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by Lance Shaw
Fun? Phan-photon-tastic... man-o, man...
You really know how throw a star party. What a blast. My father-in-law and I had a fabulous time!
Thank you to the welcome wagon of Mark, Paul, RichN, JimB, et al...( I know I've left about two or three of you out...sorry...there were about six or seven of you!) And a very special thank you to Michelle for giving me some pointers and advice about my future home observatory...I'll put it to good use. (neato other hobby you have, plans for pix and scans for a link from your web page?...)
The Sun, active region 8562 - using eyepiece projection, made one more observation of this large complex aggregation. It seems to have slowly decayed over the previous three days. Without the proper Macintosh key, I did not try to determine what it's current type was.
Venus before sunset - the seeing for late afternoon was actually very good and far better than anything I achieve at home. The terminator and limb were fairly sharp, even at high power (x300).
Mercury - I was told it should have been visible and stated I didn't think so yet...wrong. Mark and the crew, a little further down the lot, with binocs and nekkid eye's were already observing it. I saw this and asked them to point it out for me. Then Tom used the 20" and even in the after sunset seeing, we were able to make out a disk. Albeit, a very colourful disk, but still round!
Mars - some surface features visible, seeing is softening up and getting mushy though ...still miles better than home views.
Helped out a guy and his wife with their 80mm short tube refractor on some bright Messiers as it proceeded to get darker... I also pointed them in Jim's direction to maybe attend an SJAA meeting and get some more information...turns out, he is already a member! Could not have picked a better club, period. At least he is in the best and most capable of astronomical hands...
Comet Lee - first through Dave Smith's C8, then a C4.5 reflector and then Caroline Herschel, aka the 'Thunderbolt Grease Slapper,' my 13.1" Odyssey. estimated magnitude using the AAVSO Star Atlas, 6.8. Slight, fan shaped tail. Maybe the C2 filter I had, would have brought out more detail, had I remembered I brought it with me!
NGC 4038/? - 'the Antennae.' Never observed before due to bad southern horizons and skyglow...bright, extented oval egg with a faint bi-nuclear glow, slight hint of extension from one side. Sits relatively close to 5th mag field star. (tks Mark and Rich for giving me the correct NGC number for the brighter member...)
M83 - although not a new find, appeared to skim the Peak...beautiful and fascinating. Much detail with spiral structure obvious. Tight, condensed nucleus.
I then turned my attention to, what else: variables! Caroline's previous best at the Peak was a fainter than 158, in August last year.
CR Bootis at 137 - Showing activity... this is a very rare helium dwarf star with frequent faint outbursts. I normally don't observe this star from home because of it's faintness.
Z Camelopardalis at 129 - In it's faint state. Prototype for a sub-class of U Geminorum stars that undergo 'standstills.'
T Coronae Borealis at 103 - recurrent novae, the 'extra' star in Crown. Shows a lot of small periodic variation. Well overdue for a rise to maximum and naked-eye visibility.
AG Draconis at 100 - a very active Symbiotic or Z Andromedae type star. A lot of surprises and small period variation...usually bright, easy to find, circumpolar, good starter variable.
AM Herculis at 136 - a Polar or magnetic variable. Even for this faint magnitude, this is it's bright state!
V592 Herculis fainter than 153 - the observation I made from the Peak last year on Aug 22, was <146. Six days later it went into outburst for only the third recorded time and the first visually observed and confirmed, ever.
X Leonis at fainter than 143 - just after sunset...with a 12th magnitude interloper in the field! The asteriod 19 Fortuna is just passing through the high power field... at first mistaken for a potential nova, the original observer thought the better of it and checked his planetarium program and discovered it's true nature... although it would seem rare, this instance has happened to me three times now. All were summarily dismissed with software or a run with the Minor Planet Centers, Supernova suspect Minor Planet checker.
LX Serpentis at 154 - a VY Sculptoris star undergoing a frequent and faint eclipse.
V4334 Sagittarii at fainter than 141 - a protoplanetary nebula, aka 'Sakurai's Object,' featured in S&T about eight months ago. My charts did not go as faint as I would have liked or conditions allowed, but I try not to rely on Guide Star Catalogue magnitudes from any neighbouring databases. Most often, they are unreliable at fainter magnitudes.
Markarian 421 in Ursa Major at 129 - BL Lacertae object, akin and sometimes catagorised with active galactic nucleii.
Z Ursae Minoris at 121 - The true nature of this star was only discovered a few years ago. Previously thought to be a Mira type, it is really an R CorBor, carbon star or reverse nova, if you will. A full magnitude fainter than normal, possibly undergoing a prolonged fading episode.
RW Ursae Minoris at fainter than 161 - Caroline Herschel outdoes her previous best on this nova field!
CY Ursae Majoris at 129 - a U Geminorum star in full outburst! A cell call from the SW lot to AAVSO member and mentor, Gene Hanson of Arizona, confirmed my outburst observation of this star. Accrection disc, shine the light on me!!!