by Bob Czerwinski
| Observer | Bob Czerwinski |
|---|---|
| Date | May 29, 2004 |
| Observing Time | 8:15pm to 11:00pm PDT May 29 (UT -7, or 0315-0600 30 May 2004 UT) |
| Location | Monte Bello OSP Parking Lot (Palo Alto, CA), N37°19.5' W122°10.7', El. ~2200-ft. |
| Moon | Waxing gibbous - Phase ~87% |
| Equipment | 12.5" f/5.0 Newt/Dob e/w Telrad and Paracorr (eff. f/5.75) |
| Eyepieces | 22mm-83x, 17mm-107x and 12mm-152x TV T4 Nagler; 9mm-203x Nagler (magnifications include Paracorr) |
| Filters | None in use |
| Sky Conditions | Zenith LM not recorded. Castor, with a nice gap, easily split at 107x. Average transparency 6/10; Average seeing 7/10. Moisture in the air, scattering a lot of Moonlight. The normal Silicon Valley "washout" to the east. |
| Temp/R.H. | 8:30pm: 48F/71%; 9:30pm: 54F/46%; 10:30pm 54F/43% |
Although I'm not known to observe when La Luna is around, I joined Stacy Jo McDermott, Phil Chambers, Dennis Steel, Kevin Roberts, Michael Portuesi and Michael's observing buddy - whose name just slipped my mind (Sorry!) - at MB last night. I wanted one last look at Venus' waning crescent, and also wanted to see if I could spot Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), an item I'd missed at Hogue Park the previous evening. Most of the group was at MB for a short Mooning night.
Hitting the MB parking lot about 7:30pm, the skies above were completely clear of the marine layer. My RadioShack thermometer/hygrometer, however, was reading 73% R.H., indicating there was still a fair amount of moisture around, even though the satellite loop indicated clear skies throughout the entire Bay Area. As the sun dropped in the west, the mid-60's temperature quickly dropped into the mid-50's. When next I'd checked, the temperature had dropped to 48F, with the R.H. still at 71%. As it turned out, we ended up with a bit of an inversion, with the temperature rising to the mid-50's and the R.H. dropping to the mid 40-percent range. We were still plagued with a pretty bright sky, and at one point in time we noted a bit of valley fog forming to the SE. Fortunately this vanished within an hour, and we remained relatively comfortable all evening long.
| Venus | With Ol' Sol just below Monte Bello's western horizon line, I started searching for Venus before the sun had officially set. Armed with Phil's binoculars, I spotted Venus about 8:10pm, and quickly turned my 'scope in that direction. At 107x, Venus' very slender crescent was really shimmering in the eyepiece. With the planet's waning crescent phase down to 3%, this is about the "thinnest" I've ever seen it. As the night before, Venus presented a distinctly "non-APO" image, just a crescent kaleidoscope of dancing, chromatic color. Just ten days until its solar transit, boys and girls. |
|---|---|
| Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) | I spotted this comet just after 9:00pm, low to the WSW in Hydra. Given its location in the twilight sky, Comet LINEAR started off its eyepiece-visit as a non-distinct fuzzy patch of light, but developed some nice detail as the sky darkened. With just the barest hint of a tail at 152x, the comet was mostly coma, with a small nucleus visible with averted vision. Comparing the comet's brightness with a nearby out-of-focus 4th magnitude star (12-Hydrae, 4.32-mag.), they more or less matched, so the comet's magnitude is probably in this general range. I estimated the comet was moving about 5-arcmins/hour against the background stars. |
| The ISS | We caught an ISS pass about 9:40pm, first siting the ISS when it was about 20-degrees up from the NW horizon. At 0.5-mag., the ISS moved up to the NE, hit an above-the-horizon altitude of about 60-degrees, and continued on to the SE. Definitely brighter than Vega (0-mag.), this was a very nice pass to watch. Moving into the Earth's shadow, the ISS rapidly faded and disappeared. |
| C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) | After another post-ISS gaze at LINEAR, I located NEAT relatively high to the WNW, between the "feet" of Ursa Major, continuing its northward journey. The bright coma and small nucleus were still very nice at 152x, with just a slight tail visible (0.25-degree, if that) in the Moonlit sky. I'm not certain of NEAT's magnitude, but a very rough guess says it's between 4th- and 5th-magnitude. NEAT's movement against the background stars continues to slow, probably moving about half the rate of C/2002 T7 (LINEAR), say 2~3-arcmins/hour. |
| Comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) | I could just repeat my observation of the previous evening. In Lyra, about half-way between Vega and 3rd-magnitude Delta Cygni. As from Hogue, a pretty faint object riding in the Silicon Valley's light-polluted sky, resembling a low surface-brightness galaxy, slightly elongated. Probably about 10th-magnitude. Without a nucleus to help with motion detection, I'd still guess the comet was moving somewhere between 1- and 2-arcmins/hour. This faint comet was also visible in Dennis' 5" Takahashi refractor, a real compliment to the 'scope's optics. |
Before calling it a night, I took a look at a few other showcase items, to include M92 and M13, as well as Jupiter, which was looking very nice at 203x. A fair amount of cloud detail visible when the seeing would steady. Just for kicks, I tried looking at Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), riding just above the southern horizon. Barely discernable, an extremely faint washed-out blob against a *slightly* darker background.
A relatively short but very enjoyable night. My thanks to everyone at MB for the nice company and for the views offered through your 'scopes and binos.
Posted on sf-bay-tac May 30, 2004 06:10:55 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.1 Jul 12, 2004 20:47:15 PT