It was a tough weekend for me - super busy - though it was extended for me through Tuesday. Commitments on Friday and Saturday, though both nights were marginal for viewing. Sunday I headed up to the farm, and it absolutely poured rain, but Monday I scored big. Very cool, about 50F, no bugs (except a few hearty june bugs - they don't like it this cool and they disappeared right quick after sunset), just the tiniest breath of wind to waft around the scent of prairie grass. Can't ask for much more.
It had been pretty hazy most of the day as we got ready for the auction, but by sunset it cleared off spectacularly. With plenty of time to spare, I drove the 200 yards required to get the scope to the observing pad - I hope soon to not need the car for this. Anyway, I was glad I had the extra time. I got the scope set up (the concrete tiles working excellent), but was once again having trouble with the field computer. This time the power to the USB ports kept shutting off. Damn. That's a problem because the USB->Serial converter needs power. It's funny because I was thinking how much of a drag it would have been to go back to the "old" way of using books. How quickly we become dependent on technology.
After rebooting three times I got the power to the ports to stay on, I turned my attention to the setting circles, and again I had the pleasure of fighting with a computer. This time, the best I could do for alignment was a 101, and I could tell that it was not tracking right. I tried three times, 101, 102, 101. Sigh. I rolled with it, and after syncing a few times it kept pretty good pace.
First target was Venus, which I looked at after getting the scope aligned. Very cool sharp crescent in bright twilight. Then, after all the rest of the setup headaches, it was dark enough for comet NEAT, with was much better out here than from home. Higher in the sky, everything darker, bigger scope, it seemed like a totally different comet than the one I've been viewing with the pronto. I watched it for a few minutes until full dark set in, then at 10:30 I began comet hunting.
I worked the north and north west in stages, starting around Capella. I'd work south for a quarter hour, then pull back and work south again until I started over lapping, and so on. I pulled a huge list of open clusters after starting off with the galaxy NGC 2403. Without listing all the clusters here (though I'll put them in the stats), other highlights included M103, another new M object (OC), Stock 2, a super giant OC, the galaxies NGC 2300 and 2276, both in the same field, both very small and fainter than mag 12, and NGC 2146, another medium small, somewhat faint galaxy.
I midnight I called the comet hunting and went back for a look at NEAT. I first tried to see it with the naked eye, and I could but it was not easy or obvious. It was about as easy as nearby M44. But when I dialed it in with the scope, I had one of those 'holy shit moments' that I don't get very often. This comet was *spectacular*! Earlier it had not been full dark, but it was now, and wow is this a cool telescope comet. Very long tail, right around 3 degrees, some tail detail, and just a great shape and flow. It's hard to describe a comet and it's tail - the smoothness of the transition from the bright stellar nucleus to the nearly transparent tail is better than I've ever seen in any kind of artwork, and only can be beaten by a perfect sunset sky. It just fades out, but with such incredible subtlety that it is impossible to tell where it really ends.
THIS is why I look for comets and observe them. They are so magical, so different from one another, so frail. Ah well, I do them no justice.
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When you live in the city, it's generally not a good idea to be loitering around the sidewalk with a pair of binoculars. Unless you want to be arrested as a stalker or peeping tom. The situation for me is that we have a major street between us and the neighbors out the front, so we don't know the people over there very well (or at all).
So I was aware that I was "acting strangely" when I was walking around the yards in front of my house with binoculars trying to find a good view of Comet NEAT to the west/southwest last night. But at the same time, I didn't give much of a rip. I could spot Sirius through a gap in the trees, but I just couldn't get the right angle to land the comet. I tried for about 45 minutes in the growing darkness, to no avail. It did, however, give me plenty of time to think up stories about what to say to the police when they showed up. And it was very pleasant outside, light breeze and about 70 degrees. The yard smelled nice after I'd cut the grass. Venus, Mars and Saturn are coming together nicely.
If the clear weather holds, I'll head over to Lake Calhoun tonight with the Pronto and try from there. The great thing is that every night the view improves. The forecast for tomorrow is still looking ok at the Farm as well, though it's becoming unstable with chances of rain creeping in. I think it's definitely going to be one of those situations where you can't call it until night falls.
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There are two things about pre-dawn observing that I'd, well not forgotten, but hadn't really thought about in a long time: the skies are very nice and it's very hard on the body :-) A five and a half hour commitment for two hours of observing kind of sucks. Especially when it's all sleep time.
In any case, I wanted to make an attempt at 4 comets. There are two LINEAR comets in the morning sky, plus Tabur and Bradfield. I also thought it would be cool to get some sweeping in under fresh sky. So I packed up the stuff, grabbed 4 hours of sleep and then headed out to Cherry Grove.
Most of the club was at the astronomy day star party at the big observatory, and as I'd hoped I had the place to myself. I arrived at just after 2 am, got set up. It was cold, about 30F, and there was a slight breeze from the east. I was glad to have brought my heavy coat. No problems with the DSC this time. After aligning the DSC and connecting the laptop, I noticed that the scope was pointing right near reflection nebula 7023. So I nudged the scope over for a look. This was very easy at 40x, in a relatively empty field.
It was going to be a couple hours before I'd have any chance at the comets, so I just started in with the hunt, working the NE in a zone that the surveys have not covered in a while. It was exactly 3 am when I started.
I opted to skip looking for LINEAR 03K4, latest reports show it on the borderline of the ability of my scope, and just decided not to waste the time looking for it.
The dogs. There were some dogs about a half mile away at a farm house, and they just would not shut up. They were barking and barking and barking almost the whole time. They were pretty annoying.
Since I was sweeping again mostly in the NE, I was spending a lot of time in the Milky Way, so most of the objects tonight were open clusters. First was 6819, somewhat mottled. Then I found 6910 with a Y-shaped figure of bright stars. From there it was M39 which s kind of loose, and 7209 and 7086. Next up was IC1434 which is a rather rich OC with a lot of fainter stars.
After all the open clusters, M31, M32 and M110 were a nice departure, but they were to be the only galaxies this session.
Back to the open clusters: 7380 with no nebula visible, 7789, and 7510, a pretty small and tightly packs OC. There were probably others in these sweeps that I didn't note for one reason or another, these were obvious ones that I used to verify the DSC or because they were cool.
I noticed an asterism that I dubbed the "witch's hat" at 23 18 39/+63 16 5. Right after it was M52. I stopped just short of reflection nebula 7635. With the exception of M52 and the Great Nebula, all were new objects for me, and M39 is the first new M-object of the year.
It was 5 am at this point, and the sky was getting pretty light so I went looking for the comets. I knew right away that Tabur was not going to happen - latest reports put it at mag 9.5, and the sky was getting too bright. So I went for Bradfield, using the laptop to guide me over there - I couldn't see any stars that low on the horizon. I found it, very small and looking something like an unfocused star. It had a greenish look, but that might be because of it's altitude and the lightening sky more than anything. I also looked at 80x, but I could not get any hint of tail or extension. Within 5 minutes it was lost in the glow.
I went over to where LINEAR was just coming over the trees, but a band of clouds was moving over the area and blocked my view. So that was a bust and the end of the session.
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Ok, it's really that the "LE" is short for Laser Emitter, and it's a product my company manufactures(see tech info). It's designed to be a light emitter used in sensing applications in factories and so forth. Lasers are cool, so I picked up a spare demo copy we had kicking around the office. Normally I turn it on and watch the cats chase the dot around the house. At one point I considered trying to make a laser collimator out of it, but I'm not that great at precision work, and I didn't think I'd ever be able to get it accurate enough.
So what's all this have to do with observing. Well, the night before heading to the farm, I was thinking about all this snow we've had, and where I could set up the scope to hide from the (currently unshielded) NEMA "security" light that is present on this (and every other) farm. The trouble is the way the buildings are situated, nearly every space that would provide a view to the west or south would be in some seriously deep snow off the main drive between structures.
I wasn't all that opposed to just putting the truck in 4x4 mode and getting to a better spot, but first I wasn't all that sure I wanted to risk getting stuck, and second my father-in-law offered to drive up. Its hard to pass up free gas for 400 miles. Trouble is his truck is 2 wheel drive.
Ok, so in a perfect world, all this snow wouldn't matter because I'd just set up outside in the driveway and there wouldn't be this damn light with no switch right over my head. Or does it have a switch? In numerous experiments with laser pointers I've been able to shut off street lights, trouble is I can't both stand there pointing at the light with a laser pointer and observe. That is, until I got the QS18.
The QS18 is designed to be a "mounted" laser. It has holes and fittings to allow it to be mounted on a production line. This allowed me to mount the laser to a right-angle bracket that is tapped for a tripod bolt. Bingo, a nice little laser that will happily sit on a tripod, pointing at the light sensor of the NEMA light, keeping it off for as long as I wish (or as long as the 9v battery holds out).
So I was excited to try this out, hoping that the light at the farm was stupid enough to be duped by this, and that I could then set up the scope where ever it was easy, avoiding the deep snow.
[...]
We arrived at the farm just as the moon was rising. Quite a site, deep red over new fallen, wind-driven snow. Very Sparkly.
I played pass the pigs for a while with the girls, then finally got them off to bed. When I was sure they were asleep, it was time to head outside and test the QS18.
It was harder than I thought to get the laser aimed, but I finally hit the top of the light, and nothing happened. I played the laser around the dome a bit, and still nothing. The light kept burning. I moved around 90 degrees, thinking that perhaps there was a door to the sensor on either side. Again nothing. I went around to the opposite side, by now beginning to get cold, and tried again. Still nothing.
Grrr. It must be that the light sensor is pointing straight up. It was an investigation for daylight. In the long run, I guess it doesn't matter much one way or another. If we are able to keep the land, I will no doubt get a shield for it, and the observing spot will be in a place not affected by it regardless. If we don't keep the land, the point is moot. For my session the next night, the plan was simply to use the snow blower to plow my way to a spot.
Kind of frustrated, I hauled the tripod and laser back inside, I got some warmer clothes and went for a walk. I was beautiful. The temp about zero, the wind had died off completely, and a bright moon shining and fresh, undisturbed snow reflecting. The world was a blueish white. I could hear deer, and possibly and owl with a kill in a tree. The plan was, if it stays clear for the next night, to strap on the snowshoes and grab the camera and go for a walk, after I make a try for 2002T7.
[.]
The following day, between sessions with the sled (aka a snowmobile), I took another look at the light. Seems I tried every side but the side with the light port the previous night. After some discussion of potentially plowing out a spot away from the light vs. trying again with the laser, I opted to try again with the laser. I decided that if I could not get the light to go off, I'd skip all the power stuff and haul to a dark place. Otherwise, I'd just take power from the morton building.
It was a very nice day, high about 15, bright sunshine, all around great. For playing, that is really a nearly perfect temperature. The reason is that if it is warmer, the snow begins to melt, and everything starts getting wet. Wet is bad. But when it's under 20, you can just brush the powder off and keep on going. We played outside for hours, and no one complained of cold and everyone had the same clothes on that they started with. Everyone means the kids and I, of course.
I did quite a bit of snow shoeing, which is fun but a lot of work. I went over and checked on the old oaks, and I tried not to wake them.
As afternoon wore on, I decided to start setting up in the driveway. I was pretty confidant that the laser was going to work, so I just went ahead and got everything ready. I figured the time savings would be worth it, since I had very little pre-moon time to work with and would not be able to test the light until it turned on. I did, however, do a quick collimation after the long drive up.
With things pretty much set, I went in and had supper and warmed up. With sunset, the temp began falling. It was 0F when I went back out, but there was virtually no wind. The light had just come on, so it was time to get it off.
I aligned the tripod, turned on the laser, and guided the spot up the lamp post. I positioned the beam on the light door, and still nothing happened. I played the light around and had a little creeping dread when blick! Off it went. Woo Hoo! It took a bit of readjusting to get the laser positioned again where I could take my hand off it (lots of backlash on this cheap tripod), and then the light went out and stayed out. I slowly backed away, not wanting anything to alter the laser position, and finished up the scope setup in the lingering twilight.
When I could just see Polaris, I began aligning the scope, using it and Rigel. Amazingly enough, I hit a 100 on the first try. So it seems I have the encoder issue resolved. But there is something else. I'm not sure at what point I noticed this, either before or after I turned on the serial port, but the coords on the DSC were way off - telling me I was in Ursa Major when in fact I was pointed at Venus. I got the DSC talking to the computer, And I moved the scope to Betelgeuse and did a sync. Then I moved to Rigel and synced again, thinking that ought to fix it. But when I moved the scope to the comet, I was way off again, the computer and DSC showing that I was pointing below the east horizon. So no clue where the trouble was coming from, but it was damn cold and the DSC display was really slow. It could simply be that it was just too cold for the encoders or the controller - some 20 degrees colder than the last time I tried it. In any case, I just shut it down and decided not to deal with it tonight, and wait for a warmer night.
I had the comet dialed in, so I watched that for about 30 minutes, teasing out as much tail as possible. Road traffic was bothering me, and I tried the hood but the eyepiece fogged. Point: the heater cannot warm an eyepiece that has fully cooled down. Better to start with warm eyepieces and let the heater keep them warm. I forget about the 20mm TeleVue - I should have tried that, but I never did.
From there I just looked over at the Orion Nebula, and Saturn for a quick, low power peek. Walking over to the edge of the compound, I could see the moon beginning to peek over the East Wood, and it was time to get back in. I packed up. I checked the limiting magnitude, about 5 - 5.5, seeing was pretty good, temp was down to -5F.
I'm somewhat satisfied with the session. Goal 1 was to get another look at the comet. Goal two was test the power and serial cable, and power whip, and that all worked (mostly). And the QS18 worked - Dumbledor and his 'putter-outer' ain't got nothin' on me.
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Another solar system citizen is promoted to a world. This is the first image released of Wild-2 as taken from Stardust.
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