After several days of heavily overcast (haze and cloud) nights with nothing celestial visisble, Arcturus could just be seen high in the south. Nothing else, even with binoculars. Hopefully more will be revealed in the week to come. A couple of hours later, a little more showed up through binos: Jupitervand nearby Antares, further north Graffias, the head of Scorpius (a pleasing asterism, I think) and further along the ecliptic Zubenelgenubi and its binary companion. In the easr, Vega getting much higher suggests the approach of summer.
Finally got to see Psi Virginis, faint and orange, 24 hours after attempting to see it occulted by the moon. The moon now much further away, it wasn't much of a problem.
Thought I would have a go, for the first time, at observing the occultation of a star by the moon. My target was Psi Virginis, 4.76 mag, but I understimated the light interference from a waxing gibbous moon. The star was inivisble in binoculars, though Theta Virginis (4.38) a few degrees further away was easy enough. It was the tail end of twilight in a slightly hazy sky, which didn't help either. At around the moment of supposed immersion, a satellite passed by the moon which I (or rather, TheSky6) calculated to be the body of a Japanese H2-A rocket.
Later, an hour or so after its emersion, the star was still washed out by moonlight -- even though Xi Virginis (4.66) and 49 Virginis (5.15) were both clearly visible a bit further away. I need to set my sights on a much brighter star, or wait for the return of the ETX-90 (still under repair more than a month after arrival at Meade HQ).
This blog is one year old today.
Object: IC 4665 - OCL 85
Deepsky Catalog: Saguaro Astronomy Club Database version 7.5
Log Type: (Show ALL)
Date Observed: 5/25/2007 11:50:43 PM
Time Observed: 11:51Local
Object RA: 17h 46.3m
Object Declination: 5d 43'
Object Type: OC
Constellation: Oph
Magnitude: 4.2
Size: 41
Locate Method: Star Hopping
Observing Location: 39, 55 N, 116, 25 E
Primary Equipment Used: 10x50
Transparency/Seeing: Deepsky Somewhat Clear / Deepsky Somewhat Stable
Detailed Observing Notes:
Faint but wide. individual stars difficult to distinguish. reminded me of beehive cluster when i first saw it, only smaller.
