PERSEID METEOR SHOWER 2019

Location:  Front yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  August 11, 2019 0300-0500hrs

Weather:  No breeze, to slight breeze, partly cloudy, hazy, cool 8C 91% humidity.  Lots of dew, no bugs.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Reclining lawn chair, Canon Rebel T3 with 18-55mm on tripod.

Objective:  To view and image the 2019 Perseid meteor shower, which has been mostly washed out by the moon phase this year.  Moon was down by 3am, which is why this time was selected.

Report:

• Faced mostly towards the Summer triangle, which was very high to the west and also observed to the south.
• From 0306-0406 viewed 17 Perseids, mostly yellowish, about Aldebaran bright.  Fast moving, many were very faint.  Also viewed 5 faint sporadics and one very bright Bolide coming straight down to the west.
• Clouds moved in from the North around 0330 and covered the northern half of the sky for 20 mins.
• Imaged from 0415-0500hrs.  Observed 4 more Perseids while imaging, but they flew everywhere but through the camera field of view.  Had much trouble with lens fogging up.
• Orion rising at 4am.

Twelve second image of Orion rising just before 1st light.  Facing East.

• First light just before 5am.
• Seen many satellites with one doing an iridium flare.

OBSERVING REPORT FOR AUGUST 4, 2019 (Updated)

Location:  Front yard and front deck, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  August 4, 2019 2245-0300hrs

Weather:  No wind, clear, 11C/79% humidity @ 2300hrs, 7C/82% humidity @ 0300hrs.  Needed sweater, jacket and hat.  Some moths at first, then no bugs.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO with 19 mm eyepiece.  Canon Rebel T3 with 18-55mm eyepiece and using telescope at prime focus.   Images processed with DeepSkyStacker and Photoshop.

Objective:  To view and image deep sky objects along the Milkyway.

Report:

Viewed and imaged Jupiter, Saturn, M22, M16, The Coathanger, M71, M31 and the Perseus Double Cluster.  Also did a quick search for faint Comet C/2018 W2 Africano which is in Camelopardalis.  After reviewing processed image of that area of sky, could not confirm a sighting.

Twelve images stacked, 40 second, ISO 6400.

Ten images stacked, 40 second, ISO 6400.

Single shot, 20 second, ISO 6400

Observed many satellites, six Perseids and 3 sporadic, with two Perseids being very bright, one leaving a smoke trail.  Most meteors were seen coming straight down from high over-head, to the south, and were fast movers. Some were very faint.  A few more fast moving very faint meteors were not confirm-able.

Looked for Auroras, which were reported to be possible on this night, but didn't observe any.

Taurus rising in the early morning.

A space station flyover image from Aug 2, 2019

Single shot, 8 second, ISO 400.

 

GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN SOUTHERN SKY (Updated)

Location:  Front yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  July 7, 2019 2330-0220hrs

Weather:  Clear, No wind, very cool 11C @ 2330hrs and 8C at 0200hrs.  Only a few bugs.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Canadian Telescopes 80 ED/APO on motorized mount, 19mm eyepiece.  Canon Rebel T3 with 18-55mm lens and attached to telescope at prime focus.  Images stacked with Deepsky Stacker and processed on Photoshop.

Objective:  To view and image the Southwestern sky, Jupiter and Saturn and as many messier objects in that area as possible.

Report:

• Set up late, when Jupiter moved far enough to the west to see it past the tree in my front yard.  Aligned scope on Arcturus, Alkaid(Ursa Major) and Jupiter.
• Viewed M5.  Bright globular near a bright star..
• Viewed and imaged Jupiter.

• Imaged faint, small globulars M19 and M9.  M9 sits very close to a fairly bright star.

• Imaged nebulae M8, M20 & M21.  Very bright nebulae showing color in the eyepiece...blues and greens.
• Imaged the huge, bright globular M4, next to the brightest star in Scorpius, Antares.

Ten images stacked, 10 second, 6400 ISO, camera attached to telescope at prime focus.

•  Viewed M22.  A huge, bright globular.  Also viewed M28, a very small, faint globular.
• Viewed and imaged Saturn.

• No shooting stars or satellites were seen.

YOUNG MOON

Location:  Front yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  July 4, 2019  2130-2430

Weather:  High hazy, thin clouds early on, giving way to mostly clear, dark skies.  Light breeze to no wind, 72% humidity, and 16C at Sundown, 12C at 2430hrs.  Many mosquitoes all throughout.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  Meade LX200 with 15mm eyepiece.  Canon Rebel T3 with 75-300mm lens and attached to telescope at prime focus.  Images processed with Photoshop.

Objective:  To view and image a conjunction of Mars-Mercury-Moon which was due to happen around sunset.  Also, to view and image Io's shadow, which was supposed to cross the face of Jupiter from approximately 2330hrs-0230hrs.

Report:

• Went out about a half hour before dark to see the conjunction, but hazy clouds covered most of the sky, including the western sky.  Shortly later the clouds broke up revealing the very thin, young moon.  Could not confirm a sighting of the two planets.  They were lower in the sky than the Moon and may have been below the tree line.

• Once Jupiter moved into the south-western part of the sky, around 2330hrs, went back out and viewed and imaged it.  Three of it moons were visible with Io in the midst of a transit.  Thought I could see a shadow on the lower right face of Jupiter, but it didnt show up in the 15mm eyepiece, but just slightly in the image. Belts showed up nicely.

•  Jupiter was just East, and higher up than Antares.  M4 is located 2 degrees to the west of Antares, so I used the telescope to locate and view it.  A faint globular cluster, with more stars to one side.
• Many satellites were seen going in all directions and very many planes were flying East and West.  No shooting stars were seen.

OBSERVING REPORT FOR JUNE 8, 2019

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

Date Time:  June 8, 2019 2130-0000hrs

Weather:  No wind, mostly clear at  2130 hrs, shortly after that, most of the southern half of the sky was covered in light, wispy clouds.  Cooled off from 14C and 42% humidity to 6C and 59% humidity.  Just after dark, after 2200 hrs, the June bugs started to swarm for almost an hour.  First time I've seen them this year.  Some mosquitoes.  All bugs stopped after 2330 hrs.

Attendance:  David McCashion

Equipment:  8" Meade LX 200 with 32mm eyepiece and .6x focal reducer, Canon T3 with 18-55 lens, and attached to telescope at prime focus.  Images processed with PhotoShop.

Objective:  To observe the Southern sky, Jupiter and the Moon.

Report:

• Moon, in Leo, was up high in the south western sky long before dark.  Viewed and imaged, with may craters visible through eyepiece.  Terminator was especially impressive.

• Jupiter's four moons were evenly spaced out, with one on one side and three on the other.  One belt was much thicker and easier to see, while the other thinner, fainter belt, just barely visible at times.  The Earths upper atmosphere made the gas giant shimmer as if under water.

• From the side yard, facing northward, Cassiopeia was low in the North East, just over the tree line.  Ursa Major was high, overhead, in the North West.
• No shooting stars were observed and only one satellite seen.  
• No interference from the dozens of satellites that were recently launched for the StarLink satellite internet system.
  
   

SPACESTATION FLYOVER

Location:  Front yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time:  May 18, 2019 2225-2240

Weather:  Sky mostly covered with light, broken clouds, very light breeze, 9C.

Equipment:  Canon Rebel T3 with 18-55mm lens and tripod.  Images processed with PhotoShop.

Attendance:  Ed O in Saint John, David McCashion

Objective:  To observe and image the International Space Station(ISS) as it was reported to fly over our area at 2229 hrs, according to Heavens-above.com

Report:

• Thanks to Ed for letting me know about the flyover!  He noticed on Heavens-above.com that there were going to be 5 flyovers of our area on this night.  Ed observed all five!
• It was mostly clear earlier, just before dark, but as it got closer to the flyover time of 2229 hrs, the sky covered up with light, elongated,broken clouds, that were partially see-through.
• A full Moon, in the South East was very bright, and made the 10 second exposure images look like they were taken in the afternoon.
• The space station looks like a moving, very bright star/planet when it passes over-head.

Images: 

MESSIER SEARCH 2019

Location:  Front yard, Little Lepreau, NB, Canada

Date Time: April 1, 2019 from 2115-2315hr, April 2nd 0400-0530hrs

Weather:  Strong gusty winds, subsiding just before dawn, -2C through the evening, -5C at dawn.  Clear, with a reddish haze circling the horizon at during morning session.  Haze greatly affected viewing.

Attendance:  Ed O, David McCashion

Equipment:  Telescope 80 ED/APO with 30mm eyepiece and goto mount.

Objective:  To view as many messier objects as possible.

Report:

• Very gusty winds cooled things off drastically.
• Observed 30 messier objects through the whole session.  Details in the images below. 
• I worked the goto and we both observed, with Ed writing down our observations.
• Many were too low, below the tree line to see.  Many others, especially galaxies in Virgo were too faint to see, partially because of a reddish haze that circled then entire horizon in the morning.
• We both viewed three moons to one side of Jupiter, just before sunup, after first light.
• A few satellites were seen and about 6 shooting stars were seen.  Some very fast, but faint.

                  

Orion with M43 and M42 setting in the west at 2230hrs.

Taurus and M45 setting at 2232hrs.