Observations made in the constellation Gemini

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Observations made in the constellation Gemini:

M35 (Open Cluster, in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Feb 10 00:30:00 2022 UT   Obs. no.: 2332

Last evening, my brother Anthony & I did some nice observing despite interference from the moon. Some very nice open clusters that we saw were M35, M44, M46, M47. Also, in Orion we observed NGC 1980 which was a nice open cluster bathe in nebulosity. We did split the double stars Castor & Rigel & because Sirius & Sirius B are so far apart now, we were also able to split them. At high power, we studied both M42 & M43 in Orion. It was a great night of viewing!

M35 (Open Cluster, in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 2.4-inch refractor   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Jun 24 02:00:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2268

This evening, My brother, Anthony & I observed the planet Mars right in the middle of open star cluster M35. It turned out to be a beautiful sight with Mars as the newest member of M35 for one day only. It was great!

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm Dobsonian reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Jun 20 14:30:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2267

This morning, I observed the sun with my solar telescope.AR2833 is just north of center on the sun's face. There is a wall of facula around the spot which makes the spot look impressive.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Jun 13 14:00:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2265

This morning I observed a new sunspot, AR2833, that has just rotated on the sun's face with my solar telescope. This spot has a lot of facula just below it & it will be nice to follow it as it crosses the sun's face.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Jun 10 09:33:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2264

This morning, my brother Anthony & I observed the partial solar eclipse with our eclipse glasses. The horns of the sun poked trough the horizon first & the sun looked like a crescent moon. The moon was 72% covered at maximum for us. Before sunrise, we also saw an impressive sun pillar.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-inch other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Jun 7 14:00:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2263

This morning, I observed sunspot group AR2829 with my solar telescope. There are now two fairly prominent spots in this group & they seem to be growing slowly. They are now just past the sun's face.

This morning, I observed the sun with my solar telescope. Sunspot AR2827 is close to rotating off the sun's face while dimmer sunspot AR2829 will soon reach the center of the sun's face. The sun is getting busy.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other   Location: Westport, Connecticut, United States
Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Mon May 24 14:30:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2258

This morning, I observed the sun with my solar telescope. Sunspot # AR2822 looks really black now & it is shooting a lot of CMEs towards Earth. We'll see if we get some auroral action.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Sat Jun 6 15:30:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2159

This morning, I observed the sun with my Sun Spotter Solar Telescope. Sunspot # AR 2765 is now on the face of the sun. When I look at it directly, I see a single sunspot but when I photograph it & enlarge the image, I can see two smaller spots with facula. I'm looking forward to tracking it across the sun's face.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Sat Jun 6 15:30:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2158

This morning, I observed the sun with my Sun Spotter Solar Telescope. Sunspot # AR 2765 is now on the face of the sun. When I look at it directly, I see a single sunspot but when I photograph it & enlarge the image, I can see two smaller spots with facula. I'm looking forward to tracking it across the sun's face.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Transparency: fair
Time: Thu Jun 21 15:00:00 2018 UT   Obs. no.: 2060

Finally, I am able to see sunspots on the sun with my Sunspooter Solar Telescope. AR2715 is two sunspots together that seem to be growing. It's almost at the center of the sun's face now. AR2713 is two more sunspots getting ready to rotate off the sun's face. The sun is fairly active now.

Meteor (Meteor, est. mag 0.0, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Dec 14 03:15:00 2012 UT   Obs. no.: 1887

On Thursday evening, I watched the Geminid Meteor Shower for thirty minutes. I counted five meteors, the brightest being around 0 magnitude & bright yellow. Ultimately, the cold weather forced me back inside.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Seeing: good
Time: Wed Jun 6 01:30:00 2012 UT Obs. no.: 1881

This evening, my friends Dave, Joey, Mike, Cindy, Janice & I observed the Venus Transit with my Sunspotter Solar Telescope. The overcast we had all day finally broke up & we all had a glorious view of the Venus Transit. We all noticed a white halo surrounding Venus which may or may not have been Venus' atmosphere. A big bonus was the sun containing about four sunspot groupings which alone was very impressive. We were all very impressed.

Moon (Moon, est. mag -12.2, est. to be in Gemini, Est. RaDec @zenith)
Observer: Anish Mangal (e-mail: anishmangal2002@gmail.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India
Light pollution: severe   Transparency: poor   Seeing: poor
Time: Thu Dec 31 19:20:00 2009 UT   Obs. no.: 1842

Just observed the partial lunar eclipse under absolutely horrible seeing conditions (only the Moon and 5 stars visible) with my 8 inch Dob. The umbra was 3/4th of the way up-to Tycho from the limb and the penumbra stretched a little beyond it (covering the southern highlands).

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jul 7 13:00:00 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1826

This morning I observed the sun with my Sun Spotter Solar Telescope. A new sunspot group #1024 is now easily seen on the sun. In my scope I was able to see one large sunspot and one sunspot about half the size. This it the first sunspot I have observed this year. This sunspot group doesn't seem powerful enough to send out a CME which would cause auroras. We'll see.

Moon (Moon, est. mag -4, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Wed May 7 00:00:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1780

This evening after playing bocce ball with my friends, we observed the slender crescent moon. It was a little sliver of a moon but what surprised me is there wasn't to much earthshine to the moon. Maybe tomorrow evening there will be more earthshine.

Mars (Planet, est. mag .3, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: Milford, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Apr 16 00:30:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1776

This evening, my friend Steve Borer and I observed two naked eye triangles in the night sky. The first triangle involved Mars being at the point of the triangle along with the stars Castor and Pollux. As impressive as this naked eye triangle was, another more impressive one appeared right above our heads. This one involved the gibbous moon as the point of the triangle along with Saturn and Regulus. These two sights were quite impressive.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.3, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Wed Jan 9 23:15:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1750

This evening I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. Mars is now starting to become slightly waning gibbous. The two areas I observed were Mare Australe and the Tharsis region. These two areas were very easy to see. I didn't see much of the north polar region this time so I still don't know if the polar hood has desolved.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.57, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Dec 30 00:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1748

This evening I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The martian features I viewed tonight were Mare Chromium, Mare Cimmerium and Mare Sirenum. I think the north polar ice cap may be peeking out from under the north polar hood. It's really hard to tell but I'll try to observe Mars on the next clear night. Also limb haze is quite pronounced on one side of Mars. When you look at Mars, Beetelgeuse and Aldebaran you will see what some astronomers refer to as the orange triangle. Beetelgeuse is the point of the triangle with Mars on its left and Aldebaran on its right. It's worth seeing.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.5, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Dec 26 00:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1747

After stuffing myself for Christmas I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The two main martian features were Mare Chronium and Mare Cimmerium. I was able to see a cloud in the area of Eridania. It was quite obvious. The north polar hood is still blocking our view of the polar ice cap. There was considerable limb haze on both the evening and morning sides of Mars.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.54, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Dec 18 00:30:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1745

This evening I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. This time Mars featured Syrtis Major on the earth facing side of Mars. Unlike last month I was not able to see the blue clearing in Syrtis Major. The Hellas Basin was also in view but this month I saw no clouds in Hellas. Last month I saw a big cloud in Hellas. Other features I observed on Mars were Sinus Sebaeus, Mare Serpentis, Iapygia and Mare Tyrrhenum. The north polar hood was very difficult to see and I also did not see any limb haze this time around. Earlier, I observed an earth grazing Geminid meteor that slowly traveled from horizon to horizon. It was about second magnitude, yellow in color and it lasted about four seconds.

Last evening I observed mars with my 127mm MAK. This time Sinus Sebaeus was the area facing my scope. The limb haze still seems to be on one side and the north polar hood continues to be white in color. I noticed during Mars' last three close encounters the NPH has been rather slow to lift. I believe this indicates Mars may also be experiancing global warming. I also noticed the southern ice cap melts faster and virtually disappears. This was not the case years ago when I observed Mars. Now here is food for thought. The last time I observed Jupiter's little red spot it occured to me that the reason it formed is because Jupiter is also warming up. Storms form as a result of warming temperatures thus the formation of the LRS. Could it be because the sun is changing???

Mars (Planet, est. mag -1, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: excellent
Time: Fri Dec 7 02:15:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1742

This evening my brother Anthony and I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. The seeing was stupendous when we put the scope on Mars. We could clearly see and identify the dark areas of Mars. In the southern hemishere we were able to identify Mare Australe, Mare Erythraeum, Aurorae Sinus, Mararitifer Sinus and Oxia Patus. In the northern hemishere we had a clear view of Niliacus Lacus. The north polar hood now looks completely white after many months of being blue. We also had a great view of the limb haze. I can't remember when I saw Mars this clearly. We also took advantage of the great seeing to observe M42 The Orion Nebula. M42 really stood out and and we were able to see some very fine tendrils. The whole nebula had a greenish tinge to it. We then got my night vision scope in order to observe Comet 17P/Holmes. This scope is only 1.5X but it shows the comet as almost a tear drop shape. A night vision scope is a great second instrument to have in a backyard observatory. Later this month another comet will gace our skies at about 5th magnitude and I will have my night vision scope all ready for it also.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -.8, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Thu Nov 8 04:15:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1734

This evening I observed Mars with my 127mm MAK. As Joe Caggiano said in his latest post Mars' features are now appearing better. While I was observing Syrtis Major I suddenly saw it become a blue color. This means I was able to see the famous blue clearing of Mars in Syrtis Major. Joe also mentioned the north polar region as both the polar hood and ice cap. Thats the impression I get also. I think the polar hood may be dissapating very slowly which is allowing the ice cap to slowly emerge into view. Earlier in the evening my brother Anthony and I observed Comet 17P/Holmes with my 10X50 binoculars. As the comet grows in size the color of it seems to have changed from pale green about two weeks ago to pale blue now. I am in my glory observing Mars and the comet.

Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.76, est. to be in Gemini)
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: excellent
Time: Wed Nov 7 07:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1733

Viewed Mars last night with a new 5x Apo barlow for some incredible views. Starting around 11:00 PM there was nothing more to see than a bright orange blob. Every hour the night wore on the image became exceedingly better. By 2:00 AM I could clearly see 2 major land masses as well as the polar cap and hood. Visually, I used a 40mm and a 25mm ep with the 5x barlow for 150x and 240x respectively. Using the camera, I was easily over 500x. I have posted pics on my website.

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