Observations made in the constellation Taurus

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Observations made in the constellation Taurus:

Satellite (Satellite, est. mag .97, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 10X50-inch binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Nov 19 09:03:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2312

Early this morning, my brother Anthony & I observed the almost total lunar eclipse. 97% of the moon was covered & it took on a deep red color. On the Danjon Scale the eclipse brightness was L=2, using my binoculars. It was a great eclipse.

M45 (Pleiades) (Open Cluster, in Taurus)
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 Nov 9 00:00:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2309

On Monday evening, my brother Anthony & I did some observing with our 5" MAK. For our first time, we observed IC 405, the Flaming Star Nebula. It was quite an impressive sight. After viewing the nebula around the Pleaides, we viewed several tight double stars in the Hyades Open Cluster. They were difficult to split but they were worth the effort. The big highlight for us was observing some star forming regions in both M31 & M33. That was some sight. Finally, we enjoyed Venus, The Moon, Saturn & Jupiter strung out across the sky.

NGC1435 (Bright Nebula, in Taurus)
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: Fri Oct 29 01:30:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2306

This evening, I observed The Pleiades with my short tube reflector. Around The star Merope is nebula NGC 1435 which was very easy to see. Around the star Maia, was the nebula NGC 1432 which is also very easy to see. It was a good night to view the nebula in the Pleiades.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Wed May 19 15:40:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2256

This morning I observed a new sunspot that just rotated on the face of the sun. AR2824 is a fairly large sunspot with a lot of facula around it. It will be worth watching for the next week.

Yesterday & today, I've been observing three sunspot groups on the face of the sun. AR2018, 2020 & 2021 actually look like one huge sunspot group together rather than three separate groups. I do believe this is really one mega group of sunspots.

This morning I observed the sun with my Sunspotter Solar Scope. AR2818 seams to be growing rapidly & shows three big sunspots in the group. There is plenty of facula surrounding the sunspots.

Satellite (Satellite, est. mag -3, est. to be in Taurus)
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: Wed Mar 17 03:40:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2238

3rd opportunity to observe the ISS in 2021 from SW and then it passed very close to Mars before entering the Earth's shadow near Capella.

M45 (Pleiades) (Open Cluster, in Taurus)
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 Feb 26 00:00:00 2021 UT   Obs. no.: 2231

Tonight I observed the beginning of Mars' approach to The Pleiades which will continue until March 9th. The blue stars of The Pleiades contrasts nicely with the orange color of Mars. Just to the left, Was the orange star Aldebaran with the Hyades open cluster. One more note, was Mars looked slightly more orange than Aldebaran.

1st ISS sighting from SW to Gemini in 2021 and the weather is still nice in Winter. Also, it passed VERY close to Aldebaran!

Alpha Tau (Aldebaran) (Multiple Star, in Taurus)
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: Sat Oct 10 03:55:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2206

Last evening I compared the colors of Aldebaran & Mars with my naked eyes & 10X50 Binoculars. To my surprise, Aldebaran looked red it its color while Mars looked orange. the difference was very obvious.

M45 (Pleiades) (Open Cluster, in Taurus)
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 Sep 20 03:45:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2194

Last night, I observed the Pleiades with my 5.1 rich field reflector.I was able to see the principal stars in my field of view, the same way I see it in my binoculars. However, the difference with my telescope was I was seeing many fainter stars in within the cluster also. I also observed Myra which now is at its brightest. I compared Myra's orange color with Mars' orange color in my 10X50 binoculars. Mars' orange color was more intense than Myra's because Mars is now much brighter than Myra. What a night!

Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.7, est. to be in Taurus)
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 08:30:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2178

This morning before Dawn, I observed Venus & Mars with my 5.1 Short Tube Newtonian. I am still able to see Mars' shrinking ice cap & the red areas of the planet. On Venus, I was able to see dark areas embedded in Venus' cloud bank. With Venus being near the Hyades, I also got to enjoy that view.

Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.9, est. to be in Taurus)
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 Apr 29 00:15:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2148

This evening, I observed the crescent of Venus with my 10X50 binoculars. Venus' crescent shape was very easy to see with my binoculars. Also, Venus was at its brightest tonight.

This evening, my brother Anthony & I observed the close gathering of Venus & The Pleiades open cluster. In two days Venus will be will be inside the edge of the cluster & I also hope to see it then. In my 10X50 binoculars, the cluster & Venus looked beautiful. To the upper left, Aldebaran & The Hyades joined them. I also checked out Betelgeuse & I could see it brightened some more which I estimate to be 1.2 Magnitude. I also looked at the Orion Nebula. The grand finale was the passage of the ISS.

Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.9, est. to be in Taurus)
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: Sun Mar 22 00:13:00 2020 UT   Obs. no.: 2139

This evening, I observed the very close encounter between the planet Venus & the ISS. When they were less than half a degree apart, I decided to make brightness estimates of both Venus & the ISS. I was shocked to see the ISS looks about half as bright as Venus does, possibly less than half as bright. I knew Venus would be brighter but I was surprised as to how much Venus was brighter than the ISS.

After midnight last night, I observed the Pleaides & Hyades open clusters. I also observed two asterisms that lie between the two open clusters. In both open clusters, I decided to observe the many double stars with my 10X50 binoculars. I was amazed at all the double stars are within these two clusters. Just above the Hyades, are two asterisms with four or five stars in them. One was brighter than the other. I then retired for the night after enjoying my night of viewing.

This evening, I observed four M objects with my 10X50 binoculars. The first objects I observed was M8 & M21 in Sagittarius. M8 is a really great nebula with a group of stars right next to it while M21 is an open star cluster. In Andromeda, M31, The Andromeda Galaxy, only showed its bright inner core for me. The grand finale, was M45, The Pleiades, which showed its blue stars beautifully. It was another great night of viewing!

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Time: Sat May 11 05:07:00 2019 UT Obs. no.: 2104

This morning, I observed the sun with my Sunspotter Solar Telescope. One of the sunspots, #2740, is decaying & hard to see in my scope. The other spot, #2741, is very large with facula around it. With bad weather coming, I won't be able to observe the sun for awhile.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Time: Wed May 8 15:00:00 2019 UT Obs. no.: 2103

This morning I observed sunspots #2740 & 2741 on the face of the sun. Both spots are still large & both of them are surrounded by facula. It's nice to see the sun have spots on it.

Sun (Sun, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 62-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Time: Mon May 6 15:00:00 2019 UT Obs. no.: 2102

This morning, I was able to watch the return of old sunspot 2738 which is now renamed 2740. It still looks the same as before with one black sunspot & facula around it. There is another sunspot, # 2741, which should rotate onto the sun's face tomorrow or the day after.

This evening I observed a small cluster of stars that was just above the Hyades & below the Pleiades. I counted six stars in this cluster as I viewed it in my 10X50 binoculars.

On the early morning of 10/18, I viewed both the Pleiades & the Hyeades with my binoculars. The sky was clear & stars in both open clusters really jumped out at me. The head of Orion then started to peak over the trees & with my binoculars, I was able to see a grouping of stars of Orion's head. It was a very good night of observing.

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