From:
Collin D. Smith
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2009 10:01 PM
Subject: Emma mañana
People,
We’re meeting at Emma tomorrow for astronomy. Map is here …
http://www.southplainsastronomyclub.org/maps.htm
The last Sunday night of December was fantastic. I trust this first Sunday Emma astronomical adventure of 2009 will be just as good. I would like to get there by 7 PM. It should be getting pretty dark by then (about an hour after the sun sets). Dress warmly.
CDS
Though we went Sunday evening, January 18th outing to Emma with high hopes, we got more than we bargained for. I’ve said it before, there are two things that can ruin a clear night for astronomy, mosquitoes in the summer and wind in the winter. Guess what we got on January the 18th?
Here’s the list of what we observed, to quote Jerry Hatfield, “not necessarily in the order in which we observed”:
Venus
NGC2359, Thor's Helmet in Canis Major
M42/43 Orion Nebula
M 31, 32, 110 Andromeda Galaxy cluster
Double Cluster in Perseus
Pacman Nebula ( NGC281) in Cassiopeia
M1, the Crab Nebula, in Taurus
NGC 404 (Mirach’s Ghost)
M33 Triangulum Galaxy
Almach double star, Gamma Andromedae
Rigel double star, Orion’s Taurus-facing knee
NGC1365 barred spiral galaxy in Fornax and a host of others in the same area
M46 & NGC2438 in Puppis
NGC 2903 barred spiral near head of Leo
IC418 spirograph planetary nebula in Lepus
M81/82 & NGC3077 & 2976 in Ursa Major
NGC891 in Andromeda
Early on, the wind wasn’t quite so bad, and I was able to pull NGC 2438 out of the M46 open cluster, not bad for a 6” dob. Another interesting target was Thor’s Helmet, especially nice in the UHC filter. More here …
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/archive/feb/NGC_2359.html
It was great to have Charles, Virginia and his children Austin and Lauren out for their first time. Charles had just ordered an Orion 8” XTi, and we’re looking forward to looking through it. Just the same, that evening was a bit tough on the observers. Don Fritz was ready to take off, chilled by the wind. Honestly, I was bundled up enough to be able to withstand the wind, the temperature not being too cold, but I could get no steadiness with the telescopes. The dobs just bobbed around like wind chimes in a gale, making anything in the eyepiece more of a jumbled mess than any view worth getting, especially as the night went on and the wind picked up.
M33, such an absolutely glorious catch in December, was much less interesting in the wind, and no doubt the very turbulent atmosphere above. It was a tough night out, but we’ll do it again under more favorable circumstances. Hopefully Charles will make it out again soon. I sure would like to look through his new scope.
Though it wasn’t the night we’d had on December 28th, the fact that we enjoyed such a good night that previous evening demonstrates we can have such nights there in the future. It was good to have Charles and family out. Welcome and we'll do it again under better circumstances, I'm sure.