Thursday, February 17, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
SOLAR OBSERVING
Location: Feb 7 - Lower West Side Saint John, NB
Feb 11 - Lowell Arena parking lot Saint John, NB
Date: February 7 from 1000 to 1045 and Feb 11, 2011 from 1500 to 1630
Weather: Clear no wind and -15 for Feb 7
Partly cloudy windy -10 for Feb 11
Equipment: SJAC club scope. Coronado PST 40 with EQ1 mount with 25mm 15mm 12mm and 9mm eyepieces.
Report: On Monday February 7 a sunspot was observed on the lower left. It looked like a white spot against darker red, whereas the sunspots showed as black spots in my scope. This is due to the Hydrogen Alpha filter in the club scope. The viewing was very good with many granular formations visible across the face of the sun. Many pics were taken with my Olympus digital camera, although they did not pick up the sunspots or the granulars that showed up clearly when viewed through the scope.
On Friday February 11 a prominence was observed on the lower right limb at about the 430 position if the sun were a clock. Viewed and confirmed with all four eyepieces. The granulars did not show up as well on this day and the sunspot that was on the sun, according to spaceweather.com, did not show up when viewed through the scope. Many pictures and a few videos were taken with the Olympus camera and they did not pick up any detail.
Feb 11 - Lowell Arena parking lot Saint John, NB
Date: February 7 from 1000 to 1045 and Feb 11, 2011 from 1500 to 1630
Weather: Clear no wind and -15 for Feb 7
Partly cloudy windy -10 for Feb 11
Equipment: SJAC club scope. Coronado PST 40 with EQ1 mount with 25mm 15mm 12mm and 9mm eyepieces.
Report: On Monday February 7 a sunspot was observed on the lower left. It looked like a white spot against darker red, whereas the sunspots showed as black spots in my scope. This is due to the Hydrogen Alpha filter in the club scope. The viewing was very good with many granular formations visible across the face of the sun. Many pics were taken with my Olympus digital camera, although they did not pick up the sunspots or the granulars that showed up clearly when viewed through the scope.
On Friday February 11 a prominence was observed on the lower right limb at about the 430 position if the sun were a clock. Viewed and confirmed with all four eyepieces. The granulars did not show up as well on this day and the sunspot that was on the sun, according to spaceweather.com, did not show up when viewed through the scope. Many pictures and a few videos were taken with the Olympus camera and they did not pick up any detail.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Random Pictures
Here are some random pictures from the last couple of weeks: The scenery pics are of the Saint Laurence River, west of Riviere du Loup, QC on the morning of Jan 15/11. There is a picture of our frog kermit with crickets all around and on top of him. There is a picture of Orion over our house on the evening of Jan17/11 and there is one picture of Venus on the morning of Jan17/11 over a radio tower at Peterville Hill, NB.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Observing Report for Jan 5/11
LOCATION: Saints Rest Beach, NB
DATE: January 5/2011 from 0450-0730hrs
WEATHER: -15 Degrees Celsius light wind, clear.
EQUIPMENT: Kodak Digital Camera mounted to a 150mm reflector telescope with 32mm and 16mm eyepieces mounted on an EQ 3.
OBSERVING REPORT: Upon arriving at the beach, Venus stood out like an oncoming Plane. It was extremely bright and was a third of the way up in the sky in the SE. Antares was visible below it, but Mercury didn't come up, farther to the east until after 0600.
After looking to the North for the Big Dipper for about an hour and not finding it, I actually noticed it by accident straight up while looking for shooting stars. That is the highest Ive ever noticed the Big Dipper.
There was the Quadrantid meteor shower on this night, and I observed two shooting stars. The first one shortly after arrival in the south and one an hour later to the north east.
Venus was in the waxing crescent phase, which explains the shape of the planet when resolved in the scope.
When Mercury finally raised after 0600, just before first light, it had a reddish hue to it and appeared very faint compared to Venus. A star chart was consulted to distinguish Antares from Mercury.
As a side note, there was a large German Shepard that ran past at around 0615.
There was a noticeable lack of obvious constellations during this time, the Big Dipper being the only one that really stood out.
Saturn was much farther from Venus than expected. It was almost due south just north of Spica and didn't stand out at all.
DATE: January 5/2011 from 0450-0730hrs
WEATHER: -15 Degrees Celsius light wind, clear.
EQUIPMENT: Kodak Digital Camera mounted to a 150mm reflector telescope with 32mm and 16mm eyepieces mounted on an EQ 3.
OBSERVING REPORT: Upon arriving at the beach, Venus stood out like an oncoming Plane. It was extremely bright and was a third of the way up in the sky in the SE. Antares was visible below it, but Mercury didn't come up, farther to the east until after 0600.
After looking to the North for the Big Dipper for about an hour and not finding it, I actually noticed it by accident straight up while looking for shooting stars. That is the highest Ive ever noticed the Big Dipper.
There was the Quadrantid meteor shower on this night, and I observed two shooting stars. The first one shortly after arrival in the south and one an hour later to the north east.
Venus was in the waxing crescent phase, which explains the shape of the planet when resolved in the scope.
When Mercury finally raised after 0600, just before first light, it had a reddish hue to it and appeared very faint compared to Venus. A star chart was consulted to distinguish Antares from Mercury.
As a side note, there was a large German Shepard that ran past at around 0615.
There was a noticeable lack of obvious constellations during this time, the Big Dipper being the only one that really stood out.
Saturn was much farther from Venus than expected. It was almost due south just north of Spica and didn't stand out at all.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Observing Pics
Location: Hartland, NB
Date: Nov13/10 0530hrs
Weather: -2 degrees Celsius, no wind, clear.
Top Picture: Looking east Venus, Spica, and Saturn.
Middle: Looking south east - Leo.
Bottom: Looking south west - Orion.
Date: Nov13/10 0530hrs
Weather: -2 degrees Celsius, no wind, clear.
Top Picture: Looking east Venus, Spica, and Saturn.
Middle: Looking south east - Leo.
Bottom: Looking south west - Orion.
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