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Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -3, est. to be in Lyra)
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: Fri Jul 16 01:32:00 2021 UT Obs. no.: 2275
This evening, my brother Anthony & I watched the ISS pass directly over our heads. We were able to easily see the "wings" as it passed over. A very nice sight.
NGC6791 (Open Cluster, in Lyra)
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: Sun Jun 6 02:30:00 2021 UT Obs. no.: 2261
This evening, I observed two open clusters in Lyra, NGC 6743 & NGC 6791 with my 5.1" short tube Newtonian. Both clusters had quite a bit of stars were in each cluster. This cluster is well worth seeing. I also viewed the Chinese space station also.
NGC6791 (Open Cluster, in Lyra)
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: Tue Jul 21 01:30:00 2020 UT Obs. no.: 2177
This evening, I observed the open cluster NGC 6791 in Lyra. It looked like a broad cluster of plenty of stars. My wide field scope showed it beautifully.
Other (Other, est. to be in Lyra)
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: Sat Jun 13 01:30:00 2020 UT Obs. no.: 2161
For the last three evenings, I have been observing the area of the Summer Triangle with my Newtonian telescope & my 10X50 binoculars. For the first time I split Zeta Lyrae with my binoculars. I never realized it was a double star until I just read it. I also scanned my telescope in the Milky Way & saw several double stars within the milky Way band. The Coat Hanger Asterism is really something to see in a low power eyepiece of a telescope.
Satellite (Satellite, est. mag 2, est. to be in Lyra)
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: Wed Jul 17 01:00:00 2019 UT Obs. no.: 2112
This evening I viewed a satellite moving from north to south. You don't see that very often.
Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -3, est. to be in Lyra)
Observer: Mark D. Schneider (e-mail: markd_s@yahoo.com)
Instrument: naked eye Location: Garden Grove, California, United States of America
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Jul 28 03:45:30 2016 UT Obs. no.: 1977
Another good ISS Pass from Southwest to Northeast passing Vega.
Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -8, est. to be in Lyra)
Observer: Mark D. Schneider (e-mail: markd_s@yahoo.com)
Instrument: naked eye Location: Orange, California, United States of America
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jul 22 04:17:00 2014 UT Obs. no.: 1929
went out East to the closed White Tortilla Kitchen and was on the centerline(?) to see an Iridium 50 flare.
Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -5, est. to be in Lyra)
Observer: Mark D. Schneider (e-mail: markd_s@yahoo.com)
Instrument: naked eye Location: Garden Grove, California, United States of America
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Jun 25 04:37:46 2014 UT Obs. no.: 1922
Iridium 35 flare near Vega.
Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -8, est. to be in Lyra)
Observer: Mark D. Schneider (e-mail: markd_s@yahoo.com)
Instrument: naked eye Location: Garden Grove, California, United States of America
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Jun 20 04:58:46 2014 UT Obs. no.: 1919
Iridium 96 flare below Vega toward the East.
Epsilon Lyr (Multiple Star, in Lyra)
Observer: Richard Pattie (e-mail: exmedia123@gmail.com)
Instrument: 5-inch other Location: Laguna Beach, California, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Sep 30 01:34:00 2013 UT Obs. no.: 1894
I am new to viewing doubles and still fairly new to amateur astronomy. After reading other accounts of viewing Eps Lyr my report might stretch credulity, but I swear this was just the way it happened. I live in a heavily light-polluted area, but the air was uncommonly still that night. Using an Orion 5" mak-cass on an SE 6/8 mount, I went to Epsilon Lyrae 1, a double star I had not seen before. I was using a good 13mm eyepiece and, because the air was so stable, it looked like each individual star might also be a double! Added a Barlow, and at 6.5mm was able to confirm my suspicion. This should have been the absolute magnification limit, but I was on a roll, so I swapped in an ES 4.7mm ep and was rewarded with four perfectly still, perfectly round stars with a single diffraction ring around each, the fabled Airy disk. That was at 328x with my little 5" scope! I may never see these exact conditions again, so thought I'd report it. I did look it up afterward, and Epsilon Lyrae 1 is also called the "double-double." Incredibly, the two systems orbit each other. The separations are 2.2" and 2.4" respectively, which confirms that the resolution in my area was extraordinarily good.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: lawrence (e-mail: noreply@gmail.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: east bay, ca, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Jul 21 06:05:20 2012 UT Obs. no.: 1882
Appeared as a glowing smudged ball at 45X. Could see the central hole with averted vision. Could not see easily the small spiral galaxy to the left and slightly below the nebula. This galaxy is magnitude 14.8 or so. Try for it at Dark Sky sight
Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -3.5, est. to be in Lyra)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: excellent
Time: Thu Sep 10 00:08:23 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1833
This evening I observered the Space Shuttle followed by the ISS go over my head. The ISS was the brighter of the two satellites but for about five seconds the Space Shuttle brightened to about -3.5 magnitude or brighter. That was a great sight and I'm glad I saw it.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: Tom Greensmith (e-mail: tgreensmith28@hotmail.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: London, Hertfordshire, England
Light pollution: severe Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Sep 22 22:20:00 2008 UT Obs. no.: 1799
Nice, on lowest power an obvious ring, looks like an unfocussed star, whacked in the 9mm eyepiece and it was hard to distinguish much detail in the inner portion of the ring, no colour really visible, but still impressive.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
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: Sun Aug 12 06:10:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1695
Beautifully visible at 48x with a slight elongation along one of its axes. With averted vision I actually caught the parent star once in a while.
Other (Other, est. mag 5, est. to be in Lyra)
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 May 30 13:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1661
This evening I observed the double double in Lyra with my 127mm MAK. I was able to split both componants of the double double at 123X with a little difficulty. Each of the individual stars showed itself clearly.
Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -1.8, est. to be in Lyra)
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: Tue Dec 19 23:03:39 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1603
This evening, just 58 Minutes after the Space Shuttle and ISS seperated, both componants came over my head in Southern Connecticut. With the naked eye, both objects were so close, I couldn't seperate them. But in my 10X50 binoculars, I was able to seperate them easily. The fainter Space Shuttle was just below the rear of the brighter ISS. It was like having a double star crossing the sky.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 16-inch equatorial reflector Location: New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Nov 3 01:30:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1578
This evening, my friends, Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I went to the Yale Observatory for a public viewing session. Since the moon was waxing gibbous, most our observing was the moon. However, we did observe the double star Alberio with the 8 inch refractor and the Ring Nebula with the 16 inch reflector. Alberio has the main componant which is a golden colored and a smaller componant which is blue colored. The contrast in the colors was great to see. To observe the Ring Nebula, we attached an OIII filter onto the scope's eyepiece. This helped bring structure to M57 and it showed the Ring Nebula as a soft bluegreen color. All in all, it was a fine evening.
M56 (Globular Cluster, in Lyra)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Jun 14 03:11:30 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1541
Another night of turbulent atmosphere that turned Jupiter into mush made me decide to try and find something new to look at. The Cygnus region of the Galxy was rising in the East and was a pretty good way up above the horizon. I started with the Ring Nebula but the glow from that horizon pretty much drowned it out. working my way further east I spotted the globular cluster M56. At 30x it was very small (one of the smallest globulars I have seen) and was not too well resolved. It is rather distant at 33,ooo light years and has a visiual brightness of 8.3 magnitude, but with the conditions I was facing, light pollution, high level wispy clouds ect...it was probably just withing my scopes range. It is also rather small at 8.8 arcminutes diameter. I had mixed feelings about it. DIsappointment at it's lack lusterness yet proud that I found it in such lousy conditions. I will view again later on this year when it is higher in the sky.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: Vedran Vrhovac (e-mail: vedran_vrhovac@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Velika Gorica, Croatia
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Mon Jul 25 22:30:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1270
I tried to find M57 with 3" scope and I failed. In 8" it was bright and larger than i thought at 38x. At 133x it looked like eye with brighter edge.
Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -8, est. to be in Lyra)
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 Jun 15 02:09:37 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1248
Last night, my friends Joe Cseh, Mike Dzubaty and I observed the brightest irridium flare we've ever seen. Its magnitude was -8 and it actually caused some minor discomfort to our eyes. I've seen many irridium flares, but none of them were ever this bright.
Meteor (Meteor, est. mag 3.0, est. to be in Lyra)
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 Apr 22 03:30:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1221
Last evening, my friends Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I observed the Lyrid meteor shower for about two hours. Because of a bright moon, we were able to see only ten meteors. All of the meteors were faint and fast moving. Only one of the meteors was fairly bright.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: Emil Neata (e-mail: forvert2000@yahoo.com, web: http://www.astroclubul.org/emilneata)
Instrument: 60-mm refractor Location: Craiova, Romania
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jan 25 00:00:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1169
M 57 is very difficult with a 60mm refractor. At 36x it is easily mistook for a star. The central hole is visible only with averted vision, very difficult.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Nov 10 00:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1090
This night was very crisp and cold. Thanks to Daylight Savings ending, it was extremely dark by 6:30 PM. There was little wind and the seeing was just about as good as I have seen it. After allowing 30 minutes or so for the scope to cool down, I viewed M57. The Ring was beautiful! On previous observations, I could not use power beyond 75x due to either wind or seeing conditions. Tonight's viewing held steady at over 200x! The view was the best I had ever seen of the Ring. The hollow center was not only easily visible w/ direct vision...it was also very large. The elliptical shape was even easier to spot tonight than other nights when viewing with 75x. A truly wonderous sight that I will return to again and again.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra, Est. RaDec zenith)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Oct 6 02:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1069
Tried to recap yesterday's excellent viewing oppurtunity tonight. Unfortunately, there was severe light pollution, zodiac perhaps. Spotted the nebula once again at 30x. Afterwards I switched to 75x and once again made out the shell and hollow center. There was considerable wind tonight, and it was alittle difficult to keep the image "jitter free" for more than 4 seconds at a time. I tried employing my 2-3x Barlow with the 25mm eyepiece (30x). Adjusting the Barlow to 3x for a total of 90x, the image lost structure to the light pollution as well as the bouncing from the wind. Went back to 75x and viewed for about 5 minutes before packing it in, Also viewed M31 (see M31 observations). Rather dissapointed tonight with the conditions, but so far I have had a couple of excellent days this week.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Oct 5 02:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1068
Tonight's viewing was even better than last night's. The sky was exceptionally clear and there was little, if any, atmospheric turbulance. I was viewing straight up towards the zenith. My target was M13 in Hercules and M57 in Lyra. Hercules was found in a matter of minutes. At 30x it was about dime-sized in my eyepiece. I could make out a few more stars tonight than I did the previous weeks. Looking around the eyepiece I could actually pick up a few, if ever so dim, stars on the outskirts of the cluster. After seeing as many individual stars as I could I moved on to M57 in Lyra. The view of M57 was magnificent! Spotting it at 30x, the small circular ring appeared unusually bright. However it was hard picking out the hollow middle at this magnification. Changing my eyepiece to my 20mm was also not allowing me enough power to make out the nebula. Again, I changed to my 10mm (75x) eyepiece. The view was perfect! Appearing as a smoke ring about dime-sized, I could clearly see the hollow middle. I could even make out that it was ever so slightly elongated. I tried my 3.7mm eyepiece but all detail was completely lost as a very faint smudge. I went back to the 10mm and marveled at the sight for another 15 minutes. It was one of the few objects I have seen (besides planets and the Orion nebula) that actually looked alot like what is shown in magazines. All that was missing was the parent star (a 15" scope is needed to see that). Truly a beautiful object that I will visit again (when it's alittle further from the zenith)
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