After many days of smog, a warm spring breeze has restored at least some visibility. With binoculars (the ETX-90 is dead and the Meade helpdesk says it needs to be sent back to Meade), the Mira variable R Leonis was easily seen. A very dark orange, about the same magnitude or maybe a fraction brighter than 19 Leonis (6.4). At its dimmest (10) it would be only visible in these skies with a telescope on a very clear night. This month it is at its maximum. With binos, the limiting magnitude this evening was around 7.5.
It was, as predicted, invisible in Beijing's smoggy sky.
The chances of viewing the partial solar eclipse in Beijing on Monday morning (beginning 9:27) are dim, with forecasts predicting a cloudy day. It's supposed to be the best solar eclipse in the capital in a decade. Unfortunately even if the weather is good, the ETX-90 is still not functioning so it will be impossible to track it automatically. The Autostar has given up entirely, showing nothing on the display when the power is on. The Meade helpdesk has been difficult to get a response from -- not replying to an online query and, when contacted by phone (at great expense) suggesting the problem has to be addressed by its "export department" whose staff never seem to be at their desks. I hope the malfunction of Autostar means that this is the root of the problem, and not the motors.
Flying to Hong Kong (southwards) with a west-facing window, Venus was a brilliant companion for almost the entire three-hour journey -- finally turning orange then red as it set.
7:14 nearly one hour after sunset (set at 6:17 at ground level). Horizon: dark orange band, thicker yellowish/orange band, blue/green band, light blue, dark blue. Venus in dark blue/black. Very bright. Azm 267 degs. City street lights below almost point to it (most Chinese cities are grid pattern aligned to compass).
7:20 five mins past nautical twilight (ground level). Band of light still on horizon.
7:30 orang/ligyter blue band still visible on horizon, about 3 degs thick.
7:37 algenib visible. Horizon glow faintly visible, dark blue.
7:44 v faint glow on horizon. Near black.
7:47 horizon invisible (1 hr 30 mins after ground level sunset). Venus 12 degs, sun -18d16m
8:01 algenib still visible at 1d11m
8:10 hamal and sheratan visible.
8:28 39,500 feet.
8:48 venus slightly fainter, slightly orange
8:55 approaching hong kong. Venus orange/red dimming.
8:57 red/orange alternating
8:59 venus disappears then reappears blood red. Dims to bright red dot
9:01 fainter fiery red dot
9:02 venus disappears (15 mins after ground level set time for Hong Kong)
My new mission, having resigned myself to a lengthy period without the telescope, is to find something comfortable on which to sit while using the binoculars. In the meantime a trampoline does the trick, although the view is very limited. The Kids, in Auriga, were easy to view. I'd observed this asterism before, but hadn't realised, until Googling it later, that episilon aurigae is an eclipisong double star (last eclipse 1982-4, next 2009-11) of "strange and magnificent proportions" (see http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/almaaz.html). Transparency was pretty good, 8-ish with binos I would guess. Once again, Cancer and Beehive cluster presented a marvellous spectacle, though the entire constellation was invisble to the naked eye.
