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Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.2, est. to be in Cancer)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: poor Seeing: excellent
Time: Fri Apr 25 01:47:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 806
I spent about two hours at the ASH Naylor Observatory (http://www.astrohbg.org) last night. The transparency was poor, with high clouds covering a good portion of the sky, but the seeing was very good indeed. Using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain I had a fine view of the Great Red Spot transit of the central meridian. The atmosphere was steady enough that I was able to use magnifications as high as 404x (16mm Brandon). Other magnifications employed were 162 (40mm University Optics MK-70), 202 (32mm U.O. Koenig-II), 216 (28mm Edmund Scientific RKE), 259 (25mm U.O. MK-70), and 381x (17mm Pro-Optic Ploessl). The GRS crossed the CM at 9:47 p.m. EDT (1:47 4/25 UT). A dark barge in the North Equatorial Belt followed about half an hour later.Since the early night had not lived up to the forecasts, I didn't look at very much else but I did spend some time viewing Saturn (162 and 216x), Jupiter and M44 through the 5" f/5 finder scope, a few binary and multiple stars, and M67 (162x). I also witnessed a fairly bright flare low in the northeast at 10:48 p.m. (2:28 UT) from Iridium 80.
Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.3, est. to be in Cancer)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Thu Apr 3 03:33:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 799
A number of Astronomical Society of Harrisburg members who gatheredat the Naylor Observatory (http://www.astrohbg.org) were treated to some extremely steady seeing on a very pleasant Wednesday night, 2003/4/3 UT. Those present were Bob Pody, Rob Altenburg, Ted Nichols II, Dave Gaskill, and yours truly. Saturn had its moments through the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain even though it is slipping closer to the western horizon with each passing day. Viewing Jupiter (162, 202, 216, and 259x), however, was a revelation. The GRS transit of the CM at 3:33 UT was one of the best that I've ever seen. The feature dubbed the "eyebrow" that abuts the GRS was plainly evident as were a barge in the NEB and the disruption in the SEB trailing the GRS. I counted 13 cloud belts and bands. If only the new Stellacam EX that ASH recently purchased had been working properly! (We also missed taping a great pass of the ISS on Tuesday night because of the malfunction.)The GRS was clearly visible through ASH member Bob Pody's 60mmUnitron achromat and a 7mm Pentax orthoscopic. Before that I beheld M42, M37, and M35 through Bob's great little refractor. Naturally enough the 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Newtonian did a fine job onJove at 258x (8mm Brandon). A bit later Rob put asteroid 4 Vesta intoview using the 12.5". Earlier I saw the fine binary star Epsilon Monocerotis and the variable star R Leonis thanks to Rob. One of the many deep-sky objects (including NGC 2362, h3945, M42,M65, M66, and NGC 4565) that I observed with the 17" was thebrightest supernova of this year, 14th magnitude SN 2003cg in NGC3169 (162, 202, 216, and 259x). It looked pretty much the same as it did on Monday night. For more on this recently discoveredsubluminous type Ia exploding star see http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/The temperature in the French Dome was a balmy 66 degrees Fahrenheit at the end of the session, a far cry from Monday night's low of 29 degrees.
Jupiter (Planet, est. to be in Cancer)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, PA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: poor Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Mar 19 03:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 788
After the ASH advanced astronomy class had ended I watched Io's shadow transit using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at the ASH Naylor Observatory (see http://www.astrohbg.org/gallery/index.php?show=./visit/3b_17_inch.jpg&offset=0).The transparency varied from bad (mostly cloudy) to mediocre but the seeing was excellent. In fact, I was surprised at just how good it was. The shadow of Io was a sharply defined black spot that crept slowly along Jupiter's equator. I was able to push the magnification to as high as 404x (16mm Brandon) but 249x (26mm Tele Vue Ploessl) provided the best overall view. Other magnifications used were 162 (40mm University Optics MK-70), 202 (32mm U.O. Koenig-II), 216 (28mm Edmund Scientific RKE), 259 (25mm MK-70), and 381x (17mm Pro-Optic Ploessl). The size and brightness differences of the Galilean satellites were quite apparent.The shadow crossed the CM at approximately 3:40 UT. About 3 minutes prior to the end of Io's transit, which occurred at 4:01 UT, I could make out the shape of Io as it neared Jupiter's preceding limb. By 4:03 UT Io had pulled far enough away from Jupiter that I could see a gap. As the gap widened the fact that Io was casting its shadow on the cloud tops of its parent planet grew increasingly evident.
Jupiter (Planet, est. to be in Cancer)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 80-mm refractor Location: Harrisburg , PA, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Wed Dec 18 09:12:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 737
There was a mutual event of the Galilean satellites on this chilly Wednesday morning. From09:12 to 09:16 UT Ganymede partially occulted Io. Io was reduced to15% of its normal brightness.I watched as Ganymede and Io drew close, seemingly merged, and thenwent their separate ways through my Orion ShortTube 80 achromat at 57and 114x using a 7mm Tele Vue Nagler type 6 alone and with a 2xCelestron Ultima Barlow lens.I also briefly viewed the just past opposition Saturn and the nearlyfull moon at 114x.For more on this mutual events "season" see the article by Jean Meeus in the December "Sky & Telescope" and on the Sky & Telescope web site (http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/observing/objects/planets/article_774.asp). There is a similar article by Richard Talcott in the December issue of "Astronomy".
M44 (Praesepe) (Open Cluster, in Cancer)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Mar 17 00:30:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 623
M 44, the beehive open cluster contains many yellow stars. What amazed me, was the numerous double stas in the cluster.
M44 (Praesepe) (Open Cluster, in Cancer)
Observer: Patricio Greco (e-mail: patricio_greco@hotmail.com)
Instrument: 9.25-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector Location: San Miguel, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sun Jan 20 02:50:00 2002 UT Obs. no.: 773
Open Cluster , many stars , looks spread with a x50 Plossl objetive.
M44 (Praesepe) (Open Cluster, in Cancer)
Observer: Mike Pierce (e-mail: xtozaj@webtv.net)
Instrument: 90-mm refractor Location: Malone, Florida, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Fri Jan 15 03:30:00 1999 UT Obs. no.: 436
Tonight, the sky was jet black. I had some concerns on dew setting in on my binos and scope. I got my obs. before this became an issue. I observed M44 and it was awesome. I noted some 100+ stars in the field. Cancer is certainly one of the more obscure constellations, given the low magnitude stars that that make up this naked eye asterism. It is a fine open cluster.
NGC2683 (Galaxy, in Cancer, Est. RaDec 08h52.7m, +33d25')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Jan 8 01:25:00 1999 UT Obs. no.: 435
Taking advantage of a few hours of clear skies I observed a number of deep-sky objects and binary stars, as well as Jupiter and Saturn, from the ASH Naylor Observatory (http://www.msd.org/obs.htm). NGC 2683 is a surprisingly nice edge-on H400 spiral galaxy (magnitude 9.8, 8.4'x2.4') that is mentioned in the February 1999 Astronomy deep-sky article by Tom Polakis. It appeared as a fairly bright, cigar-like shape in the eastern sky. I also viewed NGC 2537, the Bear Claw Galaxy, which was also discussed in Tom's article. Unfortunately, I saw this unusual galaxy as only a dim, amorphous glow with averted vision. These observations were made at 118 and 202x.
M44 (Praesepe) (Open Cluster, in Cancer)
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: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sat Apr 18 07:00:00 1998 UT Obs. no.: 326
After losing my way in the treacherous reefs of the Virgo Cluster (and stetching my neck uncomfortably to reach the eyepiece with the telescope pointing near the zenith; I've got to get a proper observing chair, or at least a taller stool for those times), I looked about 45 degrees up in the West and saw the glow of Praesepe, like the loom of a lighthouse that leads to a safe harbor at journey's end. I swung the telescope down to it, and enjoyed the familiar beauty of the cluster's many sparkling doubles and triples.
M44 (Praesepe) (Open Cluster, in Cancer)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 12.5-inch equatorial reflector Location: Harrisburg, Pa, U.S.A.
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: poor
Time: Mon Apr 28 00:00:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 127
I used the large open cluster M44 to compare my new 19mm Tele Vue Panoptic (108x) to an old 20mm Meade Wide Angle (103x) using the ASH 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Newtonian. Despite the higher magnification the Panoptic had a larger field of view. Stars appeared as crisp points of light. There was no noticeable coma with the Panoptic while the Widefield exhibited a fair amount of coma at the edge of the field. M44 was too large to fit entirely into the Panoptic's f.o.v. I also observed Comet Hale-Bopp with the 12.5" at 108x and the ASH 17" f/15 at 118x. Using the 12.5" and a 9mm Nagler (229x) I viewed M3, the Leo Trio (M65, M66, and NGC 3628), and M104 before clouds ended my session.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 10.3, est. to be in Cancer, Est. RaDec 8h52mn +20)
Observer: Haldun "Hal" I. Menali (e-mail: halme@kocbank.com.tr, web: http://www.kocbank.com.tr)
Instrument: 41/4-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Saklkent, Antalya, Turkey
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Tue Apr 22 22:10:00 1997 UT Obs. no.: 126
That night we observed P/81 Wild 2 at Saklkent, a mountain ski resort area of 1900 meters altitude in Taurus mountains in southern Turkey. The site is 50 km away to nearest city and 7 km to the Turkish National Optical Observatory at 2485 meters altitude. Unfortunately the sky background was bright because of one-day-before-full Moon. Because of some air turbulence, the comet was just seen with averted vision and at high magnification. It shone shyly among the stars of Cancer and showed no further detail. We could detect its coma diameter as 1.5 arc minute with a DC of 2.
Moon (Moon, est. to be in Cancer)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Harrisburg, PA, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Fri Jan 21 04:04:00 2000 UT Obs. no.: 510
The few Astronomical Society of Harrisburg stalwarts who braved the snow, the icy roads, and the -20 degree Fahrenheit wind chill at the Naylor Observatory were treated to predominantly clear skies during the lunar eclipse on Thursday night,January 20th. We viewed the moon through binoculars as large as 20x80's, 3 refractors (80, 90, and 125mm), a 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Newtonian,and a 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain. An ENG truck from a local television station microwaved a live news report from the observatory.I was surprised by how dark the fully eclipsed moon was, perhaps a 2 on the Danjon Scale, as predictions called for a fairly bright eclipse. It was fairly easy to see M44 with the naked eye at totality. To the unaided eye the moon appeared to have a light copper hue. Telescopically, the moon's color varied fromscope to scope. I noted a faint pinkish brown coloration through the 12.5" Cave at 64x and a light yellow-orange shade through the 17"classical Cassegrain at 118x. Also noted was a differential brightening effect that other observers have reported.As the umbral shadow began its creep across the moon's western face I timed several crater crossings using the 17" at 118x. Later I watchedas Luna occulted a number of faint stars in Cancer.During the course of the eclipse I photographed the event through my Orion ShortTube 80 at prime focus and the ASH 125mm f/5 using eyepieceprojection with a 32mm Brandon ocular.
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