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Sun (Sun)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://www.joecaggiano.com)
Instrument: 80-mm refractor Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Sat Mar 27 19:00:00 2010 UT Obs. no.: 1849
Viewed sunspot # 1057 with my 80mm refractor and a solar filter. It actually consisted of 2 regions that had a bridge connecting them. I tried for some Cak (Calcium) wavelengths but the spots seemed rather docile with no detectable flares. I have posted a pic on my webpage.
M38 (Open Cluster, in Auriga)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://www.joecaggiano.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Wed Feb 18 01:00:00 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1814
The "seeing" was not as good today as it was yesterday while viewing M81 and M82. Still, it didn't make too much of a difference with this globular. Though hardly visible through my 10x50 finder, M38 exploded into hundreds of stars forming a bright cross-shaped pattern at 40x. Blue and gold stars peppered my view. I have taken a picture of the core since I could not fit the whole globular into view with my camera. I have posted pics on my webpage.
M82 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://www.joecaggiano.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Feb 17 01:00:00 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1813
Spotted M82 as a faint streak through my 10" at 40x. M81 shared the FOV with it. Easily saw structure of M82 and a dark diagonal rift between the 2 lobes. M82 showed more detail than M81. Detail showed up rather well on time exposure using a camera. I have posted pics on my website.
Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.5)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://www.joecaggiano.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Fri Jan 30 00:00:00 2009 UT Obs. no.: 1810
A brilliant gem still shining high in the west well after sundown. Viewed with binoviewers at different magnifications. Extremely bright with no cloud detail except for a pale yellow haze around the trim of the planet and a blue haze around the terminator. I managed some pictures at high power (around 400x). I have posted on my updated webpage.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.76, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Wed Nov 7 07:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1733
Viewed Mars last night with a new 5x Apo barlow for some incredible views. Starting around 11:00 PM there was nothing more to see than a bright orange blob. Every hour the night wore on the image became exceedingly better. By 2:00 AM I could clearly see 2 major land masses as well as the polar cap and hood. Visually, I used a 40mm and a 25mm ep with the 5x barlow for 150x and 240x respectively. Using the camera, I was easily over 500x. I have posted pics on my website.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 3, est. to be in Perseus)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Tue Oct 30 12:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1727
Finally, I captured my first Comet ever on CCD. Comet 17P / Holmes unexpectedly flared up from magnitude 16.6 to better than magnitude 3 over the past week. It is currently bright enough to see with the unaided eye. Viewing at 30x and 60x, there was a beautiful blue halo surrounding the whole comet. It looked like a full moon behind heavy cloud cover. The core was very easily identified as was the coma and tail. Currently, it is approximately 1.5 AU's from the Earth (about 135 million miles away). I have posted pics on my website.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.6, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Oct 28 08:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1728
Mars' distance continues to shrink. The polar cap was easily visible but I did expect alittle more surface detail and albedo markings. At the time of my viewing, Mars was 11.83" arcseconds diameter and a mere 0.75 AU from Earth. This corrolates to 69.75 Million miles. That's 20 million less than my previous posting just a ew weeks ago. Mars' magnitude is -0.6. At it's brightest in late Decmber, only the moon and Venus will outshine it. I have posted pics on my website.
Uranus (Planet, est. mag 5.8, est. to be in Aquarius)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Mon Oct 15 05:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1720
Yet another "first" for the new scope. My observable limit of the solar system was literally doubled this weekend as I had the pleasure of viewing and imaging the planet Uranus. It is currently located 2x as far from Earth as Saturn is. This makes Uranus a whopping 19.28 AU (astronomical units) from Earth, or 1.793 BILLION miles away. It is currently only 3.7 arc-seconds which is very small. The most amazing thing is that, by ultra-processing the image, I believe I also imaged Titania, which is Uranus' largest satellite. Titania is magnitude 13.73 and is almost at the observable limit of my telescope. I did not know I had picked up the moon (as well as a possible 2 others) until I processed the image. Titania measures 1,578 km or just under 900 miles in diameter. It orbits Uranus at 435,800 km from the planet which is almost identical to Earth's own moon's distance.I have posted images on my website.
Satellite (Satellite)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: poor
Time: Tue Oct 2 10:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1716
While viewing the last quarter moon, I spotted a satellite about an hour before sunrise. It was travelling roughly west to east through my eyepiece so in reality it was east to west just off the moon's limb. It covered the FOV in alittle less than a second.
M42 (Orion Nebula) (Bright Nebula, in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: poor
Time: Tue Oct 2 10:15:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1715
Woke up very early this morning to what I thought would have been perfect seeing conditions. A very dark sky and very crisp air about an hour before sunrise. Orion, the last quarter moon and Mars were directly overhead. Venus blazed in the East light a beacon. I guessed Venus to be mag -4.0 or thereabout. My (first) target was M42. This was my first viewing with the new telescope. It was exceptional. It completely blew away any previous view through my 6" newt. The nebula had to be 3 times larger than I had ever seen it, not due to pumping up the magnification but instead because of so much more of the nebula that was visible. The long wisps of cloud along it's major axis were thin yet very well defined through binoviewers. Oddly, the view was not any better using a nebula filter. Since I had to get ready for work, I did not allow the scope to cool down which may account for the less than satisfactory views of the moon and Mars. Alot of ghosting and unfocused views no matter how I much I tried in vain to achieve good focus. All seems to be collimated so my only guess is choppy atmosphere or no ample cool down time.
Mars (Planet, est. mag -0.17, est. to be in Gemini)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Tue Oct 2 07:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1717
Got my first real good viewing of Mars this season. It was also my first viewing with my new 10" scope. Using my binoviewers and a 2x barlow as well as a 1.9x, I managed to slow my scope down to f/17.9. The surface details were subtle but clearly there. On Mars' left limb was a blueish-white hooded polar cap. On the right limb extending from the 3:00 to the 6:00 position was a large mass which turned out to be Syrtis Major. The surface setail was a light tan on a peach-colored disk (except for the polar cap. Mars is currently 10.1 arcseconds in size and is a distance of just under 90 million miles away (0.967 AU) and quickly closing. It currently shines at magnitude -0.17. Opposition is on December 24 of this year. I have posted a picture on my website.
NGC869 (Open Cluster, in Perseus)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Sun Aug 12 06:20:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1697
Spotted the double cluster in Perseus. This was indeed the highlight of the night. At 48x, I have never seen so many stars in this region. With the added aperature of my older scope, I could easily pick out the color between the cluster's blue stars and the background orange and yellow stars. It was a massive conglamoration!
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Sun Aug 12 06:20:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1696
Massive at both 30x and 48x. The core was bright with hints of the spiral structure. M32 was also bright as a large hazy star just a few arcminutes away.
M57 (Ring Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Lyra)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Sun Aug 12 06:10:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1695
Beautifully visible at 48x with a slight elongation along one of its axes. With averted vision I actually caught the parent star once in a while.
M27 (Dumbell Nebula) (Planetary Nebula, in Vulpecula)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: good
Time: Sun Aug 12 06:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1694
Finally, a decent amount of detail is visible of the "apple core". Using a much larger scope broke the barrier between a hazy smudge and alot of disapointment, to alot of detail and utter excitiement. Best viewed at 48x with a nebula filter, the dumbell's shape was easy to see. Also a hint of green was visible throughout the nebula.
M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Andromeda)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Aug 5 05:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1688
Viewed the Andromeda Galaxy last night for the first time with the new scope. Even though it's location was still fairly low in the east with a good deal of light pollution, I spied more detail than I could in more ideal conditions with my old 6". Also, M32 was much more apparent too. Viewed through a 40mm ep for 30x.
Jupiter (Planet, est. mag -2.3, est. to be in Ophiuchus, Est. RaDec 30)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Jul 31 15:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1687
First light with my new XT10 captured a transit of Europa crossing Jupiter's disk. The new scope reaches magnitude 15. Though the humidity and skyglow hamper my view in this area, condierable more detail was noticeable on Jupiter. I have posted pics on my website.
M84 (Galaxy, in Virgo)
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.: 1643
These are the galaxies at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. They span about 1 1/2 anchored on the western end by M84 and M86, both around 9th magnitude. Also visible were about a half dozen others but because of their faintness, I am not positive of their identity.
M81 (Galaxy, in Ursa Major)
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.: 1642
An excellent night of galaxy hunting continued with M81 and M82 in Ursa major. Spiral detail was easily seen in M81. Both were easily visible and M81 was quite large with both direct and averted vision. These 2 closely locked galaxies are 11 million LY distant from us.
M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy) (Galaxy, in Canes Venatici)
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.: 1641
An absolutely beautiful sky adorned the Pocono Mountains this weekend for our annual fishing trip. Moving 3 1/2 off the end star of the handle of Ursa Major I easily spotted M51 a & b. It was surprisingly bright in the binos and I could easily see detail of the whirlpool form. No averted vision was needed to pick out subtle detail with continuously steady skies.
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.
Venus (Planet, est. mag -4.6)
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 00:30:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1633
I viewed Venus this evening about a half hour after the sun set. It was still high up in the sky and easy to spot though the viewing had to be done between my neighbor's tree branches. Venus is currently shining at magnitude -4.6 and is alittle better than 14 arcseconds in diameter. It is almost the size that Mars will appear during it's 2007 opposition. It will grow rapidly in the next few months as it turns towards it's crescent phase as it approaches us.
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: Sat Mar 31 03:15:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1632
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 0.1, 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.
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