Mini-OR: Fri., 5/7 in Cupertino - Comets and Moons

by Tony Hurtado

Well, I setup at sundown with intentions to catch Q4 before it sank in the SW. But no sooner had I got running, the wind and clouds kicked up presumably making a short night of it. Not so, as it turns out. Once things settled down a bit, Friday night turned out to be semi-OK. Soft seeing, yes, but OK for some much needed eye candy and the like. Here's what I saw...

Comet C/2001 Q4

Not very impressive for what was supposed to be a mag 0.9 comet tonight. Diffuse, stubby, and perhaps bimodal tail stemming from a very densely bright core that became very fuzzy and diffuse with distance from center. Beyond the core area it seemed that the surrounding stars were embedded in what can only be described as a soft "spray" much like fog (that's besides the passing clouds that eventually abated).

Jupiter w/ Europa's shadow in transit

Jupiter was the view of the night for me. Europa's shadow was in transit following exactly along the SEB. I didn't get to watch it very long, but it was following right along the SEB as if it were in a track. Io itself was very close to the disk presumably having just emerged from the disk itself as the separation was growing as I watched. Nice view!!

Tony Hurtado N8i in Cupertino

P.S. If the weather stays iffy over the coming new moon period, you can blame me. I just ordered a NightSky 18" Newt/Dob!! That oughta be worth a few days' clouds, eh?! Look for it at a star party near you circa Sept. '04.

Posted on sf-bay-tac May 07, 2004 23:20:46 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.1 Jul 11, 2004 12:30:12 PT