Weather: Went from -12C to -13C with a reported windchill of -20C. Wind picked up till about 2100hrs, then died off. Mostly clear to clear.
Equipment: Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO on motorized tracking mount, 32mm eyepiece, 20x80 binoculars on tripod, Canon Rebel with 18-55mm lens and attached to telescope at prime focus. Images processed on PhotoShop.
Attendance: David McCashion
Objective: To view and image a Mars/Neptune conjunction and the Comet 46P Wirtanen.
Report:
Viewed and imaged the Mars/Neptune conjunction. Mars was easy enough to find, but Neptune was not picked out amongst the back ground stars, even in the images.
Comet 46P was very easy to find in the binoculars. It was huge, greenish and diffuse with a brighter central region. It moved eastward towards Taurus, approximately 5 degrees from where it was two nights ago.
Was able to see the comet with averted vision, for the first time. Its huge and reminds me of M31 when viewed with unaided eye under dark skies.
Nearest bright star to Comet 46P is the 4.5 magnitude star Menkar in the Constellation Cetus. According to Richard Hinkley Allens' "Star Names Their Lore and Meanings", Menkar is Arabic for"Nose of Cetus".
Comet in the SW sky just after midnight. Camera with 18-55mm lens, 30 second exposure.
Facing South, Camera with 18-55mm lens, 25 second exposure.
Camera attached to telescope at prime focus, 2 minute exposure.
Five shooting stars were seen directly with three more out of the corner of my eye.
Weather: Mostly clear, no wind, temps dropped from -5C to -10C during observing time.
Attendance: David McCashion
Equipment: Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO with 32mm eyepiece, motorized mount, 20x80 binoculars, Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55mm lens and attached to telescope at prime focus. Images processed with PhotoShop.
Objective: To view and image Comet Wirtanen 46P which has been reported to be in the faint constellation Eridanus.
Report:
Clouds threatened all day, right up to about a half hour after dark. Finally, the clouds cleared, and the Moonless evening was very dark and clear. Today is New Moon.
Searched for a long time with telescope and binoculars to the east of where the comet was located. Comet was in an area of sky where there aren't many bright stars, which makes the non naked eye comets harder to find.
Image taken with Camera and 18-55mm lens, 20 second, ISO 1600
Found the Comet to be huge in the eyepiece, very diffuse and greenish with no tail.
Next to a bright star in the faint constellation Eridanus. Image taken with camera attached to telescope at prime focus, 2 minute exposure, ISO 1600
Comet was most impressive in the binoculars. Absolutely massive. Full Moon size.
Could not see Comet with unaided eye, even with averted vision. It was next to an unnamed, faint(barely visible with unaided eye) star in the large, faint constellation Eridanus.
Three shooting stars were seen, in quick succession, during beginning of observing session. No satellites were seen.
Weather: Clear, cold -5C with reported windchill of -11C, breezy to light breeze.
Equipment: Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO with 2" 32mm eyepiece, Canon Rebel attached to telescope at prime focus, motorized tracking mount. Images processed with Photoshop.
Attendance: David McCashion
Objective: To capture an image of a newly discovered Comet. Comet COMET C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto) which is reported to be in Virgo, one degree below and to the left of Porrima, near a triangle of stars. This according to a local, fellow Amateur Astronomer, Curt, who was observing the comet with his 8" dob and 15 & 19mm eyepieces at 0520 hrs from Saint John, NB.
Report:
Set scope up, around 0550hrs and aligned it on Betelgeuse and Sirius, which were halfway up in the sky, in the SW.
Viewed and imaged Venus with 32 mm eyepiece, at around 0607 hrs. It was rising in the low SE and was the shape of a very small, thin crescent moon in the eyepiece. Wonderful thing to see!
Imaged with camera attached to telescope at prime focus. 1600 ISO, 1/320 second exposure time
Attached camera to telescope and used Venus to focus. Then centered Porrima in view finder. Unfortunately, by this time, around 0615 hrs, first light had already started, threatening my ability to image the comet. Looked quickly for the comet in the camera viewfinder, but it didn't stand out, so, took one 16 second image of that area of sky, thinking that it was too late, that it was too light out to capture a faint comet. Not until about an hour later, after putting everything inside to dry out, when viewing the image in the camera view screen, did I clearly see a green fuzzball, right where Curt said it was, "to the lower left of Porrima, next to the triangle of stars." Comet captured!
Single shot, ISO 1600, 16 second exposure.
According to Richard Hinckley Allen in his book, "Star Names Their Lore and Meaning", Porrima is a Latin name of an ancient goddess of prophecy.
Seen two shooting stars, in the east, one much brighter and higher in the sky than the other. Both came from the same direction, Leo. No satellites were seen.
Weather: Mostly clear, very windy from the SW, very cold -4C with reported windchil of -8C. No frost, no bugs.
Equipment: Canon Rebel Xsi with 75-300 mm lens. Umbrella to block the wind while imaging. Image processed on with Photoshop.
Attendance: David McCashion
Report:
A very cold and windy morning for observing. Strong gusty winds made imaging difficult.
Venus, aka 'The Morning Star', was very bright and near the .98 magnitude star Spica, low in the SE just after first light and about a half hour before Sunup.
According to Richard Hinckley Allen, in his "Star Names Their Lore and Meanings," the name Spica refers to and marks, "...the Ear of Wheat shown in the Virgin's left hand."
Weather: Clear, gusty winds, up to 65 kph through day, dying off to 27 kph through evening, 3C with windchill of -2C. Heavy frost present next morning. No bugs, no dew.
Equipment: Meade LX 200 8" telescope with camera adapter, 19 mm eyepiece, Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55 mm lens. Images processed on Photobucket.com
Attendance: Myself.
Report:
Gibbous Moon was in conjunction with Mars in the South East as it was starting to get dark at 1900 hrs. The two objects were approximately 5 degrees apart. High winds made imaging impossible until later in the night when they died off some.
Mars was bright, reddish with polar cap and features visible in the center of disk, in the 19 mm eyepiece. Due to a subsiding dust storm on Mars, there is more to see across it's disk now, than when it was closer to Earth in July.
Saturn was huge and spectacular in 19 mm eyepiece with rings steeply inclined. Heavy winds were high while it was still above horizon, preventing good images. Saturn is very interestingly placed just above the Teapot of Sagittarius. At first glance, Saturn looks like a part of the Teapot asterism.
Winds died down around midnight allowing for imaging. First, imaged the gibbous moon with camera attached to telescope at prime focus. Then imaged moon with focal reducer attached.
Viewed and imaged the impressive double star Albireo which was just above the NW tree line. The contrast between the close reddish star and bluish star is remarkable. This double star is a great high magnitude object. Imaged with camera attached to telescope with focal reducer.
Imaged Pleiades (M45) with camera attached to telescope with focal reducer. Also imaged this area of sky with camera and 18-55mm lens, as it rises in the East through the evening and early night.
Imaged the Constellations Orion which was low in the East, and Cygnus, halfway up in the NW sky, at around 0030hrs.
No satellites and 1 shooting star was seen, which was faint, in the Eastern sky crossing between Taurus and Orion.
Location: Side yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada Date Time: September 10, 2018 0400-0550hrs
Weather: Clear, a very cool, hand numbing 10 C, no wind, no bugs, and lots of dew, which ended up freezing to the table.
Equipment: Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO with 32mm eyepiece, Canon Rebel Xsi with 75-300mm lens and attached to telescope at prime focus. 20x80 binos. Images processed on Photobucket.com
Attendance: David McCashion from Little Lepreau and Ed from West Saint John.
Objective: To view and image Comet 21P, after Ed confirmed and reported a sighting on the morning of Sept 9, 2018 at 0530 hrs. He said it was near M 37 and he could see a tail in his 8" Dob.
Report:
First set up binoculars to scan where comet was supposed to be. Seen a bright fuzzy patch that I initially thought was the comet, but it turned out to be M37. After reviewing images, found the comet to be much fainter, but, thankfully near the brightest open cluster in Auriga, M37.
Could not confirm a visual sighting of the comet in either the binos or through the telescope. By the time I realized, that it wasn't the comet I was looking at, first light had already started. Tried looking for it anyways, but couldn't see it next to the bright Messier object.
Seen 1 satellite and 4 shooting stars, with one being very bright, in the Eastern sky, going straight north.
Images:
Camera with 75-300mm lens, zoomed out.
Camera attached to telescope at prime focus, zoomed in. 46 second time elapsed.
Longer, 90 second exposure, over-exposed to show more of the comets' coma and tail.
Notes:
Ed and I both searched the area of sky (from our own respective homes) south of Capella on the evening of Sept 4, looking for the faint magnitude 7 comet to no avail, where it was reported to be on Heavens-above.com. We thought that maybe the comet had dimmed to the point where our equipment couldn't pick it up.
Must note that, at the time of this observing, the winter constellations, including Orion, are getting quite high in the Eastern sky.
Location: Smileys Campground, NS and Little Lepreau, NB
Date Time:
Smileys - Aug 10, 2018 2220-2330 hrs
Aug 11, 2018 2220-2320 hrs
Little Lepreau Aug 12, 2018 2220- 2324 hrs
Weather:
Aug 10 - Partly cloudy to mostly clear, very warm and humid.
Aug 11 - Mostly cloudy to completely socked in with clouds.
Aug 12 - Partly clear.
Attendance: David McCashion
Equipment: A good reclining lawn chair.
Report:
Most of the time reclining, facing towards the south at the Summer Triangle.
Aug 10 - Seen 8 Persieds with 5 being very long and bright, yellowish with smoke trails, over a 1 hrs period
Aug 11 - No shooting stars seen, over an hour long period, even though I could just make out the bright stars in the Summer Triangle. Thought I would have been able to see some through the lighter cloud cover. Cloud cover thickened after 2300 hrs.
Aug 12 - Seen 19 Perseids that were mostly bright "Smokers" (leaving smoke trails) and 1 Sporadic, over a 1 hr 4 min period. A nice outburst of shooting stars around 2320 hrs.
Weather: Hazy conditions gave way to mostly clear skies, lots of dew, mosquitoes and moths. No wind, a very warm 20 C at 2200 hrs. A very cool 18 C where I could see my breath at 0030 hrs. Hurricane Chris was passing just off the coast of Maine and Nova Scotia, which was causing some strange weather conditions of late. Full force of hurricane was not felt here.
Attendance: Mary, Grace, Bradley and David McCashion (Myself).
Equipment: 8" Meade LX 200 telescope with 13.8 mm and 32 mm eyepieces. Cellphone camera with telescope adapter.
Objective: To view planets in the southern sky.
Report:
Saturn was low in the south eastern sky at 2230hrs. Rings were steeply inclined, showing nice separation between the planet and rings. Airplane passed in front of the ringed planet as I was observing it. Two moons were clearly visible with one much closer than the other. We talked about how Saturn's' moons do not line up like Jupiter's' moons.
Jupiter was much higher in the sky, in the south west. Three of its moons were oddly bunched up on the right side, in the eyepiece. Belts were faintly visible, with hazy conditions causing mostly distorted views. Imaged and videoed with cellphone camera attached to telescope and 32 mm eyepiece.
Mars didn't rise over the trees in the south-east till after 0020 hrs. Dew on the equipment was an issue at this time, and I could see my breath, even though the thermometer was saying 18 C. Mars was very bright and yellowish in color, which may be caused by a global dust storm that has recently enveloped the Red Planet. Mary and I agreed we could see a brighter region on the NE limb, in the eyepiece. Some slight discoloration across the disk hinted at features, but was very faint. Imaged and videoed with cellphone camera attached to telescope and 32 mm eyepiece.
Location: Front Deck and Front yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada
Date Time: June 10, 2018 from 2200-0300hrs
Weather: Mostly clear, slightly hazy skies, some breeze just after dark at about 2230 hrs to no wind with fluctuating conditions (some passing clouds/haziness), very cool, no bugs. Temperatures were 6C till around midnight, a very cool 5C at midnight and a bitter 4C after 0230 hrs that came with dew. Strange weather conditions, but good for observing, as if it were warmer, bugs would be an issue.
Equipment: Meade LX 200 8" telescope with 19mm and 9mm eyepieces with yellow light filter. Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses. Images processed on Photobucket.com
Attendance: Bradley H, David McCashion.
Objective: To view Jupiter and Mars. Mars approaching Opposition on July 27, 2018 which will see it become three times brighter than it is now.
Report:
Just after first dark, Bradley noticed that low in the Eastern sky a glow coming from a growing community west of Saint John. Light pollution encroaching on an otherwise very dark sky area.
Jupiter was viewed first with 19mm eyepiece with and without yellow light filter. Yellow light filter cut down the glare from Jupiter in the eyepiece, but didn't help with viewing the belts much. Moons were nicely spread out, with two on one side, and two on the other side.
Imaged with Canon Rebel with 75-300mm lens.
Imaged with Canon Rebel attached to telescope at prime focus.
Imaged with Canon Rebel attached to telescope at prime focus.
Just after midnight, looked for the Great Red Spot on Jupiter and seen it for the first time in the eyepiece. Stood out as a smudge on the lower belt that shook with the telescope, which means it's a feature on the giant planet. The spot didn't turn out well in images, but did show up nicely in a couple cellphone videos taken through the 19mm eyepiece. However, after downloading on YouTube, the quality doesn't seem to match the playback on the cellphone itself.
Observed and imaged double star Delta Corvus (Algorab). This is the pointer star in Corvus. Sky was particularly hazy at during visual observing through telescope. A very faint second star was seen very close to Algorab.
Images with Canon Rebel with 18-55mm lens.
Waited for Mars to rise in the East, above the trees. Viewed in 9mm eyepiece and imaged around 0300hrs. Mars disk was very big and bright with a lighter patch near one limb that might have been a polar cap. Some differences in light brightness across the disk hinting at features coming into view, that cannot be seen with my equipment when the red planet is farther away. It's a special time, every two years, as Earth approaches Mars in their respective orbits. As it gets closer, features that are normally too faint for me to see, start to come into view.
Mars imaged with Canon Rebel attached to telescope at prime focus. Slight light patch along upper limb might be polar cap. Changes in light across disk might be features.
Faint, fast shooting star was seen coming from Ophiuchus, passed just under and to the west of Jupiter, in the SW. One satellite observed at 0300hrs moving south, in the SE.
Weather: Clear, bitterly cold, breezy at times, mostly no wind, -5C. Next morning was clear and -10C.
Attendance: Amelia, Matthew, and David McCashion.
Equipment: Amelia's and Matt's My 80mm ED/APO with 12mm eyepiece on tracking/goto mount, 8" Meade LX 200 with 32mm eyepiece with tracking/goto disabled, and Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55mm lens.
Objective: Original objective was to do a Messier Marathon, but due to schedules/circumstances, there was only time for a short, evening Messier search.
Report:
Venus was very bright, in a 'half moon' phase, and high up in the Western sky as it grew darker. Full darkness didn't come till after 2100hrs!
Facing SSW, a 15 second exposure of ISS heading SSW @ 2058 hrs.
Began Messier search as soon as it got dark enough to see Orion after 2100hrs. Searched for the lowest M object we thought we could see in the western sky, M34, which was in the NW, close to a tree. Actually seen the average open cluster through a tall tree, in the small scope.
Facing NW, M34 is just left of the tallest tree.
Searched for and found open clusters M44 (Beehive Cluster), M45 (Pleiades or The Seven Sisters), M35(bright, big cluster), M36(faint cluster), M37(average cluster) and M38(very faint cluster). M44 being the most spectacular, actually popping out to naked eye visibility after 2200hrs. It really popped out even more with averted vision.
Found M1, the Crab Nebula high up in the Western sky, in Taurus, near M35. It looked like a dark hole in space in small scope. In big scope it was a much bigger dark hole in space with barely visible strings of light crossing its face. Very interesting object to observe.
The Orion Nebula, M42 and 43 were absolutely spectacular in the big scope. The nebula shone brightly and filled the huge field of view of the 2", 32mm eyepiece. The trapezium was clearly split.
Searched for the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead Nebula, near Alnitak, around the left side of Orion's Belt. Could barely make out some very dark nebulosity, but nothing distinct could be made out.
At around 2200hrs, seen a Satellite near Polaris, heading NNW.
Searched for all the Messiers in Leo, which was high in the South at around 2250hrs. Couldn't find them in small scope. Was running out of time, as we needed to finish at 2300hrs, so couldn't continue searching.
We talked about all the Messier objects in the Virgo cluster and how a good star chart is needed to tell them apart.
Location: Saints Rest Beach, Saint John, NB, Canada
Date Time: March 26, 2018 2030-2200 hrs
Weather: Slight breeze, no clouds, -3C with windchill of -6C. Seemed much cooler.
Attendance: Carla, Chris, Ed, Shawn, David McCashion, and five other visitors.
Equipment: Chris's 10" Dobsonian, and my Canon Rebel with 75-30 0mm lens on tripod.
Objective: To observe with friends.
Report:
Surprisingly, it was still light out after 2000 hrs. Days are getting longer.
Chris was set up and viewing the Moon with five passerby's, when we arrived. Chris does public outreach down at this beach on a regular basis and also streams live views, on his Facebook page Astronomy by the Bay, of the Moon and planets through his scopes, with his cellphone camera.
Moon was very bright in the eyepiece, with Copernicus Crater standing out prominently near the terminator. Many other craters stood out alarmingly and one huge mountain range, that seemed to pop out in 3D, on the terminator. Absolutely fascinating!
Venus was lowering in the West, as we arrived. When it got close to the horizon, Ed noted that it would make a nice picture. Chris noted that it will be high in the evening sky all summer.
Ed noted that Orion is moving to the west, in the evening sky. This means that soon Orion will move behind the Sun in our sky, and thus be out of sight from Earth, till next fall. In other words, it's a sign that summer is nearing.
Ed and I were discussing that it's now the time of year to do a Messier Marathon, where the observer spends all night searching for and observing all 110 Messier objects. Late March, early April is the only time its possible to do this. When the Moon gets closer to New, the sky will be darker and more suited to do this.
We observed a bright satellite pass down the length of the Big Dippers Handle. It stayed visible for a long time, and was travelling from South to North.
Weather: Partly cloudy, icy outside due to recent snow squall, light to no breeze, 0 degrees Celsius.
Equipment: Canon Rebel Xsi with 77-300mm lens on tripod.
Attendance: David McCashion
Objective: To view and image Venus and Mercury, which were supposed to be in the western sky, just after dark.
Report:
Venus was very bright, just over the horizon, with Mercury higher and to the North of Venus by about 5 degrees. Venus was much brighter.
For most of the time, Venus was visible with Mercury behind the clouds which were moving south. The two planets were only visible together, at the same time, for a few seconds.
Weather: Slight breeze, mostly clear with high hazy clouds fouling seeing conditions, -6C with windchill increasing with the dawn.
Attendance: David McCashion
Equipment: 8" Meade LX 200 with 32mm and 19mm eyepieces. Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55mm lens on tripod. Images processed on Photobucket.com
Objective: To view and image the planetary lineup of (from the East) Saturn, Mars and Jupiter.
Report:
Very nice line up of Planets in the morning, across the southern sky.
Jupiter was huge and bright at 0430 hrs and the skies were very clear. Four of its Moons were on one side of the gas giant, evenly spaced out. Its storm bands were easy to see in the 19mm eyepiece.
Shortly after 0500 hrs a high hazy cloud covered the sky, fouling the seeing conditions. They were see-through, though.
Mars was low, in the south, behind a big tree. Its disk is almost big enough to see detail across its face, in better viewing conditions. Also, it was behind the big tree, out front, and was difficult to view. With approaching Opposition on July 27, 2018, the Martian disk will make a great target for observing and imaging. When we get this close, every two years, the disk is big enough to see detail across its face, in backyard telescopes. Also, this year, its disk will appear much larger to us than in 2016.
Saturn was very low, in hazy skies, behind trees when I tried to observe it with 19 mm eyepiece. Could easily make out its rings, which were very much tilted.
This was my first time observing these three planets in 2018!
No satellites or shooting stars were seen. First light was at 0613 hrs.
Weather: Mostly to partly clear, humid and a little hazy on horizon, sunny, no wind, 27C.
Equipment: Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55 and 75-300mm lenses, on tripod and without tripod.
Attendance: Madison, McKenzie, Carla, Becky and Myself.
Objective: To image and view SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch, which was scheduled launch on this day at 1330hrs from the Kennedy Space Station on Cape Canaveral, FL.
Report:
We traveled from our Resort in Kissimme to watch the launch from Cocoa Beach, FL for the 1330hrs scheduled launch. Many hundreds of people were parked on the side of Hwy 528 leading into Cocoa Beach because it offered an excellent view of the launchpad. Unfortunately for us, the launch was delayed at the last minute and rescheduled for a 1545hrs launch. Due to circumstances, we couldn't wait in Cocoa Beach and needed to head back to Kissimmee.
We arrived back at our Kissimmee Resort at approx 1500hrs.
At 1540hrs, I started watching the televised launch on NASA TV on our TV. At 1545hrs the rocket launched on schedule. I ran outside, with my camera and tripod, and there were many people in the yard looking for the rocket. I seen it right away, in the North East direction, low heading up, like a candle flame that was rising. It was only visible for about a minute, before it disappeared from view in some hazy clouds, looking like it was heading off to the East. This created quite a buzz around the resort. People were very excited about this launch.
