by Bob Jardine
Wednesday prelude: Quite a few folks tried MB on Wednesday, although the weather reports were mixed. It was cold, windy, and very damp; and a few clouds just to complete the picture. We tried to watch an IO shadow transit, but the seeing was bad, the wind shook the telescopes, and eyepieces dewed up.
I think the seeing on Wednesday was perhaps the worst I have ever seen. Jupiter would periodically fuzz out completely, then swell up (I swore it was 2X its normal size, but I've been known to exaggerate; anyway it seemed like it). Then a minute later, it would shrink back down, stabilize, and there would be a glimpse of IO's shadow. Then back the other direction. What a mess.
Finally, about the time it got completely dark, I gave up. My finder and eyepieces were wet, the wind wasn't letting up, and the seeing wasn't getting any better. Plus, the clouds kept coming and going. We were all miserable to boot. Home by 10:00.
Thursday: "What a difference a day makes!" That's what I was thinking when I drove into the MB lot Thursday around sunset. When I got out of my car, George Feliz said "What a difference a day makes!". I'm not kidding. The sky was completely clear, I was almost comfortable in shirtsleeves, there was no dew, and the wind was much less (although not zero). An hour later, it was even better. The wind died down completely, the sky was beautiful, and although I had to add layers, it wasn't terribly cold. And not a trace of dew.
I observed with TOBY, my 10" f/6 CPT.
| Venus | getting to be a significant dent in this crescent. |
|---|---|
| Moon | nice thin crescent, very pretty; I saw a big block that looked like a huge school bus on the wall of Mare Crisium. Marek saw it too, so you know I'm not kidding. I thought it was one of those Lunar transporters from the movie 2001. |
| Jupiter | there was a great pale spot transit. And very nice detail in the SEB; several smaller white ovals were obvious, trailing the pale spot. |
| Eugenia (45) | tracked down this asteroid (in Cancer, not too far from M44). It was supposed to be somewhere between mag 11.5 and 12.0. I found it, but it was on the edge of visibility. I checked back a little later, after the moon had set...better, but still on the edge. The sky was a little brighter than usual, because normally mag 12 is pretty easy at MB in a 10" scope, but on this night, I could hold it only about 70% of the time with direct vision. |
Peter McKone suggested a couple of nice doubles to tackle while we waited for moonset.
| Struve 1441 | a nice dbl in Sextans. I think Peter said 1.5 or 1.6 arcseconds. Primary is yellow. Several magnitudes different. The seeing is pretty good, but not great. A clean split most of the time. When it snaps in, this is a beautiful tight double. (Used a 9mm EP.) |
|---|---|
| 49 Leo | another nice dbl. A.k.a. Struve 1450. Very similar in separation and position angle to 1441, but less color. Again, a nice clean split occasionally. |
| Iota Leo | another one at about the same separation. All three of these doubles are pretty easy to find, with primaries that are either nekked eye or at least easily visible in the finder. |
Finally the moon set, so I turned to a few H400 galaxies in Virgo, using 9 & 17 mm Naglers.
| NGC 4753 | easy to find, due east of Gamma Vir. Round, slightly elongated (roughly E/W); only a little brighter in the center. Small, medium bright (for MB anyway). |
|---|---|
| NGC 4845 | an easy field to find, but the galaxy is elusive, because it is so dim. Very elongated; not any brighter in center; need to revisit from a darker site. |
| NGC 4900 | very dim, unless you count the bright, very stellar center. Roundish, not elongated? Uniform brightness, except for the stellar thingy in the center -- is that the core of the galaxy or a star? If it is the core, it's one of the brighter ones I've seen. No other detail seen. |
| NGC 4698 | pretty obvious and easy to find. Small, medium bright, a bit elongated (roughly N/S). Smack between two close field stars, about equal magnitudes, oriented approximately the same direction as the galaxy is elongated. Not brighter in the center. |
| NGC 4866 | now here is a special one: very long and thin; elongated roughly E/W; a pretty obvious slash of light; not brighter in the center. |
I packed it up around 1:20. A very nice night. Brighter than average light domes, I think, but otherwise the sky was beautiful.
Posted on sf-bay-tac Apr 26, 2004 19:34:22 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.1 Jul 10, 2004 21:36:24 PT