A Spring Awakening After A Long, Cold Winter

Being the president of two astronomy clubs, one would think all I do is spend my time gazing at the stars. Sure, I own 3 telescopes, a couple of pairs of binoculars, a number of astronomy books and know most of the "good" astronomy sites, but I still find it hard to get motivated to observe from the light polluted suburbs of Columbus, OH.

Tonight I hemmed and hawed about whether to take a scope out. I was playing on Facebook around 7:30 and zenith was clear, but clouds threatened all of my horizons. I did a quick check of the Clear Sky Clock and it claimed the weather would clear. Again, I paused, but then decided to take out my Orion XT8. I bought this scope about a year ago for a steal, but the computer controller has seemed to have issues. Now that I have the NAA Astro Club XT6 back in my garage, I was able to try it's computer controller and see if it was the IntelliScope or something else in the XT8.

I set-up at the end of the drive way and was being taunted by the clouds (they had moved overhead, but were whimsical and fluffy). I started to see Venus poking through the clouds to the west, so I thought, "What the heck?" and pointed the scope in that direction. I anticipated a full disk, but was pleasantly surprised by the ultra-thin crescent. Even through the lingering clouds and trees it looked amazing. Now, I should have known Venus was a crescent, but since I hadn't been doing much serious observing or study for a few months, it was a nice first light of 2009. I called my neighbor and his 5 year old son over to take a look (they had just gotten home from the store) and they oohed and ahhed over our sister planet. I pointed the scope at Sirius just so my neighbor's son could see what a bright star looked like in a telescope. It was starting to get dark and I knew I would lose their attention soon, so I turned to M42 (the Orion Nebula)and pointed out the trapezium. I was using a 26mm eyepiece so we were only getting about 45x magnification, but in this light bucket, the tiny trapezoid is easy to pick out in the large dust cloud. Lastly, I swing over to M45 (the Pleiades) and get asked, "What am I looking at?" "It's an open star cluster," I respond, forgetting how things like this excite astronomy geeks, but not the general public. I tell them I am going to see Saturn next, but they decide to head in as it's time for the son to go to bed.

I swing over to what I think is Saturn and sure enough, there she is. 800 Million miles separate us, but I can clearly make out the rings. I switch to a 7.5 mm eye piece which jumps my magnification to 160x. Even through some lingering haze and MASSIVE amounts of light pollution, Saturn appears about 1/15th as wide as the field of view and all orange/yellow. Her rings are almost perfectly perpendicular to our view, so there's no hope of seeing Cassini's Division, but I still enjoy the view. I don't remember when I last looked through the scope, but it was sometime last fall and I remember how much I enjoy looking at the stars.

Now, for the real reason I pulled the scope out. I've been toying with trying to sell the scope and even had some nibbles on it, but nothing solid yet. I plug in the club's Intelliscope controller and decide which two stars to use. With all of the light pollution (yes, this is a running theme because it is so overwhelming) I decide on Castor (in Gemini) and Rigel (in Orion). I turn the controller on, confirm the two stars and wait for the verdict. My error ratio is -0.1 (it needs to be within +- 0.5) to be effective. I decide to go back to Saturn, since I already know I can easily find it if the controller cannot. After zeroing out the locator arrows, I look in the eyepiece and VIOLA!...Saturn is slightly off center, but visible. I push in M42 and swing over to the Orion nebula and again, slightly off center, but there. I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that it is my IntelliScope controller that is the issue. This is not the conclusion I desired from this little test.

I unplug the clubs controller and go get my own. I plug it in, point the scope zenithward (that's straight up for you newbies) and turn the scope on. Again I use Castor and Rigel and wait for my results...........................................+29.9! "WTF???" is my first thought. "Maybe I used Pollux and not Castor," I think. So, I decide to try again. This time I use Sirius and Polaris, giving myself a wider portion of the sky from which to work. The result? -29.0. I am convinced that my controller is hosed and that I will have to see if Orion will fix it or just try to get another $150 out of me for a new controller. (NOTE: For the record, I was using an illuminated retical eyepiece to center the alignment stars, so I know I was dead center and that was not causing the error. Of course, this only added to my frustration over the situation.)

I decide to call it a night and within 10 minutes I have everything packed up and put away. Just one more reason I like this scope. Now if I could only get the controller to work, we'd be all set and it would be safe from the auction block.

Keep looking up!
Bubba

PS: Astronomy for Youth begins our season on Saturday, March 21st at the Mohican Outdoor School Near Mansfield, OH. I hope to see you there!

Fishing

We are a society of individuals. Granted, we live in neighborhoods, apartment buildings, subdivisions, but it doesn't take long to come to the conclusion that while we are surrounded by people, we are alone.

I recently moved from my 3rd floor apartment to a house. The house is on a quiet, suburban cul-du-sac and I was excited at the prospect of "community" that a cul-du-sac usually offers. I've been there for almost a month now and know very few of my neighbors. :-( Time to go fishing.

As I was cleaning up the garage last night, Sept. 7th, I decided to take a gander through my newest acquisition. I picked up the Orion XT8 off Craig's List from a gentleman in Cleveland. I need to do some collimation work (aligning the mirrors for you non-astro-geeks), but it still provides great views.

I set "the cannon" up on the side-walk around 7:30pm and pointed it at the moon. The hook had been baited. As I was looking at the first quarter moon, I heard a couple of kids coming by on bikes. They appeared to be about 15 or 16, both were smoking, but they were very interested in the scope. I looked up and said, "How's it going?"

They smiled and one asked, "Are you looking at constellations?"

Ah, I got a nibble. "Nope," I replied, "I'm looking at the moon." OK time to set the hook. "Do you wanna see?"

"Sure!" replied the younger one and nearly lept off his bike to get to the scope. He looked and replied, "Wow! That's tight!" Now, I don't consider myself old, but "tight" isn't a word I'm used to hearing about the moon, but I knew it was a good thing.

His buddy came over and took a look and after a few moments, they left. That was it, just a quick look. No speeches on cosmology. No explanation of the moon's phases. Just a glace at the moon and a friendly smile.

Often times as amateur astronomers I think we feel the need to justify science, to expound on our personal theories about the Universe and our place in it, to dispel all of the science fiction myths to those brave enough to gaze through our telescopes. However, often times all a non-astro-geek wants it to take a look and "see something cool".

Maybe I'll see these kids again, maybe I won't. But for a brief moment they got to see something beyond their world from a kindly neighbor.

Time to go reset the hook. Next time I hope to land a few more "fish".

AFY Public Night - May 17th

With gas prices hovering around $4 per gallon, it's hard to know when your hobby is worth the 150 mile round-trip...especially when the forecast is calling for rain.

May 17th was the Public Night for Astronomy for Youth, Inc., an amateur astronomy group with which I volunteer. Public Night is a chance for people from the surrounding area to come out, look through our personal telescopes and learn a little bit about astronomy. AFY's Public Night is the third Saturday of each month from March-November at Malabar Farm in Mansfield, OH.

In the past we have been lucky enough to have very dark skies and often times have seen the heart of the Milky Way with the naked eye. This year, however, our good friend the moon is keeping us company all night. For those not familiar with the night sky, the moon is a great object to observe. It's close, easy to find in a telescope or binoculars and has many interesting features to explore. However, a full, or nearly full, moon can be an astronomers worst nightmare. The full moon doesn't show many features, due to the lack of shadows on the surface. More annoyingly, the full moon reflects so much of the sun's light that the sky gets so washed out in moon glow that it is hard to make out other celestial objects such as galaxies, star clusters and nebulas. Long story short, it looks like this year will be a lesson in patience and appreciation of our beloved dark skies WITHOUT the friendly moon.

Curt, our club Treasurer, had sent an email on Friday stating that we would have a troop of Girl Scouts attending and he wanted everyone there to help, even if it was cloudy. If it rained, we would have to play it by ear. On Saturday the forecast called for clouds most of the day with a break between 7-10, just when our girls scouts would be arriving.

Meghan and I packed up the equipment and headed out around 5pm. The clouds to the north were dark and daunting, but the forecast was looking good, so maybe this was a passing storm. We were about 10 miles north of Columbus when the rain started. At 15 miles, it was a downpour and we were slowed to 45 mph on the freeway. At the 20 mile point, I nearly pulled off and headed home, scrubbing the night due to weather. However, the forecast kept nagging me and I pushed on through the rain. Slowly the rain subsided and soon the sun was shining again and the clouds began to part. After making a pit stop a Wendy's for some dinner, we arrived at Malabar Farm.

The usual suspects were there, minus Al & Stuart and we spent a good 15-20 minutes catching up and chatting about this and that. The wind was blowing at a good clip, but since the skies were almost perfectly clear, I thought I'd set-up my Meade ETX 125 and get ready for the evening. I went to grab my tripod and....CRAP! The tripod was 75 miles south in my storage closet. I felt pretty stupid for forgetting such an integral piece of equipment, but we all got a good laugh at it and I received a lot of reassurance from my fellow geeks that they had all done the same thing before.

Al & Stu arrived and everyone began setting up telescopes. Curt and Aaron were setting up one of the club's new Orion XT6 scopes and Robert offered to give a demonstration on collimating (lining up) the mirrors. I had done collimation on my Meade LX200 before, but struggled on a reflector, such as this. After a few minutes, Robert had walked us through the technique and the scope was ready to go.

Soon, the Girl Scouts arrived and we began greeting them. Their troop leader told us they needed to be in bed at 9:45 and our job was to have them thoroughly exhausted. We promised to do our best and we started by creating a scale model of the solar system. The girls were quick to pick out the order of the planets and had a blast pacing out the scale. We wrapped up the model and Curt showed them "aliens", pieces of meteorites that the club owns. Next, since the moon was starting to rise high in the sky, we demonstrated how the moon moves through it's phases and how eclipses occur. By this time Saturn and Mars were easily visible and the girls migrated among the scopes with "Oohs" and "Aahs" that naturally come from seeing these objects up close.

Several other people had arrived including a member of the Columbus Astronomical Society and his 18inch Obsession telescope. He had several people from an bird watching club with him and he was putting on a presentation of his own. Another gentleman had set-up a Meade LX50, so I wondered over to take a look. He and Stu were setting it up and Stu was helping him find Saturn. I found out he had purchased the scope three weeks prior and this was his first chance to use it. We got him set-up and decided to take a look at M13, the globular star cluster in Hercules.

Remember how I said earlier that the moon tends to wash out objects such as this? Well, not when you have a 10" light bucket like this Meade. The image was definitely light polluted, but I was easily able to distinguish individual stars on the outskirts of the cluster. He dropped in a 13mm eyepiece and the cluster nearly filled the field of view. Now, even through the moon glow, it was easy to distinguish hundreds of individual stars. For the first time since I sold my Meade LX200, I felt regret and contemplated purchasing another one. However, remembering the trek up and down three flights of steps carrying a 100 pound telescope, quickly convinced me to stick with the ETX125.

It was now around 11:30 pm and the hour long drive home was nagging at my tired body. Also, the clouds had started moving in and the views through the scopes was diminishing rapidly. I said my goodbyes and headed down the hill. We arrived home around 12:45 and took the dog out. Lightning was flashing in the distance, followed by low rumbling thunder a few seconds after. I went back inside and got ready for bed just as the storm unleashed it's fury. It wasn't anything to worry about, but it did provide some nice fireworks. It passed quickly and I drifted off to sleep as the rumblings grew quieter in the east.

"I put my head down and I dreamt you were here with me by the ol' tree, where no one could care."

Columbus Academy Star Party

For the second year in a row, the astronomy club at my office was invited to put on a star party for the Columbus Academy. (For those that aren't familiar with the term "star party", it's basically a gathering of astronomy enthusiasts to look through telescopes and binoculars and share knowledge.) Originally, we were supposed to hold the gathering on April 4th, but due to typical Columbus weather, that day was rained out. We postponed until April 11th, but again the weather gods would no cooperate. Finally, we caught a break last Friday, April 18th and went ahead with the party.

I arrived around 6:30 PM and was soon met by Phil and his daughter. As we began unloading equipment, Stuart, Dan and Ron arrived. Stuart had brought his Celestron 102 HD refractor (see picture below) for me to "test drive".

The company for which I work has graciously purchased a telescope (an Orion XT6, with the optional Go-To controller) and all the accessories we need for astronomical observing. Since this was a club sponsored event, I brought the club scope and got it rigged up for the sun (note the silver solar filter over the top end of the telescope). I took a few glimpses of the sun, but was disappointed at the lack of sunspots, however, the lights and rigging on the football field created interesting patterns in the eyepiece as the sun set behind them. *****NOTE: DO NOT EVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY! WE USE SOLAR FILTERS SPECIALLY MADE FOR ASTRONOMY TO PROTECT OUR VISION.*****
Al arrived shortly after that bringing his new tripod and mount for his TeleView 85. This is one sweet little scope and I'm jealous I don't have one, but the $2500 price tag is just out of my reach. For being slightly less than 3.5 inches of aperture, this baby really packs a punch. Of course, the new mount is as smooth as silk and the combination is the perfect blend of pristine optics and ultra portability. To quote Ferris Bueller: "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."As the sun set behind the trees, we did an "about face" and focused our attention on the rising moon. It was just barely visible through the early evening haze. A tree was between the moon and the Celestron 102HD, which made for interesting views. I would switch the focus between the moon and the still bare limbs of the tree, all the while wishing I had a camera to capture the moment.

Soon, families and children started to arrive and we showed them the nearly full moon in a variety of telescopes. One of the families brought their own telescope and asked Dianne, the Columbus Academy science teacher, if we could help them set it up. Stuart and I went to help, but struggled with the counter weight and getting the scope lined up at the 40 degree mark.The father thanked us for our time and continued to work on the scope. A short while later he informed us that it was working better. Curiously, we asked what he had done to fix it. "I just took off the counter weight and it works fine now," he shrugged. Sometimes it's the easiest solutions that produce the greatest results.

It was about 8:30 and the daylight was fleeting. Phil decided it was time to gather the kids and do a small presentation before we got into the heart of our observations. Phil gave me a nice introduction and I began explaining to the kids that we would be limited in what we could see due to the full moon.

I explained the different types of telescopes that were set-up and how they gather and focus light. We then started talking about the full moon and how the moon moves through it's phases. I volunteered Ron to represent the sun, I was the moon on the children were the Earth. As I moved around in "Earth", I noticed Dan had joined Ron in the sun position and was illuminating me with a small flashlight, which of course added to the effect. Al had brought some hats that were donated last year by Celestron and I asked a few trivia questions of the students and handed out hats as a reward.The kids seemed to enjoy the presentation, but I sensed that their attention span for the lecture had been spent and they were itching to look through the scopes. I reminded them one last time to not grab any of the scopes and to ask for help if they wanted to look. Then I turned them loose.

I went back over to the 102HD and aimed it at Saturn. Almost immediately I had a line of approximately 15 people. Saturn was small in the 25mm (36x) eyepiece, but people were still amazed at the clarity. I too was impressed at how crisp Saturn looked in the scope, but then again, planetary observing is where refractors excel. Ron was having some difficulties getting his Meade ETX 125 to perform the 2-star alignment, so I left to help him. As I came back, a parent noted that Saturn had drifted out. I realigned the planet, dropped in a 12.5mm (72x) eyepiece and let the visitors resume observing. One of the older children, probably 4th or 5th grade, noted that again the planet was slipping out of the field of view. I showed her how to use the slow motion controls on the scope and soon she had it centered...and was very proud of herself. :-)

After everyone had seen Saturn, I turn the scope to Mars. Mars appears as nothing more than a red star right now, but I think the visitors still enjoyed seeing it with their own eyes. We discussed how to find Mars in the sky by looking for Gemini and how the planets move across the ecliptic. One boy had a planisphere watch and asked if I could show him how to use it. We played with it a while and I showed him how to locate the stars using the watch. His mom asked me, "How do you know those are the same stars?"

Now, I've gotta be honest here, that's one of my favorite questions that I get when showing people the stars. Star gazing seems to have a mystical quality about it and to the average joe, people who can readily identify the stars in the night sky take on a mystical quality all their own. I always laugh at this, simply because I know my understanding of the cosmos is limited.

I turned to the mom and asked, "Did you use a map to drive here tonight?"

She replied, simply, "No."

I asked, "Well, then how did you know how to get here?"

She smiled, knowing where I was headed, "I've been here many times, so I knew the way."

"EXACTLY!" I exclaimed. "Finding your way among the stars is no different. The first few trips out, you need a map, like the one on your son's watch. But after you've been there several times, you learn to recognize the 'landmarks'. Take the Big Dipper, for example. If we follow the stars in the arc of the handle to the next brightest star, we wind up at Arcturus in the constellation Bootes. We can use the two stars on the far side of the Dipper's bowl to find Polaris, the North Star. Because of it's current position, to find the Mars, you use the stars Pollux and Castor in Gemini as landmarks. However, if you don't look at the stars for say, three months, Mars will move. Then you need to look at a new map to reacquaint yourself with the sky."

By this time a few other kids had joined us and we started talking about how black holes are formed and dark matter...on a very limited basis. Then everyone started heading for home. Several parents and lot of kids came by to express their thanks for showing them the stars. I reminded as many as I could to come out to Malabar Farm for our AFY public night. We finished packing up and Stuart, Ron and I contemplated our chances for a clear night for AFY on the 19th. The forecast wasn't looking good and the clouds had started rolling in as we were putting our gear away. Finally we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways.

Later that night, Flogging Molly was on Jay Leno singing their newest song, "Float". The tag line of the song really caught my attention, "I'm a ripe old age, a ripe old age, a ripe old age just doin' the best I can." Amen!

"Ah but don't, no, don't sink the boat, that you built, you built to keep afloat."

An observatory in a backpack

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently picked up the Meade ETX 60AT "backpack observatory". This is a nice little scope, with the best feature being its portability. Everything really does fit into the backpack, including the tripod (it fits into the shock cords on the outside of the scope. Also, the one I purchased included the AutoStar computer controller, a 45 degree diagonal (so you can use the scope on terrestrial objects) and three eyepieces: a 4mm (88x), a 12mm (29x) and a 25mm (14x).

I set-up the scope on Tues, April 15 for the kids to be able to see the moon. The tripod is pretty short and if you don't extend the bottom legs all the way, it is perfect for small astronomers. We attempted to use the computer to locate the moon for us, but since it wants to do a two-star alignment to calibrate the computer and there were no stars out yet (it was only slightly past 8pm), I manually guided the scope to the moon.

One of the downsides to the scope is the focus knob is very small and shakes the scope something fierce. Also, to store the scope in the backpack, you have to focus all the way in, which moves the main lens closer to the base. In order to achieve focus on the moon, it takes a good 20-30 turns of the focus knob to move the lens far enough out. However, we were resilient and soon we had the moon in focus. I've seen much closer views of the moon in other larger scopes, but I was impressed by the crispness of the image in this small scope. The kids of course loved it and I asked them, "Can you see the cheese?" My daughter six year old daughter, Margo Rita (her nickname), very excitedly replied, "Yes! I see cheese on the right side!" She was referring to the craters that were visible along the terminator. (Note: The terminator is the edge of the shadow that cuts across the moon. This is where day is separated from night on the lunar surface, similar to dawn or sunset on Earth.)

A neighbor came walking by with her teenage daughter. As I always do with passers-by, I asked if they would like to look through the scope. The neighbor looked and commented on how good the moon looked. Her daughter refused to look, as is typical with most teenagers who do not want to look like a nerd. After some gentle prodding, she relented and gazed through the eyepiece. Within one second of looking a quiet, "Oh, cool," escaped her lips and we all erupted into laughter. Though the darkness was beginning to hide most details in our faces, it was obvious that she was blushing...but grinning. They thanked us and left to continue their walk.

We moved the telescope just north of the moon and looked for Saturn. Remember, this is a small scope and Saturn is far away...about 800 million miles. We found Saturn and it looked slightly larger than a pin point of light in a black sky. Margo looked through the scope but struggled to find it, but said she thought she saw it, even though she couldn't make out the rings. Buddy, my 3 year old son, would look for less than a second and then look away. I'm guessing he wasn't seeing it, but didn't want to be left out. Oh well, at least he was enjoying the experience with us and I am hoping it is planting seeds to pique his interest in the future.

We were getting ready to pack up when another neighbor stopped by with her 4 year old daughter. I told her we were looking at Saturn and the mom was excited to look. She informed us she had never looked through a telescope before and was very excited to see Saturn. As she looked, she noted that Saturn looked "...just like it does in pictures." Her daughter tired to look but struggled to see anything. I moved the scope back down onto the moon and brought it back in focus. The mom looked and was again excited by the view. She held her daughter up and soon the uncontrolled giggle let us all know that she had seen the moon.

They thanked us and headed back to their house. It was 9pm and past the kids' bedtime. We packed up the scope, which took a total of 5 minutes and headed back inside. The kids commented on how much fun they had and I enjoyed being able to spend time with them doing something other than vegging in front of the TV. Hopefully this will be a family ritual for many years to come.


"Shining in the sky
The perfect alibi
Baby come outside with me
There's this moon you've got to see" -Jimmy Buffett

An Update, or better yet, a Restart

OK, so it's been almost 3 years since I posted here. I know what you're thinking, "You never call...you never write...where the heck have you been?" So, if you'll indulge me, I'll take a few moments to update you on the past 3 years.

I sold my big, bulky 10" Meade LX200 and received an Orion Apex 5" in the sale. On September 16, 2007, I finished my binocular Messier certificate from the Astronomical League. That same night my new (well, new to me) scope fell off the tripod and dropped 4 feet to the asphalt, cracking the primary lens (still waiting for the insurance company to settle the claim on this one).


Also on September 16, I began working on my Lunar Club certificate from the Astro League. On paper, this certificate seems easy to complete. However, it can take quite a while to as you need to be able to observe 10 different "days" of the moon (i.e. 4 day old moon = 4 days after the moon is in "new" phase) in order to see all of the craters, mountains, ridges and seas to complete the 100 feature list. Fortunately for me, the astronomy gods smiled on me and I had clear skies for one whole week, something unheard of in central Ohio, and I completed my observations. I was so excited about the experience that I wrote a 3 page document which I submitted to the Astronomical League. Many thanks to Tammy Plotner and Terry Mann for not only publishing my article, but for putting my name on the cover of The Reflector!


In October 2007, I purchased a new Meade telescope which was on close-out from Meade.com. It is an ETX 125AT, a 5-inch go-to telescope. It is about half the size of my LX200, but still a powerful scope. I also purchased a set of William Optics binoviewers which allow you to use both eyes when looking through the scope. I wish I would have had this for my lunar observing, because you haven't experienced the moon until you see it in stereo-vision.


The winter was cold and dreary, another rare thing in Ohio, and I didn't do much observing. Also, I was side-lined by a minor surgery and 4 week recovery. Right when the weather was starting to break, Ohio was hit by the biggest blizzard in 60 years. On march 7th we received almost 24 inches of snow virtually overnight. I've lived here for almost 11 years and that was the first time I was ever reminded of the snowfall in my native Minnesota. Of course, once the snow stopped, the skies were clear and the winds warmed. Within 10 days all of the snow was gone, but so were the clear skies.


This past weekend, I purchased another new scope. I've been wanting to get a "grab & go" scope, something extremely portable...even more so than the ETX 125AT. My buddy Stuart picked up a Meade ETX 60AT backpack scope right after Christmas. He liked it, but didn't feel he would use it much. I purchased it from him for $50 and thought it would be a nice scope that I could use with my kids or when I needed a quick star fix and didn't want to lug all of my equipment. I gotta tell ya', this is a nice little scope. The views are what you'd expect from a 2.3 inch telescope (Saturn is small, almost a pin point), but the clarity is amazing. I tried it out on April 14th and was astounded at the resolution of detail on the moon. Last night, April 15th, I took it out with my kids and they loved it. Another nice feature is that the tripod can be set very low, so it is easier for younger observers to look through the scope without having to step on a stool.


So, that brings us up to date. I am hoping to keep this blog more up to date with AFY's season starting this weekend (we were snowed out in March). Keep checking back for more updates. In the mean time, may your skies be clear, may the stars shine bright and KEEP LOOKING UP!



"So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking. Racing around to come up behind you again."

More Binocular Fun

Skies were again favorable so I continued to work toward my binocular certificate. The clarity was slightly better than last night, but there is still a lot of sky glow to contend with.

I start by again going to the feet of Gemini, determined to find M35. With the slightly better clarity, I find the open cluster. Turns out I was looking directly at it last night, but couldn’t resolve enough of the stars to know for sure that it was M35. I take note of 3 “bright” stars in the cluster as a future finding aid. (Note: Bright is a relative term here as these 3 stars are much dimmer than most of the stars around them.)

From there I swing over to Auriga in search of M36, M37 & M38. I notice again how the sky is only slightly better, but tonight provides some success. There among the light orange glow and faint stars is what appears as a small, dim cotton ball. Ahh, M37 has been spotted. It is a nice globular cluster that would look much nicer under darker skies. I move slightly to my right and quickly find M36. Another globular cluster, it appears much the same as M37. Right about now I am thankful for the 4.4 degree FOV of my new binocs, especially since my “Year Round Messier Marathon” book uses 4 degrees in its illustrations making it very easy to compare the FOV in the binocs with the book.

Looking just slightly more to my right I search for M38. This one proves to be slightly more difficult as it is more of an open cluster than M36 & M37. Using my averted vision, I am able to faintly make out the cluster. (Side note: One of the tricks astronomers apply is to use averted vision, basically looking out of the “corner” of your eye. The most optically-sensitive part of the retina is just slightly off-center, so using this peripheral vision allows maximum usage of our retinas.) I make a mental note to return to these clusters the next time I am at a true dark sky site and move onto the next object.

I easily acquire M44 in the binocs and go searching for M67. I knew I was in the exact area of this cluster Tuesday night, but was unable to resolve it. I star hop over and am still having difficulty resolving it. I check my book and star hop again. After doing this a few times I realize exactly how much I could use a mount for the binoculars. After about 10 minutes of this I finally resolve the cluster. Like the M38 it is faint and I need to use averted vision to resolve it, but it is definitely there.

Dropping down to Canis Minor, I start scanning left to find M48. In the book I notice that there is a grouping of 3 brighter stars about 1 ½ FOV above the cluster. Finding these in the binocs I slowly scan down. I think I see it, but it is much fainter than even the M38, even though it is listed as having a brighter magnitude in the book. After studying the area for a few minutes I realize that it is indeed M48, but it is very faint under the current conditions.

I start scanning through the book looking for brighter objects. I decide to look for M3, a globular cluster located between Arcturus and Canes Venatici, both of which are very near zenith. Thankfully I am sitting in an Adirondack chair, so leaning back to look up is not a problem. I find Arcturus and move up toward Canes Venatici. Suddenly, there it is! M3 is staring back at me. Even though the book says it is the same magnitude as M37, it is much brighter. I can only assume this is due to differences in right ascension and the light pollution problem (as I have mentioned previously).

It is getting late, but I decide to find a couple more. I’ve been dying to see M13 in these binoculars since I bought them, so I turn and face east, looking directly into the ominous sky glow from downtown Columbus. I search for Hercules and can barely make out the stars of the keystone. Not anticipating success, I peer through the binocs and am pleasantly surprised to find M13 in just a matter of a few seconds. It looks like a big puff ball and while I can’t resolve individual stars it is still one of the nicest objects I’ve seen tonight.

Excitedly I attempt to find M92, the smaller cluster in Hercules. I consult the book; find the stars in the binocs and WHAM! There is M92. Amazed that I found it so quickly, I attempt to find it again, to make sure the first time wasn’t a fluke. Again, there it is. It is almost as bright as M13, but slightly smaller. I scan back and forth between the two and just enjoy the view through the binocs.

It is almost 11:30, so I pack up my stuff and head inside. I count up the number of objects I’ve found so far. I need at least 50 of the Messier objects to qualify for the binocular certificate. After tonight I have 11, so I am 20% of the way there. Now I am really ready to get some dark skies and knock off the rest of the list.

Taking My Own Advice

A lot of people ask me what type of telescope they should buy for their first scope and most often I tell them to start with a good pair of binoculars. However, I personally did not have a good pair of binoculars, so I guess that advice was a little hypocritical.

Last Wednesday I decided to take my own advice and purchased a new pair of binoculars. They’re the Celestron 15x70 Sky Masters and have a 4.4 degree FOV (field of view). They weigh in at 3 pounds and can get a little heavy at times, but they are definitely worth the $100 price tag.

Being a member of AFY I am automatically a member of the Astronomical League, due to AFY’s affiliation with the AL. One of the great things about the Astronomical League is their Observing Clubs. These clubs focus on observing specific things in the night sky and offer a certificate and pin once all the observations are completed. One such club is the Messier Binocular Club. To qualify for this club you need to find 50 of the 110 Messier objects. That’s less than half of Charles Messier’s original list. Sounds easy right?

If you’ve ever attempted to locate Messier objects you know the frustration in searching for these little sky gems, but also the joy in finding them. You also know that you need 3 things in order to be successful: 1) a good sky map or book, 2) a good piece of equipment (telescope or binoculars) and 3) a nice dark sky location. So I grabbed my “Year Round Messier Marathon” book, my new binocs and headed out to my back deck.

OK, unlike my friend Tammy, I do not live with the darkest skies. As a matter of fact I live less than 10 miles west of downtown Columbus, Ohio, and light pollution is a major problem. Not to mention that several of my neighbors feel the need to scare away the “bad guys” by leaving all their outside lights on. With that said, I have 2 of the 3 things mentioned above.

I start by looking west, away from the “Columbus Nebula” and notice Gemini standing on the horizon. I search for M35, but the lingering glow of the setting sun forces me to search elsewhere. I decide to look a little higher in the sky for M44, the Beehive Cluster, in the constellation Cancer. Using Procyon in Canis Minor as a starting point I slowly move my way up the sky until I find this gem. It’s quite large in the binocs, taking up almost ½ of the FOV. This is definitely one of those objects that you need to see in binoculars to appreciate. After spending a few minutes relishing M44, I attempt to find M67, the smaller cluster in Cancer. Sky conditions are just not cooperating and while I know I am in the exact location, M67 is not to be found.

I head back over to Gemini’s “feet” and try scanning for M35 again. The sky still isn’t cooperating and M35 is not to be found. I swing over to Auriga to search for M36, M37 & M38, but still can’t catch a break. The sky is just slightly hazy and that is magnifying the city glow. I look to Ursa Major in the chance that the view directly overhead might yield some better results, but those objects are just too dim for these conditions. I pack it all up and head back inside determined to try again in the near future.

“Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens?” -Job 38:31-33

AFY Star Party, June 19th, 2004

What a beautiful day! Who could ask for a more perfect day? Temps in the mid-70s, low humidity, just a slight breeze blowing in from the west…these are the days about which movies are made. But would it hold for tonight?

So far this year Astronomy for Youth, Inc, has held public star parties every third Saturday of the month. March was clouded out, April was rained out by two massive thunderstorms, and May was clouded out. What would June hold?

I packed my gear and headed out around 6:50. It takes a good 1 ½ hours to get to Malabar Farm State Park from my place, so I should get there around 8:00. Well, after a quick stop at the Golden Arches for some nourishment, I arrive at the Horseman’s Area around 8:10. The usual suspects had arrived early: Curt & Trisha, Robert, Tammy, Greg and Stu (who would become a member of AFY within the hour). We had our business meeting and visitors started arriving.

I broke out the glow sticks for the kids and managed to sell 11 in the first few minutes. I new these things were going to be a hot commodity, so I’m glad I brought them. Curt started giving a program for the few girl scouts that were there. He turned it over to Tammy to talk about meteors and to let the visitors listen, yes I said listen, to some meteors.

I took the opportunity to set-up my scope (with some help from Robert). Next thing you know, I had Jupiter captured and had more visitors to show our Large Gas Giant to. We could see three moons clustered in a triangle patter on the left side and a lone moon on the right. The visitors thought it was cool, but some mentioned that it looked small. I had the 26mm eyepiece in, the one that came with the scope and the one I use for public viewing, so we weren’t too mag’ed up.

Finally some navigational stars started appearing and we turned on the juice. Hmm, we’ll be using Antares and Vega for our alignment tonight. I usually use a checklist to make sure I don’t miss anything. Robert owns an identical scope, so he helped me with set-up. OK, let’s see if we can track Jupiter now. GOTO. “Object Below Horizon.” WHAT??? No it’s not, we were just looking at it. Ok, what did I forget? Robert asked if the time was set correctly. Oops, forgot to do that. I correct that little problem and we try it again. Still nothing. OK, let’s try re-starting from scratch. After a few minutes and after re-doing the star alignment we are in business. Things are slightly out of the FOV, but close enough that we can find them with a slight adjustment.

OK, back to Jupiter to let the computer track it. A few more folks look and ooh and aah as we can how see stars around the mighty giant. Alright, let’s tune into some cool stuff. M57, here we come. I punch in the commands and the scope slews to the opposite end of the sky. I look in to correct it and what do you know? It’s almost perfectly centered. I show a few of the girl scouts the Ring. They are obviously impressed. We stay there for a bit and let other’s see. Hmm, what next? I’ve been longing to see M51, so off we slew.

The scope stops and I notice I need to adjust a slight bit. Not a problem with the slow-mo controls. There they are. Resolution is fantastic and you can see some great detail in the galaxies and the trail between them. I share the view with our visitors. I think some aren’t nearly as impressed as they were with the ring. Of course, the first time I looked at fuzzy patches of gray, white and black I wasn’t all that impressed either. Oh well.

Tammy now has Comet NEAT in her scope and drawing a fairly large crowd. This gives me a chance to do some hoping around Ursa Major. I’ve been trying to find galaxies in or near the Big Dipper, mainly the Messier objects, with no luck at home. The skies here however are perfect. Ok, M81. The telescope slews slightly, I make a few adjustments and there she is. Beautiful! M82 should be close, but I don’t see it. I start moving the FOV around and try to capture it. Finally I venture out a bit and let M81 slip out of view and there it is…M82. It almost looks like a cigar in the sky. Next I cruise over to M108. My “Year Round Messier Marathon” book refers to this as the Black Eye galaxy due to all the dark dust in its composition. Again the view is spectacular. I do a short hop to M97, the Owl Nebula. It’s much fainter than most of the other objects I have been observing, but you can still see the two dark regions of the “eyes” of the owl.

Greg comes over and sees I am observing in Ursa Major and asks if we can look at M51 in my scope. Sure! We hop back over, I do the adjustment dance and turn it over to Greg. He comments on how you can really see the details of the spiral. His eyes are obviously better than mine because I saw the star trail between the two galaxies, but was having a difficult time making out any detail in the spiral. That’s the benefit of observing with others.

Time for a break I go sit down near Trisha and Tammy and have a Coke. Throughout the night we have been seeing meteors and I’ve probably counted 10 in the past 2 hours. Tammy has seen her fair share, but Trisha has yet to see one. As if the heavens were playing a cruel joke about 5 more appear and streak across the sky while talking to Trisha. Unfortunately for her, they are all behind her back. “Damn it,” she cries out in frustration.

People are starting to wind down and the cold air is starting to become noticeable now that I have stopped moving around. I meander back over to the scope and try to pull up M13. An adjustment or two later it’s as large as ever in the scope. It’s funny because I look at M13 from home a lot and it never looks this large. Up here, where the skies are much better than home though, it looks huge in the scope and you can even resolve individual stars on the fringes. Robert comes over to take a look and jumps over to M92. Wow, not nearly as big a cluster as M13, but it still looks huge under these conditions. Fantastic, absolutely fantastic. I power down the scope shortly after that and get her all packed up. Robert and Curt are gracious enough to carry the coffin back to the truck for me and soon I am all loaded up. I turn on the truck lights to aid Stu in packing up his scope. The difference in vehicles is so ironic. I have a big Chevy 3500, dually, diesel, with a full 8 foot bed to store my gear. Stu has a Harley fat boy and stores the scope and related equipment in the saddlebags. The tripod almost looks like a bedroll tucked in behind the seat.

Soon everyone is packed. We say our goodbyes and head down the road. As I am passing the last house on the Farm property a deer goes galloping across the road. Whoa, glad I saw that one and wasn’t going overly fast! As I approach Mansfield I am pleasantly surprised to catch up with Tammy and Stu. We all hop onto 71 south and trek for home. Tammy exits a few miles down the road from us, but Stu and I have miles to go tonight. I take the lead and he follows relatively close behind. I can still see Sagittarius out the window and occasionally glance over. As we approach 270 Stu comes up along side and gives a wave and a honk. I wave back and peel onto 270 west. Fifteen minutes later I am home. Jen is awake and I tell her about the good viewing conditions and the visitors. Tonight was definitely a success.

I’ve often told people that astronomy is like golf. With the clouds, light pollution, etc, it can be the most frustrating hobby you’ll ever take up. But then you get a night like tonight and it’s like hitting a hole in one and you know you’ll be back for more.

Personally, I’m itching to tee it up and take another swing.