Observations made in the constellation Aquarius

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Observations made in the constellation Aquarius:

Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.9, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Feb 9 11:00:00 2022 UT   Obs. no.: 2331

Early this morning, I observed Venus with my 10X50 binoculars. Even with binoculars, I was able to see Venus' crescent was starting to get fatter. It was a nice view.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Feb 6 17:30:00 2022 UT   Obs. no.: 2328

I just observed the sun with my solar scope. There is another big sunspot, #2039, on the center of the sun's face & right above it is another big spot #2040 which is part of a group of sunspots. The sun is really active this year so far.

M73 (Open Cluster, in Aquarius)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 5.1-inch equatorial reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Oct 7 01:25:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2302

This evening, I observed two open clusters with my Newtonian Short Tube Reflector. M73 has a few bright stars in it & is really only a loos group of stars & not a true open cluster. The stars are fairly bright though. I also observed M45, The Pleaides Open Cluster. The bright star Merope had some nebulosity around it when I upped the power in my scope. There was one other bright star that also had some nebulosity.

Last evening, when I observed Aquarius through my low power telescope, I came upon the sparse open cluster M73. There where a few stars in it including four bright stars but there is evidence M73 is just an asterism. Also, I observed the two bright yellow Alpha & Beta stars of Aquarius. They used to be big blue stars but now they are transitioning to red stars.

Neptune (Planet, est. mag 7.8, est. to be in Aquarius, Est. RaDec 22 07 50 -12 06 33.8)
Observer: mihail mataringa (e-mail: mihaimataringa@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 102-mm refractor   Location: prilipeti, banat, romania
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Aug 17 20:35:00 2011 UT   Obs. no.: 1869

Planet Neptun in Aquarius, mag. 7.82.4 arcsec. stelar aspect,bluish.

M73 (Open Cluster, in Aquarius)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Milford, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Aug 9 01:30:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1796

This evening my friends Steve Borer, Rob Masud and I attended a local star party given by our local astro group the Astronomical Society of New Haven. One of the first things we viewed was Jupiter with Greg's 16" Dob. The south equitorial belt surprised all of us with its reddish appearance. I've never seen the SEB look so red. The north equitorial belt was very lumpy looking because of the festoons on it. Some of the deep space objects we observed included two galaxies M51 and M31. All we could see was the cores of these galaxies becausen the skies were not good for galaxy viewing. However, M11 The Wild Duck Cluster and M57 The Ring Nebula were truly outstanding. We also viewed four globular clusters, M4, M13, M22 and M73. Every time I observe M4 I have to wonder whether it's a globular or open cluster. To me it looks more like an open cluster. M13 and M22 both showed many individual stars through the 16" dob. But my favorite globular turned out to be M73. This globular was so densely packed, seeing individual stars was next to impossible. However, the big highlight of the evening was the bright X that was on the terminator of the first quarter moon. The X on the moon is the result of the tops of certain crater rims being exposed by the sun. This results in a perfect X which appears during a first quarter moon. Finally we were able to see satallites and the Persiad Meteor Shower in the sky above us. Lightning flashes in the distant horizon comleted our very enjoyable evening.

Uranus (Planet, est. mag 5.8, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Mon Oct 15 05:30:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1720

Yet another "first" for the new scope. My observable limit of the solar system was literally doubled this weekend as I had the pleasure of viewing and imaging the planet Uranus. It is currently located 2x as far from Earth as Saturn is. This makes Uranus a whopping 19.28 AU (astronomical units) from Earth, or 1.793 BILLION miles away. It is currently only 3.7 arc-seconds which is very small. The most amazing thing is that, by ultra-processing the image, I believe I also imaged Titania, which is Uranus' largest satellite. Titania is magnitude 13.73 and is almost at the observable limit of my telescope. I did not know I had picked up the moon (as well as a possible 2 others) until I processed the image. Titania measures 1,578 km or just under 900 miles in diameter. It orbits Uranus at 435,800 km from the planet which is almost identical to Earth's own moon's distance.I have posted images on my website.

Moon (Moon, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Mark D. Schneider (e-mail: markd_s@yahoo.com)
Instrument: binoculars   Location: Garden Grove, California, United States of America
Light pollution: none   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Aug 28 10:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1704

THIS Lunar eclipse was simply STUPENDOUS this morning and was probably well worth the ALL-night session.

Mercury (Planet, est. mag -0.5, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Feb 7 23:25:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1621

This evening I observed the conjunction of Venus and Mercury in the western sky. There is another great opportunity on 2/8/07 for anyone who wants to see it. After tomorrow, Mercury will start getting lower in the sky. In binoculars, Mercury has a pinkish tinge and Venus looks white. Check it out.

Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.3, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Apr 18 09:20:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1525

This morning, I arose to observe the close conjuction of Venus and Uranus. The bad news was a thin cloud cover and a brightening sky prevented me from seeing Uranus. The good news was the thin cloud cover allowed great seeing for the planet Venus. I aimed my 127mm MAK at Venus and saw that Venus is now just past 50% lit. The southern hemisphere of Venus continues to be quite active. There were several dark areas in the cloudbank that indicates continued active weather in the southern hemisphere. The northern hemisphere shows no dark areas in it. This seems to have been going on for about two or three months.

Uranus (Planet, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Sriram.M.Gubbi (e-mail: sriram_gubbi@yahoo.co.in, web: http://dino.lm.com/artists/display.php?name=sriram_gubbi)
Instrument: 6-inch other   Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Nov 30 20:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1451

This was an easy shot. Showed a blue-green disc at high power. Something like a planetary nebula. It was present in the centre of a small triangle formed by 3 stars.

NGC7009 (Planetary Nebula, in Aquarius)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.nightskyinfo.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: No location given
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Mon Oct 10 23:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1364

NGC 7009 (Saturn Nebula) is a spectacular planetary in Aquarius. At 50x is easily detectable from a star, but I didn't managed to see its characteristic, elongated shape. You can't miss it, it's the brightest object in a one-degree area. Using 120x I've managed to see its elongated shape, but no other details.

M73 (Open Cluster, in Aquarius)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.nightskyinfo.com)
Instrument: 4.5-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: No location given
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Mon Oct 10 23:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1362

M 73 is an asterism composed of four stars, difficult to see at 53x. The stars are grouped in the form of a trapezium. Even at 120x the asterism is difficult to split into component stars. The three brighter stars (magnitude 11) are somehow easier to see, but the forth (magnitude 12) is difficult, even when using averted vision.

M72 (Globular Cluster, in Aquarius)
Observer: Akarsh Simha (e-mail: akarsh_simha@fastmail.fm)
Instrument: 8-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Sep 21 16:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1334

Practically impossible globular, like its precursor in the Messier catalog. The globular is so faint that I hardly saw anything. Careful use of averted vision showed a large hazy patch just above a star. Simply too faint, or maybe it was the moon that had just risen by then. Best view was a 83x on my scope.Its very close neighbour is the successor in the Messier catalog, M73.

M73 (Open Cluster, in Aquarius)
Observer: Akarsh Simha (e-mail: akarsh_simha@fastmail.fm)
Instrument: 8-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Sep 21 16:15:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1335

Nice. I could not resolve the stars at 100x and I did not bother to go any further in power. Looks like a hazy thing.

NGC7009 (Planetary Nebula, in Aquarius)
Observer: Vedran Vrhovac (e-mail: vedran_vrhovac@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Velika Gorica, Croatia
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Mon Sep 5 02:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1303

This night I was searching for M72 and M73 in western Aquarius. After finding M72 I started starhopping to M73. In first step I made big mistaked (stupid me). When I looked in eyepiece I saw bright fuzzy star. I told myself "There is M73." After pumping magnification I realised that this is not M73. After cheking location in Redshift Planetarium I realised that "M73" was Saturn Nebula.Saturn Nebula appeard small, very bright and elliptical.

M2 (Globular Cluster, in Aquarius)
Observer: Andrew Cooper (e-mail: acooper@pobox.com, web: http://www.siowl.com/)
Instrument: 46-cm Dobsonian reflector   Location: TIMPA, near Tucson, Arizona, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Aug 28 06:15:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1292

Very rich, bright, one of the best globulars! fully resolved and dense at the core, a number of brighter members scattered along the edges frame the cluster well

NGC7009 (Planetary Nebula, in Aquarius)
Observer: Akarsh Simha (e-mail: akarsh_simha@fastmail.fm)
Instrument: 8-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Aug 6 22:30:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1310

This planetary is apparently very small, however, bright and conspicuous. Best viewed at high magnification. 170x magnification showed a slightly elliptical shape and Bluish colour (Aquamarine to be precise).Very easy to locate due to nearby Nu-Aquarii Star

M2 (Globular Cluster, in Aquarius)
Observer: Akarsh Simha (e-mail: akarsh_simha@fastmail.fm)
Instrument: 8-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Tue May 17 22:12:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1311

This globular is simply wonderful. It is quite similar to M3, or so I feel. Quite bright; It shows distinct outer haze and central brightness. Partially resolvable on a 8" f/8

NGC7293 (Planetary Nebula, in Aquarius)
Observer: Giorgos Koronis (e-mail: giorgos.koronis@lies.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Parnon mountain, Greece
Light pollution: none   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Sun Jun 20 01:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1027

The famous Helix! A huge object.At 28x (32mm erfle) with an O-III filter the annular form is visible.A cool sight!

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.1, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Nov 3 23:00:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 906

This evening, I observed Mars at 200X. Mars now looks less than 90% gibbous. The south polar cap is still easy to see and it seems to have stopped shrinking. Land features are still fairly easy to see. I was hoping to see the appearance of the north polar cap, but the north pole still is covered with a polar hood.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.5, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Oct 24 23:45:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 899

I observed Mars at 200X. The south polar ice cap seems to have stopped shrinking. I believe the northern ice cap may now be showing. Next week, I will make more observations to see if it is really happening. There is a lot of limb haze on the evening side of Mars. Land areas seem fuzzy and I am wondering if this is being caused by dust. I will check again next week about this also. Finally Mars is obviously gibbous.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.5, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 11-inch refractor   Location: Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: severe   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Tue Oct 21 01:00:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 897

On Monday evening I paid another visit to Franklin & Marshall's Grundy Observatory, which is located just to the east of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I had wanted to see Mars through the 1884 vintage 11" Alvan Clark achromat at some time during this historic apparition and this was perhaps my last opportunity. High clouds prevailed early on with a few sucker holes that allowed some observing to take place but conditions improved a great deal after 00:00 UT (2003/10/21). My first view was through the Clark and it was, in fact, of Mars using a 26mm Kellner. At approximately 23:20 UT the planet was still too low for a good outcome but things did improve within two hours time. Jerry McClune, the telescope operator, had the 16" f/13.5 Boller & Chivens classical Cassegrain up and running. During the course of this October public observing session I saw M57, M13, M31, NGC 7662, NGC 7009, Neptune, Uranus, and the Double Cluster through the single-arm fork mounted reflector.Jerry had shown me how to operate the Clark on a previous visit last May and allowed me to star-hop to a number of objects. This time around I trained the refractor on Albireo, Epsilon Lyrae, M15, and Eta Cassiopeiae. It was more than a bit tough to locate objects that weren't close to bright stars considering the highly light polluted skies, the ancient long-focus finder scope, and the manner in which the big refractor is mounted. In fact, in a few cases I wasn't able to track down my intended target.As Mars gained altitude and the transparency improved I substituted a 12mm Brandon for the Kellner and was able to show the crowd the SPC and Mare Cimmerium when the CM was approximately 214 degrees. The planet displayed a phase of 91% and was obviously gibbous.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.7, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 6-inch refractor   Location: Steelton, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Tue Oct 14 03:10:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 896

I stopped at a fellow Astronomical Society of Harrisburg member's roll-off roof observatory briefly last night to have a look at Mars through his 152mm f/9 Astro-Physics Starfire refractor. A 7mm Pentax ortho and a Wratten #21 orange filter provided us with some rather good views of the now obviously gibbous -1.7 magnitude Mars. The CM was 308.7 degrees at the time and the SPC, Syrtis Major, and other features were evident. Hellas was bright but so was another area near the daytime limb, another dust storm in the making perhaps. We also observed the waning gibbous Moon. The crater Gutenberg (the Lobster Claw) was well illuminated as were several interesting rilles and other features in that general area.

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