Vern’s Weblog

It was slightly after 4 am and the eastern horizon was brightening when I turned the scope and Stellacam II to take a look at the Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula. I’m always amazed by this incredible object. It looked great in Gary’s 30″ dob. Visually through the eyepeice we were able to trace the outer ring in the 30 which the below image doesn’t pick up very well.

Image taken Sunday May 20, 2007 at the Cactus Flats North site in the Pawnee National Grasslands, 8 miles east of Briggsdale, CO. Sky was clear, transparency was good, no wind, temperature around 46°F, and turbulence about 5/10. Telescope was Celestron Nexstar11, F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera. Registax used to dark subtract, flat field correct, align, and stack about 8 minutes of video. Stellacam II set 10/14 gain, medium gamma, and 256 integration (8 seconds).

Comet C/2006 VZ13 (Linear) is located in constellation Andromeda and is about magnitude +13.5 according to recent reports. If so this is the faintest comet I’ve captured thus far. Dark sky certainly helped, I haven’t been able to capture any comets less than mag 13 in the light polluted Denver suburbs.

Image taken around 4:30 to 4:50 am on Sunday May 20, 2007 at Cactus Flats North in the Pawnee National Grasslands 8 miles east of Briggsdale, CO. The sky was clear, transparency was good (humidity was high), no wind, and the temperature around 45°F. Telescope was Celestron Nexstar 11 with F3.3 focal reducer, and Stellacam II video camera. Camera settings were 10/14 gain, medium gamma, 256 integration (8 seconds). Registax4 was used to flat field, dark subtract, align, stack and enhance 8 minutes of video for each of two frames in final image. Animation created with Photoshop2.

The following is a list of some interesting things that I’m planning to check out this week, May 20 thru May 26, 2007. Some of the events and times given are specific to the Colorado front range (40° N and the MDT timezone).

International Space Station

The ISS flys over twice each day this week. Unfortunately they occur early in morning. The best are:
Sun May 20 the ISS rises in the WSW at 4:43:14 am and disappears at 04:48:11 in the NE mag -0.5
Tues May 22 the ISS rises in WNW at 3:51:46 am and disappears at 03:54:42 NE mag -0.7

Sun

The sun rises 5:43 to 5:39 am MDT this week and sets 8:15 to 8:20 pm MDT. Region 10956 is currently just west (right) of the center of the solar disk (see http://raben.com/maps ). The region has an area of 190 millionths solar hemisphere (578 million square kilometers, just a bit larger than the surface area of the entire Earth). It has been decreasing in area and should rotate from our view Saturday morning. Solar activity is expected to be at low levels this week.

Moon

First quarter is this Wed, May 23 at 3:02 pm MDT. There should be good views of the following features on the days listed:
Mon. May 21: Mare Tranquillitatis, Posidonis, Hercules,
Tues May 22: Aristotles, Cathrina, Cyrillius, Julius Caesar, Arago, Baco, Cauchy, Theophillus,
Wed May 23: Cassini, Hipparchus, Montes Alpes, Valles Alpes, Ptolomeus,
Thurs May 24: Archimedes, Beer, Montes Appenines, Rupes Recta –straight wall, Alphonsus
Fri May 25: Clavius, Copernicus, Tycho,
Sat May 26: Hainzel, Kies, Dome Kies PI, Lansberg,

Take a look at crater Ptolemaeus late on Wednesday or early Thursday when the sun angle is low and the terminator is nearby. In the floor of Ptolemaeus and to the right of center is the brightly lit crater Ptolemaeus-A. Adjacent to and to the upper left of it appears a formation which looks like the letter “U”. This is a “ghost crater”, Ptolemaeus-B. Ghost craters are believed to be formed when lava flows flood the crater almost to the rim.

Planets

Mercury is constellation Gemini at magnitude -0.5 in the WNW. It sets 9:12 to 9:47 pm this week. Look for it around 8:40 pm to 9 pm.

Venus is constellation Gemini. It is still a brilliant magnitude -4.2 high up in the western sky. It appears in a telescope as small crescent quarter moon.

Saturn is in constellation Leo and is magnitude +0.9. It is still high up in the SSW in the early evening. It is still an amazing to view.

Above image from last Saturday evening at Cactus Flats North taken with Phillips Toucam and Celestron Nexstar11 at cassegrain focus.

Jupiter rises 9:30pm to 9:04 pm so it is visible as soon as it gets dark. It is in constellation Ophiuchus and -2.6 magnitude in brightness. The great red spot (GRS) crosses the center of Jupiter at the following times this week:
Mon. May 21 at 3:02 am
Mon. May 21 at 10:53 pm
Wed. May 23 at 4:40 am
Thurs. May 24 at 0:31 am
Sat. May 26 at 2:09 am
Sat. May 26 10:00 pm
The GRS is visible about an hour before and after the central meridian transit.

Pluto is near the northern border of constellation Sagittarius. It is currently magnitude +14.

Neptune are in constellation Capricornius is +8 in magnitude.

Uranus is constellation Aquarius and is +6 in magnitude.

Mars is in constellation Pisces and is magnitude 0.9 in brightness and is 5.5 arc-sec across

Comets

C/2007 E2 Lovejoy is high up north in the constellation Draco, just south of the little dipper. It dims from magnitude 10.6 to 11.1 this week. The ephemeris predicts the coma to be 3.5 arc-min wide.

Asteroids
There are 8 asteroids that can be seen in small scopes this week:
7 Iris is constellation Gemini and is magnitude +10.4
3 Juno is in constellation Virgo and is magnitude +10.5
21 Lutetia is in constellation Ophiuchus and is magnitude +10.1
4 Vesta is in constellation Ophiuchus and is magnitude +5.5
85 Io is in constellation Ophiuchus and is magnitude 10.9
270 Anahita is in constellation Scorpio and is magnitude 10.9
9 Metis is in constellation Sagitarius and is magnitude +10.3
2 Pallus is in constellation Pegasus and is magnitude +10.4
Refer to you star chart program for specific location as they move fairly quickly.

Double Stars

Algieba in constellation Leo has 2.2 magnitude primary and a 3.5 magnitude secondary a close 4.4 arc-sec away.

Epsilon Lyrae, the Double-Double is a quad star system in the constellation Lyra. The Epsilon1-Epsilon2 pair is separated by 208 arc-seconds. The northern Epsilon1 pair are 4.7 and 6.2 magnitude and separated by 2.6 arc-sec. The southern Epsilon2 pair are 5.1 and 5.5 magnitude and separated by 2.3 arc-sec.

For a challenge, 35 Comma Berenices has a primary component 5.1 in magnitude with the orangish 7.2 magnitude secondary only 1.04 arc-sec away. Lots of power and good seeing will be needed.

Dark Sky

The moon interfers with observing dark sky objects this week unless you get up real early.

Last Saturday evening I met up with friends at a place we affectionately refer to as “Cactus Flats North” in the Pawnee National Grasslands about 40 miles west of Fort Collins, CO.  Usually, the area appears bleak and dry.  Not this time, the prairie was gorgeous. It was delightfully green with a sprinkling of colorful flowers.

(Cactus and flowers picture by Gary Garzone). 

Early in the evening, the Moon and Venus were a pretty view, much more so than the below image shows as the glow from the western sky doesn’t show here.

Unfortunately, clouds moved in and the transparency was poor for the most part. There some were holes in the clouds here and there that allowed occasional views.  Turbulence was quite good so I took some Saturn shots which I’ll post later.  Around 1:30 am or so Sunday morning the sky cleared so we had a good night visiting galaxies in Ursa Major. The Whirlpool Messier 51, Bodes galaxy M80 and edge-on M81 were particularly spectacular through Gary’s 30″ dob.  We also had to look at some of the  summer stuff  the Dumbbell  M27, the Trifid, and the Eagle. Around 3:30 am I tried for a couple comets. I haven’t processed them yet. I fairly sure I got 96P Maccholz as I could see it on the monitor. I’m not sure about C/2007 VZ13, I verified the star field but couldn’t identify the comet.  Stacking and processing may bring it out but I have doubts.

Image of Saturn on May 19 at 11:32 pm MDT

Image acquired 11:32 MDT May 19, 2007 with a Celestron Nexstar 11 telescope and Canon Xti camera at cassegrain focus. Sky was partly cloudy, temperature around 60°F, no wind, transparency was very good (at times), and turbulence 6/10. Location was 8 miles east of Briggsdale, CO in the Pawnee National Grasslands.