Observations by jbc@west.net

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Observations by jbc@west.net:

M81 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
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: Wed Dec 31 05:55:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 287

Playing tag with high clouds drifting through from the S, I shifted my telescope to the other side of the yard so I could point it at the N sky. M81 was swept up after referring to the small chart of UMa in the Audubon Field Guide to the Night Sky. A big, bright, fuzzy oval patch elongated N-S at 38x. A fairly large, condensed center.

M77 (Galaxy, in Cetus)
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: Wed Dec 31 05:45:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 286

Easily swept up from memory near Delta Ceti; an obvious fuzzy patch at 38x. Had a condensed, starlike core. At 76x, appeared to be slightly elongated N-S.

Omicron Cet (Mira) (Variable Star, est. mag 3.9, in Cetus)
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: Wed Dec 31 05:35:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 285

Estimated to lie midway in brightness between Delta Ceti (4.0) and Alpha Piscium (3.8).

NGC1999 (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
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: Wed Dec 31 05:25:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 284

An obvious fuzzy patch surrounding its star (V380 Orionis) at 38x. Small and uniform.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
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: Wed Dec 31 05:00:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 283

I spent more time tonight than during my previous session with M42, exploring the nebula's incredible detail at a variety of powers. I spent several minutes looking for the E star in the Trapezium, and was finally able to glimpse it at 76x (but at no other magnifications) as a faint, brownish star midway between A and B and slightly outside the "box" of the Trapezium.

M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 10:30:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 282

After looking at lots of dim nebulae, M42 was spectacular in my new Plossl eyepiece (32mm, 38x). I was too cold to look for very long, and Orion was getting fairly low in the W, but it was a stunning sight nonetheless.

NGC1977 (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 10:25:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 281

Easy, with extensive nebulosity visible at 38x. I was getting cold, so I didn't take the time to look for internal detail.

NGC1973 (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 10:20:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 280

More extensive than NGC1975; obvious at 38x.

NGC1975 (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 10:15:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 279

Visible with averted vision at 38x. A small, fuzzy patch surrounding its star.

NGC1981 (Open Cluster, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 10:05:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 278

After all the dim stuff that went before it in this session, this sparse cluster was impressively bright, with ten or so bright stars in the E half, and a similar number of fainter members in the W half.

Other (Other, est. to be in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 09:55:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 277

Struve 761: All three components (A, B, and C) were easy at 38x.

Sigma Ori (Multiple Star, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 09:55:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 276

AB, D, and E components visible at 38x; C component required careful looking at 76x before I could see it.

IC435: Fairly easy with averted vision at 38x. Smaller than NGC2023.

Other (Other)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 09:35:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 274

IC434: I tried for it for several minutes, but was unable to detect anything at 38x, to say nothing of the Horsehead.

NGC2023 (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 09:30:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 273

An easy glow at 38x, visible with direct vision but more extensive with averted vision.

NGC2024 (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 09:20:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 272

A subtle, though fairly easy, dim grayish patch with averted vision at 38x. Large and irregular. At 76x was easier to position Zeta out of the field, allowing me to glimpse both the main N-S dark lane as well as a smaller lane near the S end extending from the main lane toward the E. The effect was of three distinct clumps to the nebula: A big western clump, a somewhat smaller northeastern clump, and a smallish southeastern clump.

IC432 a somewhat easier glow than IC431 (see separate observation record). IC432 was somewhat larger and more obvious, though it still required averted vision. As with IC431 a brighter clump (or a faint star) was visible in the glow, this one at approximate PA 255.

IC 431 glimpsed, with difficulty, using averted vision at 76x. A small, irregular glow surrounding the star, with either a brighter clump or a companion star glimpsed at approximate PA 180.

Zeta Ori (Alnitak) (Multiple Star, in Orion)
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: excellent   Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 27 09:00:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 269

Doing the Orion skyhop given in the Jan 98 Sky & Telescope. Zeta Orionis was a dazzling white ball, the C companion easy: a distant faint point N of the primary at 38x. I saw no sign of the B star at any power through 244x. I'm very happy with the new 32mm Plossl eyepiece I got for Christmas; it is much sharper across the entire field than the SMA's I got with the 8" Starhopper.

Saturn (Planet)
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: Mon Dec 8 07:20:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 263

After a long spell of not doing much observing (other than opportunistic naked-eye stuff, like glancing at Algol while taking out the trash, or pausing to appreciate Orion striding up from the eastern horizon), I set up the 8-inch in the backyard to observe the occultation of Saturn by the waxing gibbous moon. I'd never seen a lunar occultation of a planet before. It was very clear and cold (a storm having passed through the day before), and seeing was pretty bad, and made worse by the event's being pretty low in the sky (about 30 degrees above the southwest horizon). I mostly observed at 102x, sometimes dropping down to 49x. I enjoyed the gradual buildup of excitement as the moon crept closer, and the uncertainty about just when the occultation would begin (since the moon's glare prevented me from seeing just where the sky stopped and the advancing dark limb began). As the moon and Saturn sank lower the seeing deteriorated; I realized suddenly that I had set up in a poor location, since my line of site was getting closer and closer to my neighbor's roof. I didn't want to miss the beginning of the event, but finally I grabbed the telescope and lugged it over to the other side of the yard. I was just in time; I had just found Saturn again when the rings on one side started being covered. I was surprised at how quickly the whole planet disappeared; it seemed to take less than a minute (though I didn't time it). Conversely, I was also surprised by how long the last little bit of ring persisted before being covered up; it seemed to hang there for a long time (though it was probably just a few seconds) before finally winking out. I didn't stay for the reappearance.

Finishing my whirlwind tour of showpiece objects, I swung the Dobsonian down from the zenith and aimed at Orion, which was striding up majestically from the eastern horizon. The Great Nebula was breathtaking at 49x, the wide arms sweeping to either side of the Fish's Mouth, the Trapezium like a cluster of diamonds, and the faint nebulosity extending seemingly forever (or at least for a couple of fields' worth). I went back to bed feeling completely rejuvenated.

M32 (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
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: Thu Sep 11 09:25:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 227

The Andromeda Galaxy was obvious to the naked eye. It took some work to get the Dobsonian pointed at it, since it was close to the zenith. With my Telrad dead (I must have accidentally left it on for the last month), it took a fair amount of trial and error to locate the galaxy with the 49x eyepiece, but once I swept it up it was unmistakable: the huge, bright, fuzzy core and the fainter arms spilling out of the field.

M45 (Pleiades) (Open Cluster, in Taurus)
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: Thu Sep 11 09:20:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 226

The Pleiades were an almost painfully bright swarm of blue-white stars at 49x, spilling out of the field. I look forward to viewing them with a wider-angle eyepiece to get the full effect of seeing them framed by the relatively dark background.

Saturn (Planet)
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: Thu Sep 11 09:10:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 225

Saturn was breathtaking, high in the south. This was my first time observing it in the 8-inch, and despite not giving the tube much time to reach thermal equilibrium, it was an incredible sight, the rings tilted to a very open position and a swarm of four small moons "above" (behind) the planet and another moon in front. The shadow of the planet was easily visible on the rings. A demarcation of the planet into a darker polar region and a lighter equatorial region was obvious. I didn't see the Cassini division, but also didn't give it much time.

Jupiter (Planet)
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: Thu Sep 11 09:00:00 1997 UT   Obs. no.: 224

Tossing and turning after a rough day at work ("Why didn't I say *that* in the meeting?"), I decided I might as well do some stargazing, and was amply rewarded with some stunning sights that helped put my earthly concerns in perspective. First was Jupiter, low in the southwest, but surprisingly stable at 49x.

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