OBSERVING REPORT FOR APRIL 29, 2017

Location:  Front Porch and side yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  April 29, 2017 2100-2330

Weather:  Mostly clear with some passing clouds, very windy increasing as evening went on, 7C.  Intermittent ground fog and haze throughout evening. Poor seeing conditions and no bugs.

Equipment:  Canadian Telescopes 80mm ED/APO with 12mm eyepiece on a Vixen Alt/Az mount.  Galaxy Neo S5 cellphone with cellphone adapter.  Canon Rebel with 75-300mm lens on tripod.

Attendance:  Rosana B, Emma B and David McCashion.

Objective:  To show our guests some night sky celestial objects through telescope.

Report:

• Before dark, just after 2100hrs, set up telescope and showed Rosana and Emma the crescent Moon, in the west and bright Jupiter in the SE.  Both were amazed at the craters on the Moon and neither had seen Jupiter's four Moons before.  Imaged both Moon and Jupiter with Cellphone

• Didn't get dark enough to look for Comet Johnson until after 2200hrs.  Found the faint comet with telescope exactly where heavens-above.com sky chart said it would be, above Eta Herculis.  It was faint, but see-able with brighter central region and a very long tail.  This is the first tail I've seen on a comet in a long time. Imaged Comet with Canon Rebel with 75-300mm lens from side yard.

Sky chart from Heavens-above.com

• At 2238 hrs a very bright Iridium flare was seen going through Hercules from North to South.  Was twice as bright as Jupiter.
• Wind picked up shortly after 2230hrs.  After wind picked up, wasn't able to see the Comet again in telescope eyepiece.  Possibly due to atmospheric disturbance or high thin clouds.
• Viewed and imaged M13 to compare with Comet for an attempt to measure its brightness.  M13 was at least five times brighter.

• Seen many satellites and one faint shooting star, in the east, from south east to the north.