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Date: 25 Aug 2007 10:16:46
From: Steve Paul
Subject: ASTRO: Modest return to the Sky
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Hi folks, long time (or so it seems to me). I see that SAA is getting
flooded with uselessness and foolishness, so here's some signal to go with
the noise.
As you may know I divested of all my fancy astro-gear to pursue another
hobby of mine almost a year ago, but being ever practical, I didn't divest
of everything. I kept a modest 6" F5 StarHOC reflector that I had purchased
over the years and mounted it on a cobbled together, inexpensive CG-5 class
mount with RA drive that I assembled from "repair" parts I had gathered over
the years. It works surprisingly well.
Good enough for who it's for at any rate. ;-)
I also picked up an AstroTech 66 ED refractor in trade for an eyepiece and
I've been using it occasionally to look at the moon and as a spotting scope
on a Unistar Light Deluxe. That's it, that's all I've got left. Add in 30mm,
18mm, 12.5mm Ultima eyepieces (really like those Ultimas) and Ultima Barlow,
a moon filter (ND-13) and a Lumicon UHC.
Back to basics.
So, I was passing through the garage the other afternoon and noticed the
StarHOC sitting in the corner and having been neglected for a _long_ time,
so I decided it was time to refresh the memory cells and do some observing,
or at least some poking around.
It was early twilight and Antares was just visible with it's bright seasonal
companion Jupiter, the moon to the south of both looming low on the horizon.
I found the three cat food cans I stomped into the ground out in the back
yard some years ago marking the foot positions for my old Vixen GP mount's
tripod, which gets me roughly polar aligned as soon as I set the mount down.
The StarHOC can be carried on the mount in a single trip so it took all of
two minutes to get setup.
The scope has a simple 6x30 straight through optical finder that works well
enough for finding the moon, Jupiter, Antares and any of the brighter DSO's
that Messier and Company are well known for.
I started out with the moon to get an idea of how bad was the seeing, being
on the horizon. Then I raised the business end higher up to find Jupiter.
Again the seeing terrible that close the horizon, but I was able to achieve
best focus and just make out the North and South equatorial belts, plus all
4 moons of course, and shading of the southern polar region was also
obvious. Two moons to the right of Jupiter in the eyepiece making a tight
diagonal with respect to the other two moons to the left of Jupiter aided in
achieving best focus.
Antares appeared to swim in the eyepiece, glowing red with a dancing halo of
visible spectrum colors brought on by the seeing. I made an attempt at
checking collimation and made some minor adjustments. Seemed to help, but
doing that in bad seeing with dancing diffraction rings is never going to
achieve critical collimation. At best, it can only help with the first steps
of getting roughly collimated. Turns out that was good enough for the
purpose of the night.
Soon I grew a little bored of going back and forth from the Moon to Jupiter,
and noticing that it had begun to darken a bit overhead, I found Polaris
visible enough to be sighted in the center bore of the GEM for a tighter
rough polar alignment. Once accomplished, I then looked around the sky
overhead to see what constellations were visible to the scope. After a few
moments I noticed the Keystone of Hercules was just appearing, and that
means time for M13, a favorite in any scope, but large enough and bright
enough to resolve well in a 6". It took me a minute to search it out since I
couldn't remember if it was between the two stars to the west side or east
side of the Keystone (I can never seem to remember that), but it didn't take
much effort as it is easily visible even in the tiny 30mm finder scope at
6x.
I also noticed that Serpens was becoming visible west of the meridian and
that would mean M5 could be viewed, but I was having a lot of fun observing
M13 with various combinations from my eyepiece collection and the time
passed by quickly. It wasn't long before my 9 year old daughter came looking
for me for her goodnight hug and kiss. Not knowing where I was, and not
realizing that I was observing in the backyard, she flipped on the outside
light and put an end to my dark adaptation. ;-)
No problem though. I had gotten in about an hour of observing, really
enjoyed the view of M13 after a long break, and to boot, the temperature was
low enough that the skeeters were at bay for the most part, and just
beginning to come around.
I left the scope outside anticipating I might go back out later to look at
the Milky Way showpieces, but alas when I did, it had begun to cloud over as
the storms of the midwest were making there way into the area here in the
Northeast US.
-Steve Paul
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Date: 26 Aug 2007 10:01:32
From: Marty
Subject: Re: ASTRO: Modest return to the Sky
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Nice hearing from you Steve! Old friends showing up seems to be a much
un-anticipated benefit of this latest attack on SAA! I've noticed
myself that after a period of time when I've been deeply into observing,
I'll often hit a lull myself when I do little aside from watching the
constellations, (my first astronomical love,) along with the occasional
binocular peek. Welcome back!
And Margo, M4 is probably my favorite globular. Not the most famous,
but it has that distinct little "bar" of stars running through it that
gives it just a bit more personality than many of the others. :)
Lotsa good folks here...
Marty
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Date: 26 Aug 2007 15:29:36
From: Steve Paul
Subject: Re: ASTRO: Modest return to the Sky
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"Marty" <movac5@webtv.net > wrote in message
news:4699-46D195CC-776@storefull-3332.bay.webtv.net...
> Nice hearing from you Steve! Old friends showing up seems to be a much
> un-anticipated benefit of this latest attack on SAA! I've noticed
> myself that after a period of time when I've been deeply into observing,
> I'll often hit a lull myself when I do little aside from watching the
> constellations, (my first astronomical love,) along with the occasional
> binocular peek. Welcome back!
> And Margo, M4 is probably my favorite globular. Not the most famous,
> but it has that distinct little "bar" of stars running through it that
> gives it just a bit more personality than many of the others. :)
> Lotsa good folks here...
> Marty
>
Thanks Marty (and Margo too, welcome to the hobby!).
M4 might have been a stretch in the 6" for the evening given the position of
the moon, but it _is_ another favorite of the season, along with M22, M7,
M8, M17, oh bother... that list just goes on and on... <grin >.
In the past I've been a bit disappointed with M4's visibility from my yard
in anything less than the old XT10, but the 6" StarHOC will "show" just
about all of the M objects as non-stellar under clear sky conditions (save
M74, which has always eluded me), and just poking around to find and see is
a pleasure in and of itself, even if there is little detail to be made out.
As many here probably know from previous observing reports, I have a prison
a few miles to my south and it has a very negative effect on the sky on all
but the most transparent of nights, when light pollution is more localized.
I am still able to make out the Milky Way from north of Cygnus to just north
of Sagittarius on the best nights, with M8 still obvious to the naked eye
even in the skyglow.
Keep looking up,
Steve
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Date: 26 Aug 2007 20:48:28
From: William R. Mattil
Subject: Re: ASTRO: Modest return to the Sky
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Steve Paul wrote:
>
> I am still able to make out the Milky Way from north of Cygnus to just
> north of Sagittarius on the best nights, with M8 still obvious to the
> naked eye even in the skyglow.
>
Hi Steve,
Nice to see that you still have the urge to look up every now and again.
Best Regards
Bill
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Date: 26 Aug 2007 17:18:22
From: Steve Paul
Subject: Re: ASTRO: Modest return to the Sky
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"William R. Mattil" <wrmattil@ix.netcom.com > wrote in message
news:wGlAi.302$FO2.245@newssvr14.news.prodigy.net...
> Steve Paul wrote:
>>
>> I am still able to make out the Milky Way from north of Cygnus to just
>> north of Sagittarius on the best nights, with M8 still obvious to the
>> naked eye even in the skyglow.
>>
> Hi Steve,
>
> Nice to see that you still have the urge to look up every now and again.
>
Thanks Bill (et al.). Good to see that there are still the regulars here who
stand by SAA through thick and thin. It's good to be back with something to
contribute. Hopefully there will be clear skies and more to come.
-Steve
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Date: 26 Aug 2007 12:52:29
From: Jan Owen
Subject: Re: ASTRO: Modest return to the Sky
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"Steve Paul" <smarshallpaul@gmail.com > wrote in message
news:bJKdnUKUlYsFSUzbnZ2dnUVZ_vKunZ2d@comcast.com...
>
> Thanks Marty (and Margo too, welcome to the hobby!).
>
> M4 might have been a stretch in the 6" for the evening given the position
> of the moon, but it _is_ another favorite of the season, along with M22,
> M7, M8, M17, oh bother... that list just goes on and on... <grin>.
>
> In the past I've been a bit disappointed with M4's visibility from my yard
> in anything less than the old XT10, but the 6" StarHOC will "show" just
> about all of the M objects as non-stellar under clear sky conditions (save
> M74, which has always eluded me), and just poking around to find and see
> is a pleasure in and of itself, even if there is little detail to be made
> out.
>
> As many here probably know from previous observing reports, I have a
> prison a few miles to my south and it has a very negative effect on the
> sky on all but the most transparent of nights, when light pollution is
> more localized.
>
> I am still able to make out the Milky Way from north of Cygnus to just
> north of Sagittarius on the best nights, with M8 still obvious to the
> naked eye even in the skyglow.
>
> Keep looking up,
> Steve
Hey!
It's like old HOME week around here!!! I LIKE it!!!
Welcome back, and hope you, and other old friends, will stick around!!!
--
Jan Owen
To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.6
Longitude: -112.3
http://community.webshots.com/user/janowen21
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Date: 26 Aug 2007 09:55:33
From: Margo Schulter
Subject: Re: ASTRO: Modest return to the Sky
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Steve Paul <smarshallpaul@gmail.com > wrote:
> It was early twilight and Antares was just visible with it's bright seasonal
> companion Jupiter, the moon to the south of both looming low on the horizon.
> I found the three cat food cans I stomped into the ground out in the back
> yard some years ago marking the foot positions for my old Vixen GP mount's
> tripod, which gets me roughly polar aligned as soon as I set the mount down.
> The StarHOC can be carried on the mount in a single trip so it took all of
> two minutes to get setup.
Hi, there, Steve, and as a new participant here, I'd like to thank you for
this great observing report. As it happens, back this spring when I was
observing with 7X50 binoculars and waiting for my Sky-Watcher 20cm f/6 Dob
to arrive, Jupiter and Antares were the first reference point I recognized
to find where I was in the sky in my sky atlas.
My next thought is -- did you get a chance to see M4? It was a lesson for
me as to the difference between viewing with 7X50 binoculars in roughly
3.5 magnitude urban skies, where I knew where to find out but couldn't
seem to make out anything convincingly, and a dark sky site where I looked
in the same place and saw it very clearly!
> The scope has a simple 6x30 straight through optical finder that works well
> enough for finding the moon, Jupiter, Antares and any of the brighter DSO's
> that Messier and Company are well known for.
What's the dark-sky/light pollution situation like where you are? I'm learning
to use a 9X50 finder on my Dob, and the light trespass makes it a bit more
challenging <grin >. Whether seated in my StarDust chair, or standing, a bit
of sky seems to poke through gaps in my Orion canopy I put over my head and
the focuser or finder -- fortunately, it seems, not in the direct line of site
of one of those neighborhood lights!
Some people might say that from my apartment observatory, it's always twilight,
even at an optimal hour like 0200 when things are "turned down" a bit <grin >.
> Soon I grew a little bored of going back and forth from the Moon to Jupiter,
> and noticing that it had begun to darken a bit overhead, I found Polaris
> visible enough to be sighted in the center bore of the GEM for a tighter
> rough polar alignment. Once accomplished, I then looked around the sky
> overhead to see what constellations were visible to the scope. After a few
> moments I noticed the Keystone of Hercules was just appearing, and that
> means time for M13, a favorite in any scope, but large enough and bright
> enough to resolve well in a 6". It took me a minute to search it out since I
> couldn't remember if it was between the two stars to the west side or east
> side of the Keystone (I can never seem to remember that), but it didn't take
> much effort as it is easily visible even in the tiny 30mm finder scope at
> 6x.
At the dark sky site I mentioned, called Cronan Ranch in the Sierra Foothills
of California, a friend helped me find M13 with my binoculars -- but I
said I wouldn't credit myself with it until I found it on my own, something of
which I was uncertain. It was near the zenith, and for the sake of my neck,
I decided to postpone that process (a lounge chair or the like would
have helped).
> I also noticed that Serpens was becoming visible west of the meridian and
> that would mean M5 could be viewed, but I was having a lot of fun observing
> M13 with various combinations from my eyepiece collection and the time
> passed by quickly. It wasn't long before my 9 year old daughter came looking
> for me for her goodnight hug and kiss. Not knowing where I was, and not
> realizing that I was observing in the backyard, she flipped on the outside
> light and put an end to my dark adaptation. ;-)
Maybe as a measure of self-defense, you need to get her out there observing
with you!
> No problem though. I had gotten in about an hour of observing, really
> enjoyed the view of M13 after a long break, and to boot, the temperature was
> low enough that the skeeters were at bay for the most part, and just
> beginning to come around.
Oh, yes, they were in evidence that evening at Cronan Ranch also.
> I left the scope outside anticipating I might go back out later to look at
> the Milky Way showpieces, but alas when I did, it had begun to cloud over as
> the storms of the midwest were making there way into the area here in the
> Northeast US.
Out here in California in the summer, it's all too easy to take mostly clear
nights for granted. Fighting the light pollution is more fun that having to
take a break because of overcast or rain, I guess.
Anyway, it's great that the strange goings-on here are bringing old members
out of the woodwork -- and thanks again for the great report!
>
> -Steve Paul
>
Most appreciatively,
Margo Schulter
mschulter@calweb.com
Lat. 38.566 Long. -121.430
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