Here is an image of Jupiter from 2:20 am this morning. Clear skies, transparency was very good, temperature 43 °F but turbulence was only fair (5/10). I used just the Toucam on the Nexstar11 as I thought it was not steady enough to use a Powermate.
While searching for comet 43P last night (didn’t find it), I took a break from the search for a while and imaged NGC 3395 and 3396.
NGC 3395 and 3396 are a fairly bright pair of galaxies (visual magnitude 12.1) in constellation Leo Minor. Both galaxies are at an estimated distance of 85 million light years and are thought to be in the process of merging. UV observations with the Hubble telescope have found knots of material believed to be star forming regions in both galaxies.
NGC 3396 is to the upper left and 3395 is at a right angle and down in below image (north is approximately up and east to the left).
I continued searching for more fragments from comet 73P Schwassman-Wachmann 3. Here is an image of fragment R from last evening just before midnight. Temperature was 57°F, clear, no wind, transparency very good, and turbulence 6/10. Equipment used was Celestron Nexstar11 mounted on APT wedge, Meade F3.3 focal reducer, and Astrovid Stellcam2 video camera. Stellacam2 set at gain 9/14, integrate 128 (~4 sec), and medium gamma. Twenty minutes of video was dark subtracted and flat field corrected with ImagePlus. Images aligned and stacked in 5 minute segments with Registax3. Photoshop Elements was used to crop, enhance, and create the animated gif.
Only a single spot visible in white light, region 10871 in the west. Clear, 70 °F, no clouds, transparency very good, turbulence 7/10. Equipment used was Stellacam2 A1010, Baader filter, Televue 2.5X Powermate, and Canon 300D camera, 1/250 sec at ASA 100.
Some nice loop filaments visible in h-alpha in the midwest. Equipment used was Solarview50 h-alpha telescope, Televue 2.5X Powermate, and Canon 300D camera, 1/400 sec at ASA 400 for disk, 1/80 sec at ASA 800 for prominences.
Observing conditions last night were very good except for light pollution from the full moon; the sky was clear; transpareny was very good, turbulence 6/10; temperature 57° F, and no wind. It was quite nice to be out after midnight and not need a coat!
The C fragment was easy to find visually even with light pollution from the full moon (Nexstar 11, Televue 32 mm Plossl). I could see a small portion of the tail as well. The B fragment was much harder —it was visible without averted vision but only barely.
Below is an image of the main piece, the C fragment, taken with Stellacam2 video camera, F3.3 focal reducer, and Nexstar11 scope. Approx 20 min video from 11:42 pm MDT and 00:02 MDT, gain 8/14, integrate 128 (4 sec), and gamma off.
I was interested in imaging the B fragment. “Sky and Telescope” reported a couple days ago that it was possibly disintegrating. See http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/article_1704_1.asp
As you can see below the core is no longer condensed and appears elognated, it is now dimmer than the C fragment by more than half a magnitude. (Same equipment as settings as above, video captured from 0:11 MDT to 0:31 MDT, temperature 54°F).
My nights goal though was to find the “G” fragment. I found what I thought might be it about 10 arc minutes in RA west from where the sky chart said it should be (at RA 14h 47m 16.9s, Dec +25° 12’ 38” according to the hand control). I put some clear “PostIt” tape flags on the notebook monitor so I could see if there was any movement—and indeed there was! It is the dim fuzzy centered between the two stars near center in the below image. (Same equipment and settings as above, video from 0:42 MDT to 01:02 MDT).
