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M30 (Globular Cluster, in Capricornus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 18-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Milford, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Oct 13 00:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1718
This evening my friends Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I joined other members of the Astronomical Society of New Haven for a public star party in Silver Sands State Park in Milford Ct. Most of our observing involved looking at Globular clusters. We started first by observing M15 in Pegasus. This globular was rather large but individual stars were not easy to see. In Hercules we observed the two good old standbys M13 and M92. In each case many individual stars were easily resolved. That's what makes these two globular clusters so great. We also observed M30 in Capricornus. This globular cluster was small yet interesting. I was able to see two trails of stars leading out from the globular cluster. In Andromeda we observed galaxies M31 and M32. We were able to see the dust lane cutting through the galaxy while M32 showed itself very well. In Lyra we visited M57 The Ring Nebula. One view of this and we were all craving a donut. It was very sharp and clear. Finally we turned the small rich field telescope onto M45 The Pleiades Open Cluster. These Stars are as blue as they can be. What beauty. While we were observing about three or four slow moving Dracanoid Meteors went across the sky. One of them was very bright and it ended with a bright flash. Once again we had a successful night of observing.
Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.6, est. to be in Capricornus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: severe Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 3 22:45:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1425
This evening, my friends, Mike Dzubzty, his son Mike, Steve Borer and I braved wind chill readings of -850 degrees so we could observe both Venus and Mars. Venus is now about a 33% lit crescent. It looked like we were able to see some ashen light on the dark side of Venus. Venus looked like a miniature crescent moon with earthshine. This was only the second time out of many years of observing Venus that I was able to see the ashen light of Venus. Mars is now in a gibbous phase and is shrinking rapidly also. We were able to still see many dark areas on Mars but we were not able to see any weather features such as limb haze or the north polar hood.
M30 (Globular Cluster, in Capricornus)
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: good Seeing: good
Time: Sat Nov 19 19:46:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1407
A fairly bright globular cluster gave a mottled view through my telescope. It is located very close to a star.
M30 (Globular Cluster, in Capricornus)
Observer: Akarsh Simha (e-mail: akarsh_simha@fastmail.fm)
Instrument: 8-inch equatorial reflector Location: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Wed Sep 21 15:45:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1333
Very prominent and comparatively bright globular cluster. Fairly large. Central brightness and surrounding haze are clear. Beautiful, but like any other globular. I expected a very faint, practically invisible globular cluster, but was astonished to see this beautiful sight.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.2, est. to be in Capricornus)
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: good
Time: Sat Jul 5 06:50:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 827
This morning, I was able to observe Mars at 200X. The hazy sky allowed for some very steady skies. The dust storm on Mars continues. So far, I can see land features on Mars fairly well. This storm does not seem to be nearly as bad as the dust storm of Two years ago. According to other ALPO observers, the dust storm started in the Hellas basin. Right now, Mars looks yellow to the naked eye. This means the dust is fairly wide spread. I still have hopes the dust storm will fade away fairly soon. The dust has not affected the view of the south polar cap and the limb haze remains in view.Mars is still about 95% gibbous.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -1.4, est. to be in Capricornus)
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: Wed Jul 2 06:30:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 826
This morning, I observed Mars at 133X. Today the martian land features were very fuzzy looking. It appears that dust is getting into the martian atmosphere. Many other ALPO members are reporting the same thing. If a global dust storm does form, it will probably last a couple of months. We must all start chanting Dust dust go away. Come again some other day. So far the south polar cap is still standing out clearly, although the slow shrinking is continuing.
Neptune (Planet, est. mag 7.8, est. to be in Capricornus)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu, web: http://www.ezonline.com/ash/obs.htm)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: poor Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Jul 26 06:10:00 1999 UT Obs. no.: 466
After the end of the weekly Sunday night public observing session at the Naylor Observatory I spent some time observing with a new ASH member by the name of Joe Rossi. Our choice of objects was limited by the bright moonlight from a 12-13 day old moon. After viewing the moon at 249 and 324x Joe wanted to see Uranus and Neptune. Using the RASC finder charts in the RASC Observer's Handbook I located Uranus in short order and we inspected the bluish orb at 144, 249, and 324x. Neptune took a bit longer to find but eventually we were able to see this planet's small disk at the same magnifications that we used on Uranus. Neptune was to reach opposition in a few hours (10:00 UT) when it would shine at magnitude 7.8 and have an apparent size of 2.3". We ended the night by observing the excellent binary star gamma Andromedae, M32, M31, and Jupiter.
Uranus (Planet, est. to be in Capricornus)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 51-cm equatorial reflector Location: Harrisburg, Pa, U.S.A.
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sat Aug 30 04:00:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 219
I was able to see 2 of the moons of Uranus for the first time! At magnifications of 302 and 499x the moons appeared as very faint points of light.
Jupiter (Planet, est. to be in Capricornus)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 51-cm equatorial reflector Location: Harrisburg, Pa, U.S.A.
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Jul 13 08:10:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 213
The high clouds that prevented any serious observing eventually cleared early Sunday morning. After doing some casual deep-sky observing and locating Uranus and Neptune we turned our gaze to Saturn and Jupiter. The seeing was fantastic and I saw more detail than ever before. At 317x two small red spots straddled the central meridian of the NEB. A shadow transit was underway and the image of the shadow was so well defined that it appeared that someone had shot a whole through the planet. We pushed the magnification up to 500x and the image was still acceptable!
Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.7, est. to be in Capricornus, Est. RaDec 2134-1521)
Observer: Lew Gramer 77 Magoun Ave. Medford, MA 02155 (e-mail: dedalus@latrade.com, web: http://www.tiac.net/users/lewkaren)
Instrument: 20-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Savoy, MA, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Sun Jul 6 08:06:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 216
Central Meridian assumed to be 229o (System I).Yellow (#K2) filter used for all observations, except color estimates, which were clear-eyepiece.At 630x: NEB ochre-reddish, twice as wide as SEB - which appears SINGLE and reddish-brown. EB visible across entire disk, and is darkest near W limb (longitude 150o in System I). A disturbance is apparent in NEB, about 1/3 of way from meridian to W limb (200o). NPR at this high power is hazy, and shows no detail! SPR however is very distinct and brownish, with a hint of orange mottling.At 420x: STB separates itself visually from SPR intermittently, especially at the meridian (230o). NTB and NNTB are now distinct from the NPR haze. NTB clear, about 1/3 of the width noted for NEB. NNTB only intermittent, and about 1/2 width of NTB (or 1/6 width of NEB). Dark BROWN spot just S of STB, 1/3 of way from meridian to E limb (260o). Dark and light orange mottling apparent on W limb (140 to 160o), BOTH N of NNTB and between NNTB and NTB. Disturbance also apparent from STB Nward to the equator, 1/4 to 1/3 of way from meridian to W limb (210o to 200o). Nearby Io to E looked BRIGHT yellow, even without the K5 filter!
Jupiter (Planet, est. to be in Capricornus)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch other Location: Harrisburg, Pa, U.S.A.
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Jun 30 05:35:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 173
I witnessed a mutual event of the Jovian satellites (see page 78 of the June Sky &Telescope), namely the eclipse of Europa by Callisto early Monday morning. Some 45 minutes or so earlier I noticed the shadow transit of Callisto that was well under way when I observed Jupiter at 249x. Eventually, Callisto's shadow took a bite out of Jupiter's western limb and headed into space towards Europa, the first of 3 moons on the western side of the planet. At 05:35 UT Europa began to dim to 55% of its usual magnitude (a decrease of over 0.7 magnitude). The eclipse was over by 05:44 UT. Ten minutes later Europa disappeared completely when it entered Jupiter's shadow! What a fascinating sequence of events to behold.
Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.5, est. to be in Capricornus)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch other Location: Harrisburg, Pa, U.S.A.
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sun Jun 15 09:00:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 151
I observed the Great Red Spot, or should I say the Great Pink Spot, on the central meridian of Jupiter at approximately 09:00 UT. The seeing was better than average and a fair amount of detail was present in the cloud bands. Two of the Jovian satellites presented an interesting sight when they superimposed each other about 18 minutes earlier. Observations were conducted at 381 and 405x.
Jupiter (Planet, est. to be in Capricornus)
Observer: John Callender (e-mail: jbc@west.net, web: http://www.west.net/~jbc/)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Carpinteria, CA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: poor
Time: Wed Mar 5 13:50:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 95
After observing comet Hale-Bopp, and doing a quick sight-seeing tour of the waning crescent moon low in the brightening E sky, I noticed a bright object under the moon, about 20 degrees up, and said, hey, Jupiter! Observing it in the 8-inch, the seeing was predictably poor, but I was able to see the two dark equatorial belts, as well as the Galilean moons; Io and Callisto close together W of the planet, Ganymede just off the W limb, and Europa to the E.
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