Observing at Saint John, NB Aug 1/10

Location: Irving Nature Park

Date: August 1/10 2125-2220hrs

Weather: 15 Degrees Celsius, very few high level clouds, almost no wind, not very humid, a little fog.

Equipment: Kodak C190 EasyShare digital camera with tripod.

Attendance: Carla, David.

Report: The good observing weather has made it possible to follow the movement of the planets Venus, Mars and Saturn in relation to each other. Over the coarse of a week, it is obvious that Mars and Saturn are moving away from each other, moving left and right.

With the help of software, and the weather, good pics of Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper were possible. The Big Dipper was in the N while Cassiopeia was in the NE. If you look closely at the Picture of the Big Dipper below, the double star system in the handle is revealed.

The weather was excellent for observing, but there were a few mosquitoes around. Also, we seen two very small deer and a fox together as we drove into the park.

Summertime Bending Trees

Have been noticing over the last couple of years that hardwood trees, especially White Birch and Poplar of all sizes are bending over in the summertime. It seems to happen when it is most humid, but have not found the actual answer to this yet.

When driving down the highway, you can see whole stands of the same kind of trees bend over, sometimes, almost to the ground. Size does not seem to matter.

On small trails in the woods, it almost blocks passage.

This is something to look for next time you are driving the highway, in the summertime...

Pics From The Road

Finally, there was a few nights in a row that were good for observing. Lots to look at with the Venus-Mars-Saturn alignment just after sunset and the Moon and Jupiter were very close together after midnight to sun-up.

Beatles and Potatoe Bugs

Observing Report for July 27/10

Location: Irving Nature Park

Time Date: July 27/10 from 2230-0030hrs

Weather: 15 degrees Celsius, humid, light gusty winds, a few high level clouds

Equipment: 150mm reflector with EQ3 mount, 25mm eyepiece, C190 Kodak Easyshare with mount.

Planets Observed: Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter.

Observing Report: The first thing we observed was the planet alignment of Venus, Mars, and Saturn in the western sky just after sundown. With the telescope, we observed Saturn. Its rings showed up at low power, but it was getting too low on the horizon to get a good picture. Note for future: Be set up at the observing site before the sun goes down, as the objects low in the western sky will go down fast after sundown.

After Sundown Venus was very bright low in the west. When looking at the picture of the three planets(in the following post) Venus is the lowest with Mars above and to the left and Saturn(fairly dim ) above Mars.


Cassiopeia was halfway up in the sky in the NE. I explained to Brandon that is a constellation of stars that form a slightly skewed W. It is an easily recognizable star formation which makes it useful when trying to find other sky objects.

Moon was about 95% full halfway up in the sky in the SE. Obtained pictures and video, as it was too bright to look at for long with the telescope.

Jupiter appeared low in the East, as we were packing up to leave around 0000hrs. Four of its Moons showed up very nice and spread out at low power. There were two fairly faint moons on the left with two bright ones on the right side of the planet. There appeared to be one line cutting across the middle of the planet which was probably a weather line as it was in line with the moons.

Obtained some pictures and a video of Jupiter and its moons. In the video, the moons appear as faint shimmering stars in a loose line with their home planet.

Observing at Irving Nature Park July 27/10 from 2230 to 0030

Jupiter and 4 Moons


Moon 2 days past full and Brandon


Venus Mars Saturn and West Side Saint John lights

Sunspot 1089 July 21/10 1500hrs POW

Solar Observing at POW at 1500hrs July 21/10.

Weather: Partly cloudy, 27 degrees Celsius, light wind.

Telescope: 150 mm reflector with 2x Barlow, 25mm and 9mm eyepieces.

Camera: Kodak C190 EasyShare with mount.

Observing: Sunspot 1087 was not visible through my scope, but according to Spaceweather.com it is still there but is decreasing.

Sunspot 1089 (The Bear Claw) was clearly visible as a triangle of dark spots. It was visible at low power and really showed up nice with the 2x Barlow and then with the 9 mm eyepiece. Apparently this one is suppose to change shapes in the coming days so it should be fun to keep track of.