Dave Wallace's Adventures in Astronomy

06/23/2003 0100 UTC

Starting tomorrow, the days get shorter. Maybe I won't have to stay up quite so late to get dark skies.

I set up at 9 and about all I could see was Jupiter, Arcturus and Vega. Only three moons of Jupiter visible -- I guess the fourth was either transiting the planet or behind it. Still no sighting of the GRS.

There were three targets in the neighborhood of Jupiter that were on my "hit list":
M44 08:40 x +19d40m The "beehive cluster"
M67 08:51 x +11d48m A bright globular cluster
TDSC24568 08:47 x +28d45m Double, mag 4 & 6, 31" @ 308d

I'm going to have to give up on these -- by the time the sky is dark enough for them, they're behind the tree on the west edge of the parking lot. Maybe next April - May...

The rest of the targets from the "hit list" are still high enough in the sky to be worth attempting, so I gave them a shot. Here's the list:
TDSC28668 10:17 x +23d25m Double, mag 3.5 & 6, 332" @ 338d
TDSC35048 13:10 x+38d30m Double, mag 6 & 6.3 279" @ 297d, yellow-blue
M51 13:30 x +47d12m Colliding galaxies mag 8.4
M3 13:42 x +28d23m Bright globular cluster
M5 15:19 x +02d05m Compact cluster
M13 16:41 x +36d28m Cluster in Hercules
M92 17:17 x +43d08m Cluster
TDSC48456 18:44 x +39d40m Epsilon Lyra - Double, mag 5.3 & 5.5, 204" @ 135d
M57 18:54 x +33d02m Ring Nebula (dim - mag 9.5) but very compact
TDSC49166 18:56 x +04d12m Double, mag 4.6 & 4.9, 22" @ 104d
TDSC51241 19:31 x +27d58m Albireo - Double, mag 3.5 & 4.5, 60" @ 60d, orange-blue
TDSC54228 20:14 x +46d44m Multiple, mag 4, 7 & 4.8 107" @ 173 & 337" @ 323, orange-white-blue

As you can see, I'm depending on being able to set the scope to point to the coordinates. The RA circle is still a bit flaky, but if I'm careful to keep re-checking the calibration against known bright stars in the same area, it works well enough for now.

Anyway, I made an attempt at all of the above. Here's what I succeeded at (I think -- it's hard to prove that I actually get any given target if there are other objects that look similar and are in the same area):
TDSC28668 10:17 x +23d25m Double, mag 3.5 & 6, 332" @ 338d
I'm pretty sure about this one, since it's bright enough to verify in the finder scope.
M13 16:41 x +36d28m Cluster in Hercules
Got that at about 10:15. Barely brighter than the sky at that time. This wasn't as impressive as the pictures. It was just a bright fuzzy patch a little dimmer than M42 and much harder to find. Maybe darker sky would have helped.
TDSC48456 18:44 x +39d40m Epsilon Lyra - Double, mag 5.3 & 5.5, 204" @ 135d
I'm getting good at centering on Vega and then moving northeast a bit to hit this one.
One that wasn't on the list:
TDSC48489 18:45 x +37d36m Double, mag 4.3 & 5.6, 44" @ 150d
This is Zeta Lyra. Due south of Epsilon Lyra and the same distance below Vega as Epsilon is above. A much closer double than Epsilon but otherwise very similar looking. Hit this on my way to trying for the next target:
TDSC49166 18:56 x +04d12m Double, mag 4.6 & 4.9, 22" @ 104d
Got that, I think. It's hard to tell one close double from another and there are a LOT of doubles in Lyra and Cygnus.
TDSC51241 19:31 x +27d58m Albireo - Double, mag 3.5 & 4.5, 60" @ 60d, orange-blue
No way was I going home without getting another look at Albireo. :)
TDSC54228 20:14 x +46d44m Multiple, mag 4, 7 & 4.8 107" @ 173 & 337" @ 323 orange-white-blue
Another one I'm not positive I got. If I did, it wasn't bright enough for the colors to show.

The rest of the objects were no-shows. Probably, the sky wasn't dark enough for them. It looks to me like if I'm going to hunt Messier objects, I should wait until the sky is really dark (say around 11 or midnight), pick a day when the moon is not in the sky at that time and make very sure that the setting circles are in calibration.

Anyway, a good evening. But the dew got pretty bad, so I packed it up at about 10:30.