Observation Report 11-18-2016 - Long Island, NY
Nov. 18 2016 8-9:30 pm. Approx. 54 degrees with light breeze. Robert Moses State Park, Long Island, NY, USA
The moon would not rise till 9 pm so the group started to gather around 6 but I didn't arrive till about 7:45 pm. We were in the east end of the parking lot that adjoins the beach. You could hear the waves breaking on the beach.
Orion XT8i, 25 mm 2", 1.25" 8-24, 6.7, 4.5 mm, 2X barlow - no filters used. Garrett 10X50 and Celestron Skymaster 15X70 on monopod
A total of 4 ASLI (my astronomy club) members were at the field. We had an 8” Dob (mine) , a 10" Dob (Karl) , an 8" SCT (Doug) and a 3" 1300 mm FL refractor (Bart). All night we were looking through each other’s scopes comparing images.
I enjoyed the sky and learned a lesson in preparation which I will mention later.
There was major sky glow to the west courtesy of NYC and the western suburbs of Long Island. To the east, about 3/4 of a mile was the Robert Moses water tower which was all lit up. No lights pointing toward us but enough to light up the horizon. South was the water and that part of the sky was a bit foggy/hazy. So the best viewing was above 45 degrees to the North and at the zenith. I have been here before but at the other end of the parking lot where you are about a mile from the tower. It does seem to make a difference.
I set up the XT8i but first went to the 10X50s . I just scanned the sky to get a feeling for transparency and I was just overwhelmed with the sea of stars I saw overhead. This was in the regions of Cassiopeia, Andromeda, and Pegasus and around that area. All near the zenith. So many dimmer stars that made up a background to the brighter stars I know. It was just incredible, and this is not a truly dark site. Naked eye I could see more than I do at home, but when I turned the binoculars skyward the sky seemed almost crowded. That was 10 minutes of wonder and enjoyment.
I worked on Friday so I did not have a lot of time to carefully prep my target lists. I wanted to focus on Globular Clusters and ones that are a bit dimmer since this would be a darker site. I went to Tonight's Sky and set the time to 6 pm, the horizon to 30 degrees and selected Mag 6 or dimmer. And this is where the mistake occurred.
Normally I choose a 40 degree or higher horizon and brighter targets. Then I organize by constellation and pick my primary targets based on the best direction. I then examine the list and prioritize my targets or I rerun it.
Well, all of the globular clusters on my list were below 40 degrees and they were concentrated to the south (over the water hazy) or west, toward the sky glow or NW which was still pretty light polluted and the targets were low.
Lesson Learned - Even when you have a computer assisted scope you need to put some thought into your target list and I rushed it. And remember that for globular clusters the magnitude is for the whole cluster not a pinpoint like it is for a star so the light is spread out more so drop down one magnitude group if not at a totally dark site.
NGC6760 - Mag 9 - No good, could not find it - Too close to the horizon and too much sky glow
NGC6981 - Mag 9.2 - No good, could not see it – Same as above
Shifted to something that was still to the west but brighter but it was still low. Doug and I did a few of these together comparing our views.
M13 - Hercules Globular Cluster - Got it! Low and to the west so it was in the sky glow but I could see it. It was a fuzzy ball in my zoom at 50 to 150 X At 180 in my ES 82 6.7 mm I started to resolve stars in the ball. This was the best magnification for this target. Tried at 260X with my 4.5 mm but could not get it sharp.
M92 - Mag 6.5 - Low and to the NW - too much glow and too much atmosphere. NG
M15 - Mag 6.3 - still in the SW sky glow but 50 degrees up so I was able to find it. This one was better than M13. I got it up to 180 and could see stars. At 260 I could see more detail but it was fairly washed out. I tried using the 6.7 in my 2X barlow for 360X but not enough contrast to get a good view. Just picked a target in the wrong direction
M71 - Mag 8.4 - again to the west but higher, about 30 degrees. I found it but it was so washed out.
Looked over the rest of my list and they were all badly placed in the sky. So, next time I will be more careful in my selections. Let's try an open cluster.
NGC1857 - Open Cluster in Auriga - Better sky location but again I had run the list lower in the horizon than I should have however I found the cluster. It was a very open loose cluster. You could swing around half a degree in each direction and it all looked like a big loose cluster. Doug made a similar comment.
Then I played in Orion.
You can't skip the Orion Nebula. I had the trapezium resolved to 4 stars at 180X. The nebulosity was very pronounced. Looked pretty good even though it was low in the sky, maybe 20 degrees. Just hung out there for a while.
Alnitak – Bart and I had a discussion, in the dark, about Alnitak being a double star. This is the lower star in Orion's belt. We decided to try and split it in each of our scopes and compare. I think I was split in my 180X. I was not taking notes but if I recall correctly it was a large white and a small blue star next to it. It was also captured in the 3” refractors and that gave a very nice view.
Hatsya/Iota Orionis/Na’ir al Saif - Stars can be known by many names and Bart and I were debating the proper name of this one. Iota Orionis is the brightest star in an asterism known as Orion's sword. It is near the tip of the blade. It also has the traditional names Hatsya or Hatysa] and in Arabic, Na’ir al Saif, which means simply "the Bright One of the Sword. This is a double.
Bart got it in the refractor and I in my 8” Dob. At 260X I could not get a clear separation but you could see the one image start to have distinct color regions which must have been the two close stars. It was sorta blue white at one side and somewhat red/orange at the other side. There was no clear division but it was definitely two stars.
Bart also had it in his refractor. I think he had more color showing than I at 180x. We agreed that there were two stars there but did not have a clear split. Bart had split the double double earlier in the evening at about 200X
It was now about 9:15 and the moon was rising so I put in my 25 mm 2" wide view, 48X and turned it on the moon while it still had that orange glow you get as it rises. Beautiful. This eyepiece gives you the feeling that you are approaching lunar orbit. Just a fun way to look at the moon.
After this I declared it a good night. The Moon was going to wash out the sky so I packed up.
Fireball in the NE sky – While talking to Karl I saw this amazingly bright fireball burn up toward the NE. I had not notice a streak, just all of a sudden a fireball appeared. Hard to judge size but it was maybe ¼ the size of the moon. That was unexpected. I appeared, burned up and then was gone.
9:40 I think Karl pulled out a refractor and was going to do some AP.
For my last peek I pull out the 15X70s on the monopod for one last scan of the sky, mostly in the SE direction. I was not looking for anything in particular. Just wandering. I found a couple of interesting groups that probably don’t have names, but I enjoyed finding them.
10 pm and I was pulling out of the parking lot having enjoyed sharing the sky with friends.
|
