Observations made in the constellation Leo

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Observations made in the constellation Leo:

Moon (Moon, est. mag -5, est. to be in Leo)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: Milford, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Feb 21 03:01:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1763

This evening my friends Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer, Joe Cseh and Bob Masud observed the total lunar eclipse. At first the sky was partly to mostly cloudy as the eclipse entered its partial phase. The skies continued to clear as it moved toward totality. About 15 minutes before totality the right and upper parts of the moon showed a blue color. This was probably caused by ozone in the atmosphere. During totality the moon had a deep orange red glow with the central regions of the moon being dark. Using the Danjon scale I rated the eclipse as L= 2. Another thing we noticed was the penumbra was rather easy to spot. The penumbra began in the lower left hand part of the eclipse all of us saw it quite easily. Finally very cold temperatures forced us indoors and now we must wait until December 2010 for the next total lunar eclipse.

Saturn (Planet, est. mag .21, est. to be in Leo)
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 Jan 29 04:15:00 2008 UT   Obs. no.: 1757

This evening I observed Saturn with my 127mm MAK. With Saturn's rings less than two years away from being edge on I am now able to see both hemispheres of Saturn. However, I could not see any albedo markings on Saturn's northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere I was able to view the south equitorial belt and the south polar hood which is only slightly darkened. I also saw Saturn's satellites Rhea which was close to the planet and Titan which was well away from Saturn.

Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.5, est. to be in Leo)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Thu Jul 26 00:20:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1684

I just finished observing Venus with my binoculars in order to see its crescent. Even in binoculars Venus' crescent is easy to see. I simply braced my binos on my car and viewed. As Venus' crescent shrinks the apparant size of the planet grows. In the next week or so you can view Venus' crescent with binoculars.

Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.3, est. to be in Leo)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Mon Jul 2 01:10:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1674

This evening I took another look at the close conjunction of Venus and Saturn, this time with my binoculars. In my binos Saturn has an oblong shape do to its rings while Venus' crescent showed very well in my binos. It was quite a treat.

Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.3, est. to be in Leo)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Jul 1 01:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1673

Last night my friend Joe Cseh and I observed the close conjuction of Venus and Saturn. Saturn was two thirds of a degree above Venus. We enjoyed the conjuction until they both set behind a hill.

M65 (Galaxy, in Leo)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars   Location: Promised Land State Park, Pa, USA
Light pollution: none   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Apr 22 06:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1640

From our campsite in Promised Land State Park in Northeastern Pennsylvania, we had incredibly clear skies for our annual trout fishing trip. The night sky was the best I had seen ever up there! It was about as dark as my trip a few years ago to West Virginia. With my binos I finally saw the "Trio in Leo". M65, M66 and NGC3628 all appeared readily. I could even make out the spiral structure in M66. I estimate that M65 and M66 have about the same angular distance as M81 and M82 (which I aslo viewed.)The Leo Triplets are about 35 million LY distant.

Saturn (Planet, est. mag 0.2, est. to be in Leo)
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: good   Seeing: good
Time: Tue Apr 3 02:30:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1634

As it got darker the wind started picking up so that it was difficult to appreciate the views I was getting of Saturn. I did however manage to sketch the view and 4 of saturn's moons. Looking on a Saturn Satellite chart, I viewed Dione (mag 10.2) and Rhea (mag 9.8) close to the planet. Titan (mag 8.4) was very bright and just off the field of view. Iapetus (mag 11.2) was dimmer and even further away than than Titan was on the opposite side of the other moons.

I viewed Saturn on Friday night around 10:15 PM. Little wind and steady skies allowed me an above average viewing. The Cassinni Division stood out readily through binoviewers at almost 200x. According to my Astonomy magazine, Saturn's southern hemispere should be pointing toward us. My viewing session did indeed show the south polar hood as a dark blueish-gray shadow extending to about 20. A single dark equatorial belt was also easily visible. Though I achieved a pair of good pictures of this view, I have not posted them as they were not as good as last year's postings. Saturn currently shines at magnitude 0.2 and is 19.5 arcseconds in diameter. It is also receeding away from us and is right now 8.56 AU or approx. 800 million miles away.

Saturn (Planet, est. mag 0.5, est. to be in Leo)
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: Fri Mar 2 23:30:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1627

This evening I observed Saturn with my 127mm MAK. Now that Saturn is past opposision, I am beginning to notice a narrow shadow forming on the rings on the west side of Saturn. As time goes on, the shadow on the rings will become larger and easier to see. I also took out my cross stick alidade to measure how far apart Regulus and Saturn are . Right now they are about 9 degrees apart and I will be tracking Saturn's motion in relation to Regulus in the future. Speaking of Regulus, there was a nice close conjuction between the Moon and Regulus this evening.

Saturn (Planet, est. mag 0.0, est. to be in Leo)
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: Sat Feb 10 01:00:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1623

This evening I observed Saturn with my 127mm MAK. Right around opposition, the sunlight reflected off saturn's face back onto its rings causes the rings to look brighter than they usually are. The brightening shows on the part of the rings that are directly in front of the face of Saturn. This is called The Seeliger effect and it will continue to be relatively easy to see for the next few days.

This evening, I observed Saturn with my 127mm MAK and 12mm Teleview eyepiece. I was able to see the south equitorial belt of Saturn fairly well. The cassini division is still easy to see despite the lessening of the rings tilt. Also, the south polar hood doesn't look nearly as dark as it did a month ago. I was also able to make out the disc of Saturn's moon Titan. The disc had a slight orange tint which is the haze of titan's atmosphere.

Saturn (Planet, est. mag 0.1, est. to be in Leo)
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: good   Seeing: poor
Time: Sun Jan 21 17:30:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1616

Tried, in vain,for the 2nd weekend in a row to get a decent glimpse of Saturn. Using multiple eyepieces for different magnifications, the sky just would not be still. Discolored and "boiling" I could only see 2 of Saturn's moons and could not even see the Cassinni Division with any reliable clarity. Hopefully the view will be better soon. In early February, Saturn reaches opposition. Currently Saturn is 0.1 magnitude and spans 20.0 arcseconds. It is 770 million miles from the Earth presently.

Last night, I observed Saturn with my 127mm MAK and 12mm Televue eyepiece. The first thing I noticed was how Saturn's rings are much less tilted than last year. I also noticed the south polar region has a much darker hood than it did last year. The hood was also very dark two years ago. I also got a very good look at Titan. Since I was in the area, I also stopped by to observe Regulus which is an easy to see double star. Even at low power the double is easy to split. Finally, with my naked eye, I enjoyed the close encounter of the last quarter moon with Regilus above it and Saturn above Regulus. It was quite a sight.

Saturn (Planet, est. mag 0.5, est. to be in Leo)
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: none   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Dec 9 06:30:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1596

Viewed Saturn late Friday Evening (actually Saturday morning) with my binoviewers. Conditions were VERY crisp and I let the scope sit outside for an hour before I viewed. The viewing was, in my opinion, perfect. No wind, crystal clear and extremely dark were the conditions I was favored with. I could easily see the Cassinni Division as well as a single obvious equatorial belt along the southern hemisphere. All this without even using any filter! I tried getting a picture of it with the LPI but my camera's USB connection started going bad. I had to wait until the following night to take pictures with new USB cables I bought that day. The atmosphere was nothing like the night before so I decided to pack it in for the night.

M65 (Galaxy, in Leo)
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: Tue Jan 3 04:45:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1469

The neighbouring galaxy of M66. Its spiral structure was easily visible but it was a bit dimmer than M66 and was difficult to see. It appeared a bit larger than M66. Both gave a wonderful sight and I was quite surprized to see these two from a light polluted area.

M66 (Galaxy, in Leo)
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: Tue Jan 3 04:45:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1468

A bright galaxy in Leo. I could easily spot it as it is next to a bright star. It appeared better and brighter than its neighbour, M65 but appeared some what smaller. I could easily make out the spiral shape of this galaxy.

M65 (Galaxy, in Leo)
Observer: Vedran vrhovac (e-mail: vedran_vrhovac@yahoo.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Velika Gorica, Croatia
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: poor
Time: Thu Dec 8 04:40:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1429

This morning I woke up to go to school. When I looked thru window I have noticed that there's no fog or clouds and lots of stars wherevisible. I quickly dressed up and went outside to look thru scope since this was first night without fog and clouds in last two monts. The Leo was high at the south and I decided to hunt M65 and the M66. I have put the 32mm eyepiece (38x) and pointed scope to the Theta Leonis. Just few degrees to the south I saw 3 galaxies in FOV. Since sky was to bright at 38x i used the 15mm wide angle eyepiece (80x) and all 3 galaxies where still in one FOV but with much better contrast.M65 was long oval nebula with no defined center, the M66 was little smaller but more round oval than M65. M66 also had bright center. NGC3628 was big, but much fainter and almost horizontally laid nebula.After amazing Leo triplet i turned scope to the M51. M51 with companion was easily visible. M51 looked like round disk with uneven surface brightnes and bright center. NGC5195 was smaller (about 1/5) and looked like small globular cluster thru 70mm scope. After looking at the M51 I turn scope litlle lower and changed eyepiece back to the 32mm Plossl. When I looked thru the eyepiece and focused I saw M3 inf FOV. "Am I lucky guy ornot?" I thought. Since it was GC i switched to the 6mm Plossl eyepice and looked again at M3. What a superb cluster. Withaverted vision thousand of stars where visible. After this shorth breathtaking sight I finished my observing session becouse it was time to goto the school. I can't waith for March when this object will be visible in the evening.

Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -1, est. to be in Leo)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Tue May 10 03:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1229

Simply beautiful view of Jupiter last night! The outside temperature became brisk and there was not a cloud to be seen. I started out with the M81/82 system in Ursa Major in my 70mm binos. Spotted them within a few minutes with binos, however after 20 minutes decided to give up with the telescope. I moved on to Coma Berences yet again to no avail. There seems to be some light pollution that is just enough to drown out the galaxy clusters there. Due to my frustration getting the best of me, I moved on to an easy object, Jupiter. I was awestruck by the clarity. It was easily among the best I have seen of the gas giant. I could easily make out 4 dark bands and caught a glimpse of a curl in one the the 2 major bands. Still have not been able to see the GRS yet. This view surely saved the night. While viewing Jupiter I also caught a brilliant White-blue meteor that left a trail of about 3 fist lengths at arms reach. An added bonus after missing out on the Galaxies.

Other (Other, est. mag 2.3, est. to be in Leo)
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: Sun Apr 11 00:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 983

In the constellation Leo is a beautiful double star called Algieba. You need around 100X to be able to split the pair fairly easily. Both componants are deep yellow with the main componant being 3.3 magnitude and the secondary componant being 3.5 magnitude. For me, this is the best double star I have ever laid eyes on.

Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.2, est. to be in Leo)
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: Fri Apr 9 23:30:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 982

I observed Jupiter at 200X just as the sun set. The one thing that really stood out was the size of a white oval that was nestled on the southern edge of the north equitorial belt. It looked to be about three fourths the size of what the great red spot usually is. Also, the NEB had much less festooning than it had three days ago. The south equitorial belt looked rather smooth this time.

Just as it was getting dark, I observed Jupiter at 133X and 200X. The great red spot was transiting across Jupiter's face. It's very hard to tell but I think the GRS's color may be fading. It has a very slight orange tinge to it. I could not detect the pinkish tinge that I was noticing in my earlier observations. The pencil like line going around the GRS also looks much more obvious to me. I also noticed the white oval that was transiting across the north equitorial belt just ahead of the GRS has shrunk to about half its size. Finally, The NEB looked like it had an increase in festooning in it.

Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.4, est. to be in Leo)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Mar 23 02:30:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 970

This evening I observed Jupiter at 133X. The great red spot was showing well. Its color seemed to be a cross between light tan and light orange. The dark spot in its center was easy to see. Earlier, I observed the shadow transits of Europa and Io as they moved along the North equitorial belt.They were very easy to see and it was interesting to watch. I also observed a white oval on the NEB during the shadow transit and another white oval, also on the NEB at the same time I saw the GRS.

Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.5, est. to be in Leo)
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: Tue Mar 16 02:30:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 965

Last night while I was observing Jupiter's great red spot, I noticed that two of Jupiter's moons, Io and Europa, were very close together. Seperating them in my telescope was like trying to seperate a fairly close double star. The moons looked grand after they had separated a little bit more.

Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.5, est. to be in Leo)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector   Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: fair   Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Mar 16 01:45:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 966

I observed the GRS transit on Monday night using the 17" classical Cassegrain at the ASH Naylor Observatory. The seeing was quite good and I was able to employ 324x to good effect. The dark area within the southern part of the GRS was visible. The GRS itself was the pale pink hue of recent months. Io and Europa were quite close together in apparent distance. Also observed were M42, M43, NGC 2169, and Saturn and four of its satellites.

Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.5, est. to be in Leo)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 12-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector   Location: Fishing Creek Road, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Sun Mar 14 01:30:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 964

Dave Lassiter and I observed and imaged the transits of Ganymede and Io on Saturday night (which was an extremely cold and damp one by the way) with his 12" LX200 and Meade LPI from north of Harrisburg. We also imaged Venus and Saturn earlier in the evening and much later a few binary stars before shutting down.

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