)

NGC6231 was on the chart but in the trees for me so I went up to find M19 and M62. Both were a bit of a challenge. Harrington says that M19 should appear noticably oval. It was dim enough for me that I could not observe that. And he goes on to say that M62 lies in an "absolutely stunning star field." Well, that wasn't the case for me. (Memo to myself, look again at these objects when they are higher in the sky.)

So now I'm feeling a bit disappointed. I waited so long that everything was in the murk. I should have regrouped at this point and started looking at things higher in the sky but I guess I'm too stubborn to do that.

So next on the list was M8, the Lagoon Nebula. I've seen it before but it never fails to disappoint and indeed, even under these conditions I could see the central dark rift between the two nebulous sections. Not that my binoculars are 15 power, which is high for binoculars, it may not be as impressive in yours.

Close by is M20, the Triffid Nebula. If M8 weren't next door this would be considered a impressive object, but M8's glory overshadows it.

I know I saw M21 but I wasn't able to pick it out from the copius background stars. I probably should have tried harder but I still wasn't entirely comfortable with the location. I just knew their beady eyes were peering at me from the trees.

So then, I head up north a bit more and...

"Oh!"

I'd actually looked at this object a few weeks ago at this site through my Burgess but I didn't even know what I was looking for. It just looked like a lot of stars. But that's because M24, the Small Sagitarius Star Cloud is just too big to really be appreciated in a telescope. Oh sure, your short focal length APO refractor will give great views but I loved my view, sliding the binoculars north from M20/21 and there it was. More stars than I could fathom, wonderfully framed by dark spots. This made the whole evening worth it.

I lingered some then headed north again, to M18, which I could spot even though it seemed so small. Then M17, the Swan Nebula. I was very glad that Harrington included a sketch of M17. I spent a lot of time looking at, trying to see the neck, and you know, several times I caught elusive glimpses of it with averted vision, but never with direct. I need to revisit this one.

Next was M16 and I was able to easily see it but alas, there was motion in the woods. Probably a cute little bunny but it sounded like a Coyote to me. I packed up my gear and headed home.

I will certainly revisit this section of the sky, maybe in 9 or 10 months when things are higher in the sky!

Poking around Cygnus with Binoculars

Last night, after the Red Sox game, I headed out around 11pm to poke around in the sky some with my trusty Canon 15x50is binoculars. The Moon was about half full but the sky was very dark and clear.

I warmed up on some of my favorites, the Double Cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy. But they weren't why I was here tonight. I had my new Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas and I wanted to explore Cygnus, in particular, some of the bigger items in there.

First stop was the North America Nebula. I tried for quite some time. Arms aching, consulting the atlas and then the stars, back and forth. I could follow the star patterns to it, but I wasn't certain of what I was seeing. Oh, I could make out the "Gulf of Mexico" allright, but the rest seemed a bit indistinct. And to the north of it, it seem just as bright, grainy, but bright, and then a falloff. The nebula area was grainy, but the neigboring region was. This was why I was pretty sure I had seen the nebula.

But I was puzzled by seeing the object I was looking for right next to another object that wasn't on the charts. I wondered if it was a denser part of the Milky Way. (I was sort of right, see below.)

So I moved on, trying to see the Pelican Nebula, right next to it. Try as I might I couldn't see anything at all.

I then reached for the gold, the Veil Nebula. I meticulously followed the pointers to it. I find this difficult because the binoculars show more stars than the atlas does. But by going back and forth, again, from the atlas to the sky I could find the right patterns. There! I got it. Well, actually no. I was seeing something that was round like the Veil, but it was fuller, and althought large, it was too small. It would fit entirely inside the Veil. I was looking primarily for the 6992 and 6995 parts. The bright star in the 6960 part seem to dazzle me a bit so I didn't look there too much. I kept on finding that round thing, but it wasn't right. I can only think that it was the brain playing a trick on me, seeing sometihng it wanted to see.

Not wanting to go inside, I found and split Albireo, then slid down to Stock 1, a nice open cluster.

The next day, while googling what I had been looking for, I came across this great web site, Showcase of Digital Astrophotography by Jerry Lodriguss. I don't know if that URL will always be good, so I grabbe the photo and I'll reproduce it here. (Jerry, if you don't want this, just tell me and I'll take it down.)



You can see the North America Nebula as a red blob just above bright blue Deneb in the lower left. To its right you can see a defined bright area, marked by a dark area.

This dark area was marked on my atlas but I ignored it, it is a dark nebula known as Le Gentil 3. So the border of Le Gentil 3 was making me see that part of the Milky Way as distinct object.

So after tonight's Red Sox game, I went out again. The sky wasn't nearly as nice. It was about an hour earlier and Deneb was certainly at the zenith, so I fully reclined my lawn chair. Ahhh, that was a lot better. I wanted a bit, just poking about, looking around while my eyes dark adapted. And then I looked. The North American nebula was much harder to see, but the dark nebulas! Oh my, they are pretty interesting. There are many in that area. The Atlas marks them but I didn't go hunting for numbers, I just moved the binoculars around enjoying the abscence of light.

I had accomplished what I wanted to, but you know how it is, I didn't want to go back inside. So I figured I'd find M29, since it was right there next to Sadr. It was an easy find. The area is full of stars but the patterns are easy to follow, shoot, you just keep Sadr in the field of view and you're all set. The challenge is making sure you see M29, not something else.

Triangulum!

I was sitting watching the Red Sox beat the Yankees (yeah!) when the phone rang. Our neighbor, Diane, was looking for a lost cat named Lowell and noticed that the stars were gorgeous. So I made a note to check them out after the game. She was right! Many of Truro's nights have some light to the sky, I'll guess it is humidity couple with the lights from the summer people.

So I got the 15x50 Canon IS binoculars out and sat down in the backyard for a few minutes just to see what I could see. Of course I fired up Stellarium first but I didn't bring a chart outside with me so I did it all from memory.

Of course the Double Cluster was nice, and then I dashed upwards just to grab M52, which was easy. I couldn't find M103. I've seen it before but I had forgotten which stars in Cassiopeia it was near!

Of course then I popped over to Andromeda, looking gorgeous as usual, I could really see just how huge it was. When I last saw her I found M110 and M32 easily, but that was with the 5" Burgess 1278 refractor. I half heartedly looked but didn't see either of them, I spent most of the time looking at the edges, trying to see just how far out I could see.

So then I went looking for something I had never seen before, M33 or Triangulum. I'd heard it was big and dim. I went back inside to try and find some pointer asterisms in Stelarium. Found a nice pretty set. Popped down from M31 the right amount, found the star pattern I was looking for, then a bit further down. And yes! There it was.

Big.

Dim.

Very, very, nice.

The Moon and the Pleiades

I just finished up my viewing of the Moon occulting the Pleiades. If you follow the link you'll also see an excellent graze map! Never seen one of them before.

I had planned to stay in Cambridge, working late, and then cross the river at sunset and observe from Boston's Esplanade. But, around 6pm clouds rolled and and I wasn't going to stay late for nothing, so I came back to my crash pad in the Savin Hill area of Dorchester for a night without star viewing. You see, we're on the north east side of the hill, the west is obscured by houses above us!

I was quite pleased to see, from a west facing window, that I could see the moon! I quickly grabbed the binoculars. It was still twilight and at 7:38pm I could make out 3 of the 7 sisters. The moon was in the field of view of them.

I checked again at 8:01pm and I could make out 6 stars now, but the moon was getting perilously close to a neighbors house, and worse, the heat plume from his chimney!

By 8:07 I still could only see 6.

At 8:23 the moon was behind the house and I figured, what can the neighbors do? Call the cops? I'll show them the moon! So I went outside and was pleased to see that through a large gap in the trees I could see the show and, more importantly, not be seen as looking into someone house!

I only counted 13 stars in the Pleiades. This is pathetic. I had thought that Manchester was bright but Boston is really, really bad. Auriga had only 4 stars to the naked eye. Castor and Pollux had only 3, plus Mars. I tried to find M36, the eaisest of three clusters in Auriga, I found all my pointers but the cluster was not to be seen.

Maybe I'll take back what I said about city observing being fun. I guess I should say that small city observing is fun. Boston viewing in pathetic.

No Boxes tonight, or, a dark site with the binoculars

Steve and Rags cajoled me into heading over to New Boston to have one lest viewing session with them before the move. I knew I shouldn't, I was way too tired and the boxes were calling my name. But, I did anyway. I really wanted to get a dark site view of the recent M-objects I had been observing so I could take that to Truro.

So although I had my scope in the car, I only carried my parka, chair, and binoculars out behind Steve's shed.

Rags was cursing the Goto Nova, not that there was anything wrong with it, but Rags just doesn't like GoTo scopes. I felt pretty bad when I tripped over the power and his alignment was lost, but it turns out that that was not the first time that had happened that evening already!

So Rags and I got some quality binocular time in. I should him how to find M36, M38 and M37. Those were the easy ones. M35 was a bit harder, pointing out "that star there" really doesn't work all that well sometimes, but he got it.

Somewhere in here Steve's Atlas is giving him fits and he disappears inside, trying to google something to fix it.

Then we get down in earnest trying to find P17, Comet Holmes. The Comet Chasers web site was still claiming that it was naked eye visible, so I figured with binoculars it would be a cinch. I had failed 2 nights running to grab it from Manchester. I knew that section of the sky pretty well. I got out the charts and we start looking for it. Both Rags and I tried both my 15x50s and Rags' 7x30s (???) as well as the 4" Jaeger refractor. Nothing! Steve comes back out and tries also. We spent a good 45 minutes on this. We know is going to be huge and dim but we are just not seeing it.

Steve realigns the Atlas and we poke about, finding the Flame Nebula, but not the Horsehead, not that we expected to, and the Owl Nebula. Wow, that was a dim one! I'm not looking forward to that at all during the Marathon!

I had to call it an early night, the alarm was going off at 4:30, the boxes were calling to me.

Just because you didn't see anything new doesn't mean you failed

So after checking out the Comet Chasing website I decide to grab Comet Holmes tonight from Manchester and then after that easy grab, I'd enjoy 46P/Wirtanen passing by NGC 1893. I knew that that would be dim but I'm getting so good at this it would be a piece of cake.

I went outside right around 7:30pm, watched the sky turn from a turquoise Maxfield Parrish blue sky into night. I found Mirphak and it was clear the sky was too bright so I waited a bit.

This was a gonna be a tough hop. From Mirphak I found the box of 5 stars around it, so then I could rotate my paper chart. Then to the left to a pair then up to a bright one (Delta Persei I guess), then curve around down to the next bright one then up to yet another bright one. Phew, now we are getting close. Find the next one and almost bisect them up to a double, three dim ones.

And I looked and waited. It was hard. I didn't want to put the binocs down because all my neighbors lights would ruin what little dark adaption I had. I waited and looked.

I closed my eyes and went in a got a pillow so I could lay down. I could find the spot again and again but no Holmes.

I checked the charts and saw that I was slightly off so I looked in the new spot.

I spent about 45 minutes, giving up around 8:15pm. I briefly went over to NGC 1893 just because when I looked for M38 the other day I saw some patterns that I thought might be something. I found them again but they didn't match the website that had a description by Walter Scott Houston: "contains a conspicuous Y pattern formed by four 8th magnitude stars." I thought I saw a T in the right spot, but certainly not a Y.

And 46P was, of course, no where to be seen.

All in all it was a good time, even though I didn't bag anything.

PS: about an hour later I briefly went outside too take a quick check on 1893 again. It was a lot darker now! I wasn't able to stay but that may have been my problem with Holmes. Clear Sky Clock is looking ok for tomorrow night, I'll try then also

Not only M objects you see...

So I'm sitting, you know where, reading the Feb 2008 issue of Astronomy. Wanting to see if there is something I grab tonight before getting back to my boxes.

Observe Winter's Forgotten Star Clusters it says and I say sure, lets read. First one up is NGC 1502 in Camelopardalis, which has got to be one of the weirdest constellations. (Note, from Manchester, you can't see any of it!)

Note that there isn't any clickable link for NGC 1502, there isn't much out there on it. But I fired up Stellarium and memorized the patterns. I used Cassiopeia to find Mirphak, then went in a straight line from Algol through Mirphak to 2 asterisms I found in Stellarium and hey, there it was.

Or should I say, there it should have been.

Now NGC 1502 isn't all that impressive in my 15x50 Canon IS binoculars from Manchester. At times I thought I could split the double but at other times I thought I couldn't. The article in Astronomy pointed out that it was at the tail end of Kemble's Cascade, a quite attractive asterism. I hadn't looked that up at all before I headed out and I saw something that could be described as a "cascade." As I was observing, a satellite passed through the field of view. I followed it to the horizon.

So I went back inside to google some and confirmed that that was indeed what I found so I went back out to enjoy it more.

I counted 21 stars in the Cascade, about a third of which I could only see with averted vision. Quite nice in binoculars. And wouldn't you know, another satellite passed through!

And as for NGC 1502, well, I'll claim it as a find but I certainly wouldn't have unless the Cascade was there to confirm it. I think I need more power to see anything there.

Oh, I went and checked out M44 some more just so I could fix it in my mind. Rags also saw it that evening, I just read his email before writing this entry. He didn't seem to think it was as nice as the Pleiades, the overall same dimness and all. Thinking about it, I think that that may be why I like it, it isn't flashy like the Seven Sisters, it is just big and full. But of course, the Sisters are nice also.

Back to boxes.

Quick, before the moon rises

Yeah yeah yeah. I'm packing boxes, but I'll certainly take a bit of clear moonless time out, not that there will be all that much, I'm writing this at 8:22 and the moon official rose 4 minutes ago.

Anyway, I wanted to see if I could grab M46 from Manchester. No such luck. I had hoped with the moon being below the horizon it just might be possible. Sadly, the sodium vapor glow just wouldn't let it come through. M47 and M41 were nice and easy. I counted 11 in both of them.

So then I went out back just to see what "moonless" did to my previous 3 targets, M36, M37 and M38. M38 was much easier than before, but I guess that that wasn't too surprising. What was surprising to me that was, with averted vision, M36 was showing stars, just just a dim fuzz. I couldn't count them because when I looked, they disappered into the fuzz. I guess with practice I'll be able to count with averted vision.

So then, feeling lucky, I tried for M35. Hey, I got it! It easily resolved into stars, I counted but I forgot the total! I looked for NGC 2158, did not expect to see it and was not too disappointed when I didn't see it. Maybe in Truro.

The Pleiades showed 3 stars to the naked eye, thought I'd through that it for you folks with dark sites and that was with averted vision! I only got 1 with direct vision. (And no, I don't know why I could count 3 with averted here and not on M36, maybe it was the separation?)

I recall seeing the Beehive Cluster, aka Praesepe, aka M44. I had never seen it before. Wow, that is a great one! Certainly a binocular object. With no dark adaptation I counted 42 stars, quite beautiful. It certainly rivals the Pleiades for the wow factor.

My previous favorite was M7, the open cluster in Sagitarius (hmmm, maybe Scorpio, depending on where the boundary is, I sure don't know.) I guess I can have a summer favorite and a winter pair of favorites, no?

Back to the boxes...

Finally, M38

So I've been trying for a few days now to get M38 from Manchester with the binoculars. Not being dark adapted and having a very bright moon certainly hasn't helped. I've also waited until it was a bit lower toward the horizon so I didn't have to crane my neck so, but that put it into the thicker part of the atmosphere.

So tonight I said I'd try and grab it while it was high.

I went outside on the deck and tried to find a good position, it was too high to permit me to sit in a chair, would have had to lean back too much. (And my deck, I did you not is not quite 4 x 4. There is a long part, but if I laid down on that the house block Auriga.

So off to the square part, I put my legs up on the railing and drat, it isn't directly overhead, I had to lean forward just a little bit. It actually wasn't as uncomfortable as that sounds.

I found M36 quite easily, the I went over to M37 just to see how it compared to the other viewings. I won't say it was bright but it was certainly brighter. I could see it without inverted vision but it got better with averted.

So, to find it. You find M36 and look below and to the right. You'll see a curved line of stars, 4, then a gap, then 2 more. (Below this structure is another, quite nice looking, structure of brighter stars.) If you continue the upper curve of 6 stars, just pretend there is a 7th.

That's where M38 is.

But, of course, I couldn't see it. But I had only been outside a few minutes, so I just relaxed and laid back. Found I could rest my head on the deck (should have brought a pillow) and hold the binoculars at an angle and still see the section I wanted to see.

I waited, watched the thin clouds pass through my field of view. And then I started to see hints of something, but I was never certain.

So I kept on waiting, waiting for my eyes to dark adapt more. I went back and checked on M36 and M37. They were both more apparent.

And I waited and yes, soon enough it was there. Dim as anything, but there.

I remembered reading that each person has a sweet spot in their averted vision. I moved all around it, trying to see if one spot was better. I couldn't see any difference.

But I had it, finally, I had it.

A Quick Attempt

The sky is very clear tonight so I try for M38 again. I find M36 quite easily, don't even need my charts, I still remember from last night. But M38 prove elusive.

Manchester with lots of moon is just not the hot ticket I guess.

Sun Pillars, the moon and an unwasted night

So we're driving back from the Cape and the skies are pretty nasty, snowing actually. But for some reason I check the Clear Sky Clock and it shows nice skies that night at YFOS. I'm pretty happy, it as been a dreadful winter. I check online to see who else might be going and frankly I'm given some questioning "looks."

But sure enough, as the sun starts setting it starts clearing to the west and we are treated to some nice sun pillars.

This is kind nice. At the time I thought the were sun dogs but I found out I was wrong when writing this post.

So Steve is trying to get Rags to go to YFOS. He'll bring the Burgess and Rags will bring the GoTo Nova and Jeannette drives and drives and we get home.

And the moon is honking bright. Drat, forgot about that. I saw all the blue on Clear Sky Clock and forgot that blue in the last row is bad.

It doesn't matter too much, it is pretty darn cloudy still also so we call it all off.

But around 11pm or 11:30pm it clears up nicely and I get the binoculars out. I'm looking out the south windows now, looking for M36, It takes me a long time to find it. I'm comparing the sky to the chart in Stellarium and it is just wrong. I eventually figure out that I'm putting Mars into Auriga and when I correct that M36 is easily seen. Don't even need averted vision to see a fuzz patch.

The nearby moon makes M38 completely impossible to see. I've got the star patterns dead on but it just isn't there. I'll have to try this when the moon isn't so bright.

I go over to M37 and I find it but just barely. Averted really helps.

I try, half heartedly, for M35 but I'm not too disappointed when I fail to grab that one.

Off to bed now.

Insomnia? M-time

So it is about 4:30 AM and I can't sleep. This is about a week now that I've been waking around 4AM. Very annoying. So why not continue the evening's stargazing? Fire up Stellarium, ooo, Cygnus is up. I know that that has an easy M in it. M29 right near Sadr.

Outside with the Canon 15x50IS binoculars. At first I thought I missed it. The star pattern was dead on but I couldn't see it. Oh, there it is. Very dim and small! I only got it with averted vision. I guess since it is an open cluster I expected it to be larger, that is, of course, nonsense. I wasn't at all able to resolve any stars.

While looking at it a very dim satellite went through the field of view. I tracked it off to my right until it disappeared behind the house. Dimmest I've ever seen.

So now I open up TUMOL, what else is in Cygnus (which is placed rather well for my chair). M39. Uh oh, at least in Stellarium it seems to be in the middle of nowhere. That's not entirely true. Take a line from Sadr through Deneb but bend it down a bit. That gets you right there but there still is a jump. Fortunately, there is a chain from Deneb that gets you halfway. Follow the chain then look around. Got it! Much, much, larger than M29. I counted 13 stars.

Ok, what else. Cepheus is up but there doesn't seem to be any Ms in it. I guess I'll try and go back to sleep.

...

No luck there, so lets see what is to the South. I can do that from indoors, hanging out a window. One star, what is it? Stellarium tells me. Jupiter! Thin clouds, can't even see Antares. Oh boy. But, the clouds are low and Stellarium tells me that M26 is up above Jupiter. I see one dim fuzzy, check the charts. Ah M11 or the Wild Duck Cluster. This is quite apparent. I can see the star pattern above it. An L pointing up and to the right. Can't resolve any stars but it is bright for Manchester. Back to M26, nope.

Nope point in sleeping now, the alarm goes off soon anyhow.

A few Ms

Steve wanted me to come out and check out the GoTo Nova but I got in late and was tired. Said no. Then later got feeling Astro-guilty, wasting clear like that. Went outside, Arcturus was up, but low, couldn't see Muphrid (eta Boo) yet, the next pointer for M3. Waited about an hour, saw Muphrid so got the parka on. M3 was easy in the Canon 15x50 IS Binoculars. Nice, averted vision was not needed but did help.

Tried for M51. I've enjoyed this in the 8" SCT. Got the star charts out on Astromist, was pointed at exactly the right spot. Stared all around the spot, nothing. Makes sense, mag 8.4 instead of 6.2.

Checked on Stellarium, M53 should be possible from the deck. Looked up the hops, Arturus to Muphrid (eta Boo) easy double hop to alpha Com. Memorize the cool pattern to the left, a bent L pointing down, M53 should be just east of it.

Dang, there it was. Clear as day.

M3 and M53, just dim spots from Manchester in binocs. It will be fun to compare the Truro view.