A FOUR COMET NIGHT

Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  October 8, 2021 0230-0455hrs

Weather:  Clear, slight breeze from the north west, 11.6C/82% humidity in Saint John at 0150hrs, 6C at 0345hrs in POW.

Equipment:  Telescope 80ed/apo with Canon Rebel t3 attached at prime focus.  Images processed with Photo Shop Elements.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Objective:  To image as many of the five comets in the eastern sky during this time as possible.  Also, to watch for Zodiacal light.

Report:  

• Set up scope and aligned on Vega, which was very close to NW horizon at 2am and Deneb.
• Pegasus was high in the western sky.  Could make out 5 stars in the big square, which makes seeing a not so great 5 limiting magnitude.  Conditions seemed to change dramatically over the observing time, although no clouds were seen.  
• The surrounding woods was uncharacteristically quiet.  Totally silent during entire observing time.  Something dead nearby giving off quite a stink.
  
• Looked for Zodiacal light in the west, not realizing it was an eastern phenomenon in the morning.  There is light pollution in that general direction normally, but not that far north.  Zodiacal light really lit up the NE sky, just under Ursa Major.  This washed out my last comet image attempt.
• No satellites were seen, which isn't surprising for that time of night.  They are normally seen just after dark and just before first light.
• Three confirmed shooting stars seen, including one while imaging, plus another seen as driving home.  A number more, unconfirmed, seen out of the corner of my eye.
  

In Auriga, near one of the main asterism stars, seen in the upper left.  Distance from Earth 5.39AU.  60s, ISO 3200.  Un-cropped, enhanced.

In Taurus, near M1.  62s, ISO 6400.   Distance from Earth 0.47AU.  Reported mag 11.0.  Un-cropped, enhanced.

In Orion, well above the main asterism stars. Distance from Earth 1.126AU.  Reported mag 11.1. 61s, ISO 6400.

Seen the shooting star as imaging.  In Lynx, partially washed out by zodiacal light. Distance from Earth 3.582AU.  Reported mag 10.1. 30s, ISO 6400.

Area of sky below the main asterism stars of Ursa Major.  Comet may show near center of image, but washed out due to intense zodiacal light in that area of sky.  Distance from Earth 2.259AU.  Reported mag 11.5  25s, ISO 3200.

TWO COMETS, TWO NEBULAS AND ORION

Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  Sept 12, 2021  0400-0600hrs

Weather:  No wind, cool, humid, mostly clear to partly cloudy towards 530am, 11C and 89% humidity.  Lots of dew and some mosquitos.

Equipment:  Canadian Telescopes 80 ed/apo with Canon Rebel t3 with 18-55mm lens.  Images processed with PhotoShop.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Objective:  To view and image three comets in the morning, eastern sky.  Comet 4P Faye, at 11.9 magnitude in Taurus, and C/2019 L3 Atlas in Lynx, in between Gemini and Auriga.  Also, the brightest comet in our sky now, Comet 8P Tuttle (mag 8.9) in Hydra, very low on the horizon, just before first light.

Report:

• Setup and aligned scope on the summer triangle stars, still visible along the western horizon.  Jupiter was low in the south west and very bright, like an oncoming plane.
• Tried viewing and imaging the bright Orion's Nebula.  Viewed with binoculars.  Spectacular!  Much to see and huge in binos.  Colors.  Orion the Hunter is rising quite high in the morning sky now.  A sign that fall isn't far away.
  

•  Imaged M1 The Crab Nebula, before looking for my first comet of the night.  It's a faint 8.4 magnitude nebula not far from where the much fainter, magnitude 11.9 comet 4P Faye is located on this early morning. Both objects located in Taurus, near the end of one of the bulls horns.
  

M1 The Crab Nebula 30s, ISO 6400

 

Comet 4P Faye 30s, ISO 6400.  Image not enhanced or cropped.

Comet 4P Faye enhanced and cropped to better show the very faint comet.

• Comet C/2019 L3 Atlas was located fairly high in the north eastern sky, above Gemini and below the bright stat Capella.  A very faint comet, without a tail, that I could discern, I was able to confirm it by comparing to star charts and matching the bright stars in the images to the charts.  

Comet C/2019 L3 Atlas, cropped and enhanced.

•  After imaging Comet L3 Atlas, it was time to try for Comet 8P Tuttle, but clouds moved into that area of the sky.  Also, the comet just barely came over the horizon by first light, and was still too low because of the treeline.  Even if it was clear, I don't think it would have been possible to get the fairly faint comet through the increasing light.  It's just too close to the Sun, in my opinion.

Comet 8P Tuttle was supposed to be located to the right of the reddish light.  Not an easy location to capture a fairly faint comet, even if it's clear.

•  No satellites seen, with one picked up in images.  One shooting star was seen, going straight down, between Taurus and Orion.  Short, fast and faint.
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOON NEAR VENUS

Location:  Lower Westside park, Saint John, NB, Canada

Date Time:  Sept 10, 2021 from 2015 hrs to 2050hrs

Weather:  Partly cloudy to mostly cloudy, to clouded out with rain.  Breezy, 18C, humidity 82%.

Attendance:  Benson, Braydon, Jaxon and David McCashion

Equipment:  Canon Rebel t3 with 55mm and 300mm lenses.

Objective:  To view and image the western sky in the eveing twilight.

Report:  

• Went out to park at approx 815pm to see where the Moon was located and noticed Venus through some thick clouds.  Forecast was for clearing, but the clouds shortly took over the sky and it started to rain.

 

 

PERSEID'S 2021

Location: Prince of Wales, NB, Canada 

Date Time: Friday, August 13, 2021 from 2150-0041hrs 

Weather: Very warm(almost too warm for a jacket), mostly clear, with some haziness, lots of dew, lots of bugs, no wind, fog horn blowing from nearby Bay of Fundy during whole observing session, 21c, and 90% humidity. On the drive home to Saint John afterwards, ground fog to the highway, then it was foggy most of the way to SJ, with ocean fog totally engulfing SJ. 

Attendance: Edward O'Reilly, and David McCashion. 

Equipment: Canon Rebel t3 with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses.  Images processed with Photoshop. Reclining lawn-chairs. 

Objective: To view and image as many shooting stars as possible. 

Report: 

•  There was a crescent Moon in Virgo, low in the west at 2150hrs that was quickly sinking towards the horizon, with bright Venus close to the western horizon, popping in and out from behind hazy cloudiness.

13s, ISO 800, focal length 27mm, f/5

1/40th second, ISO 100, f/5.6, focal length 300mm

• Jupiter and Saturn were low in the south-eastern sky as the sky started to darken enough to see stars at 2150hrs.

13s, ISO 800, f/5, focal length 27mm.  Facing South East.

• Ed seen the first Perseid at 2150 and I seen the second about 10 mins later.  In our reclining lawn-chairs, Ed watched the Southern sky, while I watched and imaged the North.  The Summer Triangle was almost straight overhead.  We seen 34 Perseid's, 10 sporadic, with 4 unconfirmed(out of the center of vision), from 2150 to 0041hrs.  We seen 8 Perseid's the first hour and 17 the next hour and 9 over the last 50 minutes.  Approximately 7 of the Perseid's were slow moving, left long smoke trails and were Jupiter bright.  Ed thought they were white, where I thought they had a yellowish ting.  Most of the shooting stars were around Vega, which was nearly overhead and around Cassiopeia, in the North.  All of the sparadics were faint, short, faster and didn't leave smoke trails.
  
• Dew ruined dozens of images. 
  
• A few satellites seen.  Not as many as we expected.  Many, many planes crossing the sky.
  

 

 Note:  Bring dew heater for imaging shooting stars, and frequently check the face of the lens for dew.  By checking the images on the camera view-screen, stars can still be seen, making it like there is no problem with the pictures...the problem won't become apparent until processing the images.  Check the face of lens.

OBSERVING REPORT FOR JUNE 18, 2021

Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  June 18, 2018 0310-0450hrs

Weather:  No wind, mostly clear but hazy, 8C with humidity of 72%.  Few bugs.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO with Canon Rebel T3 attached at prime focus.  Images processed with PhotoShop.

Objective:  To image comets C/2020 T2 Palomar (10.7) in Bootes and Comet 7P Pons-Winnecke (10.5) in Aquarius. Both comets are moving away from Earth, but seem to maintaining their brightness.

Report:      

• Set up scope and aligned on Arcturus.  Not many bright stars in the western sky at this time.  Only 3 hours 10 minutes of dark skies beginning at 1150pm and ending at 301am, according to a weather website.  The Moon was at first quarter and was below the western horizon at observing time, giving nice, dark skies.
  

• Easily found Comet T2 Palomar, low in the western sky, to the lower right of the main Bootes, kite-like asterism.  Took many images and stacked 7 of them.  The images were 15 second with set at ISO 1600.

Low in the west, 7 images stacked for 1min 46 seconds exposure, uncropped.

30 sec, ISO 6400, cropped and enhanced.

 

• The teapot of Sagittarius is low in the south at observing time, just over the treetops.  Took an image of bright globular cluster Messier 22(mag 5.5), located just over the teapot.

Twilight was starting to become a serious factor.  Un-cropped, 20 second, ISO 3200.

 

• According to a weather website, astronomical twilight starts at 301am.  By the time I was set up and facing the low south eastern horizon(410am), where comet 7p was located, the sky was washed out in twilight.  Even after many long exposure images and processing, I could not confirm a capture of the comet in the images.

 

• Imaged the south-eastern sky, including Jupiter, Saturn and Fomalhaut.  Comet 7P was about 3/5 of the way to Fomalhaut, from Jupiter, making it quite low in the sky.  This comet is proving to be a difficult capture because of the timing of it's appearance(early morning) and it's location in the sky.  According to Richard Hinckley Allen, in his book Star Names Their Lore and Meaning, "Fomalhaut, from the Arabic Fum al Hut, the Fish's Mouth..."

Single shot, f/5, 6 second, ISO 1600, focal length 23mm

•  By 0420hrs twilight was really starting to brighten up the sky and the morning song birds were singing, squawking, and chirping away.

• Seen many satellites, with some passing through the camera view-screen as I was focusing.  A few more airplanes flying by now also, as the pandemic air traffic seems to be rebounding somewhat.  No shooting stars were seen.
  

Comet C/2020 T2 Palomar

Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  June 11, 2021 0115-0300hrs

Weather:  No wind, hazy to partly cloudy to mostly cloudy, 6C, humidity 59%.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Canadian telescopes 80 ED/APO with a Canon Rebel xsi attached at prime focus.  Images processed with PhotoShop.

Objective:  To image comets C/2020 T2 Palomar(Mag10.5) in Bootes, Comet C/2020 R4 Atlas(Mag 11.5) in Leo and Comet 7P Pons-Winnecke(Mag10.6) in Aquarius, below Jupiter.  Comet magnitudes are from online reports.

Report:     

There was an annular solar eclipse early in the morning the day before, on June 10, 2021 around 0530 to 0700. 

Hazy conditions improved for about 30 minutes from about 0120hrs to about 0150hrs after which clouds slowly started to cover the whole sky. 

Imaged T2 Palomar, which was to the lower right of the main Bootes kite-like asterism.  Bootes was high in the western sky during observing.  Also imaged M3, which was nearby, with same camera and telescope configuration for a side by side comparison.

One minute exposure, ISO 6400.  Image cropped and enhanced.

Side by side comparison of images.  Same settings for both images.

Clouds moved in shortly after 2am.  Stayed for another hour to see if sky would clear an it didn't.

Seen several satellites, all moving north or south, and no shooting stars.

A Comet, A Messier, & Two Planets Rising

 Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  March 21, 2021 0430-0652hrs

Weather:  It was a warm and hazy -3C, 67% humidity, mostly clear until about 6am.  That's when it went from no wind, to a slight breeze, from the north.  It turned very chilly after that.  Temps leaving Saint John were 5 degrees warmer.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Canon Rebel T3 attached to an 80 ED/APO telescope at prime focus and with an 18-55mm lens.  Images processed on Photoshop.

Objective:  To image two comets in the morning sky, and anything else that seemed interesting.  The comets were C/2020 R4 Atlas, in Aquila and 10P/Tempel 2 in Aquarius.

Report:

• As soon as I arrived I attempted to image the Summer Triangle, rising in the East, but the images didn't turn out well because they were out of focus.  The stars were too faint to zoom in on, to obtain adequate focus.
• Aligned scope on Regulus, which was low in the west at approx 0500hrs.  According to Richard Hinckley Allen, in his Star Names, Their Lore and Meaning, Regulus is a triple star system of 1.7, 8.5 and 13 mag stars, is flushed white and ultramarine.(Will at image at later date)
  
• Searched for and found C/2020 R4 Atlas in Aquila, halfway between Altair and Saturn.  It's faint, approximately 10 mag.

ISO 3200, 50s, not cropped.

•  Searched for Comet 10P/Tempel 2, which was reported in Aquarius.  Aquarius was just rising during morning first light, but the comet did not rise above the horizon before the sky became too lit.  While in Aquarius, searching for the comet, I found  and imaged the bright globular cluster M2, which was in the trees, low along the horizon.  The sky was lighting up fast by this time...approximately 607am.

ISO 3200, 30s, not cropped.

•  Jupiter & Saturn didn't start rising over the treeline until after 630am.  They remain low in the south eastern morning sky.

f/4.5, 8s, ISO 100, focal length 33mm, image cropped.

• Heard my first flock of Canada Geese of the year, around 615am, flying north along the coast.  Many other birds were heard chirping in the morning twilight, and some were even chirping and moving around before first light.  A sign of spring.
• At 643am, as I was taking down the setup, I heard, then seen a bright bolide slowly sailing from west to south east, halfway up in the southern sky.  Its sizzled as it burned itself out, flying straight at Saint John, from my vantage point.

• No satellites were seen, or any other shooting stars.