Location: Prince of Wales, NB, Canada
Date Time: May 10, 2022 0340-0520hrs
Weather: Warm, 8.2C, 39% humidity, dew point -3C, pressure 1032.85hPa, at times breezy, to no wind. No bugs, no dew and a few birds chirping. Astronomical Twilight starts at 0356hrs. Waxing Gibbous Moon 61% Illuminated sets at 0345hrs.
Equipment: Canon Rebel T3, with 18-55mm lens and attached to 80 ED/APO. Images processed with PhotoShop.
Objective: To image Comets 22P Kopff, near Mars and C/2017 K2 Panstarrs in Aquila, west of Altair.
Report:
- Aligned scope on Arcturus, which was high in the west. Focused on and imaged this bright star, but gusty winds ruined images.
- Comets were in eastern sky, and Mars wasn't due to rise for another hour or so, so I decided to try for some brighter objects in the southern sky. Imaged Antares, which was almost due south at 4am. Antares, according to Richard Hinckley Allen, in his Star Names Their Lore and Meaning, "Antares, Alpha Scorpius, Binary, 0.7 & 7, fiery red, and emerald green, the well-nigh universal title for this splendid star...and generally thought to be from...'similar to,' or the 'rival of,' Mars, in reference to its color..."
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| Antares, single shot, 30 seconds, ISO 1600. Un-cropped, processed. |
- Imaged some Messier Objects around Antares: Globular Clusters M4, M19, and M62. Open star clusters M6 The Butterfly Cluster and M7 Ptolemy's Cluster. M4 in Scorpius, according to William Henry Smyth, in his 1844 A Cycle of Celestial Objects "A compressed mass of very small stars, in the middle of the creature's body, with outliers and a few small stellar companions in the field."
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| M4 Globular Cluster. All Messier object images single shot, 30 second, ISO 1600, uncropped and processed. |
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| M6 The Butterfly Cluster |
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| M7 Ptolemy's Cluster |
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| M19 Globular Cluster |
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| M62 Globular Cluster |
- Refocused telescope on Altair before making my first attempt at Comet K2. According to Allen, "Altair, Alpha Aquila, 1.3, pale yellow, is from a part of the Arabic name for the constellation,..."
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| Altair, single shot, 30 second, ISO 1600, uncropped, processed. |
- By this time, Mars, and the comet 22P Kopff next to it, were rising above the horizon, but they were behind a cluster of trees. They would not appear from behind the trees before the oncoming light washed it out. No attempt was made for this comet, which was supposed to be next to Mars because there wasn't enough time to move the telescope. Just set up camera where entire south eastern sky could be seen instead.
- Comet K2 Panstarrs was high up, approximately 15 degrees to the east of Altair, in Aquila. Comet did not show up in view screen during observing time, but did show up while processing image. It was smaller and fainter than I thought it would be.
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| Comet K2 Panstarrs, single shot, 30 second, ISO 1600, cropped and processed. |
- By 5am all four morning planets, Venus-Jupiter-Mars-Saturn (in that order) were above the horizon, forming a diagonal line across the south-eastern sky. Set up camera across the road with 18-55mm lens so that all planets could be seen. They barely fit into the cameras field of view.
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| Planet lineup facing East, single shot, 4 second,f/9, focal length 23mm, ISO 400, uncropped and processed |
- Many satellites, and 3 meteors were seen. The shooting stars were all about the same, very fast(almost lightening fast), short period and about 0 magnitude. Seen two high in the south coming straight down from zenith and one high in the eastern sky coming from the south. They were well spaced out over the observing session.
