COMET NEOWISE SEARCH

Location:  Front Porch, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  December 31, 2016  0645-0715 hrs

Weather:  No wind to windy, mostly clear, very cold -8C windchill -14C.

Equipment:  Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55 mm lens, 20x80 Binoculars and a tripod.

Attendance:  Myself.

Objective:  To view and image Comet C/2016 U1 Neowise which was reported to be low in the eastern sky at dawn in Ophichus at a magnitude of 8.5 according to Heavens-above.com.

Report:

• Could not see the Comet in images or through binos.  Have sent image to local observer who has located it to confirm that this is the right area of sky.
• Jupiter was high in the southern sky at this time next to Spica.  Through binos could see three of its moons on the upper right side of the gas giant.
• Ursa Major was nearly straight up, to the North.
• Leo was half way up in the western sky.
• No shooting stars or satellites were seen.

Note:  On the morning of December 30 at approx. 0640 hrs, while looking to see if sky was going to clear, clearly seen ISS go from SSW across the southern sky to the SE.  Very bright, could even see it through the passing clouds.  A major wind storm with winds exceeding 70 kph was underway but a clear patch opened up across much of the southern sky momentarily.

Images:

FULL COLD MOON

Location:  Front Porch, Little Lepreau, NB

Date Time:  December 13, 2016 @ 1900-2000 hrs

Weather:  Increasing clouds, slight breeze, -9 C with windchill of -16 C.

Equipment:  Canon Rebel Xsi and Nexus 4 cellphone camera attached to a Canadian Telescopes 80ED/APO f/6.25 with 12 mm eyepiece.

Attendance:  Myself.

Objective:  To view and image the Full Cold Moon which was suppose to rise on this evening.

Report:

• Shortly after dark a thin layer of clouds covered the sky, but were see-through as far as the very bright full Moon went.  Cloud cover increased as evening went on.
• Used a moon filter when visually observing.  Helped a great deal in cutting down glare which was relief to the eyeball.
• Many bright, small impact zones were visible across the face of the Moon.
• No shooting stars or satellites were seen.

Images:

Taken with Canon Rebel attached to telescope at prime focus.

Taken with cellphone camera attached to telescope 12mm eyepiece.

SOLAR OBSERVING DECEMBER 2016 (Updated)

Location:  Inside kitchen looking through sliding door windows, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  December 9, 2016 1030-1330 hrs

Weather:
December 9 - Windy, mostly sunny to mostly cloudy to completely cloudy, -2 C with windchill of -8 C.

December 16 - Strong gusty winds from the west, mostly Sunny all day, -18 C with windchill of -29 C.  Coldest day of this winter season.

December 19 - Light breeze, partly cloudy, -11C with windchill of -18C.

December 21 - Light breeze, Mostly sunny, warm thawing 1C.

December 27 - Strong wind to breezy, raining with sunshine breaks, 8C ground thawed after many days of freezing weather.

Attendance:  Myself.

Equipment:  Club 40 mm PST with 12.5 mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow.  New cellphone adapter

Objective:  To view and image Sun with clubs PST and to try a new cellphone adapter.

Report:

• Sunspot group 2615 was very close to the outer limb in about the 7:30 o'clock position.  The rest of the face of Sun was blank.   Several prominence were surrounding this group.  One big one from the other day had changed shape from an arch to kind of a tree shape.
• Noticed how low Sun was in the sky around noon.  Imaged it when clouds were moving in later on around 1330 hrs.
• December 16 had no visible Sunspots, although Sunspot group 2617 has rotated onto our side of the Sun, it was too faint to see in PST.  Prominence activity had also slowed down considerably, with the large one around the lower left seemingly disappearing from view.  Took an image of PST at 1155 hrs to show elevation of Sun at Noon.
• December 19 had no sunspots, no prominences, and no filaments that I could see.
• December 21 had two forming sunspots and several prominences with no visible filaments.  Some growing activity.
• December 27 two sunspot groups and filaments visible across face.  Several prominences on left side and upper left side.
• New cellphone adapter works great and allows for use of different eyepieces.

Images:  

Prominence just above the 9 o'clock position just barely visible in eyepiece.

Large prominence changed from Arch to this shape from Dec 6 to Dec 9.

Clouds moved in around noon then broke up around 1330 hrs.  Note how low sun is at 1330 hrs.

Elevation of the Sun at 1155 hrs December 16, 2016.

Images taken with my new Samsung Nexus 5 and processed with a photo editor.  December 27, 2016 at around 1250 hrs.

MOON OCCULTS NEPTUNE

Location:  Front Porch, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  December 6, 2016 1230 hrs, 1555 hrs and 1730-2000 hrs.

Weather:  Through the day it warmed up to -2 C, Sunny, a few passing clouds low on the SW horizon heading south, very cold, next to no wind.  Cooled down to -9 C on thermometer with no wind and clear with some hazy light clouds passing occasionally.

Attendance:  David McCashion from Little Lepreau, Ed and Bobby from Saint John West, and Curt from North Saint John.

Equipment:  Borrowed Saint John Astronomy Club 40 mm PST, Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO with 12 mm eyepiece and a Vixen Alt/AZ mount, Ioptron cellphone adapter with a 15 mm eyepiece, Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55 mm lens on tripod and adapter for telescope.

Objective:  To view the Sun with borrowed club PST and to view Neptune being occulted by a crescent Moon from 1730-1847 hrs.

Report:

• After almost three straight weeks of cloudy, snowy, rainy weather, we had a rare nice, albeit very cold day with rarer still, next to no wind.
• First thing noticed was how low the Sun was at Noon.  Very low in the south, just over the trees.
• Observed Sunspot group 2615 with clubs PST and my 12.5 mm eyepiece.  While adjusting the Tuner, two large, faint filaments appeared under the Sunspots.  A couple faint prominence's showed up at Noon.
• By 1555 hrs, the faint prominence's multiplied and one turned into a huge arch!  Amazing to witness over such a short period of time!  Also many more prominence's appeared in different locations around the Solar limb.
• Could not visually confirm Neptune.  
• Sighted Lunar X.  
• Imaged crescent Moon which was one day before first Quarter with Cellphone camera(15 mm eyepiece) and with DSLR (Prime Focus).  
• Neptune came out in DSLR images and the Lunar X came was visible in both cameras images.  
• Lunar X does not stand out well in smaller scope at this magnification.
• Attempted to video Moon with cellphone camera, but battery died, ruining the video.
• Ed thought he could make out Neptune in eyepiece but wasn't sure.  He may have picked up the bright bluish star that was nearby.  Curt said if the Occultation had occurred 30 minutes earlier, he may not have seen it either.  Neptune was not an easy capture.
• Imaged and viewed north-eastern sky as soon as it was dark enough to check brightness of Algol.  Algols' brightness was almost equal to nearby Mirfak.  Noted for future reference.
• No shooting stars and one Satellite was seen moving high in the North, Northward.

Note:

• Frost was a major factor on equipment.
• Confirmed Neptune sighting with fellow SJAC member Curt the next day.  

Images:

Solar Prominence turned into an Arch from Noon to about 1400 hrs

Prominence Arch in about the 1:30 o'clock position.  Sunspot group didn't show up very well in images.

Venus in gibbous phase on this evening.

Note how variable star Algol is similar in magnitude as Mirfak.