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i made it out this weekend to the illinois dark skies star party in southern illinois. while the weather didn’t cooperate 100% it did allow for some better than average observing. the weekend started out with the 3.5 hours drive to the site which was really nice. the grounds were clean, buildings were all new, and the shower area was clean. we couldn’t have asked for a nicer location in terms of amenities.

the seeing the first night greeted us with some clouds early on and the seeing was only decent. since i was overly tired i only got a few hours of observing in before i decided to cut my losses and hit the hay. i restricted most of my observing that first night to objects near the zenith because of the clouds on the horizon.

the seeing on the second night was more of the same clouds but the seeing was improved and we were able to get more observing in. i managed about 4 hours of observing before i tossed the towel in. i spent a lot of time in sagittarius and lyra. it cleared up later that night but i forgot to put in a standing wake-up request in to be woken on clear skies, another lesson learned. a bunch of people were up till the wee hours of the morning observing and star hopping though.

the observing on the third and final night was hit and miss at first. we were bouncing around in between the pockets of clouds. finally around midnight the clouds receded from everywhere but the horizons. there were a few occasional wisps but they weren’t too obstructive. i watched a lot of the moon as it set, jumped around in sagittarius and lyra some more and took in a ton of messier objects. i was galaxy and glob hopping in camelopardalis and most of the constellations near cassiopeia. i stayed awake until saturn popped out of the horizon haze and and orion was just about 40° above the horizon. the seeing that low on the horizon was too unsteady to put any power into saturn but it was still pleasant to see it again.

except for the first night the dew was great the whole time and i wasn’t plagued with the dew problems from my last excursion out. the temperatures also didn’t get as low though either so i have yet to see if the antidew really remains a problem.

overall i liked the observing site and the star party. i honestly thought that the turnout was going to be bigger than it was. i guess the turnout was larger than years past but it wasn’t what i expected. i was also a bit surprised that they were advertising this location as one of the darkest locations in illinois as well. there was some serious sky glow from nearby springfield and other near towns, obviously more prominent with the clouds. we were still able to see the milky way and most of stuff everyone planned on seeing so it wasn’t that bad, and it definitely wasn’t as bad as the seeing at the astrofest location. it definitely wasn’t one of the best in the state however.

i saw a ton of objects this time out and since we were bouncing around a lot i’m not sure that i’ll make a posting about everything i saw but i’ll try to cover the highlights in a future post. i’m still up in the air about returning to the star party next year but we’ll cross that bridge later. in summary though the site was nice and clean with good facilities, the food was very good and much better than years past (from what others said), and the seeing was average though maybe a little above average.

Well I finally finished my observing log for my Wildcat trip. After all is said and done I think I was able to find about 60 - 70% of the objects that we viewed, but I know I missed a number of important ones. I may edit this later as people remind me of some of the things we saw.

The seeing was good on all three nights but the transparency was clearer on the third night than the first two. The first two nights were also very dewy and wreaked havoc on my telescope as there was a problem with my Antidew system. I’m still trying to diagnose exactly what the problem was. I thought I knew but after talking to Mag1 I think I was wrong.

While I was observing I took it upon myself to master a few constellations while I was up there. I chose to master Cygnus the Swan and Ophiuchus the Serpent Holder. They both had quite a few Messier and NGC (New General Catalogue) objects. Ophiuchus was low on the horizon and I had to wait for it to rise each night but I had plenty to do with Cygnus near the Zenith.

I’m trying something a little different this time. I’m giving links to various online websites to all of the objects I viewed. I’m also telling you the common name, where available, the constellation it’s located in with a link to more information, and finally the type of object that was viewed. I’m trying to be a bit more detailed in my logs and want to refine them even more as time goes on. Anyhow, here’s the log for the weekend.

• Uranus — [ Aquarius • Planet ] — I was able to find Uranus pretty quickly in my 35 mm Panoptic. There were 3 stars in the field of view when comparing it to the finder chart I printed out and the only one that wasn’t twinkling was the planet in question. As confirmation I pumped up the power with my 9mm and 5mm Naglers. It was near colorless but the sphere was pronounced at high power. I didn’t print out any finder charts with the location of the moons so I couldn’t tell if any of the fainter star like objects were moons.
• Neptune & Pluto — [ Capricornus & Serpens Cauda • Planet ] — I had the charts printed out for both of these object but wasn’t able to distinguish them from the surrounding stars. I thought Neptune would be easier to find due to color or lack of twinkle (planets don’t twinkle) but I wasn’t able to pick it out of the lineup, maybe next time. As for Pluto, that’s definitely an object you need to view over time and take note of changes in the field of view.
• IC 4665 — [ Ophiuchus • Open Cluster ] — I tackled this cluster as part of my mastering of Ophiuchus. It easily fit within my 35mm and 24mm Panoptics. The stars aren’t very tight but their colors are interesting. You can make out a beautiful red star just east of the heart of the cluster.
• M2 — [ Aquarius • Globular Cluster ] — This is a tight little globular cluster with about 100,000 stars (I counted them all, honest). It frames well in my 24 mm and my 9 mm is a bit much. I really need to get a mid range 13 or 16 mm eyepiece to fill my gap. It had a really bright center that was hard to make out individual stars but around the edges it is much softer and I was able to easily make out the stars at higher power.
• M10 — [ Ophiuchus • Globular Cluster ] — This is a small tight globular that was really hard to resolve at low powers. Pumping up the power brought more stars into the field but the seeing tore up the field. I wasn’t able to resolve many stars at the periphery, perhaps under better seeing I would be able to resolve more.
• M12 — [ Gumball Globular • Ophiuchus • Globular Cluster ] — Another very faint cluster that was part of my mastering of Ophiuchus. I only used my 24 mm on this object and was barely able to make it out. The seeing on M10 led me to not even try pushing up the power on this one.
• M13 — [ Hercules Cluster • Hercules • Globular Cluster ] — When you ask someone if they’ve ever seen a globular, 9 times out of 10 if they have it’ll likely have been this one. It was at the top of the sky not to far from zenith most of the night. I had a few opportunities to cycle through all of my eyepieces on this one. From 35 mm to 5 mm this one pleased at every level. Heck, it was easily distinguishable to the naked eye using averted vision. Stars were resolvable into the center where they were replaced by a dense cloud of light. This is truly an amazing site and recommended for any amateur observer who wants to wow their family with just about any aperture telescope.
• M15 — [ Pegasus Cluster • Pegasus • Globular Cluster ] — Another amazing cluster that was really bright at it’s core and quickly faded to a faint halo. I wasn’t able to resolve many of the stars in the halo at higher magnitude.
• M20 — [ Trifid Nebula • Sagittarius • Cluster with Nebulosity ] — I didn’t get a chance to look at this one through my telescope. I viewed it in a 22 mm through a 11.5” newtonian. I think I was able to make out the faint color differences between the different segments but it could have been my minds eye playing tricks on me. No matter though as it looked amazing. I should have tried for this one in my telescope but never got around to it.
• M22 — [ Sagittarius Cluster • Sagittarius • Globular Cluster ] — I hunted this beauty down with the help of a friend. It popped out from behind the trees for long enough to spin the Portaball around and gobble up this glob. A little known bit of trivia about M22 is that it’s the third brightest globular in the sky. Once I knew where it was I could make it out using averted vision with the naked eye.
• M27 — [ Dumbbell Nebula • Vulpecula • Planetary Nebula ] — I spent more time with my telescope pointed at this object than any other object. Not only could I not get over how clear and defined it was without a filter but I used this object during the public observing session on Saturday. I spent most of my time using my 24 mm but I did throw in my 9 mm for a while. It was definitely a softer view but still quite enjoyable. I tried using my narrow band filter but thought it made the image seem too faded and I couldn’t make out any additional details. I thought I could sense some colorization but I honestly wouldn’t bet the farm on it. I wasn’t able to discern the central star, maybe next time perhaps under steady skies.
• M29 — [ Cooling Tower • Cygnus • Open Cluster ] — A nice quick open cluster on the way to the Veil and North American Nebula. It wasn’t much to look at and I don’t quite understand how it got it’s nickname of the Cooling Tower.
• M31, M32, M110 — [ Andromeda Galaxy Cluster • Andromeda • 3 Galaxies ] — To me this was the biggest wow factor of the weekend. I’ve always seen the pictures in magazines and books of these three galaxies together and thought to myself what they must look like under really clear skies. Well I finally got the opportunity and while they don’t quite look like the pictures they are still quite breathtaking. With my lowest power widest view eyepiece (35 mm with 68° FOV) I still wasn’t able to fit all of M31 into the field. Only when I borrowed some Canon 10×30 IS Binoculars was I able to see the complete glory of Andromeda in the field, that is after I picked up my jaw of the floor. Those binoculars are on my short list of must haves.
• M33 — [ Triangulum Pinwheel Galaxy • Triangulum • Galaxy ] — In my 24 mm this was a quite enjoyable galaxy though it is pretty faint and can easily be passed over. After staring at it a while and scanning the field I was starting to make out some details.
• M34 — [ Spiral Cluster • Perseus • Open Cluster ] — A nice cluster that is visible to the naked eye if you know where to look. It was best framed in my 24 mm and I think it was one of the better open clusters I saw this weekend. I’m not quite sure why it’s categorized as a Spiral Cluster though.
• M39 — [ Cygnus • Open Cluster ] — This was another one of those open clusters that I passed over a few times and didn’t know what I was looking for. Only after I dropped my 35 mm in did I see it, as faint as it was. I think this would be a nice binocular object, now if I only had a pair.
• M51 & NGC 5195 — [ Whirlpool Galaxy • Canes Venatici • Galaxy ] — Another classic object that was quite amazing in dark skies. In my 24 mm it was pleasing to the eye and you could clearly make out the two galaxies. With averted vision you could barely make out a few arms. Under higher power at a neighboring telescope I could make out more details though the background was muted a bit and definitely made it more difficult to see details. I didn’t think to drop in my 9 mm or 5 mm unfortunately, maybe next time.
• M52 — [ The Scorpion • Cassiopeia • Open Cluster ] — A decent cluster that took way to long to locate. Once I found it though I could easily jump right to it. I’m always amazed how once I find something and pick out a pattern I can jump straight to it. I enjoy finding patterns and trying to find the easiest way to find an object in the sky. The simple hint for this one is to draw a line from Schedar to Caph in Cassiopeia and follow it the same distance upward. Once there scan a little further on the same path and then boom, your right on top of it.
• M56 — [ Lyra • Globular Cluster ] — A nice small globular midway between Albireo in Cygnus and Sulafat in Lyra. I was’t able to resolve many stars at low power and at higher power the view fell apart and turned very soft.
• M57 — [ Ring Nebula • Lyra • Planetary Nebula ] — Yet another classic object that looked great under clear skies. I again cycled through all of my eyepieces and each was better than the previous. A bunch of us tried to make out the central star with my 5 mm but weren’t able to declare it as visable. Another reason to buy a barlow I guess.
• M71 — [ Sagitta • Globular Cluster ] — A nice little cluster near the Dumbbell Nebula that was clearly resolved in my 24 mm. I wasn’t able to discern the nebulosity that is supposed to be in the background, maybe with a narrow band or OIII filter.
• M76 — [ Little Dumbbell Nebula • Perseus • Planetary Nebula ] — A very cool little nebula that looks a lot like a mini M27. I wanted to pump up the power on this one with my 9 mm and 5 mm but got sidetracked never to return. In the 24 mm it was easily seen and I could make out some detail but I wanted to see more in my telescope. I saw more traces of similarity to M27 in another newtonian but it wasn’t the same as seeing it in my telescope.
• M103 — [ Cassiopeia • Open Cluster ] — A very colorful open cluster at 8 o’clock off of Ruchbah. Some people say it looks like a christmas tree but I don’t see it. Regardless it still is quite pretty in my 24 mm eyepiece.
• NGC 457 — [ Owl Cluster • Cassiopeia • Open Cluster ] — A fun open cluster that when viewed through a wide field eyepiece resembles an owl. The two brightest stars are the eyes and the rest of the cluster is the torso and outstretched wings of the owl. Some people think that it resembles E.T. but I don’t see it. Next time there’s a star party I’m going to show this object, it’s quite fun.
• NGC 869 & NGC 884 — [ Perseus Double Cluster • Perseus • Open Cluster ] — This pair of open clusters takes up the entire field of view in my 35 mm, it also frames quite nicely in my 24 mm. I actually mistook this pair of objects with my naked eye as Andromeda. Only after I spun the Portaball around and peeked in the eyepiece did I realize what I was looking at.
• NGC 6384 — [ Ophiuchus • Galaxy ] — Another object that was part of my mastering of Ophiuchus. This was fairly easy to see and I was able to easily make out the surrounding stars with the naked eye. I wasn’t able to make out any arms but the core was bright and defined.
• NGC 6960 & NGC 6992 — [ Veil Nebula • Cygnus • Diffuse Nebula ] — While Andromeda was a high point of the weekend this object had to be the peak. I had never seen the Veil from any of my observing sites. I had it on my list of things to view while at Wildcat so I knew I would see it, what I didn’t know was how amazing it was going to look. The nebulus strands and filaments had so many details. I borrowed a friends OIII filter (I have to get me one of these) and it I almost fell over. No, it wasn’t because the eyepiece was so heavy but instead because in my 35 mm this 2” filter made the Veil appear almost 3D. The fingers and filaments of the Veil Nebula West (NGC 6960) were remarkable. Seeing 52 Cygni framed with the Veil around it with two huge filaments branching off to the side from the main body was fantastic. To the east was the Veil Nebula East (NGC 6992) also known as the Network Nebula because it appears as a network of filaments in the sky. Even with the wide field of view and 2” eyepiece you still have to scan around to capture the full effect of this nebula. I swear that the more I scanned the more I saw, it was almost as if it never ended. I’ve never see such a detailed object that was this enormous. I also took some time to view this object in a few other telescopes and can honestly say that none of them did it as much justice as mine. The background was darker and the filaments were much more defined in the Portaball. This is my new favorite object in the sky.
• NGC 7000 — [ North American Nebula • Cygnus • Diffuse Nebula ] — I wasn’t as impressed with this object as I thought I was going to be. I think it was because I really couldn’t grasp where it was I was looking. I also didn’t get a chance to view this one through my telescope. I viewed it through a 11.5” and 16” dobsonian. Each of them looked good but I just couldn’t make out the Gulf of Mexico which is what I was supposed to be seeing. It was getting late and I think the transparency was degrading, either that or I was just blind. I was expecting it to be as defined as the Veil and it wasn’t.
• NGC 7331 — [ Pegasus • Galaxy ] — A very nice 9.5 magnitude galaxy with quite few visible companions. There were a few that I wasn’t able to see but with better seeing I bet we could have seen them. I thought I was able to discern some structure to the spiral, but I thought that a few times this weekend. I think I am getting better and breathing steadily and using my averted vision more to see details. Anyhow, this was a fairly bright galaxy and was semi edge-on.
• NGC 7789 — [ Cassiopeia • Open Cluster ] — Yet another open cluster in Cassiopeia. It’s one of those that you easily miss if you don’t have a wide field of view or if your in a hurry. Once you find it though you see a ton of stars with a rich range of colors and brightnesses. I bet this would look pretty amazing in binoculars. I used my 35 mm and felt that it hadn’t done it justice.

I realized a few things while I was out this time. The first is that I needed a better field almanac, the SkyAtlas 2000.0 desktop color version that I was using got way too damp and that made me not want to use it. While I was there I used a friends black background with white stars SkyAtlas and really liked it so I’m going to pick that up. I also really liked his companion guide for finding more details about each object as well as quickly seeing if I was wasting my time trying to find something that was way to faint. Another thing I realized was that my observing table was way too small for my papers, eyepieces, tools and everything else. I need to get a long fold up table that can safely hold everything. That’s on the short list of must haves for my next outing. Finally I found a huge hole in my eyepiece collection between my 9 mm and 24 mm. I thought I could ease through it but it was noticeably sparse when I tried to turn it up a bit but not quite to 9 mm worth of power. I need to pick up the 13 mm Nagler T6 and/or the 16 mm Nagler T6 to fill the gap a bit. I also wouldn’t mind checking out the 14 mm Pentax XW or any of the Pentax line. I haven’t had the opportunity to view through any of these. And finally, the other thing I realized is that I need a nice pair of binoculars. No, not a huge pair for thousands of dollars just a nice pair of all around lenses to use during downtime when I am sitting and just staring at the stars, which I found myself doing quite often. There were so many stars out that you couldn’t help just look up with your jaw wide open. Luckily there were no bugs to collect in it since the temperatures were in the low 40’s.

In summary, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend of observing or camaraderie. I had a great time and am looking forward to my trip next month to another star party. Clear skies to everyone!

I was up at Wildcat State Park in Wisconsin this past weekend for an astronomy star party with my astronomy club. Unlike the last time I ventured to Wildcat this time was truly amazing. We had 3 days of perfect weather in succession, no really, I’m serious. It was partly cloudy during the day and then when night came around all of the cumulous clouds burned away and exposed the Milky Way and the heavens above in all it’s glory. I still can’t get over how much the Milky Way looks like a cloud at first sight. Let me just say now, I’ve only visually seen the Milky Way a handful of times so seeing it was quite exciting let alone getting to see it with my telescope for the first time. The transparency on each night wasn’t that high but it was actually highly usable and didn’t detract at all from all of the fun or the massive number of objects that we saw.

I arrived on Friday afternoon and got my tent set up and unpacked my telescope just in time for the observing that night, though I was getting worried that I was going to be late. The observing the first night was very dewy but clear. There weren’t any clouds to cause any problems and most objects were crisp and clear. I stayed up till about 2:30 am that night.

The second day I slept in, shocker ahe? The weather held out most of the day though it did rain for a few moments in the afternoon, nothing major. When I uncovered my telescope that morning I was greeted with some massive dewing on my primary mirror, it was like Lake Michigan under the cover. About 40 minutes later after using the fan and tipping it on side to get some air circulation it was clear. The same thing happened the next night as well despite me tipping the scope and not putting other parts inside the sphere at night. I need to figure out how to lessen this pooling as water spots always result after a good dewing. I know that spots don’t excessively effect viewing but enough of them will degrade the image somewhat.

Anyhow, our public observing session was on Saturday night and some people were worried that the public was going to be there late. As an amateur astronomer we couldn’t help think that with all of these clear skies people would want to stay and do some viewing. After some explanation it was clear that they (the public) wouldn’t last long, not everyone was as excited about clear skies as astronomers. All in all I think the public went great, I had about 40-50 visitors to my telescope and I know that not everyone stopped at my spot. I was targeting the Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula near Cygnus the Swan in the Summer Triangle (Deneb, Vega, and Altair). I can’t tell you how many times I made the exploding hand gesture to explain they were looking at the remnant of an exploding star and they were seeing the left over gases from that explosion. Twas no matter though as once they looked through the eyepiece they were in awe over the view, heck I was as well. The details and clarity were amazing even without a nebula filter. Earlier that day I had borrowed a 2” eyepiece from another club member to use during the star party. The last thing I’m going to do is put an expensive eyepiece in and have someone reach up and put their fingers on the lens or better yet cram their glasses into it, been there done that and almost had the heart attack to accompany it. Anyhow, the public went great and everyone enjoyed themselves. By a little past 10 pm everyone had cleared out and we were left to our own devices to explore the heavens above. I was up until around 3 am that evening. And you guessed it, I slept in again that next morning … shocker.

The final night of observing I was determined to make it until Venus rose at around 4 am. I was getting jabs from my fellow observers for not being able to keep up with the big boys. They were right on one hand because I was dead tired, but on the other hand I really wanted to see everything I could while I was there. It’s not like I often get the opportunity to observe in truly clear skies. Next time I definitely need to try to get some afternoon naps in next time I go observing so I can make it through the night. Anyhow, we nearly called it a night early because of high flying cirrus clouds but that would have been a bit premature as the skies cleared and we had some amazing viewing, steady skies, and little to no dew. I made it through the night, saw Venus rise, and then immediately tore my telescope apart and put it into the car. It was supposed to rain later in the morning and I knew I was going to be asleep.

Throughout the weekend observing festivities we were greeted with many Perseid Meteors. There were quite a few really bright momentary arcs of fire across in the sky and many of these were extremely colorful. From light green to vibrant yellow they were quite breathtaking. Quite a few lit up the sky and ground near us as well, it was quite extraordinary. We were also able to catch an extremely bright (-8.5, the more negative the brighter it is) Iridium Flare. This thing was brighter than Venus rising in the morning. Anyhow, the short of it is that natures fireworks were out in full force this weekend.

In between observing I managed a trip to La Crosse Wisconsin, my first visit to Minnesota (I’m not even kidding), a local pie shop in Wilton called Pies are Square (guess what shape the pies are?), a few drives in the country (I didn’t get lost honest), and visit to Grandad Bluff, and I even managed to get some sleep. Next time around I want to get some canoeing in and visit a few more local points of interest.

I’ll be posting my observing log and comments shortly. It’s taking me a while to put it together because I ran into a bit of trouble with Starry Night Pro. It kept crashing without saving my planner log with all of the objects I viewed. Anyhow, after a few tries I was able to compile a listing of about 60% of the objects we saw. I wasn’t able to remember all of them, plus a lot of times I just walked up to another telescope to see what was being viewed and don’t remember what it was. No matter how you cut it though the viewing was fantastic, the people were great, and my new telescope performed amazingly. I wanted to thank everyone that was up there for making the trip memorable and interesting. I’m definitely looking forward to returning next year and who knows, maybe even sooner.

the messenger spacecraft (mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry, and ranging) is set to launch in 3 days, 15 hours, 38 minute, 40 seconds. at least that’s what is was when i started writing this. messenger is the seventh missing from nasa’s discovery program. it’ll be interesting to see how many of the future discovery missions get tossed with the new bush space initiative. something always has to go when a president drastically changes course and typically it’s the hard science programs that go first.

seems the ansari xprize administration is planning a major announcement next week, they’ve scheduled a press conference. it’s likely that a few teams will be co-announcing their intent to attempt their qualifying flights. this is indeed good news for privatization of space. let’s just hope that if and when the prize is awarded that it doesn’t end there. nothing would hurt the privatization advocates and the opening of space launches more than not capitalizing on the media attention the xprize is receiving. i for one would be willing to pay a decent chunk of money to visit space. no, i couldn’t put a dollar amount on it but i would indeed give it a go if the price were reasonable. how about you?

a congressionally mandated panel of the nrc (national research council) recommended a few days ago that nasa keep open the option of sending another space shuttle crew to service and upgrade the hubble space telescope. this ruling comes after months and months of meetings to address the nasa chief sean o’keefe memo where he quoted safety concerns as to why there shouldn’t be another servicing mission. thankfully we live in a democratic country where one person doesn’t make all decisions in a box. many scientists have been speaking out on this issue and finally this congressional panel has given it’s ruling. let’s only hope that nasa now takes the appropriate steps to service hubble and doesn’t again attempt to railroad this great observatory.

well the summer solstice is here. i’m sure you all know that the summer solstice is the longest day of the year. not only that, but it’s the day where the sun reaches the highest point in the sky. from here the days get shorter and astronomers get happier. hey, i love sunlight but i don’t have time to do any observing when it gets dark so late. hehhehe …

i have been messing around with my astrolab lately, actually i’m still learning how it works. a friend of mine got it for me a few months back and i recently picked it back up to learn more. i actually learned how to calculate the summer solstice on this instrument and a ton of other things. you can determine the time, date, the location of the constellations, moon, sun, the time the sun rises and sets, the time the moon rises and sets, and more. if your looking for a cool low-tech non-electric device to mess around with i recommend you check it out, it’s pretty fun. it’s amazing to think that this was all astronomers had before telescopes. it gives you an awful lot of perspective on their discoveries and achievements.

back to the solstice … get outside and enjoy the nice weather. go for a bike ride or a walk with a loved one. me, i’m going to lock myself in a really tall building downtown and sit in front of a computer all day. yipee!!!