OBSERVING REPORT FOR MARCH 25, 2022

Location:  Prince of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time :  March 25, 2022 2320-0025hrs

Weather:  Ground fog almost the whole way from Saint John to Prince of Wales.  Mostly clear at observing site. A comfortable 1C at first.  Windchill really cooled things off after midnight and froze dew to car. No wind to slight breeze, very humid 99% humidity, lots of dew, Barometric pressure was very low at 900hPa.  Ground fog moved in at 0025hrs.

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

Objective:  To improve stacking/processing skills on M 104 the Sombrero Galaxy, which was supposed to be above the treeline, near Corvus, after 2300hrs.

Report:

• Aligned and focused scope on Aldebaran (low in western sky), Procyon (high in south western sky) and Spica in the south eastern sky.  All three imaged below and processed the same way to give a color/brightness comparison.  Procyon, according to Richard Hinckey Allen's Star Names Their Lore and Meaning:  Procyon, alpha, Binary, Mag 0.4 and 13, yellowish white, and yellow.  "...has been the name for this from the earliest Greek records, distinctly mentioned by Aratos and Ptolemy,...".

Aldebaran, single shot, uncropped, processed, 30 sec, ISO 6400.

Procyon, single shot, uncropped, processed, 30 sec, ISO 1600.

Spica, single shot, uncropped, processed, 30 sec, ISO 1600.

•  On the way to the main target of the night M 104, decided to image M44 Beehive Cluster. 

Beehive Cluster, single shot, uncropped, processed, 30 sec, ISO 1600.

• The main target of the night was the Sombrero Galaxy, located about midway between Spica and Algorab in Corvus.  Took many images to stack to get a better quality image. Stacked 23 light images and 25 dark images.  The first time going after this target.  It's very small, much smaller than I thought it would be.  Bright central region washes out the amazing dust lanes that show up in Hubble images.  This object may be too small to get much better resolution with my equipment.  Note the lack of stars in this image, compared with others.  This area of the sky is better for deep sky objects because of this.
  

Sombrero Galaxy, cropped, processed, 23x 30 sec, ISO 1600 stacked images

• Tried for Comet C/2019 L3 Atlas, which was near Alhena in Gemini.  It was reported to be 11th magnitude.  A very star-like comet with a faint, fan tail.  It happens to be passing in front of a very rich background of stars that made it difficult to pick up in the camera view screen.  While I was in the field, I thought I didn't get it.  The comet showed up right away, though, during processing.

C/2019 L3 Atlas, single shot, cropped, processed, 30 sec, ISO 6400.

• No satellites or shooting stars were seen.
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBSERVING REPORT FOR MARCH 4, 2022 (Updated)

Location:  Price of Wales, NB, Canada

Date Time:  March 4, 2022 2015-2220hrs

Weather:  Slight breeze, -12C, humidity 68%, windchill a major factor, mostly clear.  No dew on equipment but lots of frost.

Objective:  To image three comets which were in the Southern, South western and north western sky.

Report:

• On a rare clear evening, a very bright, thin, 6% illuminated Moon hung very low in the west.

Thin crescent moon with Earhshine.

 

•  Looked for Comet C/2021 F1 Lemmon-PANNSTARRS which was in Lacerta, very close to Alpha Lacerta, low in the north western sky during the first part of observing.  By the time I was set up and imaged that area of the sky, the comet sank behind the treeline.  This comet has an interesting orbit.  It's now just outside of Mercuries orbit, getting farther from the Sun now.  This comet could brighten.
  

Alpha & Beta Lacerta.  Single shot, 30sec, ISO 6400, not cropped, processed.

 

• Tried for and imaged Comet 19P Borrelly, which was above and to the west of Taurus.  A nicely placed, but faint magnitude 9.8 comet.  Comet Borrelley has an interesting orbit.  It has been inside of Mars orbit for months now, following Earth.  Instead of passing Earth, then heading farther out into space, it seems to be moving slower than Earth.  Earth seems to be pulling away from the comet.  It has remained fairly bright as recent comets goes, and has formed a nice tail.  Borrelly has an interesting orbit. Its been inside Mars orbit, following Earth for months now. Instead of buzzing past Earth, it seems to be slowing down.

 

Single shot, 34sec, ISO 3200, cropped and processed.

• Before looking for the last comet, I decided to image Betelgeuze.  According to Richard Hinckley Allen in his Star Names Their Lore and Meaning, "Betelgeuze is from Ibt al Jauzah, the Armpit of the Central One..."  It's one of the very few stars in the sky where it is close enough and big enough to actually see it as a disk instead of just a point of light.
  

Single shot, 30 sec, ISO 3200, not cropped, processed.

•  Found another faint comet, mag 9.6 Comet C/2019 L3 Atlas, above Orion, very high up.  It was difficult to image, due to how high it was.  Many of the images were ruined by star trails.

Single Shot, 30 sec, ISO 6400, cropped, processed.

• No satellites were seen, but one went through and ruined an image.  One very bright, shooting star/bolide came straight down, from above Cassiopeia, in the north west. It dropped almost to the horizon.  I seen it around 2100hrs.
  

 

Satellite passes through image of Beta Andromeda(Mirach).  Single shot, 30 sec, ISO 6400, not cropped, processed.