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Observations of object "Other":

Other (Other)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Time: Tue Mar 27 23:30:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1630

Our last meeting of our local astronomy club featured a talk by radio amateur astronomer Joe Wallace. One thing he brought was a lightning detector which detects a type of lightning called whistlers. We tried to detect whistlers but the only thing we got was the static from lightning strikes. He also had a radio telescope that detected anyone who walked in front of it. The volt meter when higher for some peaple than for others. All in all the talk and demonstration were very interesting.

Other (Other, est. to be in Scorpius)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 42-mm binoculars   Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Sat Feb 24 10:50:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1625

I had my first look at V1280 Scorpii (Nova 2007 Scorpii) this morning just prior to daybreak. Using a 8x42mm Celestron binocular I had no trouble sweeping up the kite-shaped asterism that the nova forms with three field stars situated to the northeast and southeast of Epsilon Scorpii (see the attached Sky & Telescope finder chart). It was too cold and, in particular, windy for me to want to stay outside very long so I didn't try to do a serious magnitude estimate. The "new" star seemed to be similar in brightness to the two stars flanking it, however.

Other (Other, est. to be in Orion)
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: Sun Jan 7 02:30:00 2007 UT   Obs. no.: 1608

Last night, after I returned home from the hockey game, I did a quick observation of Mel 65, 69, and 70, with my 10X50 binoculars. Mel 65 is a large loose star cluster above Orion. The cluster is so large, it does not fit into one binocular field. Mel 69 is actually the head of Orion and it is a nice cluster to view. Mel 70 is is a loose cluster that surrounds the three belt stars of Orion. Any pair of binoculars will reveal these star clusters, even in moonlight.

Other (Other, est. mag -1.8, est. to be in Canis Major)
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: Thu Dec 28 01:15:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1605

This evening, I viewed what I always refer to as the baseball diamond. As the baseball diamomd rises in the southeast I imagine that I am in the center field bleachers looking past second base towards home plate. So what is the baseball diamond? It starts at Sirius which would be the home plate of the base ball diamond. The batter hits a long homerun into the outfield where I am sitting. He then rounds the bases in his homerun trot, first going by first base which happens to be Procyon. He then continues on his homerun trot to second base which is Betelgeuse. On to third base trots our hero, third base happening to be Rigel. He then rounds third base and heads for home which once again is Sirius. Anyone can imagine the baseball diamond by waiting for Sirius (home plate) Procyon (first base) Betelgeuse (second base) and Rigel (third base) to rise up fairly high in the sky.

Other (Other, est. to be in Orion)
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 Dec 12 02:00:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1597

This evening, I observed The Witch Head Nebula with my 127mm MAK. In photographs, the nebula looks just like a witch head. However, to glimpse it with a telescope, I had to aim the scope at the star Rigel. When you do this, you can see some blue nebulosity around Rigel. That is about all you can see of the Witch Head Nebula. Still, it's worth a peak.

Other (Other, est. mag .3, est. to be in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 9 02:00:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1593

My favorite star to study is Betelgeuse located in Orion. I have been estimating Betelgeuse's magnitude every clear night because it is a variable star. Using Aldebaran and Rigel as guide stars, I have estimated Betelgeuse's magnitude to range from .3 magnitude at its brightest to .7 magnitude at its dimmest. I also noticed Betelgeuse's magnitude changes from night to night. Another way I study Betelgeuse is by attaching my Star Spectroscope to my 127mm MAK. I compared Betelgeuse to another old star, Aldebaran to see which star has more spectral lines. Betelgeuse has five spectral lines vs Aldebaran's four spectral lines. This shows Betelgeuse as being both older and cooler in temperature than Aldeberan. To watch Betelgeuse's magnitude become brighter or dimmer from night to night all you have to do is compare its brightness with Aldebaran and Rigel with your own naked eyes. Light pollution will not interfere with your observations.

Other (Other, est. mag 2, est. to be 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 Oct 3 03:40:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1568

This evening, I observed the Hyades open star cluster with my 127mm MAK. This cluster is spread out over about five degrees of sky so that even with low power, I could only study sections of the Hyades. Most of the stars of the Hyades seem to be yellow. I was able to observe several wide doubles including one very bright yellow double star. The Hyades are only 88 light years away from us at their closest point. In fact, our sun is considered to be on the fringe of the Hyades open cluster. Finally, I observed the Hyades bright forground star, Aldebaran. Through my scope it had a rich golden color to it.

Other (Other, est. mag 4.5, est. to be 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: Thu Sep 21 03:30:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1564

This evening, I observed the Pleiades open star cluster (M45) with my 127mm MAK. The brighter stars of the Pleiades can be seen with nebulosity around them. The higher the power the more you can see the nebula that the Pleiades is traveling through. I also noticed the stars of M45 don't look as blue as they do in binoculars. This is especially true of the Pleiades brighter stars. When I scan around the Pleiades with low power I seem to get a 3D effect with the dimmer stars of the Pleiades. Finally, the color of the nebula did have a bluish tinge to it.

Other (Other)
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: Mon Jun 19 13:30:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1547

On my previous log, I listed the wrong magnitudes for M16 and M20. In an attempt to addendum my error, M16 is listed as mag. 6.4 and M20 is listed as mag. 9.0.

Other (Other, est. mag 2.2, est. to be in Scorpius)
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 Jun 16 02:00:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1542

The star Delta Scorpi flared up several years ago. I just checked on the star tonight and it has still not returned to normal brightness. For the last two years, Delta Scorpi has stayed at magnitude 2.2. I will be observing this star some more to see if its magnitude changes.

Other (Other)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Time: Wed May 10 18:00:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1531

While on vacation in Philadelphia, I was able to behold one of the moon trees that was planted there. One of the Apollo astronauts, Stuart Roosa, remained in orbit around the moon while the other astronauts were on the moon. Roosa brought with him many tree seeds on the lunar voyage. When the seeds were returned to the earth, they were germinated and then planted in selected areas of our country. One of the places was Washington Park in Philadelphia. The Sycamore Tree was planted in May 1975 and is very healty looking. If anyone wants to see if a moon tree is planted near them, you should go to google.com and type in moon trees. There, you will get a list of all the areas were moon trees are planted.

Other (Other)
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: Sun Jan 29 02:30:00 2006 UT   Obs. no.: 1483

This evening, I observed several bright stars with my 10X50 binoculars in order to determine their actual color and temperature. The first three stars I checked were the three belt stars of Orion. In my binoculars, all three stars were bluish white in color. These three stars have to be extremely hot and they will not live very long. Rigel is in the same class with a tinge of blue in this mostly white star. Stars like these only live for millions of years instead of the billions stars like our sun live. Procion is a yellow white star. It is probably as warm as our sun. Castor and Pollux are completely opposite. Castor looks like a white star with just a tinge of blue in it, while Pollux is and old yellow orange star. This means Castor is both healthier and hotter than Pollux. When I viewed Sirius in my binoculars, I could see that this star is completely white. That means it is cooler than Rigel and hotter than Procion. Finally, I come to the old cool stars. Aldebaran is an amber colored star with just a tinge of orange in it. In astronomical terms, this star does not have long to live. But if there is any star that is about to be admitted to astronomical hospice, it would have to be Betelgeuse. This star is orange in my binoculars indicating it is also the coolest of all the stars I discussed here. What a show it will be when this star goes supernova. This summer, I will discuss the bright summer stars.

Other (Other, est. mag 7.0, est. to be in Orion)
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 Dec 21 03:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1443

This evening, I observed an open cluster of stars around the three belt stars of Orion. The cluster is known as Colander 70. With my scope, I could see many stars of this cluster as I fan my scope up and down the three belt stars of Orion. It seems to me that most of the stars are yellow with a bit of orange tinge in them. Also I noted several double stars within the cluster. One double was a blue star with a fainter companion. This open cluster is also visible with binoculars and a finder scope.

Other (Other, est. mag 6.0, est. to be in Corona Australis)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Jul 24 02:00:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1266

This Evening, my friends, Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I tried to observe the Southern Crown from Connecticut. The Southern Crown, also known as Corona Australis, is located below Sagittarius. From our perch at 41 degrees north latitude, we were not able to see the Southern Crown with our naked eyes. However, we could easily see The Southern Crown with our binoculars. In binoculars the Southern Crown looks like the Northern Crown's twin. I kept scanning both Crowns with my binoculars. Earlier, during daylight, we observed the sun with a hydogen alfa solar scope. On one side of the sun, there was a very large twisted filiment that extended rather far out from the sun. There were about three other small flares also coming out from the sun. In white light, I was only able to see one small sunspot.

Other (Other, est. mag -1.4, est. to be in Canis Major)
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: excellent
Time: Tue Mar 15 00:20:00 2005 UT   Obs. no.: 1184

After our great success looking at Mercury and Saturn and with the seeing continuing to be out standing, my friends Mike Dzubaty, his son Mike and I decided to go for the gold and see if we can see Sirius' companion star Sirius B. The first thing we did was put what is called an apidizing screen onto the front end of Mike's 6" dob. We then put a 7.4 MM eyepiece on the scope. As seen in a newtonian reflecter, we were able to see Sirius B on the left side of Sirius. Even Mike's 12 year old son was able to see it without too much trouble. It should be mentioned that this year and next year Sirius B will be far enough away from Sirius to be spotted.

Other (Other, est. mag 11.9, est. to be in Camelopardalis, Est. RaDec 15h55m41s, 4751'49")
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 14.5-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: Mifflin, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: poor   Seeing: good
Time: Tue Aug 17 06:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 1053

I finally got a chance to observe the bright supernova SN 2004dj on Tuesday morning through my friend Tony Donnangelo's 14.5" Starmaster Sky Tracker Dob. The humidity was high and transparency rather poor and to make matters worse the only serious light dome present at our site in the Tuscarora State Forest was in the northeast but the supernova itself was quite easy to see using 22, 17, and 12mm Type 4 Naglers. NGC 2403, the parent galaxy, was completely lost in the haze, however. Two bright field stars were also prominent.

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.

Other (Other)
Observer: n/a (e-mail: sensesensei@yahoo.com, web: http://www.geocities.com/sensesensei/)
Instrument: equatorial reflector   Location: Irving, TX, United States
Time: Thu Apr 1 07:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 985

To view video: http://www.geocities.com/sensesensei/(I apologize for the somewhat sporatic nature of geocities... if the site is down, please try returning in a hour or so and it should be up)I'm a student who lives in Texas, USA. My teacher captured an unusual video of two objects coming down from the sky on April 1, 2004, around dusk (I'm not certain of the time... I just made up something reasonable... I could ask him, if you want the specific time). They seem to be moving fairly slowly and are on paths parallel to one another. After a few minutes, another object streaks up as if to intercept them, but misses by a (seemingly) small margin. I gather that the objects eventually reached the ground, but I am unsure of where.We have called the FAA and they have claimed that they aren't interested in items such as this, and have denied that anything happened. The newspaper came to look at the video, but they "couldn't confirm" the occurrence, so had no further interest.None of this has been shown on the news or printed in the newspapers. Despite the fact that this happened in a suburban area, it has been kept surprisingly quiet. Silent, in fact.There were many witnesses to this; several planes that flew by, my teacher's neighbors in his apartment complex, and numerous others, I would gather. My teacher said in a post on a local news site: "I have video of what "looks" like 2 "aircraft" burning up entering the atmosphere over D/FW and a missile being fired up toward them and just missing. Dozens of people saw it but the news won't report it and the FAA says it never happened. A distasteful, and expensive April Fools stunt?? Did our tax money pay for this!?!"Does anyone have any ideas as to what this may be? Any insights would be most welcome. I am very curious as to what this might have been!Please contact me at sensesensei@yahoo.com .

Other (Other, est. mag 6.3, est. to be in Pisces)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 80-mm binoculars   Location: Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: excellent   Seeing: good
Time: Tue Mar 23 00:40:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 973

As I admired the ghostly looking Earthshine on Monday evening I noticed that a star in Pisces was soon going to be occulted. As it turned out 6.3 magnitude ZC 247 was covered by the Moon about 25 minutes later. Another star or two were also due to be occulted according to Starry Night Pro but I had to depart before that happened.

Other (Other, est. mag -0.04, est. to be in Bootes)
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: Sat Mar 20 04:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 967

Articles have been appearing recently theorizing that Arcturus is a star from a dwarf galaxy that was or is being absorbed by our milky way galaxy. Even though Arcturus is about 10 billion years old, it is a medal poor star. With this in mind, I added my Star spectroscope to my 6" dob to observe Arcturus. I noticed Arcturus had only one spectral line in it. This compares with past observations I made of two other old stars, Antares, with four spectral lines and Betelgeuse with seven spectral lines. Based on these observations, it would appear that Arcturus is quite possibly a visitor from another galaxy.

Other (Other)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 101-mm refractor   Location: Weiser State Forest, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Sat Mar 20 00:08:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 971

Friday night turned out to be a primarily clear one in south central Pennsylvania. Although my friend Tony Donnangelo and I arrived at our observing site later than we had planned and there was a period of cloudy haze lasting about an hour, I managed to log 87 Messiers manually with my 101mm Tele Vue refractor and 7 more with Tony's 14.5" Starmaster Sky Tracker Dob. Tony and I also observed three asteroids and numerous galaxies in Leo Minor, Cancer, and Ursa Major through the Starmaster. In addition, we had a good view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot using Tony's 5.2 Pentax SMC XL and 3.5mm Orion Lanthanum Superwide oculars. The dark area within the southern portion of the GRS was visible.This was the first time in all my years as an observer that I spent an entire night on a snow-covered field (it had snowed the previous night) and brother, let me tell you, was it ever cold. One interesting non-astronomy related event that transpired was being buzzed several times by a National Guard helicopter that couldn't have been more than 50 feet above the ground when it passed over us.

Other (Other, est. mag NA, est. to be in Orion)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: 16-inch Dobsonian reflector   Location: 60 miles east of Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: fair   Seeing: good
Time: Sun Feb 22 03:00:00 2004 UT   Obs. no.: 944

B33 Horsehead NebulaWith my handy new HB atlas and an H-Beta filter, it took all of 5 seconds to nail it's exact position. IC434(the backlight) and its sharp boundary were clearly defined. The torso of the horse was fairly easy with direct vision, and with effort coupled with averted vision, I was able to trace the outline along the top of the horshead as it pointed downward. I was able to trace the contours along the top of the head down the lengh of the snoot, but wasn't able to do the same for the underside of the nose. As you can imagine, I spent a fair amount of time on this to see what detail could be coaxed. All in all, considering the conditions, you could say I was pretty thrilled with the results. For kicks, once I knew exactly where it was, I tried without the filter. I could still faintly make out IC434 and its sharp boundary, but making out the torso was very hard. With averted vision, the notch was barely glimpsed. Without the benefit just using the filter and knowing its exact size and position, it would have been a negative report. Transparencywas hit and miss on this night, so I was very happy with the results.

Other (Other, est. to be in Orion)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Fri Nov 21 05:05:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 914

Last night when the clouds from a big rain storm finally cleared, I took out my O111 filter and my light pollution filter to see if I could see Barnards Loop in Orion. The skies were as good as I have ever seen it here in West Haven Ct. I was able to see two segments of the nebula. I assumed these were the two brightest areas of Barnards Loop. In the northwest hills of Connecticut, you can sometimes see the whole Barnards Loop by holding these filters to your eyes. I doubt that I will see West Haven skies this good ever again.

Other (Other)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light   Transparency: good   Seeing: good
Time: Thu Nov 20 22:47:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 915

My friend and observing partner Tony Donnangelo and I witnessed a superb aurora on Thursday night from a dark site in the Tuscarora State Forest in central Pennsylvania near Mifflintown.It was one of the most unusual displays that either of us had ever seen. There were some curtains and rays but the most striking features were the large patches that would appear and disappear in almost every part of the sky, somewhat like the display last month and the one in April of 2000. At times there were extremely bright patches in the east, the south, and the west. The northern sky was completely washed out by auroral activity.The aurora became visible at 22:47 UT (5:47 p.m. EST) and persisted (in the north) until the wee hours of the morning, waxing and waning in intensity. By 22:58 it extended to the zenith. The aurora encircled the horizon and was very bright in the east in another three minutes time. Around 23:25 there were two bright patches in the southwest and west and a pink swath rose from the horizon to Capricornus. About 25 minutes later I noticed a faint ray in the south that extended from the horizon to the west of Mars. There was also a large pink ray-like swath that slanted southward from the west at an angle of about 30 degrees and reached an altitude of approximately 45 degrees above the horizon. Around 23:55 a series of 3 or more rays appeared to the east of Mars shortly after a brilliant Iridium flare occurred in the same vicinity. By 00:27 much of the activity had abated but there were still patches in the southwest and northwest. The northern sky was still aglow. Activity increased in the north later on but I was taking a much needed nap and missed most of it. In terms of color we noted pinks, greens, blues, and whites. I shot almost two rolls of film with my Pentax K1000 SLR during the display. Some of those photographs are now avaiable online at http://dvaa.org/Photos/DaveMitsky/

Other (Other)
Observer: Paul (e-mail: paul_ohstbucks@msn.com)
Instrument: naked eye   Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Light pollution: moderate   Transparency: poor   Seeing: poor
Time: Sat Nov 1 02:00:00 2003 UT   Obs. no.: 905

Tonight, I observed absolutely nothing except for some thick low hanging clouds:(

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