Reports for May, 2001
Luna the Liberator
Full Moon
Seeing Check! Seeing Check!
Mission to Mars Resumes
Seeing Double Double
Stargazing at the Ridge
Me, the Pup and the Sky
Mars, Opposed to What?
Finding the Balance...
Clear and Steady Skies
More High Powered Observing
We Gaze Not Alone
The Subtle and the Obvious
As Close As We Get
The Other Virgo Cluster
A Mid-summers Night Theme
Northern California Summer Overcast Ends!
And Thus Ends June
Reports for July, 2001

Luna the Liberator

With the Moon now high in the sky, I'm once again free to observe as I will - leisurely nights receptive to the light of stars, Moon and Mars. First, rechecked three very close doubles. Each binds me with a certain "fascination-glue" and provides challenges and opportunities to further develop observational powers and a keen appreciation of the wonders of the cosmos.

First, hold the presses on Dubhe! Last night I made out two brightenings in the first diffraction ring. Both were equally visible under green-filter inspection. So, if there are two 5th magnitude companions hiding out in diffraction rings, there are no fifth magnitude companions doing so (at least not visible through Argo). In fact, these suspicions were confirmed this morning when I received an email indicating that the Dubhe pair are now approaching perhelion. 1999 data says ".5 arc-seconds". This is well beyond Argo. In fact, given a 2nd magnitude, yellow color-temperature airy disk whose size approaches 1 arc-second, it's doubtful that Argo would be able to show the 5th magnitude companion even as a "bump" attached to Dubhe prime. So the quest for DubheB is now concluded. Simply said, this double is currently well behind Argo's resolution limit. And I screwed up.

Spent some time again contemplating Zeta Bootis and later Eta Coronae Borealis. Both (relatively) equally-matched stars exuding the most intimate and satisfying of relationships. Together, and as one, moving across the sky, joined in mutual embrace, oriented toward some shared destiny beyond the ken of human understanding. Travel well and prosper!

Shifted Argo to the south viewing station. Caught Selene as She prepared to duck behind the branches of the front redwood tree. Scanned the terminator region at 350X. Came across an interesting series of craters just "south" of Mare Imbrium. I was struck by the shadowplay. Especially across the largest of the three main craters. Decided a sketch was in order. While sketching, I became quite dissatisfied with the lack of precision and detail in the render. But if this website is about anything, it is about process and not results, So I finished the drawing anyway. And it was only while adding final shading and ray-like emanations that something almost worthwhile began to emerge.

As usual, wasn't sure which selenographic region was featured. Afterwards, while consulting "A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets", I learned the sketch was of the Copernicus region. Synchronistically, earlier in the evening I'd received an email from fellow observer Ray the Astronomer. Ray indicated that Copernicus looked especially splendid this evening. Since I was in the throws of writing up the previous nights observations,it wasn't until midnight that a chance to follow up was possible.

As Selene disappeared west (behind the redwood tree), I turned to Mars. The planet just high enough to give a decent view by 1:00 am. Immediately, the two large regions of maria (south and north) caught my attention. 180x not only revealed the maria, but gave a sense of shading. Variations in contrast were seen across the maria. Such variations were not previously seen in earlier sessions. The sky was quite supportive just as new, more dramatic, features entered the scene. All this called for an entirely new approach to sketching. Results of which are seen at right. While sketching, I avoided making any use of the tip of the pencil. With each change in filter, I reinforced what could be seen.

A second astonishment came while attempting to determine the location, size, and intensity of the south polar cap. No hint of it existed whatsover under direct eyepiece view. The yellow (yes, yellow - not red) disk of Mars simply overpowered it. Threading in the medium green filter changed all that. Behold! A cap. Small yes, but obvious right at the very top of the globe. Definitely not the cap of two weeks ago. (I've been told that the earlier cap was probably an atmospheric rather than surface phenomenon. This information came to me by way of the webmaster of a Marswatch group. - Sorry don't have the URL but I'll try to turn it up later.) But a cap nonetheless!

So now we have a yellow Mars, hanging 25 degrees above the southeast horizon, sporting darkly variagated maria regions, a small but visible cap, and what else?

Bright spots. Three (other than the cap). One just north of Solis Lacus (on the central meridian), A second, east of Mare Boreum (7 o'clock position). A third, north of Mare Erythraeum (at 5 o'clock). Referencing MarsPreviewerII, learned that the central luminosity is likely that of Candor-Ganges. (Neither especially luminous, but perhaps brightened unusually by the midday sun.) Bright Arcadia lay to the east and Chryse-Xante to the west.

North of the south polar cap, Mare Sirenum is now in abeyance (as it exits east). Aonius Sinus and Bosporus Gemmatus take center stage, Mare Erythraeum dominates to the west.

South of the (invisible) north pole, Mare Boreum is hinted at. Mare Acidalium captures the bulk of the attention within the northern hemisphere.

Even as I write these words I am mindful of some inconsistencies. The drawing above is probably the most accurate to date (off my pencil). But the accompanying snapshot out of MarsPreviewerII (at left) does not strongly match up. One reason may be that the software makes no attempt to adjust feature contrast for atmospheric limb effect. Nor can it possibly include Martian weather. Who knows, maybe there is a large bright dust storm lending considerable luminosity to the relatively obscure Candor-Ganges region. Other issues: Why is it so dark south of Mare Boreum - when Boreum is usually just a thin-line of dim diffusion very close to the pole?.

Mysteries. My ignorance confounds me with mysteries. What fun!

Full Moon

The fires burn low. Passion vents. I carry a mantle of weariness, but still Nuit speaks and I am Her slave. Her voice seductive and mesmeric. I succumb and in that surrender, am redeemed. The moth enters the flame and emerges regenerated and renewed. Such is the life of one who heeds the call of the night sky. Venturing in heart and mind while feet still (perhaps just barely) touch the ground.

But this is only part of my story. For too, I am the hard-headed pragmatist. In my journeyings I must bear a manifest, a purpose, something to carry me forward when embers cool and desires abate. As such the Way of Disciplined Intent may also lead to those few moments of unexpected joy and wonder when purpose dissolves in essence and I meet the Universe Face to Face without interior reflection...

Yesterday I felt a few brief pangs of the old ardour. I inspected these. Turned them over in my being and found them wanting in sustained fervour. This did not discourage. So last night I observed with discipline. Mars has progressed much since last viewing. There was also a need to allow the Pup to turn lens upon the night sky. Both scopes were brought out - but Argo first...

I've been studying Arcturus - but not so much to achieve comrady. More to understand the effects of atmosphere on the image of bright stars. This is the kind of observation I make when the Scientist emerges. Such obseervations feed the mind. They are motived by intrigue - not passion. Last night Arturus show no rings... Arcturus' airy disk, though just detectable, was burried in its light pile. That light pile swallowed the star's diffraction rings. But, with the abeyence of tube currents, it's light pile was perfect in its symmetry. Other stars (of lesser magnitude) also displayed this strange combination - detectable airy disk spinning off a low luminosity "accretion disk" of light. The seeing was not poor, but it was not good either.

There was nothing to be seen of Upsilon UMA's 11th magnitude companion. This is not surprising. The few hints of Upsilon-B have only been seen under the darkest, most stable skies. But I saught anyway - for Upsilon is one of my "lost sheep" and soon will be in the "high pasture" as Ursa Major retires until next spring...

As so with Sigma-2 Ursa Majoris. This close (1 arc-second) magnitudinally-disparate (4.9 / 8.1) pair played an interesting game with me last night. For you see at 120X (and 120x only) I believed I could just make out what appeared to be a 10th magnitude companion 5 arc-seconds southwest of the primary. Certainly another example of a "Phantasm of the obsessed."

By 11:00 the Lyre ascended - almost to the middle third of the sky. Argo, could just show me the Double-Double. The "accretion-disks" of light of the fifth and sixth magnitude members of this fine set of close pairs bled into each other. Meanwhile airy disks could be seen to distinguish them. Again I say, an unusual sky. Airy disks, but no diffraction rings - only light spilling outside its accustomed borders...

I then positioned the Pup. Only with effort and at the highest magnification (133X) could I distinguish the pairings. Another mystery. For usually when Argo struggles valiantly against a less than cooperative sky, the Pup is exultant - but not tonight. Both scopes suffered une pocito pero el mismo.

Despite the limited transparency, the King of Rings could be found without too much effort. But struggled mightily to overcome the loss of contrast imposed by an overbright Moon. The Pup could not show the core and Argo only with aversion of the sight. With Argo. I had no trouble finding the asterism of 10th through 12th magnitude stars that comprise "The Chalice of the Ring". But the 12.8 magnitude field star that extends from the Challice toward the Ring could only be caught as the eye moved across the field of view. Thus, my scientist self tells me, the telescopic limiting magnitude in the region of the Lyre, lying on the border of the skies middle third was magnitude 11.5.

With the Pup, I could not find the Chalice. (While inspecting the Double-Double, the 9.5 magnitude come could just be held at 133X.) Thus, in some ways the Pup was more heavily impacted by Full-Moon floodlighting than Argo.

Turned both the Pup and Argo on the Great Cluster. On a dark night the 80mm Pup can be counted on to resolve several dozen outlying components. 150mm Argo can show several hundreds - many across the core. Tonight Argo revealed what the Pup usually sees and the Pup none whatsoever. Such is the influence of the Moon upon an otherwise dark sky.

Now to the Moon itself. Here is where the Scientist relents and surrenders to the Artist. To my great delight I chose to begin my contemplation of Selene at 70X. Thus, as Her Gloriously Radiant form was captured under glass, I was overwhelmed by Her Full and Luminous Self. A Self wonderously etched against the splendidly ebony finish of the night sky. For even as Luna despoils all around her with her glow, in Her own region She is so radiant that the sky enveloping Her appears jet black. Having taken in Her entire form, I began to explore Her special graces...

The first thing noticed was that the sheer luminosity of chalky-white Tycho to the south far exceeded Plato's smooth, sullen grays to the north. In following Tycho's twin rays across Mare Nubium, I land on the smaller and less spectacularly arrayed Crater Kepler to equatorial east. Unlike Tycho, Keplers ray-system is "soft" and less adamant. Kepler, unlike Tycho, lies within a lunar mare (Oceanus Procellarium). Despite the brightish highlands encompassing Tycho, its ray system far overshadows that of Kepler. So Kepler poses no challenge in terms of size, location or brilliance. But what of Copernicus? Valiant Kepler is but a "distant echo" of Copernicus' much larger ray-system. As such the eye easily moves west from Kepler to Copernicus.

Both Kepler and Copernicus share much in common. Like Kepler, Copernicus displays well against the darkish lunar maria. (Copernicus lies on the border of Mare Imbrium). Like Kepler, Copernicus' emanations are of the "soft-gray" suasion. Similarity ends when it comes to the scale of the two systems. Copernicus is intermediate between Kepler and Tycho in size - in terms of both central crater and ray system. At the time of Selene's perfect fullness, these three systems easily dominate the lunar landscape. They also show well together and as a group even as Selene is seen in Her wholeness and completion.

I could have easily been content with the view of just these three systems. But something else caught my eye. There, bisecting dark Mare Serenitatus, was a long, luminous, singular ray emanating north-northwest. Following it, my eye encountered the limb. And from the limb to the rich blackness of space...

Mars was not far from Selene. Are the two in assignation? Is it fair to peek? Why yes, of course, why else would they display so prominently in the sky. It is a cosmic dalience. One played out for human edification and amusement.

As you might suspect, Mars was a difficult view. Only on rare occasion (usually while waiting for the mount to stabilize after re-centering the image) did Mars show a hard edge against the sky. Mostly the planet gave only soft hints of detail. What few seen are portrayed at left above.

According to my sources (MarsPreviewerII), Mare Erythraeum dominated the southern hemisphere on this day and hour (12:15am). To the north, hints of Niliacus Lacus and Mare Acidalium are suggested. Again, the South Polar Cap appears in abeyance. There were no especially luminous areas to be seen on the globe. I can only hope for a steadier night soon, for there is much in the way of fine detail possible under the current presentation. Certainly it would be wonderful to distinguish Mare Serpentis along the ingressing western limb from Mare Erythraeum. Likewise Chryse-Xante at mid-disk should show much more brilliantly than seen on this occasion. Finally, Niliacus and Acidalium bear some hope of resolution.

Well, tonight could be the night. Do I feel the spring of desire? Is my mantle of weariness beginning to fall away?

Seeing Check! Seeing Check!

Got out a bit last night. Thought I'd take advantage of "darktime" before the Moon once again tried to play Sun. Had the sky been a bit steadier I would have continued Mars-Quest. My experience has been that, due to low sky position, Mars suffers to the point of dis-interest when overhead stability is anything less than 7/10. This pretty much played out when, under 6/10 overhead stability the previous evening, I could'nt get a definitive view of the very fine surface features now rotating into view.

To check the seeing I brought out both scopes. The previous outing's scope comparisons intrigued me. Unexpectedly, the 80mm Pup (refractor) had suffered as much as the 150mm Maksutov-Cassegrain (Argo). I was curious to determine if this state of affairs would continue.

One really good check on a middling stability night is to track down a smallish planetary nebula. I had just the candidate - NGC6210 in Hercules. 6210 is actually a pretty rakish planetary. Starlike core brightening. Expansive disk (of almost equal luminosity to the core) and a thin, gauzy external shell. The thing is only 15 arc-seconds in diameter. So when seeing's marginal, it's kind of tough to distinguish the planetary from neighboring stars. (1 of which is slightly brighter than the planetary ~ 8 compared to 8.8.)

Now I've visited with the planetary before. On a good seeing night its a piece of cake (Angel food). But the Pup had a little trouble making it plain to me on turning it up. Argo made it definitive - but the Pup, it was close... At the time of the find, Luna was just rising and I could barely hold 4.5 magnitude Rho Herculis. So conditions, both in terms of stability and transparency, were not the best.

Moved on to double-stars. Hercules has some very nice ones. Started with Alpha - Rasalgethi. At magnitude 3.1, Alpha-A is bluish-white. Variable Alpha-B was dim enough (to my eye) to be closer to its 5.4 low than its 3.9 high. Pair separation also appeared a little tighter than the 5 arc-seconds documented in "Seasonal Star Charts". (This may have to do with the slightly bloated "acretion" disks due to sky conditions.) However, there was distance between the two stars. "Orange-marmalade" colored Alpha-B clearly trailed A across the sky. My notes suggest that the Pup gave a discernably better view of this fine pair. This makes sense under the circumstances.

The next study - Delta Herculis - was the Pup's "disparate double" challenge for the evening. Bright Delta-A glows at magnitude 3.0, while dim Delta-B at 8.1. Pair separation, 11 arc-seconds. So the distance is comparable to "lost sheep" Upsilon UMA, while the magnitude differential is about 1.5 closer. I didn't think this would be a tough one for Argo - but the Pup? "Dos Kalky" tells me that a 150mm shows both stars under 4.5 ULTM - even if the seeing is 3/10 stability-wise. However, seeing has to be 7/10 for an 80mm refractor.

As it turned out, I could just hold the purplish 8th magnitude secondary with Argo at 120X. In terms of position angle, the dim secondary lead the blue primary across the sky. Initially, the Pup failed to show the secondary - but this at 133X. Once I found it in Argo (the Pup went first) I did catch it with extreme aversion at that magnification.

Previous tests with Polaris showed that its best to use as low a magnification as possible with disparate doubles. So I throttled the Pup back to 48X. And found I could just hold the dim secondary. So, not bad. Though Argo was seeing the sky at about 5/10 stability - I would say the Pup was seeing it at about 6/10. Very close to the projected 7/10 needed to make out the star - and I knew where and what to look for.

Mu Hercules was a second disparate doubles "test" for the Pup. The golden 3.4 magnitude primary lies about 30 arc-seconds east-northeast of the dim 9.8 magnitude secondary. Dos Kalky has an opinion on this one too. Basically under a 4.5 ULTM sky the secondary should be visible through the Pup at 5/10 stability. As it turned out, the Pup had no trouble detecting it at 48X. Like before at higher magnifications it could just be caught during eye movement. Conclusion? Magnification kills by scattering too much light from nearby bright stars.

Rho is another Hercules small scope pairing of interest. But its not a "scopist's" double. The two stars are too wide (4 arc-seconds) and similary bright (4.5 & 5.5) to be a test. (In fact, the pair should even be distinguishable under yucky seeing.) What is of interest is the fact that the colors are so nicely matched - both "robbin's egg blue". For those interested in the effect of stellar magnitude on airy disk size, I would recommend some time contemplating this pair on a decent seeing night...

Finished off the evning with a look at the Double-double. At best the Pup showed both pairs elongated. There was no real advantage to viewing them with Argo either. Argo seems to need a 6/10 seeing night to resolve each of these pairs...

What of Mars? Tonight, tonight I hope to visit with Mars tonight, if only the sky would settle down a bit...

Mission to Mars Resumes

As I write this, I find myself looking forward to the time when I only have to list one day of the week on my observing reports. Currently Mars remains too low and well-hidden behind the local flora to begin observing any earlier than midnight. Two weeks ago I would have had to wait until 1 am or so. Two more weeks and I'll probably be wrapping up around midnight. Of course within a few months the planet will do the "wicked witch of the west" routine: "I'm shrinking, shrinking." So enjoy while it lasts!

In doing a little research on the Internet I discovered I'm pretty much a "fair-weather" Mars observer. Some folks continue to follow it even as it approaches a mere 4 arc-seconds in diameter. Surprisingly, such observers get better views at 6 arc-seconds than I do at 20. Much of this occured during the 1999 apparition. Still, I'm impressed.

By 9:45 PDST I was able to make out stars overhead around magnitude 4.5. Later, with the waning Moon still below the horizon, I could just make out a 5.0 magnitude test star south-southeast of Arcturus. Intial atmospheric stability was only "fair". But at least it was reasonably dark. Sometime earlier in the evening I decided to do a drawing of planetary NGC6210 in Hercules. Due to the small size of the planetary (~15 arc-seconds) I ran the magnification up to 180X on 150mm Argo. The result is visible at left. Stability was good enough to distinguish the mag 8.8 planetary from the roughly 8th magnitude field star located about 7 arc-minutes to the northeast. That star showed somewhat of a seeing induced spurious (not airy) disk but was easily distinguished from the planetary. Due to sky stability the planetary's central star was not quite as distinct as I have seen it in the past. Hercules had just entered the middle third of the sky. ULTM was probably somewhere around 4.8 - not quite transparent enough to definitively reveal the "fuzzy-shell" seen under darksky conditions.

One of the things I like about the sketches is that I end up with a more or less definitive star count. This drawings count is 8. Given the magnification (180X), and knowing that the Hercules region is well away from the Milky Way, stars were visible down to about 12.5. (This with averted vision.) Other drawings done at lower magnifications include far more stars because they cover far more space. Generally, star counts in such drawings indicate that stars to magnitude 12.5 to 13.0 are included. I have yet to do a drawing including the Milky Way, but the number of stars will no doubt increase spectacularly. The opportunity to do such drawings is well nigh upon me.

Once the impression of NGC6210 was finished I was a bit hesitant to start another. So I baited myself by promising to only do the star field (and not the feature). Of course, by the time I finished the field, enthusiasm waxed and I completed the drawing. So now I have a "complete" impression of the "other" Hercules cluster - M92. That drawing was also done at 180X, and includes 21 "field" stars. So assuming star counts outside the Milky Way remain relatively consistent I was either seeing down to magnitude 13.1 OR many of the stars are actually members of the cluster itself. How many? Well looking at the drawing, I'd say that 8 or 9 of the stars toward the cluster's core were probably outliers. This, of course, leaves the other 12 field stars to be accounted for. So just winging it a little, if I assume that the average number of stars visible at 180X last night was 10, and the algorithm used in "Lem Kalky" is correct, then stars down to magnitude 12.6 - not 12.4 were possible. Close enough for me!

There is, of course, another deepsky study possible within Hercules. So, of course, while waiting for Mars, I just had to turn BOTH scopes on it. In so doing I arrived at the following conclusion in comparing the 80mm Pup and 150mm Argo: Argo (at 180x) reveals perceptibly more of globular cluster M92 than the Pup does of M13 (at 133X). So, if like myself, you are into globulars you might want to choose a scope closer to a 150mm in aperture than 80, Frankly, Argo gives superb renditions of clusters brighter than magnitude 7.0. And there are at least a dozen such accessible from the northern hemisphere...

Sky stability improved as the evening progressed. Before shifting over to view Mars from the south viewing locale I was just able to get a "dirty" split of Epsilon Lyrae with Argo (at 180X). This as Lyra just entered the middle third of the sky. It wasn't until after Mars-Quest that the Pup resolved the Double-Double. But it was a very difficult split and relied far too much on optical gymnastics on my part.

Earlier today I consulted with "Dos Kalky" about this. Basically, it's his opinion that the 80mm Pup is only able to cleanly split both pairs of the double during exceptional seeing and only at very high magnifications. Last night sky stability certainly improved, but it wasn't excellent - although again, it was a difficult split at 133x. Next session I'll have to stack up the barlows (to about 250X) and give it another try. Just maybe the split will be obvious at such a magnification...

Initially the sky down low was pretty poor. Even as seeing improved (toward midnight) Mars - at best - would barely show me a "focusable" limb. Again, the south polar cap was marginal and could just be detected with the medium green filter. Without a filter, I could just make out Mare Erythraeum (to the south) and Mare Serpentis (west). Medium red made both maria quite obvious - though still indistinct in terms of detail. Again I can only marvel at what has been seen, drawn and imaged by others even well before the 1999 apparition was in full swing.

Seeing Double Double

Received an email from fellow amateur "The Astronomer". The Ray-man suggested one last fling with the Virgo Galaxy Cluster before the "Galaxy Field of Dreams" passes out with the Spring viewing season. Since Leo-Virgo is no longer well-positioned from Backyard Boulder Creek, I substituted a couple of Canes Venatici galaxies. By 10:00, the overhead sky was quite dark. (How beautiful the pitch black sky!) But, as it turned out there was one hitch to the whole scenario: Neighbor children decided to "camp out" in the backyard. How much nicer for them if they had been secure enough to lay in their sleeping bags and look up at that beautiful night sky!

Despite the irritation of the floodlit yard, I persevered with several sketches planned for the evening. There was one other issue to contend with. The "red" flashlight used to illumine my sketch pad is a bit too bright and is abit of a hazard to visual acuity. So some subtle detail goes wanting during sketches. This, of course, has been an issue since the beginning, but last night the dual onslaught of flashlight and local illumination was too much. So, after consulting with the neighbors, I went in, grabbed a section of cloth, a rubber band and attenuated the beam. This helped, but failed to do anything about floodlighting next door. That resolution came with a towel over my head. Unfortunately, such a contrivance is a bit of a nuisance when executing eyepiece impressions...

All this leads to something of note regarding amateur astronomy. It can be a very frustrating hobby. Attempting anything other than just plain stargazing can be a real chore. Now what do I mean by "stargazing"? The essence of stargazing is to simply setup a scope and sweep around the heavens looking at whatever catches your fancy. No reference is made to charts. Often you won't even know the particulars of what you are seeing at the time. Just poke the scope at the sky and peer through the eyepiece. That's it. If you already know your way around the sky - so much the better. If you know the names for things and have a solid background in astronomical lore - even better. However, as soon as you put together an observing plan. And that plan includes first-find studies. Or you decide to take notes, make drawings, or do astrophotography, you are no longer, in my estimation, "stargazing". You've crossed the line into amateur astronomy. You then expose yourself to new constraints and challanges. And where such challenges exist, frustrations can mount.

The sketch of M51 and companion galaxy NGC5195 at left was done early on in the evening. Just before true skydark. The view is through the 120X eyepiece. This may have been an unfortunate choice in magnification for this study. Once done I switched to the 50X 35mm eyepiece. Faint outlying regions of both galaxies were perceptible at the lower magnification. The galaxy-pair was also better framed within a larger star field. No inspection was made at 70X (25mm Ultrascopic), but based on previous experience, 70X may prove to be the optimal magnification for sketches of this type. Once sketched at 70X, details can be added by switching to higher magnifications. Observe, draw and learn.

If you examine the sketch, you will count 11 stars in the field of view. This suggests that stars were visible down to magnitude 12.1. After the drawing was complete, I took a few moments to "soak in" the view. Hints of many additional stars were seen. Under the 5.0 ULTM skies at that time, and when using moderate aversion, the number of stars easily doubled. Meanwhile, the galaxy pair revealed more grace and subtle beauty...

Before moving Argo to the south viewing locale, I spent a few moments contemplating elongated galaxy M63. Once again I was impressed by the improved contrast seen with edge-on galactic presentation (as opposed to face-on like M51). Like the brighter globular clusters, edge-ons are a particularly interesting class of studies for 150mm Argo. Some of my most memorable observations have come from seeing views like those of M82 and M63.

After repositioning Argo, I used the 80mm Pup to have a look at the Double-Double (at 250X). This magnification was selected based on consulatation with "Dos Kalky" who said that splitting this pair with an 80mm scope would require more magnification than most 80mm could support. Views of Arcturus and Zeta Bootis through Argo showed that seeing was reasonable (6/10) overhead. But seeing - in terms of stability and transparency - falls off perceptibly outside the middle third of the sky. And Lyra had yet to enter that region. So between low sky position and marginal overhead stability, the Pup displayed both pairs of the Double-Double as elongated spurious disks with indistinct brightening where stars would normally be seen.

After not splitting the Double Double, turned the Pup on M13. Hercules did lay in the middle-third. At 250X, the view of the cluster was surprisingly reminescent of what is seen through Argo at 180X - but much fainter. With 80mm, it takes a lot of visual gymnastics to resolve the cluster well. It is effortless in 150mm Argo.

With Argo now setup facing south, I was just able to catch a peek of Gamma Virginis as it ducked behind the branches. At 350X, the view was ugly... Gamma, like the Double-Double, lay outside the middle third. Like the Pup's view of Epsilon Lyrae, all I could make out was a slightly elongated spurious disk with a touch of brightening where stellar components would be seen.

Globular cluster M5 however, was in prime position. The south viewing locale also offered some shadowing from neighboring light pollution. With that issue behind me, plus a properly attenuated flashlight beam, a sketch was in order. The impression at right was done at 180X - an excellent magnification for globular clusters... One daunting task was the sheer number of stars in the field! Clearly this region of Serpens Caput, though not part of the Milky Way, is well populated with stars. Excluding the two dozen outliers associated with the cluster, some 18 field stars are present. With a ULTM of 5.1, only 9 should be visible (down to magnitude 12.5). The actual number caught in the field is twice the expected number. In referencing "Seasonal Star Charts" I verified that M5 is well outside the Milky Way. So I can probably expect that a globular cluster in the Milky Way (such as M9 in southern Ophiuchus) could display as many as a fifty field stars (at 180x). Time to get out the pencil sharpener!

By way of comparison, I also drew M80 in Scorpius. Unlike the brighter (magnitude 5.8), larger (17 arc-minute), more loosely knit globular M5, M80, at magnitude 7.2 and 9 arc-minutes, is not particularly susceptible to resolution by Argo. With possibly 11 field stars, the count is more like M51 than M5. One factor effecting M80's resolution is its lower sky position. But I've been simply amazed by how many stars are possible in neighboring globular cluster M4. So at best M80 gives a hint of "roughness" to the eye. The usual "scintillation" possible with many sub-magnitude 8.0 clusters was not present.

By midnight, Mars loomed luminous to the south-southeast. Low sky position caused occasional "fluctuations" in brightness. Through the scope at 180X such fluctuations probably corresponded to times when the planets disk would swell in size and lose definition. Despite this there were moments when the limb would sharpen and the planet revealed distinct macro-level detail. Toward the end of the session, it was even possible to bring out the barlow and inspect the planet at 350X. This proved really useful. I was actually able to make out the break between (the more horizontal) Mare Erythraeum region (to the southeast) and (the vertical) Mare Serpentis area (to the mid-west). Again the south polar cap was much diminished. In fact it held less luminosity (and was visibly smaller than) bright Zen Lacus (on the south-southwest limb). Mare Acidalium (north-northeast) was barely hinted at. It now seems effectively lost to view for this rotation. (It's quite possible that the whole northern region is engulfed in one of Mar's atmospheric flurries however.)

12:30 saw the end of Mars-Quest. The sky overhead stabilized significantly. It was a nice opportunity to return to the Double Double - first through the Pup at 250X and later Argo (at 350). Happily, and without equivocation, I can now say that an 80mm refractor can produce a definitive split of both pairs. Since such a split requires more magnification than most 80mm's can muster (some 80X per inch) I would say that this pair is an excellent test double for 3 inch scopes. Keep in mind that I've been making this check nightly for about a week. And that this is the first occasion when seeing stabilized enough to definitively support the split.

As mentioned, also took a look at the Double-Double through Argo. At 350X under 7/10 seeing, the split was quite easy. But there was another reason for turning Argo on it. That is seen in the sketch at left. Lately the sky has been "smearing" star light in an unusual way. Tonight the smear was visible even while stars came to focus. One possiblity is the influence of atmospheric water vapor. But such vapor is never in short supply near the Pacific Coast. So the mystery remains. Also note in the image the two dimmer stars (magnitudes 12.0 and 12.5) between the main components of the Doublke Double. These are often difficult to make out (due to the amount of star haze thrown off by the brighter components). Often it is easier to see the 12.8 magnitude star near the Ring Nebula than this pair. Truly the sky behaves in very mysterious ways...

Stargazing at the Ridge

China Ridge is my go to venue when the observing plan calls for "full tilt" operation. My most southerly declined study to date is 4.7 magnitude open cluster NGC2547 in Vela (RA: 8hrs 10.7 mins, DEC:-49.16 degrees). Conditions that low are rarely even barely satisfactory.

The following description comes out of a March observing report and suggests what is possible on the best of nights: (NGC2547) "... sparse group of 2 or 3 dozen 6 through 10th magnitude stars. These gave the general appearance of a "drawn back bow". The bow itself constituted of a 20 arc-minute ellipse oriented north-south. A triangular group of three stars take the position of the archer's fingers to the west. At 120X, perhaps another half-dozen stars were seen against that murky haze to the horizon which always seems to bleed contrast out of everything." According to that report, the night possessed a sky of exceptional stability (8/10) and good transparency (5.5 ZULTM). This quality of overhead seeing never translates to 5 degrees above the horizon. On that particular occasion stars in the cluster would actually come to focus. The very fact that 120X was usable indicates regional seeing conditions were probably in the 4/10 stability and 4.0 ULTM ranges.

Last night, conditions were far less satisfactory (especially in terms of stability). Initially decent overhead (probably 6/10), by departure the Double Double was totally unresolvable (4/10). Early on bright blue-white Spica showed a nice concentric spurious light pile. Later in the evening an almost howling wind arose. (Probably at the request of equally howling coyotes off in the hills at a distance.) Early seeing was good enough that I dropped straight south from Spica and easily caught Globular Cluster Omega Centauri some 5 degrees above the southern horizon. At that time, stars in Omega's field could achieve reasonable focus. While viewing Omega I thought of all those avid amateurs who do not have the luxury of either China Ridges low horizon or Santa Cruz counties 37 degree north latitude. So despite lacking any real ability to render the cluster as it truly appeared, I executed the sketch at left above...

As you view this sketch keep in mind that it is a 70X eyepiece / 40 arc-minute view. The visible part of this cluster (the core region) exceeds the documented size of many better positioned clusters that observers normally drop their jaws over. Can you say "Ola"???

My next study - 5.6 magnitude open cluster NGC5460 lay a little more than one 7 degree finder field east and slightly south of Omega Centauri. To locate it, I shifted east to 2nd magnitude Zeta Centauri. Thence 2 degrees east-southeast where I centered on a very vague glow in the finder field. Switching to the main tube at 50X, I caught a suprisingly large field of 6th and 7th magnitude stars. The bulk of these stars formed a line traversing laterally across the 1 degree field of view. Northwest of the line a few other british stars could be seen. None could be made out to the southeast. In the midst of the field were three "clumps" of 8th and 9th magnitude stars. Each took the shape of a semi-circle. Two of the clumps oriented north-south. One cluster to the west of the more northerly group. Basically the three groups arranged themselves into an "L". No more than 20 stars were visible in the cluster. Low sky position limited transparency to roughly the 10th magnitude. Overall the cluster itself took up about 1/3rd of the 1 degree eyepiece field. Admittedly, I did not take very good notice of eyepiece directions in my notes. It's possible that all the above directions require normalization. In general the three star groups reminded me of grape clusters hanging from a vine.

By this time sky stability started to degrade noticeably. Turned the scope on third magnitude double star Gamma Lupi. Gamma is quite close (1 arc-second) and consists of two equally matched (magnitudes 3.5 & 3.7) stars. The pair calculates to require a 7 inch scope under excellent seeing stability to resolve. But, early on in my ignorance, I included the double on my observing plan. Must admit though, the 10 arc-second blue glowing lantern of light was aesthetically quite pleasing to the eye.

If all had gone well, I had hoped to view open cluster / bright nebula combination NGC6193/6188. The cluster also includes multiple star Herschel 4876. During the course of the evening I made several runs at turning up this cluster. One complication is the fact that the nearest reference star is 4th magnitude Epsilon Normae. Another was the scrub tree located right where the cluster ought to be. So after determining that I moved on to a pair of studies in Scorpio.

First up was 5.8 magnitude open cluster NGC6124. To locate it I centered on 4th magnitude Zeta Scorpi (where I made note of my next study NGC6231). From Zeta shifted 2 degrees north between a square of 5th and 6th magnitude finder stars. From there it was simply a matter of slewing due west six degrees to a hazy finder glow. Centering on the glow I switched to the main tube. At 50x two to three dozen uniform 8 to 9th magnitude blue-white stars immediately caught my attention. Here, for the first time, was an obvious "star cluster". The general shape that of a "star of stars". The main "ray" pointing south-southeast. A smaller group of perhaps a dozen compact stars took up a position olong the midline toward the north-northwest. The entire cluster took up maybe one half the one degree field of view. Sky stability was especially poor. No stars came anywhere near focus. Many addition components were suspected, but seeing limited visibility down to about magnitude 10.5.

I then returned to study open cluster NGC6231. With an integrated magnitude of 2.6, this smallish 15 arc-minute sized cluster is insanely bright. I could easily count a dozen stars brighter than magnitude 6 in the group. General shape was that of a rearing horse wih head to the west. Due to the brightness of the components each star looked like a glowing lantern of blue-white light. Collectively the brighter members of the group took up about 10X5 arc-minutes of apparent space. Few dimmer stars were possible. It's likely that many of them were swallowed up in the huge spurious disks of the brightest members.

It was after this that I made another run at locating cluster/bright nebula combination NGC6193/6188. To do so I shifted two degrees due west of NGC6231 then dropped due south one finder field. This left me staring at the mountain ridge to the west. It will probably be a couple more weeks before this study will finally clear the horizon.

By this time I looked up to see the Milky Way flowing north from Sagittarius. Now I get to stargaze! So I simply swept along the Milky Way taking note of whatever struck my fancy. I recall starting in the Scutum region where I immediately noticed what appeared to be a globular cluster. Switching over to the main tube I was delighted to see either an extremely compact open or a loose globular cluster consisting of hundreds and hundreds of stars easily resolved across the core at 50X.

Dropping down toward Sagittarius I inspected several extensive star fields. Had any of these been found outside the Milky Way, they would have easily eclipsed M41 in Canis Major for star density and compactness.

Within Sagittarius itself I spent considerable time revisitng old favorites: The Lagoon Nebula - complete with ripe strawberry shaped open cluster M21. Nearby the Trifid Nebula with dark bisecting lanes popped into the finder. I ended this excursion into "stargazing" after several minutes of contemplating a nebula shaped like a "Duck". This particular duck - quietly floating on the placid seas of space.

So the night started with amateur astronomy and ended with light-hearted stargazing. Somewhere inbetween is the best of both worlds - but that world awaits a time when I know the sky well enough to hold it within myself. As of now I am but an apprentice of the craft. And much in terms of starcraft remains un-learned.

Me, the Pup and the Sky

Here's the scenario: It's 10:00 PM. You and your friends just played three sets of mellow Jazz at a nearby restaurant of some elegance. You're feeling all warm and fuzzy about the music, the food, and the wine. Unloading the gear, you look up. A heavenly chorus resonates within your mind's ear. The sky is pitch black. A day already overfull, poised to end, now yields to a night alive with infinite possibility. Do you break out the scope?

Of course! But what to do with it? There's so much out there! Where to begin? (Knew where to end, Mars was already well into near-oppositional ascent. 'Round Midnight, it would stand revealed in all its -2.3 magnitude 20.4 arc-second glory.)

150mm Argo remained disassembled after the previous evening's China Ridge adventure. 80mm Pup, however, was all set up with someplace to go. Why, I could even imagine the little fellow rearing up on his hind legs, prancing around trying to get my attention. Sold! Tonight it would be the Pup.

With music gear stowed, sprung the Pup from the study. No mind at all as to what to observe. No charts. No note pad. Just me, the Pup and the sky.

A quick check showed I could just hold a 5.0 magnitude test star behind the bowl of the big dipper. Not bad! Why not track down the Owl Nebula? Sure, I don't give a hoot what I look at! The Owl it is. Now for the head scratching. No charts. Hmmm - which of the four stars in the dipper is it near anyway. Not the two northerly ones. So must be one of the two attached to the Bear's legs. Which one - east or west? Fifty-fifty chance - but the Owl's pretty tough for an 80mm on a 5.0 night. Hmmm. Should I get the charts? NYET! "Succeed or fail using what's inside you!" OK, (equivocating) I'll scan them both...

Dropped the 25mm Plossl into the diagonal. With 3X barlow: 48X - 1 degree field. Started at the eastern star - Gamma. Slewed the finder around to get the lay of things - no way this Owl is going to be seen in a finder. Shifted to the main tube. Swept the region south and west of Gamma. After maybe 10 minutes switched to Beta. Few minutes later - everything but the feathers. The Owl showed a vaguely diffuse half-disk just barely held with direct vision. As usual, both Owl-eyes firmly shut. (But I knew he was watching...)

So the Owl graced me with an apparition. But what about that huge, dim galaxy toward Beta? What's it called? M10... something. (108 - you memory deficient dolt). Swung the Pup back toward Beta. Sure enough, dim but incontrovertable. Oh yah, weren't there a couple of 12th mag stars bordering it? (Yup, caught one of the two with averted vision.)

So OK, you caught a couple toughies, now for something easy. Center on Upsilon UMA. Swing the scope due north. Catch the Galactic Wonders. (I remember - M81&82. M81 is the more southerly and larger of the two.) No problemo. Even in the Boulder Creek lightdome a fine view. Pair of luminous eyes glowing in the night - one open, the other winking at me in encouragement.)

Onward and upward! See if you can find that galaxy near Cor Coroli - and while there, check out the beautiful wide pair of radiant jewels themselves. (Priceless.) Caught the galaxy: Nice edge on. What's it called M?? (94). Now how about that one to the east above the arrowhead of 5th and 6th mag stars? Is that the one that's really a two? Face on presentation - no second core nearby. Maybe that's why Monsier Messier missed it? (He used a small scope too.)

OK, now find that galaxy near 24 Canes Venatici. Sure. Oh! That's the galaxy with the bright companion. Cool! So the last one (M94) was supposed to be solitary. Then why couldn't Monsiour also make out the companion like I could? Strange...

Looked up, caught the faint, bespeckled glow of Coma Bernices slightly to the west. Swing the Pup around. Lot's of nice wide doubles and triples. One little group shaped like a "Y" - brightest 5th magnitude member at the crux. Sweeping east catch a broken football-shaped glow - not what I'm looking for. The quest was for edge-on NGC4565. This is the other galaxy (NGC4559). Spent some time contemplating its irregular dimorphic shape. Nice, but not the sharply delineated shaft of diaphanous light of last month. But that the edge-on lies almost due south a couple degrees. Bingo! Not quite the view rendered by 150mm Argo - but still splendid. And oh yes, isn't that a dim 12th magnitude star flanking the core?

Much further west, Leo sinks well into the lower third. Sky's a bit ratty down there - at best, 4.5ULTM. Go for it. Leo Trio here I come! Nice as the Messiers (65&66) are, there is no definitive view of that ghostly, slender edge-on beauty NGC3628. Leo Duo will have to do for tonight - but had Leo been overhead the Pup would have revealed it.

Ok, so back overhead. Globular Cluster M3. Nice! Hints of resolution under extreme aversion. Smaller than M13. Quite compact. Why not M13? Swing east. Easy (well practiced) find. Moderate aversion shows dozens of stars. Pup, you done good. Argo'd be proud!

And what about M92? Like M3 and M13 - easy finderscope catch. No resolution, surface appears rough though. Maybe on a 6.0 night...

And oh yes, let's take a look at that planetary - NGC6210??? (Correcto mundo, senior.) Find Beta Herculi. Sweep northeast. Pick out the dim wide optical pair. To the main tube! Yes! But not very well presented - even at 133X. No color. No central brightening. Still it is a planetary, and on a good night through Argo it really shines!

On to the Lyre - (I wonder if anyone plays jazz harp?). Double double, only single. Caught occasional glimpses of the 12th magnitude come on eye movement though. Now to the King of Rings (Or Regent of Annuli - if preferred). Core definite. Wow, did you see that? Caught a brief hint of the 13 division star just to the east. And the 12.8 magnitude in the Chalice can be held with extreme aversion. Wow, that Pup has some reach for 80mms!!! Never saw the Chalice of the Ring look so good through the Pup. (Thanks for bowing out Luna.)

Time to head for the workout deck. Mars takes center stage. First look - and even at 133X without a filter, I see a thumblike darkening to the northwest. Doesn't seem right for Mare Serpentis. Too large. Too far north. Didn't plan on doing a drawing - but the Pup's showing more than expected. Even at 20 arc-seconds, Mars is small at 133x - but the limb is pretty sharp and contrast is fine. (250X doesn't cut it though.) OK. Grab that pencil - it's sketch time! Thread in the green filter. Polar cap just not happening. Large brightening to the northeast. Another smaller brightening on the eastern limb. Red filter really brings out the northwestern mare.

Mars' low sky position allows me to remove the mirrored diagonal and view the planet direct - just like refractors of old... Not sure if this improves image quality much, but after a while, I start to make out a second darkening south-southwest. By 12:30 the viewing session is over. A sketch is ready for scanning and the Pup is stowed in the study. Run MarsPreviewerII software. Woh, so THAT was Syrtis Major: THE SYRTIS MAJOR. Meanwhile, exiting southeast was Mare Erythraeum and company. Things be happening with Mars. Now for one good night of steady seeing!

Mars, Opposed to What?

Got a nice early start this evening. Caught Arcturus around 9:15. Followed by a progression of dimmer stars as the Sun tugged it's luminous atmospheric aura behind it toward the Land of the Rising Sun. By 9:30 I was seeing 4.0 magnitude stars. By 9:45 the sky was dark enough for deepsky adventuring (4.5 ZULTM). By 10:00 I was seeing 5.0 magnitude stars in Bootes and Ursa Major. Later (around 11:00) caught a 5.4 star (also in Bootes.) By that same time the Lyre had yet to enter the middle third - but with moderate aversion and at 180X - I could just hold the 13.0 magnitude star east of the Ring. Before that I had tracked down a large, faintly glowing globular cluster - the only deepsky study I know of within the constellational bounds of Bootes.

Globular Cluster NGC5466 lies about a degree south of the mid-point of a line between Rho Bootes and Spring's finest - M3. At magnitude 9.1 and 11 arc-minutes - this cluster is LARGE and dim. Seb Kalky says its average surface brightness is 14.1 and advised 25X and a 156mm scope to find it decisively under 5.5 ULTM conditions. As it turns out, you have to take things Seb says with at least one grain of salt. For, under slightly poorer transparency (5.2 ULTM at the time), and using 50X, 150mm Argo revealed it unquestionably. If anything, the cluster seemed brighter than expected (though not much) and could be held with direct vision - even at 70X. (At 180 it was invisible. 120 caught the scintillation of a handful of its brightest stars during eye movement - but the cluster itself was deathly pale. 70X gave the best overall view. Darkened the sky enough without bleeding luminosity out of the cluster - no scintillation visible though.)

Overall, very impressed with this cluster. It's size, contrasted with its low luminosity made for an intriguing study. 5 arc-minutes of its diameter was possible. The cluster displayed a nice even gradient toward a largish central core region. (No central point however.) Seemed a bit oblate along the north-south axis. Dimly glowing lantern in the night sky seems to describe it. Nice blue 7th magnitude star 20 arc-minutes east. Highly recommended for intermediate apertured scopes. A must see - especially given the paucity of DSO's in Bootes.

Shifted the scope over to the south viewing station. Went after another globular - this time in Virgo! Yes there are more than just double stars and galaxies in Virgo. At magnitude 9.6, NGC5634 is even dimmer than 5466. However, its small 5 arc-minute size gives it an ASB of 12.9 - well within Argo's range. Didn't really expect much out of this cluster though - boy was I wrong. It's a beaut. Star-like core (under aversion), brightish core region, and dim halo. What makes this cluster so special is its environs. The little sweetheart shows maybe half its 5 arc-minute size in a 6 inch. But that half lies within two arc-minutes of an 8th and a 12th magnitude star. Looks just like a trinary star system! 8th magnitude primary due east. 12th magnitude tertiary to the northwest, and of course, the cluster inbetween. Took me a while to turn it up. Lies about half-way between Iota and Mu Virginis and almost due south of Phi. What drew my attention to it was the fact that it looked almost like a round flashlight beam coming out of the 8th magnitude come. Extraordinary. Another keeper...

Before Mars-Quest, turned up a third deepsky study - Galaxy NGC5846 - located due east 109 Virginis 'bout half-way to M5 and slighly south. Elongated, maybe 3X2 arc-minutes visible. Low contrast. Occasional flashes of a star-like core. Part of a group with four stars that gave the impression of a crookedly constructed steep-roofed house. Switching to 120X, I could just hold the core with extreme aversion. Surrounding that was a diffuse football shaped glow. Not a good look in a 150mm. I could tell that Argo was balking a little...

No question about it best view of Mars yet. Thumblike Syrtis Major east of the central meridian. Casius reaching up toward it from he north. Sinus Sabaeus, Mare Serpentis, Noachis to the southwest. Mare Erythraeum just beginning to rotate in from the west.

That last confuses me though... All this time I figured I was losing Mare Erythraeum due to rotating off the globe. The reality was that, because I was observing Mars earlier and earlier each night, Erythraeum had yet to fully enter the visible disk from the west. Most puzzling, but a great teaching.

Oh yes, it's 12:45. Got to get back out to the scope and do another drawing. Today, sometime, is opposition. The view was so good yesterday (an hour and a half ago) I just had to leave everything setup while I wrote up my notes. Argo and Mars awaits. Be right back...

Just finished the drawing at right. Mars barely past its peak above the horizon. Local sky stability probably 5/10. Was able to slip in the 2X barlow. Didn't quite cut it at 360X, but 240 was fine and gave more detail than 180X. (180 was used exclusively on the earlier drawing.) This second sketch - like most of them - is an integration of medium green and red filters. Syrtis Major even visible in the green - along with the lighter hollows - especially Zen Lacus south of Syrtis Major. Maria contrast staggering in red. Unlike the gas giants - Mars loves filters.

You can see from this second drawing that Syrtis Major has progressed westword. Syrtis Minor lies near the limb. Mare Erythraeum becoming accessible from the east. Sabaeus and Serpentis moving toward center stage. This is probably the best presentation of Mars possible - from the perspective of seeing darkly-contrasted Maria. I now seem to be getting the kind of views I'd hope for before this apparition.

This pair of drawing has also helped me fine-tune MarsPreviewerII settings. Should have been using the + 8 hour TimeZone setting all along - instead of 9. Damnable daylight savings time!

Well, its near 2:00am. A night well worth losing sleep over!

Finding the Balance...

Somewhere between stargazing (the garden) and diligent amateurism (the desert) is a thin strip of land where true joy may be found. A joy that blends purpose with pleasure; structure with improvisation; solitude with comrady. Those who hurry, pass it bye. Those who fail to quest live in ignorance of the possibility. I know this land. I've been there before. First as a child in the woods. Later as an athlete on the playing field. Later still as a performing musician, and singer. I have passed through this land during my career, in family relations, and among friends. It is not a perpetual state. It is maintained by dynamic equilibrium. Effortless effort. Acquisition and sacrifice. Detachment is its signiture. You may strive - but without expectation of result. It is doing in the midst of being. It can not be owned at any price.

There is a saying: "To travel with the gods, you must put yourself in their path." Last night, I stood in the way of giants. One lifted me on his back. I dwelled, if only briefly, in the "Land of Milk and Honey." This only goes to prove that anyone can visit - but to live there???

As is my usual want, I watched the sky darken. First star I see: Spica. Small, radiant and blue in Argo. The sky steadier than it has been for many weeks. Gamma Virginis definite split at 180X. Less than 1.3 arc-seconds, lower sky position and at a relatively low magnification. Bit jumpy perhaps. Unstable? sure, but still a clean split. Being in the neighborhood, tracked down the Sombrero Galaxy - M61!. Didn't look right, too dim, too diffuse, elongated. This looked more like a 13.5 ASB face-on than a 12.5ASB edge-on. And, of course, that's what it was. The real Sombrero (M104) was down behind the fauna. To dwell in grace is not to be right about things - its about being right with yourself. It's OK to be wrong - when you're right!

Switched to Phi Virginis. 9.7 magnitude 3.7 arc-second distanced Phi-B could be held direct at 180X. Phoebe, you are beautiful! I love it when the dim ones can be seen next to the bright ones. That's me. Standing right there next to the god being swept into his train...

5.2 magnitude Phi could also be just seen unaided. It was a good night to be looking south...

Since I was viewing Phi, decided to drop by for a visit with my favorite small globular - NGC6342. "The Flashlight Globular." At least I call it that. And yup, there it was - finderscopes width due south and 30 arc-minutes east of Phi. OK, go ahead, you can look at it too - even though it may only prove special to me...

After this, challenged myself (just a little) by not looking at the charts. Center on Beta Librae. Sweep north, and more north, and even more north. There it is! Where? In the finder. What? M4. To the main tube! Nice, but not as impressive as that first look. So being in the zone doesn't mean everything turns out spectacular. You're just better about accepting things simply as they are. (After all, there's always a need for improvement - otherwise you're back in the garden.) What did I see? Even at 50X, hundreds of pinpointy stars against a robbins-egg blue core. Only two stars could be held direct at this magnification. - At 180X many others. And what's this? There's a huge, dark, chasm to the southwest. Did I ever notice that before?

How about some "new lights"? M107 anyone? Ok, so it is a "low numbered messier" - that usually means a late, dim find. Faintish (magnitude 8.1) but still pretty large (10 arc-minutes). So it has a low average surface brightness (12.8). How'd it look? From notes: "Not visible in finder. Small, faint dusting of stars, highly elongated - for a cluster. Maybe 4X3 arc-minutes visible oriented east-west. Blue 10th magnitude star due east. Core diffuse at low magnification but pointy at 180x. Lies at the crux of a cross consisting of several 10-12th magnitude stars. Foot of cross to north. Hints of resolution at 120X. Core offset to the west and at higher magnification the cluster looks comet-like. Best view at 70X. Flares east-northeast on eye movement."

How about some others? Sorry, not now, Fauna to the southeast blocking the next group. There will be a bit of a wait. So why not bring out the 80mm Pup and see if it's possible to split the Double Double cleanly?

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. 132X. All four stars clearly distinguishable. Perfect, tiny, "spheres of blue-white fire". Positively huge gaps of black space between each pair. Can you believe it? Just last week I stuggled to make out this scene at 250X - and had to contend with all that "star-haze" engulfing the pairs. Dos Kalky says "148X - only on a perfect stability night". And that's what it was. The Lyre had entered the middle third. For the 80mm Pup, the sky was 9/10. But for Argo later on, even with the Lyre near overhead - split yes - but nothing like what the Pup revealed. At best 6/10... Had the sky changed? Or were atmospheric convective cells larger than 80mm and smaller than 150???

Of course, I had to turn the Pup on the Ring. Central darkening - direct. Flanking annuli - well defined. At 132X, 13th magnitude star visible on eye movement. 12.8 with extreme aversion. The Pup was seeing down to magnitude 11.8 without aversion on a night when unaided vision could just make out 5.4 magnitude stars. That's plus 6.4 from an 80mm objective. (I have since learned from fellow amateur Bill Brady that most six inch scopes are just able to accomplish this on a regular basis.)

Later, after viewing Mars, I also turned 150mm Argo on this same scene. Of course, everything was better defined and brighter. The 12.8 magnitude star was just direct at 180X. 13.0 with slight aversion. So the 150mm MCT adds a single magnitude of reach over the 80mm refractor. But that single magnitude is huge when it comes to deepsky observation...

While waiting for my next "first lights" to emerge, also took a look at M13 through the 80mm Pup. Not a single star could be held with the eye. But just relax a little. Don't look at anything, see everything - dozens and dozens of distant fireflies swarming a central ball of flame. Superb.

Move back over to Argo. Track down 3rd magnitude Eta Ophiuchi. Then center the finder on 4th magnitude Nu above it to the east. Sweep due south about a finders field - almost run into some leaves - but there it is in the finder. Round, diffuse star with central brightening - the mark of a Messier Grade Globular Cluster. 7.9 magnitude, 9 arc-minute sized M9 as a matter of fact. In the main tube at 50X: Bright central core, core region and expansive halo. Maybe 5 arc-minutes visible. At 120X, perhaps a half-dozen stars visible at full aversion. Visible flattening south of the starlike core. At 180X, the cluster is bright enough to hold together. Even adds a few more stars at aversion. Probably take a 6.0 ULTM sky to open up this hard stellar nut with a 150mm scope...

The beauty of M9 is that it understands the statement "You are not alone." For 1 degree north and 1 degree east of M9 is another one of those "little gems" that I find particularly endearing. At magnitude 8.4, the smallish (7 arc-minute) Globular Cluster NGC6356 is a perfect "mini-cluster". Such clusters usually display a star-like central core, brightish core region and a small halo bleeding off quickly into space. Those of us who enjoy galaxies probably recognize this as the description of a face-on galaxy lacking perceptible spiral arms. Like such galaxies there is no hope of stellar resolution so expectations shift. Suddenly you find yourself taking the time to contemplate the simplicity of the globular form: It's luminosity gradient, general shape, and stellar neighborhood. In shape, this particular cluster appeared flattened slightly to the northeast. And, speaking of the neighborhood, that around NGC6356 is a bit unusual. It's rare to see so many 7th magnitude stars sharing the same 1 degree field with a globular. Even a single such star is uncommon...

Also near M9 is very dim (magnitude 9.9), small (3 arc-minute) Globular Cluster NGC6342. Felt fortunate to turn this cluster up at all. Its location is about 1 degree south and 1 degree east of M9. Strangely, it didn't hold it's globular shape - giving more the appearance of a dim galaxy. At 70X, I could just hold this irregular swatch of faint luminosity direct. Caught a 13th magnitude star 1 arc-minute from the "core" of the cluster. This to the south. The cluster itself looked distended along the north-south axis. Perhaps only a single arc-minute visible. Any attempt to apply magnification caused it to dissolve into a light mound. As difficult as this cluster was, it was less of a challenge than the Intergalactic Wanderer (NGC2419). That cluster required careful inspection of the field to locate but did seem to take magnification a bit better...

As I understand it, despite the fact that we are now post-oppositional, Earth and Mars continue to converge until the 19th of June. This can only mean that, all things being equal, views will continue to improve for the next week and only then begin to decline. Still there are several more months for Mars-duffers, such as myself, to continue enjoying the apparition. If seeing continues to be as decent as that experienced last night, then it's entirely possible that I'll be able to "publish" my very own, home-brewed map of the planet once the season passes.

Speaking of seeing, unlike previous drawings, I was able to sketch the above at 350X. Also added the blue filter to the rotation. Nothing much came out of it, but I tried it anyway...

As for features - this is the first drawing to include "micro" details. No canals yet - but I'm working on it. Details in particular are the two maria splits southeast and southwest. One such split (to the east) suggests a distinction between Sinus Sabaeus (north) and Mare Serpentis (south). The other (to the west) separates Mares Cimmerium (north) and Tyrrhenum (south). Neither of these distinctions were particularly obvious. What was obvious was that between Syrti Major and Minor. To be honest, the drawing does not do a very good job of capturing small variations in surface feature contrast seen in the Maria-laden southern region of the planet. Frankly such detail was simply too evanescent and my skills in drafting just too limited. Details seen in the north were very difficult and I personally disavow any knowledge of my actions...

It was after sketching Mars, that I turned Argo on the Double Double and the Ring Nebula. This was done to recapitulate studies made with the Pup. As mentioned, I was astonished by how poor the Double Double split using 150mm Argo. But by that time the Pup had already been stowed away and the hour was quite late.

Clear and Steady Skies

Greetings Gents,

Made one "last" attempt last night to get the 3X Ultrascopic Barlow to come to focus in the MK67. Use of the barlow was lost after re-positioning the primary earlier this year. (Shifted it forward to improve field flatness.) To my surprise, the barlow came to focus - and I was off and running. There were a number of tight doubles I wanted follow up on. I also wanted to "blow up" Mars. (Thinking about it the barlow probably came to focus due to a change in secondary spacing. This occured when I re-engineered the secondary collimation mechanism in March.)

By 9:30 last night the sky was dark enough to get started. As usual I turned up Arcturus (at 180x - 10mm Ultra). The star showed a (large) burnt yellow airy disk surrounded by the usual spurious flashing light pile and "wide-spaced" diffraction rings. With the scope afocal, mild tube currents were seen. Despite this, diffraction rings were reasonably well defined (inside rings a joy to behold). Meanwhile, a slow sloshing effect was visible as a result of slow moving air masses. Everything added up to a good, steady night for double stars and beyond...

It was Arcturus image quality that motivated me to try the Ultrascopic Barlow. That and a deepseated desire to make a run on Zeta Bootis while it remained in prime observing position. Results with Arcturus were so good that, for the rest of the evening, I pretty much exclusively used the 10mm Ultrascopic-barlow (540X) and 25mm Ultrascopic-barlow (210X) combinations.

Took a look at Alpha UMA. Compared to Arcturus, showed a smaller - but still quite large yellow airy disk. No spurious image (light pile) on top. But (initially) there was a "scorpion tailed shape" of six or so diffraction rings that trailed the jumpy airy disk across the field of view. (The effect abated as the scope settled. Then I saw three more or less semi-circular diffraction rings.)

As I followed Dubhe there were times when the airy disk really cut through. In those rare moments, it almost seemed to show an "orangish bump" on the leading edge. Even if this "bump" were definitely and consistently visible, there's no way I would have been able to determine pair separation. However if this was the secondary, PA would have been about ~270 degrees. But overall I have no confidence in this secondary "bump" whatsoever. But I'll doggedly continue to follow up whenever conditions permit. There's no way I'd get a split but it would be intriguing to catch the earliest signs of elongation as the secondary comes out of perhelion.

Upsilon UMA: For the heck of it, tried views at 540X and 210X. (At the time the ULTM was magnitude 4.6.) By directly viewing the primary, star haze abated to almost invisibility. Hints of a dim star, southwest of primary at PA ~250 were seen. My best "detection" method was to shift the eye slightly away from the primary while "attending to" the expected location of the secondary. This helped suppress the star haze while teasing out "the star". Similar results were seen at both 210 and 540X.

Confidence is high that I actually saw the secondary at some point - but due to the fact that I could not "hold" it with my eye - I do not consider this a definitive sighting. Again I plan to continue following the pair. On some future deep and calm night I hope to prove to myself that yes, Upsilon does have an 11.5 magnitude companion some 11 arc-seconds distant.

Zeta Bootis: At 540X. Consistently saw the pinched waist of a snowman and occasionally, under best seeing, caught what appeared to be an all too brief fine line of separation. Airy disk quite small (half the size of Dubhe.) The pearly-white pair seemed to be constantly flanked by a "light shadow" (not an optical reflection but an atmospheric phenomenon) to one side (southside I think).

Conclusion: Absolute confidence in snowman. Fairly confident in split. PA = ~180. Trailing star possibly brighter than leading. Again I plan to stick with this one. It likely that under 8/10 conditions I will get a continuous view of a thin dark line between these two beautiful stellar confreres.

Eta Coronae Borealis: Airy disks appeared smaller than those of Zeta. Colors: Primary, pearly-white. Secondary (perhaps 1 magnitude dimmer), pale blue-gray . At best, pinched at the waist (snowman). Never a clear line of separation. Secondary trails. Very difficult to track across the field due to dimness of primary and, even dimmer, secondary. Definitely tougher than Zeta. This one is beyond 150mm Argo.

Conclusion: Abandon all hope ye who enter here with anything smaller than 175mm! But I'll keep checking anyway. (Never say die!)

Double Double: Woh, never realized how wide a gap 2.3 arc-seconds is at 540X. Could have driven a train between each pair. Not the best view though. Lyra lay about 45 degrees above the horizon. Star-haze enveloped each pairing. High magnification plus the excellent baffling and anti-reflective coatings of the 3 element Ultrascopic allowed me to easily pick out the 12.0 and 12.5 magnitude comes (using direct inspection).

(NOTE: The Orion Shorty barlow I've been using for the last four months has been very dissappointing to me. Lots of stray light enters the barrel - "graying" the field. Image ghosting and off-axis aberration also present. Not recommended.)

Took a look at the chart Cor sent me of the Virgo Double-Star Cluster. Flipped it left, then right, upside, down etc. Couldn't find a reference star to star hop from. So, oh well. Next I'll have to try the mechanical setting circles...

Now for some other neat stuff... The sky looked absolutely BLACK through the ultrascopic barlow at 540X. And too, it was stable enough to support 90X per inch and Argo is pretty comfortable optically in this range. Just had to see how some deepsky favorites would look at outrageous magnification. First off:

M13: Stars completely resolved across the core. Overfilled the field of view. Many dark lines disecting the core region. Unfortunately, star images not pinpoints at this magnification - visibly blurred. Dropped down to 210X. Marvelous. "Double-ended scarab beatle" shape very obvious. Hundreds of pinpointy stars. Most could be held direct - no aversion required. Core resolution very good. There's just something about using this particular barlow in conjunction with a longer focal length eyepiece that gives a super flat, dark field - even in comparison to a single eyepiece at the same magnification. Glad to have it back in the kit.

M92: Amazing to see this smaller, dimmer cluster take on 540X without completely dissolving into a mass of ill-focused star haze. Though individual stars were possible (as tiny planetary nebulae), the view was just too poor to warrant much time at this magnification. So dropped down to 210X. Resolved the cluster half way to the core. And to think last autumn I could barely see any stars in it at all...

NGC6210: High magnification makes this baby rock! At 540x, obviously elongated (east-west axis). Central star visible with mild aversion. Location of the star visibly offset to west. Planetary disk brighter to west. Outer shell diffuse but discernable. No need to view at 210X. Very satisfying. Looked about the size of the Moon unaided. This is huge for a 1/4 arc-minute sized planetary nebula!

M57: Took this magnification heroically. Core obviously darker than annuli. 13 mag star east of ansae direct. Other stars embroiled within flanking nebulosity visible on eye movement. (Thus magnitude 14.2 or so.) Huge and reasonably well-defined overall. Again, stars a little haggard but the nebula itself remarkable and warrants future looks - if only it would stay in the field of view more than a dozen seconds at a time.

Now to Mars: Here was my big mistake for the night. (Always at least one.) The Ultrascopic barlow is very L O N G. To get a view to the south I have to place the scope on a plywood deck. ANY movement on the deck would induce oscillations lasting just long enough for the planet to move all the way across the field. Even so - with Mars maybe 25 degrees above the horizon (at 11:00 PDST) - I managed to corral it into the field of view.

Mars was aflame! Earth's atmosphere gave the planet the appearance of being totally consumed by tongues of fire. Burn baby burn! Neatest damn atmospherically induced phenomenon I ever saw. Dropped the magnification down to 210X. Same effect visible but Syrtis Major et al could be seen during brief moments of stability.

Of course, Mars was not at peak ascent. About an hour before culmination the inflammation abated - but I was still on the workout deck. Even at 210X, the image was just too wobbly. Spent the next hour trying to track its crazed motion across the field of view. By the time I got close to finishing any sketch - an hour later - everything shifted perceptibly on the planet. I'll post the sketch on the webpage along with this email as yesterday's report. Just figured it was my turn to email you two first for a change.

I value our exchanges. And those with the few other afficionados I've had the pleasure to "observe" with. The sense of community we share really adds to the joy of being under the stars. As has been said: "A single ember will not glow long in the coolness of the night..."

Clear and Steady Skies,

jeff

More High Powered Observing

"Lately I find myself out gazing at stars, hearing guitars, like someone in love..." It's an interesting phenomenon to observe in oneself. The various interests in life begin with a craving or desire that aligns and binds one in a crassly powerful manner. For me, space science and rocketry, astronomy, sports, motorcycling, music, philosophy, sex, martial arts, programming, and then astronomy again have all exuded powerful influences for their time and season. Each interest released a kind of "drug" into my system. Powerful secretions of the endocrine glands that easily lead to a "healthy excess of passion" along some line. Later, before a new interest reveals itself, the old one fades. A period of relative "stagnation" intervenes. Meanwhile, my system throws off the powerful effects and by-products of the old influence. Some slight depression occurs. Followed by a new interest that rises over my personal event horizon.

Now, although it is true that I have devoted a great deal of time to my latest interest (as evinced in these pages) paralleling this period I've also managed to keep earlier flames glowing. For instance, I continue to play jazz. Program both personally and professionally. Practice the Martial arts. Ride bicycles with my son. Contemplate the ultimate nature of reality and have sex with my wife ;>).

This pattern of interest germination, growth, flowering, aging, death and decay is quite natural. Based on my limited understanding of psychology the whole process is healthy, natural, and a sign of maturity - so long as one moves through all the stages without being abortive. And continues to fulfill one's duties and responsibilities in the day to day life.

Take my latest "craze": High powered views of globular clusters. The possibility of such views always existed. Other amateurs have mentioned such (fellow observer Otto Piechewski comes to mind). But until this very week I had little interest in pursuing them. That interest piqued when three possibilities converged. The first: A period of relatively dark, stable skies supervened. The second: Close double-star work made use of a 3X barlow a necessity. And third: The last nine months of intensive observation have prepared my observing eye with the ability to handle exceedingly small exit pupil sizes.

So I just happen to turn Argo on M13 (after having viewed the close double Zeta Bootis at 540X). The result: Complete resolution across the core of component stars magnitude 14 or brighter under moderately averted vision. Due to the lesser conditions of the time (7/10) the view was less than aesthetically appealing - but the seed had been sown. And the next night (the basis of this report) conditions were even better (8/10) and that objection was overcome. It is possible to get satisfying views of the brighter globular clusters at 540X in a research-grade 150mm telescope. But how bright do they have to be?

At magnitude 5.9 and 16 arc-minute in diameter, M13 has an average surface brightness of 11.6. So that's where we start... But what about 6.5 magnitude / 11 arc-minute M92? Due to its smaller size it's even better: ASB 11.4. OK so, 6.4 mag, 16', M3? 12.0 - and it too gave a fine view at 540X. Let's try the others... 7.2 mag 9', M80: ASB 11.6. Sky position too low to give good images, but the cluster held together nicely at 540X. 6.0 mag 26', M4: ASB 12.7. In fact completely resolved (no "core") with quite decent star images (at 360X) along with a solid view of the "string of pearls" across the center. Finally how about 6.6 mag / 14' M62? ASB 12.0? Needed a higher sky position but fits the mold.

So, for the time being, it appears that, under 7+/10 stability and 5.0 plus transparency, high magnifications (360X +) can be used to real advantage when observing globular clusters that have ASBs less than magnitude 13.)

Since the above is a preliminary limit, I now get to have fun seeing if it holds true over time. Meanwhile I also get to bore my (few) readers with the results of future observations along these lines. Finally there will come a time when I will begin to lose interest in the whole topic. This loss of interest anticipating some new discovery about myself and the world in which I live...

Now on to a few of the evening's "new light" observations:

Although I've viewed Galaxy M109 before, I have yet to include a "full-blown" description in my notes. So here goes: "Appears elongated but without a sense of frontier. Possibly extended east-west. Faint 12.5 magnitude star-like core on center. Core region dim but large (maybe 3' X 5'). Due to low surface brightness (magnitude 9.8, size 8'x5' = 13.5 ASB) very easy to lose sight of while note-taking (after using the red flashlight). Eye movement shows vague flashing - particularly to the south-southwest."

At one point, I lost sight of the galaxy and began randomly sweeping the sky around Gamma UMA. As a result, caught sight of a sweet little double some 3 degrees southwest of Gamma. Brighter of the two a blue-white star of magnitude 9. Secondary yellowish and of magnitude 10. The secondary trailed about 6 arc-seconds to the east. Easily resolved at 50X.

One other "new light": M62 in Ophiuchus. Notes: "Like M80, highly condensed core with brightish core region. Unlike M80, core region visibly distended east and west. Definitely flattened to south. Core impenetrable at 360x. But outside shows the roughness of incipient resolution. No question that higher sky position would reveal numerous stars. Inspection at 540X dissolved everything but the core. Otherwise, a broken mottled surface texture with isolated "clumps" of brighter components."

My notes on M80 show that a sprinkling of brighter stars were visible at 210 and 360X. While the core remained coherent at 540.

With overhead sky stability in the 8/10 range, there was a lot of potential for a decent view of Mars. However, that potential wasn't really fulfilled until the planet rose to within an hour of culmination (11:00 PDST). By 11:00, Argo was on the workout deck in the sturdiest possible location. The hope was to get a decent 540X view. At 540X, the planet takes about 15 seconds to move across the field of view. Part of that time (about 5 seconds) was lost to "mount shake out". The rest was available for catching detailed glimpses of surface detail as local air masses went through their usual gyrations. But even those few seconds of on-focus time were enough to convince me that Mars is loaded with enough fine detail to warrant high powered viewing. But again, sky-local stability needs to be in he 6/10 to support it.

Like last night this drawing was made at 360X. Unlike last night, it developed over a shorter period of time. (This because extended views of the planet were possible with the stabler mount location.) Overall confidence in the result is much higher, even though the two drawings are quite similar. Inspection of Mars using the green and blue filters revealed nothing of consequence - to my inexperienced eye. So I executed the entire drawing with the red filter in place.

Syrti Major and Minor are obvious. Mare Tyrrhenum is fused as a single block with Tritonius Sinus. Mare Cimmerium leads away from Tritonius Sinus to the west. At one time I caught a very distinct view of a bright "eye-shaped" region south of Syrtis Major. I assume this was "Zen Lacus". But in general, a careful inspection of the entire southern region showed a huge loss of contrast that is hard to explain. In fact when I began viewing it seemed like the Syrti were hugely truncated compared to previous views. However, south of the darkest maria regions low surface brightness variations were seen even if not well-captured in the sketch.

To the north several low surface contrast features were possible. MarsPreviewerII labels these regions Casius and Utopia. Neither the south nor north polar caps were distinct. I've almost stopped believing in them. They are becoming a fiction - like the "canals".

I've been following Mars now since the last week of May (roughly 3 weeks). Recently, sky stability has improved. Mars is as large as it gets (during this apparition). But, already my enthusiasm for following it wanes. I've noted a subtle yearning for Mighty Jupiter's return.

Why am I experiencing this? Certainly low sky position is a factor. Another could be the slow progress of new Martian features across the disk. A third may be the late hour the planet keeps. Finally, Mars apparitions are always frenetic. There's a few good months of observation, then its back to the "Incredible Shrinking Planet" routine. This kind of pace (a sprint) tends to amplify the natural "boom and bust" psychology of the adventurously spirited. And noting this I am led back to myself. For you see the issue is not with Mars, nor the stars, it lies within myself.

We Gaze Not Alone

There is a fascination with the night sky that weaves all who look upon it into a single tapestry of human experience. No one can look upon the blackness of space, studded by the light of a thousand tiny gems without feeling part of something huge and infinite. Behind the velvety veil there is a Single Source of Luminosity that breaks through wherever the stars shine. Behind the eyes that look upon that Luminosity is a Single Perception that collects the Light and recycles it again. Thence to return to the Luminous Source for renewed illumination and perception.

There is no separation between either the Eye that Sees or the Sun that Illumines. Because of this, whenever we who appreciate the night sky look upon it, singley or with others, we do so not alone. On some fundamentally trancendental level, the many eyes - along with the sophisticated technical appurtenances we call "telescopes" and "eyepieces" - are a single collector of Light Perceived and Illumined.

Last night, son Eric and I travelled once again the long and winding road, onward and upward till we could rise no further. Then the mild descent, followed by the cautious entry into the parking area lanterns extinguished. We were late. It was dark. We backed into a slot. There, on the open field we joined again with our confreres, exchanged friendly greetings, assembled our equipment, and turned eye on sky. The secret hidden work of light perceived and emanated was attended to even as - on the outside of the self - we took up individual passions of show and tell, lively dialog, friendly competition, mutual correction and augmentation.

By 10:00 we had Argo setup near Dan and his 4 inch Takahashi apochromatic refractor. I was immediately impressed with how "large" the scope appeared. This illusion of "bulk" may very well have been the glamour of seeing a scope of such legendary reputation. But each and every view through this fine instrument did nothing to deflate it's perceived dimensions...

Mars was not a good view early on. Despite this, and at any given time, perhaps half the dozen scopes in attendance were turned on the Flaming Chariot. A constant flow of observers moved among the assembled equipment. The Takahashi attracted much attention - though Argo was not ignored. Despite Mars fiery presence, there is just too much of sky for the planet to dominate. Dan and I turned the Takahashi on Gamma Virginis. This fine instrument had no difficulty distinguishing one close twin star from the other. Onto the favorites of the season: The Double Double, Great Hercules Cluster, Ring Nebula, The Galactic Wonders (M81/82). Early on Argo was troubled by tube currents, but later both scopes settled into an easy rhythm of comaparable views. Argo seeing a little deeper, the Tak perhaps a tad sharper.

The views through the Tak were especially impressive due to the fine collection of eyepieces in Dan's possession and the wide flat field offered up by the scopes optics. With 80 degrees of apparent field size at my eye's disposal I felt as if I were falling into the depths of space, floating among countless stars, selecting them like ripe fruit with my eye. Breathtaking.

Derrick, Ralf and I conferred about the "supervova that wasn't" from the last star party. We re-visited the scene (galaxy NGC4631) in Derrick's LX200 8". Everyone jumped on board. The peculiarities of the suspected "supernova" still apparent. - All agreed, a very sharp and unusual mien. Derrick also turned the 8" on two more Coma Bernices Cluster galaxies - NGC's 4559 and 4565. The peculiar broken-rectangular shape of Galaxy 4559 still intrigues. Galaxy 4565 displayed its extraordinary sharp edge-on core and long wisply spiral extensions. A classic.

By 11:00 attention again returned to Mars. As suggested in the image at left (courtesy SCAC club member Ralf Hofmann) Syrtis Major is rotating in from the eastern limb. Visually, Mare Tyrrhenium was almost etched on the disk in the south temperate region of the planet. A small "island maria" (Hyblaeus Extension) could be seen near the central meridian to the north - but not always. Remarkably, every scope showed very much the same view. From Mark's TV-85 to Ralf's LX200 10". Main difference lay in image size and seeing ease. Of course, the smaller scopes gave more consistent views (the Tak optimal in this regard) while the larger ones showed the planet large and luminous. Filters were not necessary but helped.

Before Mars-tide, a large group of visitors had decended on the viewing site. Though this particular venue is generally "members only", the club entertained an adult astronomy class by special invitation. Students and family members ooh'd and aah'd as the bounties of the early summer sky and oppositional Mars were layed out before them. Argo had stabilized by this time and, in conjunction with the dark sky and stable seeing, gave lovely views of all the afformentiond deepsky favorites.

About this time, too the Milky Way could be fully traced from Sagittarius through Cygnus southeast to northeast. Dan and I found ourselves sweeping along, plucking one beautiful finderscope sight after another and contemplating them in our main tubes. Mark took time out from his Televue to come by and dote over the clean sharp blacksky images provided by the larger 102 and 150mm scopes. Derrick turned up a unique flowerlike dark nebula region in the Milky Way north of Sagittarius. This was a rediscovery for Derrick and he and Mark set off to track it down and see if it was listed on any of the available charts. No reference was forthcoming so we collectively dubbed it "The Black Rose Nebula". Derrick's Black Rose is a subtle beauty. The entire region fits well within a one degree field. Concentric rings of absorption nebulosity mask out many of the numerous stars that lay behind it. Next opportunity I hope to add it to my own list of celestial wonders.

Speaking of wonders. Sweeping the Milky Way in adept ignorance of what you are seeing at any given time is the ultimate stargazing adventure. All you need do is begin just southwest of the Sagittarian Teapot and wander north and east. Of course much of what we came across last night was known to us. The pair of stars (one double) making up the Trifid nebula, The dark-rift split Lagoon Nebula, Ripe Strawberry Cluster M21 and the Omega Nebula M17 are well known to me. But many open and globular cluster's, star field concentrations, and absorption nebulae remain outside my conscious apprehension...

Again Mars. Syrtis Major now pendent very near the central meridian. It and the smaller Syrtis Minor plus other dark maria are clear and obvious in all scopes as Mars culminates...

Finally Cygnus rises far enough out of the Felton lightdome to become susceptible. And with Cygnus, the Veil Complex.

Here we all struggle. Old threads perhaps not well woven must be taken up anew. Finding the true 52 Cygni can be quite difficult when cobwebs take residence from lack of coniual occupation. 41 Cygni kept coming up. This pretender constantly disappointing us all with it's lack of adjacent nebulosity. Eventually we caved and turned to our charts. 52 was found in the sky - but no thin small scarf of luminosity was in attendence. On with the OIII filter. Ahh, such smoothly flowing beauty and grace. At 50X, the nebula extended across Argo's field of view. Diaphanous, fluidic and supremely subtle - one part of a much more complex dying gift of an ancient star who in passing flooded the Universe with the Luminosity from the Single Source.

The Takahashi too showed it well. With OIII filter in place and 25X eyepiece, the Western Veil was even brighter and well-delineated than in Argo.

Repeated efforts finally located the brighter Eastern Veil. It spilled completely oustide Argo's 1 degree field, but took up complete residence in the Tak at 25x. The view of this remnant of the Star that Gave was more obvious and replete with structure than I have ever seen before through Argo. With or without the filter, it remained instantly apparent and intricately emboidered onto the night sky. The entire crescent easily fit within the Tak's 2 degree field of view. Pinpoint stars accenting the wispy nebulosity like the background of a painting by one of the Old Masters.

Before breaking down, I revisited an old nemesis - the Crescent Nebula located near the spine of the Northern Cross. On this night there would be no decisive view - only the vague hint and a memory of the one night when this most coy of beauties revealed itself without equivocation to my questing eye.

The collective eye of this SCAC star party dispersed. Equipment was dissassembled and stowed for transport. Parting salutes tendered. Each attendee returning home to keep the "solitary" vigil until the next Invocation and Evocation of the One Light. No one can stand beneath the night sky and see that light in isolation. We are the stuff of the stars themselves looking back toward's our source. In so doing, we gaze not alone.

The Subtle and the Obvious

Sometime life takes unexpected twists. Assumptions made - even the most circumspect - don't prove out. Vague intuitions do. This is as it should be. There ought to be room for the unexpected in life. And when we learn to expect the unexpected, then the real fun begins. Why? Because when anything is possible, nothing is ever the same again.

Here's one scenario: I get an email from an SCAC club member and am "accused" of being a hopeless romantic. I assume my fellow observer refers to the abstract realms of metaphysics explored in this last star party report. But no, my correspondent quotes the following passage as proof positive of my condition:

"With 80 degrees of apparent field size at my eye's disposal, I felt as if I were falling into the depths of space, floating among countless stars, selecting them like ripe fruit with my eye. Breathtaking."

Thanks, Dan. Guilty as charged. And the sentence: More opportunities to peer through your Takahashi - agreed???

And another example. Over the last several months I've been drawn into a few astro-centric email circles and individual exchanges. One such correspondent hints at a west coast swing while on vacation. I figure, its a long way from Ohio, but what the hey, here's how to reach me when you get to the Left Coast. And the next thing you know my correspondent is heading "right" to the beaches of North Carolina. So I guess "you know who" won't be making the SCAC star party this weekend. Pity, someone's got to prove that the female of the species can be as enthusiastic about observing as any male.

This now leads to my next observation: Why is it that there are so few female amateur astronomers? Do the ladies know something we males don't? - Like excessive time behind the eyepiece leads to extreme myopia? Or that too much of the wrong kind of "night life" leads to premature aging? (Come to think of it, a lot of my confreres do seem to have a few years under their belt...) If so please let us guys in on it. We really want to know what we are sacrificing while were out having so much fun!

Enough excursions into the realms of the irrelevant. Those few of you who actually visit this site are probably more interested in observational astronomy than mid-life crisis romanticism or astro-centric gender differences.

Argo remained disassembled after Saturday's star party. So, on returning from an impromptu dinner engagement (thank you Jonathan, the soy-burgers were excellent), I sprung the Pup from the study. During the walk home, I could tell that a very special night was in progress. The sky was especially transparent and still. This hope proved out when - at 132x - the 80mm Pup cleanly split the Double Double while also revealing hints of the 12.0 and 12.5 magnitude comes that lie in their midst.

With such a sky, I wanted to attempt a split of Gamma Virginis (Porrima). With both barlow's stacked up, plus the 9mm Plossl, I was able to clearly show this bright (3.6/3.7) tight (1.3") pair as elongated (with the occasional slight pinching of the waist) at 250X. This echoed the performance of Dan's 102mm Takahashi at Saturday's star party. At that time the Tak cleanly split the pair. So now I'm in a bit of a quandary, for you see "Dos Kalky" says that either this pair is actually more widely spaced (minimum 1.7 arc-seconds) or that a 125mm scope is required for clean separation - and that under the best of conditions. So will the real numbers for Porrima please stand up???

While visiting in Virgo, I turned the Pup on Phi. Surprisingly, 9.7 magnitude Phi-B could just be seen (at 132X) using moderate aversion some 4 arc-seconds east of 5.2 magnitude Phi-A. In consulting "Dos Kalky", I learned I could only expect a definitive view of "Phoebe" under 6.0 ULTM conditions. Last night, I could just directly hold a 5.2 mag star located about 2 degrees west.

The time was 11:00. Mars had cleared the foliage to the east. Seeing stability was quite good (regionally 5/10 with the planet less than 25 degrees above the horizon). This was the Pups chance to see if it could show the planet as well as those fine scopes assembled at Saturday's star party. I piled up all the barlows and turned the full force of 60+ X per inch aperture on the closest Mars seen since 1988. Even without a filter, I could see a narrow circlet of dark maria just beneath the south polar region. Amazingly though, no Syrtis Major could be found. Dropped in the blue filter. Caught the unexpected view of a small, but distinct, south polar cap. Again, no Syrtis Major. Threaded in the red filter. Caught what I believed to be the northern tip of Syrtis Major progressed away from the eastern limb of the planet.

By 11:15, Mars climbed high enough to give consistently stable views. I began sketching. Fifteen minutes later, it was done. The view was very different from that seen Saturday at about this time. For one, visible maria wwere limited to just north of the SPC. The region below that was completely obscure. Only sign of Syrtis Major a vague "island" progressed perhaps a little further west than it should. The northern hemisphere, as a whole, was perceptibly brighter than that of the south. A broad arching line traced away from the northern limb upward to the east. That was it.

Sand storms. Got to be sand storms. Huge whirling masses across the entire visible south temperate region. Coriolus forces whipping Mars' thin atmosphere into a tumult. Rich maria, obvious to the eye just two nights ago, gone. While at the top of the world, conditions once again allowed the bright pole to gain a foothold.

The God of War lives!

It was now midnight. Western Cygnus was just entering the skies middle third. Near overhead, a 5.5 magnitude star west of Beta Lyrae could be held without much effort. Lower down the sky was visibly brighter - lit up by Boulder Creek's commercial strip to the east. Stars near magnitude 5.0 could barely be held direct. Could the Pup reveal the delicate chiffon-like beauty of the Twin Veils of the Summer Triangle?

First the tougher Western Veil (NGC6960). Again the struggle to pick out 4.3 magnitude 52 Cygni from the star field. An effort complicated by the fact that no star viewed showed anything of neighboring nebulosity. OK, I'll bite the bullet, look at the charts AND pop in the OIII filter. Lovely! At 25X, the northern section of the veils thin flowing stream is obvious. However, aversion was necessary to show it's "banks". That same aversion just revealed a short section south of 52. Visible portions of the nebula took up less than half the two degree field of view. The slightly poorer sky, and 22mm shy Pup did not show it with near the presence of Dan's Takahashi at Saturday's star party. But show it, it did! And I look forward to many happy returns.

As you might expect, the Eastern Veil was a cinch. If the Western Veil is a stream then the Eastern Veil is a river delta. Lace-like and expansive, this crescent of diaphanous luminosity easily filled half the field. Only the easternmost (central) section shied away from the Pup's reach. While northwest and southwest distinct structure was seen. Removing the OIII filter only marginally suppressed it's ghostly beauty. It would seem that prospects are excellent for a simply transcendent view of the Eastern Veil near culmination on some chill summer night to come.

Before putting the Pup away, I dropped in the 16X 3+ degree ep in an effort to frame both the Eastern and Western sections in a single view. In so doing, I learned the limits of inexpensive eyepieces. Though both sections could be capturedat once, serious edge coma intervened to spoil the view...

Mars, hard, brilliant, and obvious. The Veils, soft, diaphanous, and subtle. The sky is full of extremes. And everything between. There's enough out there for every kind of body, and every kind of temperment.

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As Close As We Get

Forty-two million miles. Divide that by 540 and the number is roughly 78K. That's how close my blurred perception got to another living world. A world moving slowly backward against the stars. This as our own outraces around the solar track. For you see, we have the inside track and live in the "fast lane". Mars concedes to fleet-footed Earth even as together Earth and Mars give way to fleeter Venus and Winged-heal Mercury.

Due to the relative velocities of our two worlds, Earth rarely overtakes Mars. And due to eccentricities in Mars' orbit, it takes more than a decade for the two planets to repeat a cycle. So at this moment we are very close and I am alive and interested. The last time this occured for me was in 1966. At the time, I was very young and espied Mars through a 4" Criterion Dynascope. At 120X, the planet's disk would have been about the size seen from some future manned mission 400K miles out. At the time of that opposition, I distinctly remember seeing a polar cap, possibly saw Syrtis Major and maybe Mare Erythraeum. Didn't really know much about what I was looking at. - Still don't really...

But all increase in knowledge begins with observation - internal and external. Since observation is augmented by good record keeping, I write things up. Drawings help too. Out of this mass of accumulated observations and associated records, I make inferences, formulate hypothesis, devise tests, weed out errors and refine my methods. All that Francis Bacon stuff: "The Scientific Method." A method that works! And has changed our world immensely - some even for the better. Certainly there is something to be said for optics and computers.

Part of good scientific technique is paying attention to circumstances. Some circumstances you have control over, others you don't. For instance, Mars is particularly low in the sky (for north temperate latitude observers) whenever the two worlds are closest. This is an example of something I can't control. (I could travel south but then I'd no longer be a north temperate latitude observer.) Something I can control is the magnification chosen to view the planet. Tonight, for a number of reasons, I chose 360x. Another thing I can control is when to observe (tonight, between 11:00PM and 1:00AM). But these two "choices" largely fall out of the fact that Mars is pretty low. (About 27 degrees above the horizon from where I observe.) And I am really only responding to constraints placed on me by circumstances...

In life you really don't control, you manage. I manage to make a drawing of Mars. I manage to start at 11:10PM and finish by 11:30. I manage to view the planet through "fair" atmospheric conditions. I manage to avoid making straight lines while drawing because there's nothing angular about anything I see. I may actually have managed to approximate things as they really appeared - despite a lack of expertise and experience.

Later I do a second drawing. I do this because I am curious about whether I'll see Syrtis Major. And I learn that this is so. Because of this I get a better sense of the oblique interactions between Mars rotation and motion around the Sun and that of the Earth. Because I expected to see Syrtis Major at 11:00PM and didn't, there is something wrong with my understanding of all these factors and how they play out. For instance:

Like the Earth, the Sun probably rises Mars east and sets Mars west. This is an assumption and is subject to change. It is a good assumption because of the way the solar system formed. Angular momentum - like all motion is conserved...

For the Sun to rise in the east, a planet has to rotate from the west to the east. Think about it. The Sun is low then climbs up and down. To make it go up, I have to move towards it. For me to go toward's it, I have to be away from it. Therefore I am on the opposite side of the globe - or , if you will, the west.

Now as the Sun (or Mars) moves from east to west, its leading edge is to my west and its trailing edge to my east. But is the "western edge" from the Earth, the "western edge" of Mars? This is where I get confused. Do you? It's like looking a mirror. Is you right arm on the right or the left? Are you facing the mirror or do you have your back to it? Damn this gets complicated... So instead I look at Mars over a couple hours then watch stuff drift across the globe. And last night I payed close attention and saw (as in the two drawings) new stuff appear on the trailing edge of Mars and move toward the leading edge.

Am I boring you yet? Well if your still with me then I'm surprised!

So based on my initial assumption, I can say that the trailing (eastern edge) of Mars is really Mars west and vice versa. Now, I just need to not forget this. It applies to Jupiter too: "East is West and West is East and never the twain confused."

So there probably wasn't a dust storm on the planet the previous evening. Syrtis Major was on the far side of Mars western limb and became visible later than expected.

Meanwhile, Mars culminates earlier every evening, so "Hasta La Vista, Syrtis Major y Ola Mare Sirenum." And this nearly brings me full circle from when I began following Mars over a month ago...

The Other Virgo Cluster

A second open letter to a pair of Double Star Splitting Dudes from the Continent

Groten Gents,

While attending the SCAC (Santa Cruz Astronomy Club) star party last Saturday evening, I had the pleasure of sharing views through Argo with other amateurs and the general public. Overall, image quality was quite good - especially after Argo thermally stabilized. But despite this, I was aware (and it was pointed out to me by another amateur) that there is a problem with the scope's collimation.

That problem stems from the fact that "a good mirrored diagonal is hard to find". About a month ago I took the good advice to collimate the scope without the diagonal in place. Originally I was resistent to the idea, since I knew that there were problems with it even then. However, after thinking about it, I realized that I did not always keep the diagonal in the same position while viewing. Therefore optimizing scope alignment to one position exaggerates any error seen when rotating the diagonal in the visual back.

So I removed it and re-collimated the secondary with an eyepiece placed in the "straight-through" position.

Result was that I could no longer get nice, visibly round, a-focal star images. Despite this I still got good views of doubles (Zeta Bootis) and globular clusters (M13) - even after resuming use of the 3X Ultrascopic barlow lens (540X). In addition, I no longer saw complete, perfectly circular, diffraction rings around in-focus stars. So essentially the best "through the scope seeing" I would ever get was 8/10.

Two days ago I "dissassembled" the $40 1.25" Vixen star diagonal (purchased about six months ago). There were no visible fasteners in or on the assembly, so I had to "pry" it apart. To my chagrin, I noticed the mirrored diagonal is "glued" in place. There was no way to "shim" as I had done with the original. So I reassembled it and used it during Tuesday's observing session.

But it bothered me. And I wanted those "9/10" nights. So last evening (the subject of this report) I traded Argos diagonal for the Pup's (the shimmable version) and turned the scope on Arcturus. It didn't cut it. In fact the irregularities were worse than the Vixen diagonal. - But, at least, it could be re-shimmed. So, I loosened up the fasteners enough to determine that the mirror mount needed to be lowered at the back. (No side tilt required.) Inserted some cardboard (one thin undoubled piece was enough) and found I could get visibly circular afocal diffraction rings in the center of the field of view. Even more importantly, this was possible both inside and outside focus - something that seems to be impossible if the diagonal is askant.

Even at 180X, Arcturus was small and displayed a visible airy disk accompanied by flashing radiance to all directions. Outside the radiance, I could make out three infocus diffraction rings that managed to arc almost 300 degrees around the star. - Something I haven't seen through Argo in a   l o n g   time.

I installed the 3x barlow and examined Dubhe. Its airy disk was smaller than Arcturus', but the combination of lower sky position, and position over the top of neighboring buildings and street, caused it to jump perceptibly in the field and show only about 180 degrees of circular diffraction rings. These were accompanied by a short "scorpions tail" of residual tube currents. (Slight tube current was visible with Arcturus but really didn't seem to detract nearly as much. Is it possible that sky conditions exacerbate this condition?)

I then examined Dubhe for "the orangish" bump previously hullucinated. (Yup, I can still hullucinate it.) Then turned the scope on Zeta Bootis. At 540X a clean split - with extended views of the thinnest of dark lines separating the pair. Onto Eta Coronae Borealis! No split, but patently obvious that two different stars were butt up against one another. The pearly white primary leading and slightly dimmer, dullish white companion trailing. (Noted this before but never so definitively.)

By this time it was about 10:30 and Virgo was lowering to the southwest. I have only one viewing locale in the yard to see it this late in the season (and hour). This is the back workout deck - complete with wobbly plywood surface. In addition, the region hangs over a neighboring house. Heat rising from roofing material spoils the stability somewhat. I'd say I was getting 6/10 stability through the scope, considering both sky position and locale. 5.0 magnitude Phi Virginis could be held with direct vision at the time. (I could not hold Phi's 5.2 mag neighbor just west.)

So I turned Argo on Porrima the "base station" for exploring the Virgo Double-Star Field. Porrima itself was just splittable - and that not consistently - at 210X. Referencing the chart, so gratefully provided to me, I began the most demanding sequence of star hopping ever experienced. This is incredibly arduous work - especially with a wobbly mount and at higher than normal magnification. But somehow, before losing the region to the roofline, I managed to view three doubles from the chart - STT256, AGC5, and BU929. Along with these views were some interesting wide pairs, dim field stars, and one obscure "open cluster".

That "cluster" lay almost due east of Porrima some 35 arc-minutes distant. I could see about half a dozen 11th and 12th magnitude stars forming a "broken Y". The group was not bathed in nebulosity - so it's possible it is line of sight or possibly a widish multiple star system.

Just north of the "cluster" is a 10th mag star. I used that star to swing due west to a bow-like arc of 5 10th magnitude stars leading north and slightly east. From just south of the northernmost member of the arc, I swept due east to a brightish 8th magnitude star. Another 30 arc-minutes brought me to STT256.

As I understand it, 1998 data says that this pair consists of two 7.5 magnitude stars separated by 1.0 arc-seconds. Thus 360X should have easily turned the trick on a good stability night... However, the best I could possibly do was maybe make out an elongated pair. Bluish primary with dimmer secondary leading. Since the published 1998 PA is 98 (secondary trailing) I plead "nolo contendre" on this one. (I can only hope that the higher sky position of a spring night will give me the honor of making this pair's acquaintence.)

Continuing the tour, shifted 30 arc-minutes east and slightly south past a 9th to an 8th magnitude star. Switched over to the finder and centered on the middle star of a triangle (of 5th and 6th magnitude stars). Returning to the main tube (210X), took in AGC5. This triple consists of a 6.2 magnitude primary, 8.9 mag secondary and 13.2 tertiary. Secondary distance .8" (1991), and tertiary 40" (1965). My notes say I may have seen a 10th magnitude star less than 2 arc-seconds southeast of the primary. In addition, I recall seeing a very dim star about 1 arc-minute due east. The (1991) PA on the secondary is 167 degrees. This is ball-park. But the separation looked wider (360X) than 1 arc-second to my eye - and if I had seen stars at 1 arc-second that were relatively disparate in magnitude, then why not STT256 earlier?

As for the 13.2 magnitude star, there were actually several stars near AGC5 that fit that description. One I recall was west (not southeast at PA 125 degrees). There may have been another, very difficult to catch to the sout