Cool, Calm, Cloudless, Crystal Clear, Rock Steady Skies ...
Hello everyone...
Am really hoping those of you who observed on Friday night had the
opportunity to watch the Jovian double transit (Io and Europa), which was
already in progress as Jupiter rose. If anyone did, I would love to hear
from you. Please post the successes of your viewing for us all to share.
My skies here in south central MA were 75 to 80% occluded by clouds, so
regretfully, I didn't set my light bucket up. Did do some skyhopping with
binocs though, and when the sky could be seen through the holes, the clarity
was excellent.
Earlier in the week, I had invited two co-workers over to enjoy a Saturday
evening (last night) observing session with me. I watched the cloud filled
sky with complete frustration all day long, and at 5:00 PM, the sky was
still totally covered with those visible vapor puffs!! Because both guests
had a considerable drive to get to my place (one whom was also bringing his
8 year-old son), I called them and said they were still welcome to visit,
but it didn't look like the C-14 would be taken out of its storage trunk
tonight. They both said, 'Thanks, Les, but I'll wait for a better
opportunity."
Wouldn't you know, the totally overcast sky started breaking open about
5:30, and within half an hour, was completely cloud free. The night started
with a pass of the ISS at 6:12 at magnitude -0.5 - glaringly bright in a
twilight sky, and things just got better and better.
I quickly called both friends back, but they had made other plans. I then
called my three closest neighbors for the usual 'Please keep your outside
floods off tonight' request, and an invitation to come over and join me.
Everyone had plans, but were accommodating as usual with my 'no lights'
request. Sooo.... a solitary night under the stars for me then!
Date: Saturday, 21 October, 2001
Time: 6:30 PM - 5:00 AM
Place: Wilbraham, MA
Visibility: Bortle 5 skies
Limiting Magnitude: 6.0 (with averted vision)
Seeing: 8
Equipment: Celestron C-14 SCT
Got set up by 6:30 - in time to really enjoy the 3 day-old crescent moon.
Starting at 156X with 2" 55mm Plossl and 2X barlow, I found the image was
holding rock steady with very little blurring due to refraction. I quickly
changed to a 13mm Nagler (300X), and found the image was STILL rock steady!
Within 10 minutes, I had successfully tried a 9mm Nagler (450X), and was
viewing once again with the 13mm and the barlow, at 600X. The image would
hold steady for 5 to 6 seconds, between 1 to 2 second-long blurs. This was
steady enough to allow a crisp focus with ease. Unless you've experienced
it, you can't know how rewarding it is to find the seeing steady enough to
crank up to this level of power! At that magnification, the craters along
the terminator readily displayed all their complexities of structure in
great detail - terraced walls, central peaks, ripples on the lava-filled
interior floors, rilles and valleys. I was in Observer's Heaven!! Even
after 16 years of lunar observing, I never cease to get struck dumb with awe
when the true ruggedness of the lunar landscape can be seen at this level of
detail. My biggest regret was that I had no one to share these fantastic
views and my excitement with! I stayed with the moon until I was eventually
forced back down to 150X when it was low in the western sky.
By this time, the sky was as dark as it ever gets here in the suburbs of
Springfield, so I started working my way back east through the sky. I found
years ago, that this technique gives you the chance to observe the greatest
number of objects over the course of the night, as the eastern sky rotates
to you - unless you have a planned itenerary.
I added a Lumicon UHC filter (to cut the sky glow created in my southern sky
by Enfield, CT and Bradley Airport), and added a red filter to enhance the
surface detail of Mars. Sorry to say, very little detail can yet be seen,
even at 600X, because the dust storms are still covering almost the entire
surface. Some dark mottlings could be discerned, but so poorly it would be
no more than a guess to identify the features they represented. The south
polar cap could be seen easily enough, and switching to a blue filter
allowed several clouds to be seen in Mars' thin atmosphere. Didn't spend
much time here.
Neptune was a bright blue marble - very blue, no surface detail, with no
filters at all. Triton was visible as a pinpoint of light, about 10 Neptune
diameters away. Uranus was slightly bigger, more greenish than blue, again
no surface detail, and am unsure if any of the close-by pinpoints were
Uranian satellites or stars. I didn't expect to be able to observe at all,
let alone use the high mags, so I'm afraid I didn't do my homework to
pre-determine the positions of the satellites for these far away neighbors.
Because the viewing was so unexpectedly good, I found myself chomping at the
bit, actually wishing I could speed the earth up, so I could look at Saturn
and Jupiter! I wanted to dispense with DSO's and take advantage of this
great opportunity for planetary viewing. Finally, at about 11:00, Saturn
cleared the treetops, and became the next target. Starting at low power
(78X), the planetary system was gorgeous, as usual. The rings are currently
at just about their greatest dip, so now is the best opportunity to try your
luck with the special features planetary rings offer. Unfortunately, I had
to wait. Still too close to the horizon.
Took a warm-up/coffee break, checked the nifty little calculator SatSat for
the current position of Saturn's moons, and woke my wife up to see if she
wanted to observe Saturn and Jupiter with me (I was really hard pressed to
share this gorgeous night). She told me to ask one of our dogs! Finally,
at 2:00 AM, the show began. Now, at 300X, the Enke Division was resolved.
The planet's shadow could be seen falling on the rings, creating a black
void between the rings and the edge of Saturn's disk, as they wrap around
the back side of the planet. The effect very definitely adds a three dimens
ional aspect to the image, and it easy to imagine the rings extending out in
front of the planet, and falling away as they wrap around to the rear.
Several very low contrast belts were seen with difficulty, but the addition
of an orange filter added greatly to the contrast. The image continued to
hold steady, so up to 600X, and I was then able to see the disk of the
planet through the crepe ring! Words fail... Awsome is the only way I know
to describe it! I stayed with Saturn until just after 4:00.
Jove... Zeus... The King of the Gods... The Boss Planet... Jupiter!
Belts, zones, ovals, whorls, the Great Red Spot... Detail, detail, detail!!
Truly the best observing of Jupiter I have ever had. I even pressed the
limit and used the 9mm Nagler + 2X barlow for 900X - this is just above the
rule of thumb 60X per inch of aperture diameter, which for me at 14" is
840X. This is the first time in my 16 years of C-14 ownership that I have
been able to successfully achieve this mark useably (is that a word?).
Finally, at 5:30 this morning, the clouds closed the sky and robbed me of
any further exhilaration. BUT - it went out in a blaze of glory: a -7
magnitude flare at 5:17 from Iridium 73 that lasted almost a full 10
seconds. I actually saw my shadow from it's intense light. Then the sky
was gone as quickly as it had opened up, 12 hours earlier.
What a glorious night!! Last night was truly one of those few lifetime
observing sessions you can count on one hand. My friends and neighbors will
never know the beauty they all missed! I forgot to mention that it was all
punctuated with the occasional Orionid meteor, several of which left visible
smoke trails for several seconds.
I hope you all had the chance to get as much out of our great weekend as I
have!!! Sorry this is so long, but I'm still hyped up!
Dark skies to all,
Les Lytton
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