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Comet (Comet, est. mag 7-8th, est. to be in Draco, Est. RaDec 15h20m, 57d48')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 14.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Tuscarora State Forest, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Thu Jul 12 02:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1681
I first observed this comet after the July ASH meeting on Mondaynight, July 9, using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at the ASHNaylor Observatory. Despite very hazy skies, the comet and itscentrally condensed coma were visible.On Thursday night, July 12, my long-time observing partner TonyDonnangelo and I drove to an ASH dark site in the Tuscarora StateForest. There were far more clouds than the forecast of mostly clearskies called for but there were times when the sky was completelyclear and the transparency was quite good. The Milky Way was mottledand full of detail, with the area south of the Teapot spout chockfull of dark nebulae when viewed with binoculars. The VLM was in thelow to mid-sixth magnitude range.One of the numerous celestial objects we observed that night wasComet LINEAR VZ13. We used my 8x42 Celestron Noble binocular, mymounted 15x70 Burgess binocular, my 101mm f/5.4 Tele Vue Genesis sdfrefractor, Tony's 10x50 Celestron Ultima binocular, and Tony's 14.5"f/4.3 Starmaster Sky Tracker Dob.The comet was in the vicinity of 34 Draconis at the time we beganlooking at it and was easily visible. Its magnitude was probably inthe upper-seventh magnitude range. The coma had a noticeable centralcondensation and was rather large. Neither of us could see the tailthat is visible in recent images. Tony saw the comet as being blue-green through his scope, while I perceived a very pale blue hue attimes. C/2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) is moving rather fast across the northernsky. Its motion was readily apparent in an hour's time.For more on this comet and others currently visible, browsehttp://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.htmlOther shallow-sky observing that night included watching a shadowtransit by Io and observing four asteroids (two of which were veryfaint indeed) that neither of us had previously seen.Needless to say, we also observed a great many deep-sky objects ofevery variety.On Saturday night, July 14, I saw the comet once again through afriend's prize-winning 12.5" ATM split-ring equatorial. It had moveda considerable distance from its position on Thursday night
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. 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.
Mercury (Planet, est. mag 0.0, est. to be in Pisces)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: naked eye Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Mon Mar 29 23:50:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 979
I stopped at the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's Naylor Observatory on Monday evening briefly to capture Mercury on silicon. The speedy planet was at its maximum eastern elongation of 18.9 degrees. It was clearly evident fairly high above the western horizon as the evening twilight darkened. The shots I took with a Sony DSC-707 digital camera turned out very well. I then left to attend a Fairview Township meeting. After four years of trying ASH may convince the township to enact a lighting ordinance.After the meeting I returned to witness and image the fantastic double shadow/GRS transit through the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain.
Mercury (Planet, est. mag -0.1, est. to be in Pisces)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Mon Mar 29 00:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 978
The line-up of the five naked-eye planets was splendid from north of Harrisburg on Sunday evening. Mercury was near its maximum eastern elongation and was rather easy to see. Maura Smith and I observed the "event" through binoculars. To the east the Earth's shadow and the Belt of Venus were quite prominent as the sun was setting.
Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.4, est. to be in Hydra)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sun Mar 28 03:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 977
Early Saturday night I had good views of Jupiter's Great Red Spot transit through the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Newtonian and the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain. What might have been Callisto or a dark barge was visible as well.By the time that Callisto's shadow ingressed on the disk of Juiter the seeing had taken a definite turn for the worst. When Io joined the party two shadows were visible but by the time of the rare triple transit (3:00 UT) the seeing was so bad (the worst that I've experienced in many months) that it was not possible to discern Callisto's shadow in the north polar region despite stopping down both scopes to as little as 6 inches. We could make out the shadows of Io and Ganymede with some effort. So it was 2 out of 3 (the shadows of Callisto and Io and Io and Ganymede) two times. Efforts to image the event through the 17" with a Meade LPI device were not very successful.Other objects observed with the 12.5 and 17" included Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Saturn, Titan, M65, M66, M104, and the famous variable star R Leonis. Several eighth and ninth magnitude stars in Taurus were occulted by the Moon during the early part of the night. I also viewed the Moon and Jupiter with the new ASH 127mm f/12.1 Orion StarMax Maksutov-Cassegrain
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.
Mercury (Planet, est. mag -0.85, 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 00:15:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 972
I took my Celestron 20x80's to the top of a nearby hill to view the two day old crescent Moon and the five naked-eye planets on a very cold Monday evening. The arc of the ecliptic was plain to see with speedy Mercury (-0.85 magnitude) near the western horizon and the Moon (-9.23 magnitude) to the left and above followed by brilliant Venus (-4.31 magnitude), Mars (1.33 magnitude) just to the east of M45, Saturn (0.02 magnitude) residing in the feet of Gemini, and lordly Jupiter (-2.45 magnitude) rising with Leo. I also spent a few moments looking at M45, M42, NGC 1981, M44, M41, the Double Cluster, and the Alpha Persei Association with my big binocular.
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.
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.
Sun (Sun)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sat Mar 13 17:15:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 963
After the ASH executive meeting on Saturday morning I had a peak at Sunspot 570, which had clearly divided into two spots, using our 8" Celestron C8 SCT, a 32mm Erfle, and a full aperture glass solar filter. It looked much like the SOHO web site image for the 13th. On Thursday I had noticed that this large sunspot had calved while viewing it through my 80mm Orion ShortTube 80 achromat and a 12.5mm orthoscopic and 8-24mm zoom eyepiece.
Sun (Sun)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 114-mm equatorial reflector Location: Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Tue Mar 9 02:15:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 960
I observed AR 10570 on Tuesday afternoon. As seen through my Celestron C4.5 Newtonian at 36 and 72x this large sunspot (~10 Earth diameters in size) had a prominent, tadpole-shaped umbra. It was easily visible without magnification through my Mylar full aperture filter and polymer solar eclipse shades. I had a look at the sunspot at prime focus as well.
Moon (Moon, est. to be in Cancer)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 102-mm refractor Location: Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Wed Mar 3 03:15:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 958
I joined my friend Tony Donnangelo at his residence on Tuesday night to observe the Clausius Sunrise Ray (see http://www.lunar-occultations.com/rlo/rays/rays.htm for information on lunar light rays) through his 102mm f/8 Takahashi FS-102 apochromat. As it turned out the prediction time of 01:03 UT (8:03 p.m. EST) proved to be incorrect. Clausius was still on the dark side of the terminator hours after that time and so we never saw even the onset of the ray. But my trip was not far from wasted since Tony and I both discovered new lunar light rays! About 03:15 UT Tony noticed a short ray in the crater Mersenius P near Gasendi (Rukl chart 51). At 3:40 UT I came across a double ray near Schiller. One ray cut through Noggerah J at approximately 50.75 degrees north, 48 degrees west (Rukl chart 70). Another lay just to the south and east of the first and to the west of Noggerah H. With time these rays lengthened and were quite a sight to behold.As we were watching the progress of these rays the Moon occulted one field star and later another. I believe these stars were Omega Cancri (5.9 magnitude) and 4 Cancri (6.3 magnitude).We had a brief look at Jupiter and then turned the Tak back to the Moon before calling it quits at 05:00 UT. During the course of our observing session we used magnifications of 117 (7mm Nagler type 6), 158 (5.2mm Pentax SMC XL), and 234x (3.5mm Orion Lanthanum Superwide).Dave Mitsky
Mars (Planet, est. mag 1.0, est. to be in Pisces)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 5-inch refractor Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Feb 26 02:20:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 952
I observed the near occultation of the Moon and Mars on Wednesday evening with a 5" f/5 achromatic finder scope and an Edmund Scientific Astroscan and 17mm Ploessl from the Naylor Observatory. I also photographed the event, which was featured on Wednesday's Stardate episode (http://www.stardate.org/radio/program.php?f=today - which will be archived after Wednesday), through the 5" using eyepiece projection and a 32mm Brandon from 2:55 to 3:05 UT. Mars was 0.84 degrees north-northwest of the Moon at 02:00 UT.
Sun (Sun)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 4.5-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Wed Feb 25 20:50:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 951
On Wednesday afternoon I observed Active Region 10564 or Sunspot 564 both telescopically with a 114mm f/7.9 Celestron C4.5 Newtonian and without optical aid via a polymer solar eclipse viewer. This large sunspot was easily visible without magnification. Trailing behind was another fairly large group, AR 10565. For most of last week there was very little sunspot activity in contrast to the naked-eye sunspot that was still visible during the prior weekend.
Jupiter (Planet, 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: fair
Time: Thu Feb 26 08:11:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 953
Observing a Galilean satellite go into or emerge from eclipse by Jupiter is one of my favorite aspects of observing Jupiter. The past two mornings I was fortunate enough to witness two of these events.At 8:06 UT on 2004/2/25 I watched Europa disappear using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain (162 and 259x) at the ASH Naylor Observatory (http://www.astrohbg.org). This morning (2004/2/26) at 8:11 UT I viewed the eclipse of Io with the same instrument at 259x (25mm Celestron orthoscopic).
Jupiter (Planet, 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: good Seeing: good
Time: Mon Feb 23 04:30:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 950
On Sunday night I witnessed an interesting tango of three Galilean satellites from the ASH Naylor Obervatory (see http://www.astrohbg.org). When I first turned the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain towards Jupiter just before 4:30 UT. Io, Europa, and Callisto (at increasing distances from the planet respectively) formed an acute triangle. In an hour and a half's time they had moved to create a straight line. At 9:10 UT the three moons were positioned in the guise of an isosceles triangle with Europa being nearest to Jupiter and Io being farthest from the planet.
Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.4, 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: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Fri Feb 20 02:20:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 945
Two Galilean shadow transits took place on Thursday night/Friday morning. Europa's shadow ingressed at 6:55 p.m. EST (23:55 UT 2004/2/19) but I didn't have a chance to catch it until around 9:20 p.m. (2:20 UT). I watched the shadow egress at 2:46 UT. Europa did the same at 3:23 UT. About 3:40 UT Europa and Io were "equidistant" from Jupiter, straddling the planet. Six minutes later the shadow of Io touched Jupiter's cloudtops.Io's shadow trailed two white ovals and was close to what may have been a barge in the NEB. I was able to see Io itself cross the CM sometime after 5:00 UT. The shadow transit came to an end at 5:51 UT. By 6:09 Io's transit was over. The GRS, a pale pink in hue, crossed the CM at 6:24 UT.It was one great night for watching Jupiter. The seeing was extremely good and a magnification of 404x was no problem for the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain, although 324x was generally more useful.
Comet (Comet, est. to be in Pegasus, Est. RaDec 00h12, +14d)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Tue Feb 17 00:25:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 940
I had the opportunity to observe Comet LINEAR T7 from the ASH Naylor Observatory near Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, on Monday evening from 0:25 to ~1:10 UT (2004/2/17). The skies were initially fairly clear and transparent but high clouds eventually entered the scene. Tthe tail that I had first seen two Sundays ago was markedly longer and at times I thought I saw a bifurcation. A stellar pseudonucleus seemed to be present. The 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain was used at magnifications of 118, 144, 162, 202, 231, and 259x with 202x providing the best view of the comet.
Comet (Comet, est. mag ~7.4, est. to be in Pegasus, Est. RaDec 00h17m, +15d34')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Mon Feb 9 01:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 938
I observed Comet C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) on Sunday evening prior to moonrise using the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain and a 5" f/5 refractor, the finder scope for the 17". A short tail was definitely visible. There was a distinct condensation within the largish coma. I used magnifications of 118, 162, 202, and 259x with 162x providing the best overall view. Conditions were good and the limiting magnitude was approximately 5.0 at the time. This was the first time that I was able to actually see the comet through the finder scope.
Saturn (Planet, est. mag -0.5, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Dec 31 07:00:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 926
Saturn reaches opposition today (12/31/03) at 21:00 UT. In light of this fact I spent a good long time observing Saturn this morning using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at the Naylor Observatory, which is located near Lewisberry, Pennsylvania.The seeing was very good, good enough that the Encke Minima was visible. At times the Encke Division seemed to be resolved as well. The C Ring was easy, of course. The southern hemisphere of the planet was covered with distinct bands and the polar cap was quite well defined and rather dark.Titan had a readily discernible ruddy color. I also viewed Tethys, Dione, Enceladus, Rhea, and, I think, Hyperion. I could not make out Mimas.Magnifications used ranged from 162 to 404x with 231, 249, 259 and 324x working very satisfactorily.I also caught Jupiter's GRS a bit before it transited the CM. It appeared to be somewhat more colorful than it has for some time, a distinctly pink color. The only extended deep-sky object that met my gaze was M42 and itlooked very good indeed at 162x with and without an Orion UltraBlockfilter. Six stars were visible within the Trapezium as well as anumber of faint stars that are not normally seen within thenebulosity.I had a look at a few multiple stars in Auriga before closing down.The best were 41 Aurigae, Otto Struve 147 (a very attractive triplestar with a yellow primary and twin blue secondaries), and thecharming Struve 928. The carbon star UU Aurigae shone a brightorange-red. The magnification for these observations was 162x.
Mercury (Planet, est. mag -0.4, est. to be in Sagittarius)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 42-mm binoculars Location: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Fri Dec 12 22:30:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 921
On Friday evening I drove to the top of a nearby hill to catch Mercury both naked-eye and through a 8x42 binocular at approximately 5:30 p.m. EST. Mercury was a bit more than one field of view to the southwest of Venus.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 9th, est. to be in Perseus, Est. RaDec 2h58m, +36d05')
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 17-inch equatorial reflector Location: Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Dec 3 06:45:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 919
On a very chilly Wednesday morning I observed C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) from 6:45 to 7:30 UT with magnifications ranging from 118x to 259x using the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain at the ASH Naylor Observatory. The comet had a bright stellar pseudonucleus surrounded by an inner condensation and an irregular outer coma. I also noted a short tail with averted vision. The comet's motion was readily apparent during that period.Comet LINEAR T7 was visible but just barely through the 5" /5 finder scope at 25x.Much earlier, a calendar day as a matter of fact, I tried to catch a final look at Comet 2P/Encke without success. After visiting a few bright deep-sky objects I observed the Moon through fleeting clouds and under somewhat turbulent skies. Rupes Recta and the area encompassing Eratosthenes, Montes Apenninus, and Archimedes captured my interest. Mars at 259x was distinctly gibbous and tiny compared to its days of glory last August.My views of Saturn at 118 to 202x were not as good as the night before when several pastel shades were displayed but they did have their moments. The C Ring wasn't particularly hard to see. Dione, Tethys, Enceladus, and Rhea bracketed the Ringed Planet while Titan kept its distance.Asteroid 1 Ceres was easily swept up at 162x as it headed north westward towards Pollux.I stayed in the French Dome long enough to watch Io be eclipsed by Jupiter at 9:28 UT.Other celestial objects that met my telescopically enhanced gaze through the course of the session included M38, M36, M37, Rigel, M42, M43, M78, W Orionis, M76, M103, M34, the Double Cluster, Stock 2 (which was quite nice through the 5" at 25x), NGC 957, M52 and nearby Czernik 43, and Eta Persei. I used 162x for most of these observations.
Comet (Comet, est. mag ~7th, est. to be in Vulpecula)
Observer: Dave Mitsky (e-mail: djm28@psu.edu)
Instrument: 14.5-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Fri Nov 21 00:30:00 2003 UT Obs. no.: 916
From a dark site in central Pennsylvania's Tuscarora State Forest on Thursday night (~00:30 UT 2003/11/21) I swept up the periodic comet 2P/Encke rather easily with my 101mm Tele Vue refractor working at 15x (35mm Tele Vue Panoptic). The comet was roughly between M27 and Collinder 399 at the time. I also used powers of 32 (17mm Tele Vue Nagler type 4) and 60x (9mm Tele Vue Nagler type 6). Through my friend Tony Donnangelo's 14.5" Starmaster Sky Tracker Dob at magnifications ranging from 46 (40mm Meade SWA) to 203x (9mm Nagler type 6) 2P/Encke appeared as a very large and diffuse fan-shaped glow. The best view was at 107x (17mm Nagler type 4). Comet Encke was also clearly visible through my Celestron 20x80's. We both suspected seeing it through Tony's Celestron Ultima 7x50's.We also observed C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) and C/2001 HT50 (LINEAR-NEAT) with Tony's Starmaster. Comet LINEAR T7 was fairly bright with a condensed coma and perhaps a hint of a tail. Comet LINEAR-NEAT HT50 was very dim and quite small and looked much the same as it had a month ago.
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