Observation Report March 3, 2007
The moon greeted Neetu and I just above Dupree Park at 59th & Toledo – huge and
amplified as it always is close to earth, but with a magnificent cut out of the
bottom by the Terra’s Umbral shadow.
Even with help from Don Fritz and Neetu I didn’t get my two telescopes set up at
Tech Terrace Park till the Umbral shadow was nigh removed from the Moon’s
surface. We turned our attention first to Venus, which revealed a rather bland
gibbous shape the way it does this at this point in its orbit.
Lourdes Juan of Math had made it out to see the whole thing, but was freezing as
the cold temperature and harsh winds bore down on us, so I put the scopes on
Saturn. And Saturn did not disappoint. Always a crowd pleaser. Don manned my 6”
dob with inserting the 15mm TeleVue Plossl while I had the 9mm BO/TMB Planetary
in the refractor. Ironically, the magnification works out to about the same 60
power. I never even saw Saturn in the 6”, but Don wowed folks there while I
operated the 80mm ED AstroTech on the tracking EQ-3.
Lourdes was ready to leave so I put the scopes on M42, the Great Orion Nebula.
Although it’s a lot more impressive at a dark sky site it was still pleasant
being the best stellar nursery in the Winter sky.
We said goodbye to Lourdes, but hello to Tommy Barker and Laura Beard who walked
over with their son Jon and dog in tow. Before leaving, Laura and Lourdes got to
habla a bit o’ espańol. Ed and Susan Youngblood walked up with Bartleby on his
leash. Next, we went back to Venus again (the crowd always wants to look at
bright things). I put the Pleiades in the 25mm eyepiece for a nice framing of
this close cluster. Subaru.
I put M35 in the telescope with no sight of NGC 2158 and the Messier cluster so
badly whited out by overbearing Luna that I didn’t even bother to announce or
show anyone the pathetic image.
By this time the cold had driven off everyone except the weather-battle-hardened
astronomers, Don Fritz, Tom Heisey, and Patrice. Even Neetu retreated to the car
with keys to warm up.
Patrice wanted to go after the ‘Winter Albireo’ – the double Herschel 3945 in
Canis Major. Tom’s GPS had apparently given up the settings-ghost and they were
having trouble. Don showed me the location in his new sky atlas, one he likes
even better than the S&T Pocket Atlas AND the Karkoschka guides. After measuring
the distance from delta & epsilon Canis Majoris and figuring it was the same
distance up from delta (about 6 degrees), I aimed via the Telrad and immediately
put it in the eyepiece. Patrice and Tom continued to rage against the machine.
It was a nice orange primary and blue secondary couple, I must admit. Thanks
Patrice. We’ll have to keep it in mind for future looks.
Although the weather was Wintry, it was nice to get out, see everyone, and enjoy
the camaraderie.
CDS
-----Original
Message-----
From: Collin Smith [mailto:collinofalabama@cox.net]
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 4:36 PM
Subject: Astronomy at sunset
Folks,
Tonight at 6:45, the sun will set and the full moon will rise -- with a chunk
out of it! On the west side of Tech Terrace Park, the South Plains Astronomy
Club will be there with telescopes set up to watch an astronomical first for
your humble narrator, and probably for most of you, too. The moon will rise as
it is leaving the umbral shadow of a total eclipse. As the moon rises, it will
be going further out of the umbral shadow and into the much brighter penumbral
shadow until 7:11, when she leaves the umbral shadow completely. It will be
quite a show to watch the Luna rise with a large deep-copper section cut by the
circular sphere of the earth's shadow.
The wind, which as been pretty strong today, is forecast to die down
considerably and the sky clear. Venus and Saturn in west and east respectively
are prominent in the sky and should make nice targets. The always pleasing Great
Orion Nebula -- a stellar nursery 1500 light years away, the Andromeda Galaxy --
2.2 million light years away, the Pleiades (aka Subaru or Seven Sisters) at 440
light years, and the Beehive Cluster 577 light years away should all look nice
as well. All in all, a nice night for astronomy.
Even though the winds will be diminishing, it's ALWAYS a good idea to dress MORE
warmly than you thought for Winter astronomical adventure. Removing a layer too
much is easy. Shivering in cold is NOT easy. Err on the too warm side; you'll be
glad you did.
Hope to see you there,
CDS
