2008 May 5: Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower and Sun Halos
I was clouded out Sunday morning (Tuesday morning looks bad as well), but Monday morning was just fine and with a bit higher meteor activity than I was expecting. In one hour (3:40-4:40am local time), I saw 18 meteors including 9 Eta Aquarids. Nothing especially bright showed up, but I was glad to get out under the stars again.
2008 February 28
Wow, what a winter! Neither the weather nor my personal schedule were very cooperative. I got my 10" Dob out for the first time in months. It was a short session. Seeing was absolutely awful, so I didn't spend much time looking at Mars or Saturn. Sky darkness and transparency were below average, but I did view and sketch the slowly fading comet 17P/Holmes and the smaller, fainter comet 46P/Wirtanen. Comet Holmes is still an obvious binocular object, albeit very large and diffuse. The comet is hardly brighter toward the center, and has no real edges. I suspected a faint elongation to the WSW.
2007 December 12/13 and 13/14: Geminid Meteor Shower
I actually got in two Geminid observing sessions this year. Too bad it was in the middle of a work week, but I'll take what I can get. The last time I observed the peak night of the Geminids from such dark and cloud-free skies was 1993!
Here are a couple of short notes on the sessions.
The appetizer:
2007 December 12/13; 1239-1341 UT. Teff~1.0h
Skies were really iffy with some fog and cirrus, but managed to stay clear. Average limiting magnitude was 6.0. In one hour, I observed 19 Geminids, 1 Sigma Hydrid and 7 Sporadics. The brightest meteor was a -2 Geminid.
The main dish:
2007 December 13/14; 0744-1021 UT. Teff~2.5h
Skies were remarkably good for peak night with average LM of 6.8. In 2.5 hours, I observed 235 total meteors, including 207 Geminids. There were lots of spurts and lulls. The highlight of the night was a -4 Geminid, very long and vivid blue with a wake. This color was duplicated in a -2 just before I signed on.
2007 October 31: Comet 17P/Holmes
I've done less observing than usual this year, but the time has been punctuated with a lot of interesting phenomena and events. In January, I saw the tail of Comet McNaught while the head was well below my horizon. Now, we have a comet with a big head and not much of a tail. If you're not aware of Comet Holmes, please go to SpaceWeather.com or SkyandTelescope.com to enlighten yourself.
Anyway, here are my observations so far. I was out late (non-astronomy ;-) ) on Tuesday, October 23 and had to work until late on Wednesday, October 24. So, when I got home on the evening of the 24th I was quite shocked to see the headline about Comet Holmes' remarkable brightening. Luckily, it was clear (albeit with bright moonlight and approaching clouds) and I was able to drag my scope out for a short time. The comet appeared starlike and about magnitude 2.6 to the naked eye; maybe vaguely planetary but nearly stellar in 8x56 binoculars. In the 10" Dob, it was a completely different story. Imagine the Eskimo Nebula several times larger and several hundred times brighter. That's the kind of structure that was visible at 165x: a bright stellar pseudonucleus with jets coming off it to the S and SW, a clearly-defined spherical inner coma with the nucleus a bit off-center, and a very faint outer halo fading gradually toward the edges. The inner coma was a bit over 1' in diameter; the total diameter was more like 3'. An odd yellowish-orange color was visible in the inner coma at all magnifications. Sketch.
Weather and commitments intervened, and my next view of the comet was on the evening of Saturday, October 27. The moonlight was a serious hindrance, and transparency wasn't that great. The outer halo was barely hinted at. Two big changes were visible, however. First, the inner coma had grown to roughly 5' across (nonstellar to the naked eye and an obvious disc in binoculars). Second, as seen in the Dob the outer edge of the inner coma was clearly a brighter rim surrounding a darker inner hollow. This enhanced the comparison to a giant planetary nebula. The innermost structure around the pseudonucleus was similar to my previous observation, but a bit more diffuse and fan-shaped rather than narrow jets. The comet's brightness seemed to have remained constant. Sketch.
On the evening of Tuesday, October 30, I got my first view of the comet without moonlight interference. Naked eye limiting magnitude was probably around 6.8. The comet was clearly fuzzy and nonstellar to the naked eye, and both an inner and outer coma were visible in binoculars. At 44x in the 10" Dob, the comet was shockingly large and stretched across nearly half of the 1.1-degree field. The inner coma was roughly 10' across and the total diameter about 30'. The comet retained its general spherical appearance, with a bit of diffuse extension to the SSW. The outer halo responded well to an Orion UltraBlock narrowband filter. The color of the inner coma seemed to vary between orange-yellow and green depending on whether I had just removed the filter or looked at my red light. At times, the very outer rim of the inner coma glowed with an eerie dark blue reminiscent of Hale-Bopp's ion tail at its best. The pseudonucleus appeared a bit fainter than before (maybe), and there was an odd counterclockwise curl in the fan region immediately surrounding it. The bright jet emerged from the SSW of the pseudonucleus, broadened into a fan, and then curved westward and finally northward. An amazing object even without a discernible tail. Sketch.
2007 October 21: ORIONIDS!
Despite iffy weather and not feeling my best, I got up early on the morning of the 21st to watch Orionids. I was rewarded with clearing skies and an excellent meteor shower. In 1.8 hours of observing from 1108-1257 UT (4:08-5:57am PDT), I saw 141 meteors. 100 of these were Orionids. The Orionids were reasonably bright, with a mean magnitude of 1.8. One fireball exploded near Venus and was about the same brightness. There was some bothersome fog for the first half hour, but overall it was an excellent morning with a limiting magnitude around 7.
2007 October 14: Comet LONEOS
More crazy schedules, but I took a couple of looks at Comet C/2007 F1 (LONEOS). I got up early on the morning of October 13 and caught the comet just above the horizon. It was a slightly aqua fuzzball with a hint of a tail to the NNW. There was a fairly bright, not-quite-stellar pseudonucleus embedded in a bright inner coma. Coma diameter was about 3'. As the sky darkened on the evening of October 13, I caught the comet again before it set. Sky conditions were a bit better for the evening session, and the tail was more prominent with some subtle structure and about 30' in length. Sketches.
2007 September 1: AURIGIDS!
I got out nice and early at 2:30am (0930UT). We had rain showers throughout Thursday night, so I was just happy to see clear sky. The moonlight was pretty intense, so I chose to obstruct it behind a tree. Unfortunately, this also brought some other trees into view, and I lived with a 20-25% obstructed FOV throughout the morning. In retrospect, I probably could have seen a few more bright Aurigids around the time of maximum if I had disregarded the Moon and chose an unobstructed view toward the east. But at least these data should be consistent.
I was absolutely skunked for the first half hour. My first meteor, 39 minutes into the watch, was a blue -3 Antihelion that I managed to see behind me. It was another 13 minutes before the first Aurigid appeared (and 8 minutes after that the first sporadic came). So I had a pretty solid baseline of background activity :-). It felt like no significant meteor activity could ever be conjured from such a dull and depressed sky. Aurigid rates began to pick up at 1041UT. The activity didn't build to a sharp maximum, but rather was a series of spurts and lulls like a major shower maximum. I had several minutes with two Aurigids, and only one with three (1121-1122UT). No bursts of multiple meteors. At 1126UT, there were nearly simultaneous -5 and 0 Aurigids. I thought: "This is really going to get good." Unfortunately, it was almost over by that time, and activity slowed to a crawl. Overall, I saw 33 Aurigids in 2.7+ hours Teff. The report below contains five-minute intervals ov! er the most active period.
The Aurigids were bright, with a mean magnitude of +0.5. There were 4 Aurigid fireballs of -3 or brighter, and 8 Aurigids in the negative magnitudes. The predominant color was orange-red, although there were a couple of blue ones and the two brightest fireballs were white. The brightest fireball of -5 left a twisting 30-second train.
In spite of the rather low numbers, this event had a very dramatic feel to it as I never knew what was going to happen next.
Observer: Wesley Stone (STOWE)
Location: Chiloquin, OR (42d 35m N, 121d 52m W)
Method: Counting: Watch/Tape recorder
Date: 2007 September 1
0930-1035...Teff=1.00h...F=1.33...LM=5.6...ANT 1...AUR 1...Spo 1
1037-1042...Teff=0.08h...F=1.33...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 1...Spo 1
1042-1047...Teff=0.08h...F=1.33...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 2...Spo 0
1047-1052...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 1...Spo 0
1052-1057...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 1...Spo 0
1057-1102...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 1...Spo 0
1102-1107...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 3...Spo 0
1107-1112...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 3...Spo 2
1112-1117...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 1...Spo 0
1117-1122...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 5...Spo 1
1122-1127...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 4...Spo 0
1127-1132...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 1...Spo 0
1132-1137...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.8...ANT 0...AUR 3...Spo 0
1137-1142...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.9...ANT 0...AUR 0...Spo 1
1142-1147...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.9...ANT 0...AUR 3...Spo 0
1147-1152...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.9...ANT 0...AUR 0...Spo 1
1152-1157...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.9...ANT 0...AUR 1...Spo 1
1157-1202...Teff=0.08h...F=1.25...LM=5.9...ANT 0...AUR 1...Spo 0
1202-1224...Teff=0.37h...F=1.25...LM=5.7...ANT 1...AUR 1...Spo 1
Global Magnitude Distributions (0930-1224)
ANT (N=2) -3(1), +2(1)
AUR (N=33) -5(1), -4(1), -3(2), -2(1), -1(3), 0(6), +1(7), +2(7), +3(4), +4(1)
Spo (N=9) +1(2), +2(4), +3(2), +4(1)
August 27/28: Total Lunar Eclipse
I observed the lunar eclipse throughout all its umbral phases. There was some of the dark blood-red color during the deep partial phases, but during totality the predominant colors were a deep orange in the lighter areas and a dark muddy brown in the dark areas. The limb of the Moon was nearly invisible where the darkest part of the umbra passed across dark maria. Kind of an ugly eclipse if you ask me, but since I haven't seen one for over four years I'll take it! I did a little viewing with the 10" Dob, which showed a less-contrasty image with more subtle coloration. At ~2:45am, I saw a semi-grazing occultation of a 9th-magnitude star as it blinked out once, came back, and then disappeared for good a short while later.
I took some photos at various phases (more successful with the short exposures outside totality, as I don't have a tracking mount and my camera doesn't do high ISOs).
Here's an animated GIF (366K) to prove that I was out there.
During totality, I hunted down supernova 2007gr in NGC 1058 in Perseus. This 13th-magnitude supernova was very close to a field star. The host galaxy is round and diffuse with a slightly brighter center. Sketch.
2007 August 13/14: Post-max Perseids
I wasn't feeling too sleep-deprived, so I did a "bonus session" of 1.5 hours this morning. I saw 100 meteors including 75 Perseids. Skies were very nice, but Perseids seemed bright this morning with a mean magnitude of 1.8. The brightest meteor was "only" magnitude -3, however.
1.5 hours Teff from 0952-1125 UT August 14
Limiting magnitude: 6.9
100 total meteors (average 67/hour)
75 Perseids (average 50/hour, ZHR~46)
16 Sporadics
2 Kappa Cygnids
3 Alpha Capricornids
2 Antihelions
2 South Delta Aquarids
August 12/13: Perseid Maximum
After pulling an all-nighter on August 11/12, I didn't feel up to the same tonight. I did a casual watch at the end of twilight and saw quite a few relatively long and faint Perseids, but decided to focus my attention on the predawn hours. I ended up counting for 2 hours between 0926 and 1130 UT. I saw 214 total meteors including 153 Perseids. Skies were awesome, so there were a lot of faint meteors. As others have noted, the Kappa Cygnids were quite active with 6 meteors. My brightest meteor was a -3 Perseid.
This was the first time I've gotten a good view of this Perseid peak timing (1995-Moon, 1999-clouds, 2003-Moon again). While the predawn hours of August 12 should be even better for my location next year, the fact is that this year I was able to break 100 meteors/hour on two consecutive mornings. I don't think I've done that before; obviously, excellent sky conditions (no nearby forest fires this year!) played a big part. It would be nice to get this kind of sky during the Geminids once in a while...
2.0 hours Teff from 0926-1130 UT August 13
Limiting magnitude: 6.9
214 total meteors (average 107/hour)
153 Perseids (average 76.5/hour, ZHR~70)
45 Sporadics
6 Kappa Cygnids
3 Alpha Capricornids
4 Antihelions
3 South Delta Aquarids
August 11/12: Star Party and Perseids
I volunteered at a public star party on the grounds of the Fort Klamath Historical Museum (timed as usual to coincide with Saturday night rather than with the traditional Perseid peak). A gate counter estimated 160 people showed up, which is exceptional for this rural area with no astronomy club. Skies were excellent with limiting magnitude pushing 7.1 overhead. In the twilight, before many people had showed up, I used binoculars to see the Hubble Space Telescope for the first time. I hadn't known that it was ever visible from this latitude, but it showed up on the Heavens Above chart so apparently it is on rare occasions. I watched the 3rd-magnitude satellite pass by the sting of Scorpius right on schedule. A bit later, the ISS (with Endeavour docked) made the first of a couple of low passes. Jupiter was up, and though the air was pretty unsteady I caught a few glimpses of the departing Great Red Spot and the shadow transit of Io.
I did a couple of meteor talks and some telescopic view-sharing before settling down to meteor counting after midnight. Perseids were quite active, especially during my pre-twilight session which included a lot of faint activity. Aquarid and Kappa Cygnid radiants were also active, with the KCGs producing a couple of bright meteors early and late. I saw 175 Perseids and 246 total meteors in 3.28 hours observing time.
Session 1 (2 hours Teff from 0707-0910 UT)
Limiting magnitude: 6.9
117 total meteors (average 58.5/hour)
83 Perseids (average 41.5/hour, ZHR~52)
20 Sporadics
2 Kappa Cygnids
2 Alpha Capricornids
4 Antihelions
6 South Delta Aquarids
Session 2 (1.28 hours Teff from 1004-1124 UT)
Limiting magnitude: 6.8
129 total meteors (average 101/hour)
92 Perseids (average 72/hour, ZHR~70)
21 Sporadics
4 Kappa Cygnids
2 Alpha Capricornids
6 Antihelions
4 South Delta Aquarids
August 10/11: Meteor observing
I got out for 1.25 hours of observing this morning. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to sneeze at, either. Forty-two meteors total, of which 22 were Perseids. The brightest was a very fast -3 Perseid. Hopefully skies will remain clear for a public star party tonight and maximum tomorrow night.
Observer: Wesley Stone (STOWE)
Location: Chiloquin, OR (42d 35m N, 121d 52m W)
Method: Counting: Watch/Tape recorder
Date: 2007 August 11
Interval: 1004-1120 UT
Teff: 1.25 hours
F: 1.00
LM: 6.7
Total Meteors: 42
KCG: 1
ANT: 1
SDA: 2
PER: 22
Spo: 16
Magnitude Distributions
KCG: +2(1)
ANT: +2(1)
SDA: +3(1), +4(1)
PER: -4(1), 0(3), +1(2), +2(4), +3(7), +4(5)
Spo: -1(1), 0(1), +1(1), +2(5), +3(5), +4(3)
July 8/9: Observing update
Despite the lack of updates to my website, I have been observing off and on through the spring and early summer. I observed shuttle Atlantis and the ISS on several evenings after their separation. On June 30, I enjoyed the conjunction of Venus and Saturn (photo). I have also been following the brightening of Comet C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR), which is now a bright binocular object. Jupiter has also given up some interesting detail in spite of its southerly declination.
On this warm and slightly buggy summer evening, I tuned in to Jupiter during astronomical twilight. Seeing improved until 275x was usable, although I soon backed off to 190x. I tried to make a sketch, but the "ill wind" blew away all detail on the planet before I was through. Up to this point, however, the planet was quite a sight. The Great Red Spot was visible near the preceding limb, and the temperate belts to the south of it showed some fine detail. The South Equatorial Belt was interrupted, with only the south side well-defined and several projections hanging off this. The Equatorial Zone was full of subtle detail, which blurred out into a darkish haze when the seeing got bad. The North Equatorial Belt showed its usual projections and splits. A hint of a North Temperate Belt was present. The polar regions were pretty quiet.
C/2006 VZ13 was well-placed in Draco, a bright binocular object of 8th magnitude or better. It consisted of a faint, nearly stellar nucleus surrounded by a small, bright inner coma. The diffuse outer coma stretched to about 10' in diameter. The comet was elongated to the WSW.
Deep-sky targets for tonight included NGC 7008 (the "Fetus Nebula") and the Veil Nebula in Cygnus, NGC 6905 in Delphinus, M27, NGC 6572 in Ophiuchus, M22, M15, and many of the "usual suspects" in the summer Milky Way.
April 22/23: Lyrid Meteor Shower
Sunday was very wet, with a mix of precipitation types. Freezing fog was forecast for Monday morning. There was already some fog present when I woke up just before moonset. Except for a couple of brief incursions, the fog stayed around the horizons, and I was able to get in 2 hours of observing time. Sometimes skies were impressive, with limiting magnitude reaching 7.0 for two star area counts. Meteor activity started off on the slow side, but picked up enough that I saw 15 meteors (6 Lyrids) in my first hour. The second hour was quite active with 26 total meteors (9 Lyrids). The brightest meteor was a -1 Lyrid.
Totals (0837-1048 UT)
Teff: 2.00 hours
F: 1.00
LM: 6.8
ANT: 3
LYR: 15
Spo: 23
Total meteors: 41
Magnitude Distributions
ANT: +2(1), +3(1), +5(1)
LYR: -1(1), 0(1), +1(3), +2(4), +3(2), +4(3), +5(1)
Spo: 0(2), +1(2), +2(6), +3(9), +4(3), +5(1)
April 18/19
I had completely "spaced" on comet C/2007 E1 (Garradd) during my previous sessions, and I realized I might not get another chance to view it before the Moon got in the way. Luckily, the weather threw me a bit of a birthday present, as there was clearing on Wednesday night. I hauled out the Dob and immediately found the diffuse comet in Cancer. The coma appeared round, with the inner 2' fairly bright and an overall diameter of perhaps 5'. Total magnitude was estimated at 9.6, but again this was a very diffuse comet and would not be visible under poor sky conditions. A quick search with 8x56 binoculars yielded no trace of the comet. I made a sketch of the comet and then visited Saturn. Not much to see on the ringed planet, as my scope was still cooling off and seeing wasn't that good anyway. The clouds came in, and I poked around through the sucker holes, visiting the visible Messier objects and a few bright NGCs. After about an hour, I came back to the comet and noted the coma's motion.
April 15-16
On the morning of April 15, I got up before dawn to look for Comet C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy) in binoculars. It had been cloudy in the evening, but apparently this was the night I should have brought the scope out. It was beautifully transparent with a limiting magnitude of 7.0 overhead. The comet was fainter than I expected, but easily visible in NE Sagittarius. It was about magnitude 8.4 and had a round, diffuse coma about 11 arcminutes in diameter with a stellar nucleus. Sketch.
I did take the scope out on the evening of April 15. Skies were a bit moist and hazy, and seeing was mediocre at best. I still had some fun picking out galaxies in Crater. I started out with NGC 3636 and 3637, a little matched pair. NGC 3672 was large and elongated, and would be nice to visit again on a better night. NGC 3892 was large and oval with hints of structure. NGC 3511 and 3513 were a nice pair of diffuse, elongated galaxies. I visited six other galaxies in the area before heading off on a quick sweep through the grand tour area of Virgo and visiting some other spring showpieces.
Clouds passed through during the morning hours, and the sky was very hazy when I got up for a morning session. I almost packed it in, but I figured that I would at least take a look at Jupiter. Seeing was pretty bad, and even Europa's shadow was invisible. The western half of the sky was mostly clear, but my two cometary targets (C/2007 E2 and 96P) were in the east. 96P was hidden behind a thick wall of clouds, but C/2007 E2 was merely buried in haze. I could just make it out in binoculars, but it was easy in the 10" Dob. It showed a diffuse oval coma with a faint and spread out central condensation. Sketch. I went back to Jupiter, and seeing had improved. I was able to make a halfway decent sketch. The whole equatorial area was alive with details.
March 18/19
I've done a few short observing sessions over the past couple of months, but nothing to write home about. The weather and my schedule just haven't cooperated. I like to do a short session to shake the rust off, and then follow it up with a longer session a couple of nights later. This winter, the rust has really been building up, but I was able to get rid of some of it on March 15/16. Conditions weren't the greatest with some high clouds, but at least I was able to get my starhopping skills back on line with some winter and early spring showpieces. I followed up with a 3.5-hour session on March 18/19.
It was a nice, clear night (limiting magnitude 6.8) with the exception of a bit of dew and occasional incursions of wood smoke lower in the sky. Seeing was iffy early, but improved later on.
After enjoying the winter sky, I turned to the M65/M66 galaxy pair in Leo. The two just fit in the same field of my 10" Dob with a 7mm Nagler (~165x). M66 has a small, bright core region with bar-like extensions to the north and south of a stellar nucleus. Both extensions appear to curve eastward at their ends. The northern portion of the halo cuts off abruptly, while the southern portion is elongated and diffuse. This gives the galaxy an odd, irregular overall shape. The halo is cut through with subtle structure. While M66 is an immediate attention-getter with its bright, curving structure and attendant 9th-magnitude star, M65 is at least as interesting. M65 is an extremely elongated (roughly N-S) oval object with a stellar nucleus inside a small, bright core. Several extensions appear to sprout from the core into the surrounding halo, and there is a thin but conspicuous dark lane just east of the nucleus. A faint star or galactic knot is visible along this dark lane. There are brightenings in the halo about halfway out on both the north and south ends. The southern halo fades out more gradually and is impressively extended with averted vision. Sketch.
I visited an old friend, the galaxy cluster Abell 1367 in Leo. Just a few weeks after I got my 10" Dob, I had an incredible morning session on 2003 February 9/10 that really opened my eyes to the faint fuzzies this aperture could reveal. Abell 1367 was one of my targets that morning. On this late evening, I hopped through the cluster with a better chart and a better eyepiece. Over a one-degree field, I identified 14 NGC objects and almost as many non-NGC galaxies. There are several reasonably bright and immediately visible galaxies in this cluster, so it is a good introduction to the world of the Abells.
Finally, I observed Supernova 2007af in the galaxy NGC 5584 in Virgo. The galaxy was a faint, diffuse, oval spot. The supernova was bright and obvious, perhaps a little brighter than the last reported observations of ~magnitude 13.0. See my sketch.
January 19/20
Mostly cloudy weather and snow flurries were predicted, but when the evening turned clear I took a quick walk to find a spot with a dark and relatively unobstructed western horizon. At 6:30pm, with twilight still apparent, tail streamers from Comet McNaught were immediately visible to the naked eye. This area of the sky was heavily involved with the zodiacal light, but the comet rays were brighter. As the night got darker, I examined the structures with naked eyes and 8x56 binoculars. Five main rays were visible at first, and a sixth one became visible a bit later. In general, the rays were 1-2 degrees wide at their bases and narrowed slightly at their tips. They glowed softly but the edges were pretty well-defined. There wasn't much fine structure visible, and the presence of the zodiacal light undoubtedly made it difficult to see any fainter rays that may have been present. Three of the rays were basically visible all the way to the horizon (a ridge blocked out the lowest several degrees for me). The two southernmost rays stood nearly upright; the rest leaned northward to give a radiating appearance. The northernmost ray was the longest and thinnest, and at the end of astronomical twilight reached to an altitude of ~20 degrees. The width of the display in azimuth was about 18 degrees.
I watched for about half an hour before the fog and wood smoke started settling in. What a subtly beautiful display among the stars of Aquarius!
January 12/13: Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught)
I had one decent opportunity to view Comet McNaught from the Oregon Coast. Friday night was pretty awesome! So I put together a page with my observing report and a few photos:
On the other side of the coin, Saturday night was clouded out. Sunday was clear during the day, but I failed to find the comet in daylight. Sunday evening at sunset was also a miss.
2007 January 5: Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught)
I got up in twilight this morning to try to catch Comet C/2006 P1 low in the east. The comet was 20 degrees south of and 3 degrees lower in altitude than Altair. Unfortunately, Chiloquin Ridge lies to my east, and the road conditions in the winter aren't conducive to trying to get up higher for an unobstructed view. I even had to move from my yard down to a street corner to keep nearby trees from obstructing my view. Even then the comet wasn't visible. My finger calculations left it a degree below the horizon, so I went back four minutes later and there it was in binoculars. A very strong stellar coma, although strongly affected by the poor seeing. Just a hint of tail, maybe 5-10 arcminutes, pointing up and to the left from the horizon. The comet was considerably fainter than Altair, but must have been brighter than Delta, Lambda or Gamma Aquilae as I wasn't able to find them in binoculars. Mars and Antares were obstructed by trees, so I wasn't able to make a comparison to them. It was a very (surprisingly) clear morning. Sketch.
2006 December 22: Ursid Meteor Shower
I woke up to clear skies on Friday morning. By the time I got bundled up for the cold (actually a rather moderate 18F), there were some patchy clouds but luckily they moved on leaving just a little high haze to bring down the LM. Meteor activity was OK and fairly steady, if a bit on the faint side with 26 meteors seen in 70 minutes Teff. Kind of reminded me of a late July observing session, except a lot colder! The best meteor was a yellow -1 Ursid early in the session. Ursids were pleasantly active with 10 meteors. Three Coma Berenicids also showed up.
This was only my second successful observing session near the Ursid peak, so clear skies are definitely a rare treat here this time of year.
November 17: (A few) Leonids
I got out for 1.5 hours of Teff this morning. Skies were decent when they were clear, but variable thick cloudiness was moving through for most of the session. Clouds were scattered enough that I only had to take one 5-minute break. Activity was ho-hum; Leonid rates were fairly low with only 9 seen during the session. There were also 14 sporadics, 3 Taurids and an Alpha Monocerotid for a total of 27 meteors.
A 20-minute dead period when the skies were nice and clear was a bit exasperating. The best meteor of the session was a yellow -3 Leonid streaking southward.
November 8: Mercury Transit
It was a really beautiful, clear morning in Chiloquin. That lasted until a bit after noon, which was enough time for me to grab an early lunch break and watch the beginning of the transit. I used the 60mm Scope of Death with both a Baader filter and projection setup, and showed the projected imaged to a few curious people. I also put the Baader filter on my digital camera and snapped a few pictures. (Sample above right.)
OK, not the most exciting event in the world, but since I haven't seen one in 7 years it was worth the time. I didn't get to follow the later stages of the transit; by the time I got off work it was preparing to pour. Could even get some snow tonight...
2006 October 25/26: Comet SWAN bright!
Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN), currently located between the Keystone of Hercules and Corona Borealis, had been a marginal naked eye object from a dark site but has suddenly grown much brighter. Last night I estimated its magnitude at 4.5 (naked eye). In binoculars it shows a round, aquamarine 17' coma and a faint tail to 4 degrees in length. While still subtle, the tail has gotten broader and brighter over the past couple of nights. Viewing through the 10" Dob, I saw some jet activity surrounding a possibly elongated pseudonucleus, and a short dust tail. Best time to view this one is right at the end of evening twilight.
2006 Orionid Meteor Shower Surprise! This year's Orionids were much stronger than expected. I've compiled my observations into a special article.
September 29/30
I was out for two hours this morning, and saw my two target comets. 4P/Faye, in Aries, looks a lot like it did a month ago. It may be a little bit brighter, and the short tail (5' or so in length) seems a bit easier. Sketch. I hopped through a number of 12th-13th magnitude galaxies nearby.
C/2006 M4 (SWAN) was low in Ursa Major. I had to drag my scope across the yard to get a clear view of it. This is a bright, condensed comet. 8x56 binoculars showed a round head with the hint of a tail. In the 10" Dob @ 76x, the coma was very intense and cyan-tinged with a bright non-stellar central condensation. The tail was faint but impressive at over 45' in length. It looked like there was a disconnection event in the tail about 10-15' from the nucleus. Sketch.
August 12/13: Perseid Report
I was involved with a public star party, so I didn't get to count while the Moon was still down. There were some nice Perseids early in the evening, however. Between talking astronomy and giving views through my Dob, I got down to serious meteor watching a lot later than I had planned. But, the star party was fun. I'd had a full workday, so my perception was definitely flagging. I had hoped to do three hours, but after two I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. Skies were OK considering the Moon, but it definitely was one of the more "blah" Perseid maximum nights I've
experienced. My first hour started out strong but fell flat during the last half. My second hour was uniformly mediocre.
Total for 2 hours of observing: 38 Perseids and 10 other meteors, with 19 Perseids and 5 others in each hour. There were 4 Perseids and one sporadic of negative magnitudes.
Observer: Wesley Stone (STOWE)
Location: Fort Klamath, OR (42d 41.6m N, 121d 58.4m W)
Method: Counting: Watch/Tape recorder
Date: 2006 August 12/13
Interval UT Teff F LM KCG PER Spo
0715-0816 1.00 1.00 6.2 0 19 5
0828-0929 1.00 1.00 6.0 2 19 3
---------
Total 2.00 1.00 6.1 2 38 8
Magnitude Distributions
KCG +2(1), +3(1)
PER -3(1), -2(2), -1(1), 0(5), +1(5), +2(8), +3(13), +4(3)
Spo -1(1), 0(2), +2(3), +3(2)
July 28/29: Meteor Observing
I got out for another two hours this morning. Smoky skies in the evening were discouraging, but by morning the skies were OK. Still a lot of crud near the horizon. Meteor rates were decent, with the South Delta Aquarids producing 9 per hour. Most of the meteors were faint, but there was a -3 sporadic and a very impressive slow -2 Alpha Capricornid that left an interrupted train. Perseids were also active with 9 total members including one of magnitude -1.
Observer: Wesley Stone (STOWE)
Location: Chiloquin, OR (42d 35m N, 121d 52m W)
Method: Counting: Watch/Tape recorder
Date: 2006 July 28/29
Interval UT Teff F LM CAP ANT NDA SDA PER Spo
0850-0951 1.00 1.00 6.6 1 2 0 9 5 7
0951-1052 1.00 1.00 6.5 2 3 0 9 4 10
---------
Total 2.00 1.00 6.6 3 5 0 18 9 17
Magnitude Distributions
CAP: -2(1), +3(1), +5(1)
SDA: +1(1), +2(3), +3(10), +4(3), +5(1)
PER: -1(1), +2(1), +3(4), +4(2), +5(1)
Spo: -3(1), +2(3), +3(8), +4(5)
July 27/28: Meteor Observing
I observed for two hours this morning. Unfortunately, although I didn't have to deal with any light dome from railroad work, there was a lot of sky clutter. Probably smoke from one of the forest fires. Rates were OK the first hour considering this. There was a really nice, long, red -2 Perseid early in the session. South Delta Aquarids were nearly absent during the first hour, but picked up during the second hour. Sky conditions improved during the second hour, but meteor rates took a dive with back-to-back droughts of 14 minutes and 11 minutes. Overall, I saw as many meteors (27) in two hours as I typically see in one hour at this time of the year.
Observer: Wesley Stone (STOWE)
Location: Chiloquin, OR (42d 35m N, 121d 52m W)
Method: Counting: Watch/Tape recorder
Date: 2006 July 27/28
Interval UT Teff F LM CAP ANT NDA SDA PER Spo
0855-0956 1.00 1.00 6.2 3 0 0 1 3 8
0956-1057 1.00 1.00 6.5 1 0 0 5 1 5
---------
Total 2.00 1.00 6.4 4 0 0 6 4 13
Magnitude Distributions
CAP: +1(1), +2(1), +3(1), +4(1)
SDA: 0(1), +2(1), +3(3), +4(1)
PER: -2(1), +3(1), +4(1), +5(1)
Spo: +2(4), +3(6), +4(3)
July 26/27: Meteor Observing
They've been working on the railroad, all the live-long NIGHT?
I went out for a bit over an hour this morning, mainly to shake the meteor observing rust off and to hedge my bets against the possibility of clouds this weekend.
Skies were not up to par, mainly because a large railroad crew was working all night on a nearby crossing and employing lots of bright lights. Combined with a little smoke and lots of moisture in the air, the skyglow was like a gibbous Moon stuck on the eastern horizon.
The session started out really slow, but picked up a bit even into the start of morning twilight. Brightest meteors were a nice short -1 South Delta Aquarid and a blazingly fast and long sporadic.
Overall, in 70 minutes I saw 6 South Deltas, 2 Antihelions, 2 Perseids and 11 Sporadics. Hopefully, they'll get that railroad work done soon.
July 25/26
I spent a couple of hours observing under humid but decent conditions (naked eye LM 6.7). I observed a lot of showpieces, but my main target was Comet 177P/Barnard. This bright, diffuse comet is high in the sky near Delta Herculis. On this occasion, it was involved with a neat asterism of 11th-13th magnitude stars. The comet was visible in binoculars as a fuzzy spot. In the 10" Dob at low and medium powers, it appeared as a diffuse patch about 9' in diameter with a small, soft central condensation displaced to the east of center. Sketch. The comet's northward motion was obvious within 15 minutes or so.
July 6/7
I spent almost all the observation on Jupiter. Seeing was initially awful, but settled down to Antoniadi III (average). Not bad considering Jupiter's low elevation. The Great Red Spot Hollow was obvious, but the spot border itself was only fleetingly visible and mostly colorless. The oval BA was visible when the seeing settled down, and looked whitish and pointed toward the preceding edge. A dark wedge tapering from the south and connecting with the South Equatorial Belt separated the two spots. Only the southern border of the South Equatorial Belt was prominent; northward it blended in with the chaotic grayish detail of the Equatorial Zone. The North Equatorial Belt was dark with irregular structure running through it and several projections from its southern edge. Sketch.
July 2/3
Asteroid 2004 XP14 Observation
It was clear at sunset, but a few clouds had moved in by 10:30 when I watched the ISS glide through Bootes. I went in to read for a couple of hours before setting up the scope. I had the path plotted out with a Cartes du Ciel chart (got the elements just a few hours before), but it was soon apparent that I was seeing nothing.
I went inside to check, and found a Sky and Telescope chart. While it wasn't as deep as Cartes du Ciel, the positions were clearly different and I hoped that it was right. I went back out and...clouds. More clouds. Yet more clouds. At 1:50am I caught a small sucker hole and was able to see a small dot of light crawling ever so slowly but in real time through the field. This lasted a minute or two before clouds intervened. If there was a cloud anywhere in the sky, there was one over Cassiopeia! Eerily similar circumstances to my Deep Impact observation last year. By the time the clouds passed, I needed the next chart in the S&T sequence. At 2:30, I was able to hold and track the asteroid consistently in my 10" Dob @ 76x. It took about 3.5 minutes for the asteroid to cross the 40' field of view (no sidereal tracking).
So, I was out a lot later than I had planned, but successful nonetheless.
May 17/18
I dodged scattered clouds and moonlight to view fragments B and C of Comet 73P this morning. Fragment B had a longer, brighter tail in binoculars. In the 10" Dob, fragment C had a very irregular coma with two bright sunward spikes and a bright stellar condensation. C's visible tail was fairly slim and straight. Sketch.
Fragment B had a much different telescopic appearance, with a very narrow, elongated coma and only a slight central condensation. There was a pronounced tailward spike. B's tail was much broader and fan-shaped. Motion relative to a nearby bright star was very noticeable. Sketch.
May 9/10
I went out this morning with binoculars just before moonset. Fragment B had a bright nucleus and large coma (22' in diameter) visible to the naked eye at magnitude 5.0. A short tail was visible in binoculars, although a multiple star system in the tail confused matters somewhat. For a few brief minutes the Moon was down and twilight wasn't too bright yet, and limiting magnitude reached 6.6. This made a big difference in the coma, tail and starfield of fragment B. Sketch.
Fragment C was nearly lost in the rich Milky Way, and I couldn't see it with the naked eye. In binoculars it was magnitude 6.9 with a small, uncondensed coma and short, bright tail.
May 4/5
I got up for 1.25 hours of observing into morning twilight. Skies were good early on, with a few high clouds rolling in late. Meteor rates were mind-numbingly low considering the good conditions, although there were a couple of impressive ETAs early in the session. A 21-minute drought in the middle of the session really hurt.
Observer: Wesley Stone (STOWE)
Location: Chiloquin, OR (42d 35m N, 121d 52m W)
Method: Counting: Watch/Tape recorder
Date: 2006 May 4/5
Interval UT Teff F LM ETA Spo
1030-1145 1.25 1.00 6.8 4 6
Magnitude Distributions
ETA: -1(1), 0(1), +1(1), +4(1)
Spo: -1(1), +3(2), +4(2), +5(1)
May 3/4
I was invited to do an early evening astronomy presentation for the Klamath Outdoor Science School. This went really well, with good views of the Moon and Saturn. Upon arriving home, I looked at M13 and 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (B), which fit into the same low power field. At high power, there was a lot of subtle detail in the inner coma of fragment B, with at least two stellar condensations. Sketch.
May 1/2
I did a short session in the evening (before moonset) and observed the 4 bright fragments of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann. I sketched fragment C, which is a naked-eye object. In the 10" Dob, C showed a small stellar pseudonucleus surrounded by a bright coma. There looked to be at least one parabolic hood sunward from the nuclear region, and a thin spine extended back into the center of the tail. The tail was rather broad, brighter in the center and to the NW and very diffuse on its SE edge.
Fragment B was in the midst of a group of stars. Its coma didn't look as large tonight, and it also seemed to have lost some condensation. Fragments G and R appeared much as they did on April 30.
April 29/30
I had good skies last night, with both of my limiting magnitude counts yielding 7.0. These observations are from the period 5:20-6:20 UT on April 30.
As reported elsewhere, 73P-C is a naked-eye object under these conditions. I estimated it at m1=6.5. In 8x56 binoculars, coma diameter was 10' and tail length was 90'.
I tried in vain to see 73P-B with naked eye. It may be just on the verge of visibility. I think I detected a nearby 7.1 star a couple of times. B was an easy binocular object; I estimated the coma diameter as 19' and tail length as 45'. My m1 estimate in binoculars was 7.4.
73P-G was a very diffuse object in my 10" Dob. It appeared as a ghostly haze 6' x 3' with a very slight condensation sometimes visible at its head. At times it looked a bit irregular, with the hint of another condensation tailward. Sketch.
73P-R, though quite faint, was much more condensed, with a coma diameter approaching 1'. At times a slight elongation could be seen.
April 27/28
I had decent but not great transparency and seeing last night, plagued by smoke from local debris burning.
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann
I observed fragments B and C in 8x56 binoculars. B's coma was fairly large and diffuse; C showed an intense stellar nucleus in a small coma with 70' of tail. My m1 estimate for C was 7.6, with a coma diameter of 6'. For B, I also got an m1 of 7.6, with a coma diameter of 13'.
I observed fragments B and R in my 10" Dob. Fragment B showed a much broader, well-defined coma than during my last observation 5 nights ago. I only saw a single stellar nucleus but some bright tailward mottling and irregularities in the coma. A couple of long jets extended into a gradually fanning tail.
I saw fragment R for the first time as a very small and faint fuzzy object with some stellar condensation. Its motion was detectable within a few minutes. R mostly looked round. Sketch.
I had trouble finding fragment G; I may have eventually found it as a very diffuse patch involved with some stars, but am not sure.
Jupiter
I observed Jupiter and definitely got on its good side. Seeing was mediocre early in the evening, and then settled down a bit. Occasionally, the "ill wind" (a gentle breeze from the SE that has a devastating effect on seeing from my yard) messed things up, but I was able to get a sketch of Jupiter. Featured were Io's shadow and disc transit, the Great Red Spot, and the very-low-contrast BA oval or "Junior". I couldn't see any color in the oval, and much of the time it wasn't visible. The Equatorial Zone was absolutely alive with detail.
April 22/23
I got decent looks at the three brightest fragments of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann Saturday night. Fragment C continues to be the brightest; I didn't estimate its magnitude because a field star was very near the coma in binoculars. Fragment B showed a coma diameter of about 6' and a magnitude of 8.4 in binoculars. My main interest was trying to observe the "split nuclei" of fragment B. I used high magnification (330x in my 10" Dob) and was consistently able to observe a stellar condensation in the comet's head. A clearly separate tailward second condensation didn't appear to contain a stellaring, but seemed to be the source of much of the tail. The tail remains bright and fan-shaped. Sketch.
Fragment G was very diffuse and not always obvious. Averted vision showed a ghostly, fan-shaped object with little or no central condensation. This fragment appeared fainter than the last time I observed it. Sketch.
April 21/22
I got a slim hour of very iffy partial clearing this morning. The first half-hour was covered in a thin haze through which only two bright Lyrids were seen. Skies improved quite a bit around 11:00 UT (4am local) and activity picked up for about 20 minutes before clouds started moving in again.
All meteors seen (6 Lyrids and 3 sporadics) were relatively bright.
Observer: Wesley Stone (STOWE)
Location: Chiloquin, OR (42d 35m N, 121d 52m W)
Method: Counting: Watch/Tape recorder
Date: 2006 April 21/22
Interval UT Teff F LM ANT LYR Spo
1030-1130 1.00 1.02 5.4 0 6 3
Magnitude Distributions
LYR: -2(1), 0(1), +1(2), +2(2)
Spo: -2(1), -1(1), +1(1)
April 17/18
I got clear and cold skies last night (April 17/18), and was able to observe the B, C and G fragments. Naked eye limiting magnitude was 6.8.
B and C were both easily visible in 8x56 binoculars. I estimated C as magnitude 8.8 with a coma diameter of 9' and fragment B as magnitude 9.0 with a coma diameter of 12'. But in a telescope, there isn't much differentiation between coma and tail for fragment B.
Fragment B was a very interesting object in the 10" Dob, consisting almost entirely of a very broad fan-shaped tail spreading from a near-point. Occasionally a very faint stellar nucleus was visible at 165x. Just tailward from this nucleus was a disrupted high surface brightness streak 1-2' long. Fascinating tail detail was present as shown in the sketch.
Fragment C had a bright coma with a stellar nucleus and several jets into a very broad fan-shaped tail much like fragment B's but with less obvious structure. Tails for both fragments were ~20' long. Sketch.
Fragment G was fairly obvious in the 10" once the comet got above the horizon murk. It was slightly condensed in the center and highly elongated, with a ghostly coma up to 4' in diameter. I'd say it was roughly magnitude 13 or a bit fainter. Sketch.
I didn't find fragment R, but at that point I was long on eyepiece fog and short on warmth and sleep. Everything started looking a bit fuzzy to me...
April 5/6
I saw from newsgroup messages that the "B" fragment of Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann is in outburst and even brighter than the "C" fragment that I observed last week. Thursday morning offered at least the potential for some clearing, so I set my alarm clock for 3am and got up to find clear sky with a setting Moon and some high clouds around the edges. Both fragments B and C were binocular objects in my 8x56 Ultimas, with B being more prominent and surrounded by a
diffuse coma. My magnitude estimates in binoculars were 8.1 for B and 9.0 for C. Conditions got quite variable by the time I set up my scope, but I was able to observe and sketch both fragments.
In my 10" Dob at 76x, fragment B stood out with a very bright stellar pseudonucleus. The coma had a brighter fan-shaped component with several jets that formed into a faint tail approximately 15' long to the SW. There was also a diffuse, round "halo" component to the coma. Sketch.
Fragment C's nucleus was more subdued, but its tail was brighter and longer. The coma was bright and parabolic with a couple of strong tailward jets. The tail stretched for almost 30' to the SW, curving slightly westward near the end. Sketch.
Jupiter was mired in a cloudbank for most of the morning, but when it popped out there was amazing detail in the Equatorial Zone at 165x.
March 29/30
I got in a bit of viewing last night before it all closed in from the south. The highlight was Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann, which was bright and obvious in my 10" Dob (probably about 9th magnitude). The comet showed a stellar pseudonucleus in a bright coma with some jet structure, and an obvious tail stretching maybe 15-20 minutes to the SW. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to savor the view as the clouds were moving in.
Also, this is only the brightest comet fragment (fragment C). Fragment B should also be visible at magnitude 12-13, and maybe fragment G (mag 15) in large scopes. You'll need separate ephemerides for these, which you can generate from JPL's HORIZONS age. I hadn't done this for my spur-of-the-moment session, so I panned fruitlessly around the wrong area trying to pick up B.
March 8/9
More snow, but some fitful clearing at the beginning of morning twilight let me observe C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) for the second time. The comet was beautifully placed for binoculars just below the diamond asterism of Delphinus. The coma appeared a bit larger than before, although still concentrated. The tail was not as bright, especially near the coma, although at times I could still make it out for 1.5 degrees. I estimated the coma magnitude as 5.6, so the comet is hanging in nicely. Sketch.
March 7/8
A brief clear spell made this a one-object night. My goal was to observe the near-Earth asteroid 2000 PN9, and I succeeded. The asteroid was traversing star-poor Camelopardalis, but was fairly easy to find with good charts even under moonlight through sucker patches. The asteroid was moving pretty quickly, with motion certainly apparent within a minute at 165x. It was about 12th magnitude. I made a couple of rough sketches. Here's one.
March 2
In a lucky break, it cleared after snowing a couple of inches overnight. I got up just before 5am to look for Comet C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski) in the eastern sky. The comet doesn't rise too high before morning twilight begins; for my first look, I had to step into the middle of the street to clear some trees. The comet is bright: barely visible to the naked eye and easy in 8x56 binoculars. In binoculars, I estimated its magnitude at 5.5 but it is probably slightly brighter. The coma is nearly stellar, just slightly bulging and elongated E-W. Just a hint of a cyan tinge was visible. An eastward-extending tail of about 2 degrees was easily visible in binoculars in spite of deteriorating conditions. Sketch.
February 22/23
I haven't done too much observing recently, mainly due to weather and fatigue. Tonight featured clear skies and OK transparency (LM~6.7). Saturn was very nice, with its six brightest moons well-placed for viewing. My main ambition for this short session, however, was to observe Supernova 2006X in the spiral galaxy M100. The host galaxy is an old favorite of mine, but I hadn't taken a long look at it for a while. M100 has a bright, mottled core with a stellar nucleus. The core is surrounded by a large, mottled halo. The halo contains a subtle spiral pattern, and small differences in sky quality can make a huge difference in the amount of detail visible. The supernova, less than 1' SSW of the nucleus in a spiral arm, was readily visible at magnitude ~14. Two small galaxies, NGC 4322 and NGC 4328, are in the same field as M100. Both were faint objects, and NGC 4322 was difficult even with averted vision. NGC 4312, just out of the field toward the south, is a nice edge-on galaxy. Sketch.
January 22-24
Finally, some halfway clear weather after over two months of nonstop clouds. Sunday evening featured mediocre to terrible transparency, but seeing was generally okay, and the partial clearing allowed me to shake off some of my rust. I hadn't had my scope out since November! Mars was tiny but showed a gibbous phase, a dark Mare Cimmerium and a couple of bright spots in the North Polar Region. Saturn was decent as well.
Monday evening was much better from a transparency standpoint (about LM=6.5 overhead), although the seeing was jumpy. I went after my second observation of Comet C/2005 E2 (McNaught), low in the western sky in Aquarius. Conditions were poor ne
