Stephen Saber has been an avid observational astronomer for many years.
A musician and songwriter by trade, his passion for the night sky has led him to star parties and celestial events in 30 states, Canada, Mexico, and the Carribean.
His astronomy articles have appeared in numerous regional and national publications. Saber is also the author of the Starhoppers Guide to the Herschel 400 and namesake of the lunar phase phenomenon known as Saber's beads.
His extensive outreach efforts inspired the first permanent camp observatory built for the Boy Scouts of America.
Saber has received the Master Observer's award from the Astronomical League and is currently a member of the Quad Cities Popular Astronomy Club.
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[all articles within are free use and may be reprinted with author/website acknowledgement]
| Personal |
Astro-Forum Candy
beyond starhopping: sharpshooting...
Our scopes are shaped like grenade launchers and cannons. Finders give us crosshairs and bull's-eyes.
Those of us who still enjoy the theme and thrill of the hunt take pride in possessing a quick and accurate target acquisition. So I view starhopping as an initial reconnoiter, not a continuous requirement.
Sharpshooters practice what has also been referred to as 'spatial acuity'. Basically, this is memorizing simple asterisms formed by nearby visible stars and a finder's red dot (or other) reticle pattern.
Many of us reflexively form invisible asterisms on a regular basis. In light-polluted skies we fill in the dimmer stars of the Little Dipper or Corona Borealis. Sharpshooting is the DSO equivalent.
An excellent exercise is to see the red dot as the target itself. After completing an observation take another look thru the finder with both eyes open and imagine the red dot completing a simple local star pattern (a triangle, an 'L', etc.). Return the scope or binoculars to a neutral start position and aim again to recenter the target solely as the completion of a stellar pattern.
Using ones lowest power/widest field EP is recommended, as this allows a larger margin for error.
It won't happen overnight, and some are tougher than others, but with repetition this logistic reinforcement will allow the observer to eventually memorize hundreds of otherwise invisible DSO positions and skip the celestial pinball routine altogether.
Building this personal go-to database of 'lock and load' targets is both a goal and reward of proficient starhopping.
The 110 Messier objects are popular sharpshooting targets. Becoming intimate with their positions is also essential for those wishing to test their prowess while running the M-Cubed (Messier Marathon from Memory).
on outreach...
When to show certain targets can be just as important as what to view during public sessions.
Timing is everything.
If the skies are dark enough, deciding to show any galaxies or nebulae should be saved until everyone's had the time to become sufficiently dark adapted. Along that theme, fuzzies are not the best choice immediately after perusing, say, a First Quarter moon.
Also, space your biggest crowd-pleasers wisely.
For example, the Pleiades or Double Cluster can be good warm-ups for, say, Venus, but try to save another jaw-dropper (M13, Saturn, Jupiter, etc.) for the end.
Keep the anticipation high by letting your group know about the treasures you will be getting to later. Passing around binoculars to those waiting is also a good idea to keep the crowd interested.
Finally, check ahead of time for any bright satellite passes or Iridium flares that might be available.
A little showmanship and planning can go a long way.
on S&T's Pocket Star Atlas...
How good is the PSA?
I have the Corona Borf Collector's edition.
Every time I open it, Izar and a few of Virgo's galaxies wink-out
of the sky in compliance.
Truly a powerful atlas.
on deep sky objects...
'DSO' can also stand for Dark Sky Objects.
Hunting for galaxies and nebulae without 5th magnitude stars showing can get pretty masochistic.
Seeing the entire Little Dipper asterism (or more) is a popular indicator of galaxy-class skies.
Traveling even 20 minutes farther from city lights, catching your targets as high as possible above the horizon, and a good dose of dark adaptation can also make a big difference in detection/detail.
Aperture rules, but only if dark skies and transparency allow it to.
90mms from the boonies can easily outperform much larger scopes from suburbia on many DSOs.
the keystone express...
To catch M13 on the rise; Follow a line from Arcturus thru Alphecca to the SW corner of the Keystone (zetaHer).
The Hercules Cluster lies 5° north.
darksky arenas...
I'm going to have some Superdome-sized Bortle 1-class planetariums built with a projection accuracy to match. Really, really accurate.
Open 24/7.
Peaceful outdoors sounds. Always a clear sky waiting. No more frozen fingers. No skeeters.
Lunatic Happy Hours. Southern Sky Sundays and Messier Marathon Mondays.
Such an idea might offend alot of hardcore Purists.
Many might come just for the experience.
But I really can't see also faking the observation making any difference to goto users. *sorry. old habits.*
Or maybe night sky colloseums. Huge fields with
perimeter walls rising to block local light pollution and outlying city lightdomes.
Would you come?
How far would you drive?
How much rain and cloudcover would it take?
Will preserving an area's dark skies eventually come to this?
soccer field solar system...
One could roughly relate the Solar system's size by comparing Jupiter to a soccer ball placed just shy of a mile away.
Pluto would be a 1/8" pebble at a distance of 6.5 miles.
Earth would be marble about 7/8" inch in diameter at 300 yds.
Sol would be a rather warm sphere 9 feet in diameter held above your head.
bent on the coathanger...
Our ancient friend Al-Sufi notes this stellar collection in 964 B.C. But aside from receiving a moniker from D. F. Brocchi in the 1920s, this 3.5 magnitude gathering somehow manages to avoid being 'officially' catalogued for the better part of three millennia, ending-up as Per Collinder's 399th entry.
We often wonder about the many obvious targets that Chuck Messier skipped. But the cold shoulder shown toward Collinder (Cr) 399 takes the cake.
It practically begs for attention, sitting three and a half degrees northwest of alphaSagitta and covering over a degree of celestial realty within the great Summer Triangle.
Adding to its interest, the jury is still out regarding 399's status as partial open cluster or chance asterism.
But Messier didn't want it. The Herschels didn't want it. Doesn't even rate an entry in the NGC or IC. It doesn't make the RASC's Finest list, or even the Caldwells.
Almost as an afterthought, this blatant naked-eye staple finally lands a discreet place in the A.L.'s Deep Sky Binocular list. (By unfortunate coincidence- mostly alphabetical- it also ends up the last entry of the Concordiem.)
Even the diminuitive 9th mag open cluster ngc6802 at the Coathanger's eastern edge often gets more publicity.
My point? None really.
Just that any binocular or low-power telescopic view of this Vulpeculan treasure is sure to drive the above irony home.
As a side note, the man who invented the wire coathanger never saw a dime. The company he worked for grabbed the idea and patented it in 1903.
my first first light...
A neighbor's borrowed 70mm refractor from a nearby graveyard (also my first darksky expedition). Eventually I found Saturn.
It must've been enough.
A week later I owned a 16x80 bino and 8" SCT loaded for bear.
fair warning...
Without knocking goto (just this once), but as a reality check to beginners interested in this feature with their first telescope, I've included the instruction manual link for the ETX90's optional AutoStar GoTo controller (about as easy as it gets).
There's a little more to it than pushing a 'Jupiter' button and looking in the eyepiece:
http://www.meade.com/manuals/autostar/index.html
astro-anagrams (v2.0)...
First, rearrange the word or phrase to spell our
brighter stars' names.
Example: IN LLAMA- ALNILAM
APE CALL- _ _ _ _ (_) _ _
SOUP CAN- _ _ _ _ _ (_) _
ALSO RIP- _ (_) _ _ _ _ _
ACTORS- _ _ _ (_) _ _
COY PORN- _ _ _ _ _ _ (_)
A RANCHER- _ _ _ _ (_) _ _ _
TAN EARS- (_) _ _ _ _ _ _
BEE GEE LUST- (_) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A BRAND ALE- _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (_)
OX PULL- _ (_) _ _ _ _
LUG USER- _ _ (_) _ _ _ _
A TRIAL- (_) _ _ _ _ _
HAT OIL- _ _ (_) _ _ _
TRIBAL LEX- _ (_) _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ZETA RALPH- _ _ _ _ _ (_) _ _ _
Solar system object:
DEAR OTIS, I ROASTED, DO EAT SIR, ROAD SITE, DORIS
ATE, RADIO SET, IRATE DOS, DO I STARE- _ _ _ (_) _ _ _ _
Now rearrange the circled letters to reveal the
mystery Messier object (Hint: 3 words).
Good luck...
scopes or binos...
Both have their advantages and should be thought of as complementary instruments for enjoying the stars, i.e. binos and their wide field for the forest perspective, and scopes for their power to peruse the trees.
Every new magnification and FOV has its own resolution and aesthetic reward.
on astro-forums...
*with apologies to Cheers*
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody feels your pain
And the rants are all the same
You wanna hunt some DSOs
But the weather's gone down the drain
You wanna go where everybody feels your pain.
online chart errors...
*more apologies to Car 54*
There's a typo in the Queen
Bootes borders gone awry
There's some nebulae in Cygnus
That belong in Gemini
There's no Sagittarius
Leo's labelled 'Pegasus'
M54, where are you?
Sorry. Bedtime.
telling castor from pollux...
Pollux is the brighter one (lux).
Also sounds like Pollen, and is closer to the Beehive (m44).
less intuitive hints:
Castor is the farther one (49 vs 34 ly).
Castor is the one without a planet.
Castor is the mortal one (twin).
Castor precedes Pollux alphabetically and by right ascension
(by about 10 minutes).
Castor is an A-class star which alphabetically
precedes Pollux's K-class.
Castor anagrams to Actors which alphabetically
precedes Pollux (and Ox Pull).
outreach or outpreach...
During public starparties or other non-academic events, which approach do you use with guests?
Tour Guide? Expert? Both? Neither?
My goal is to relay accessibility.
Modus operandi: If I can do this, anyone can. I'm an enthusiastic novice who just received a binocular/scope and a map of the stars last Xmas. Keep the unfamiliar astro-terminology to a minimum. Just a stargazer that enjoys sharing views of the night sky treasures.
the great square of leo...
I really enjoyed Saturn's trip thru the stars of Leo.
On entry in early 2007 our Lion appeared to be fondly batting at the ringed planet like a hanging playtoy.
Along with epsilonLeo, Algeiba, and Regulus, Saturn completed a very colorful Great Square.
It was a leisurely trek to the stars of Virgo, but Saturn won't be visiting Leo again until late in 2035.
once in a black moon...
That's the wiccan term for the 2nd New Moon in a month anyway.
Works for me.
Other monikers include; Dark Moon, Secret Moon, Finder's Moon, Spinner Moon.
a groovy moon...
I've found images of a Full Moon in Venus' Belt, but not one with Luna directly 'on the border'.
That's what I caught tonight.
A multicolored, oversized beachball 3° above the NE horizon.
Our low-contrast orange, cream, and light-blue moon blended with the sky to the point of appearing to be a mirage.
It only took a few minutes for Sol's increasing glare to extinguish the tie-dyed effect, but it was the most psychedelic 99.9% phase I've seen.
Perfect bead hunting horizon, too.
back to luna...
I don't like the idea of digging and drilling into our moon. Or eventually having explosives there.
Earth is a very resilient planet.
Luna is a low-density, dusty rock.
Ever accidentally tap something solid at just the
right point that it splits instead?
our temporal-mental moon...
That ashen light takes an extra bounce to reach us.
So we're also viewing two separate temporal light reflections from Luna.
Sadly, we can only enjoy Earthshine as it appeared 2.6 seconds ago.
During Earthshine, shouldn't there be an area of illumination where a transiting object of specific size, velocity, and distance (and/or its shadow) would appear to skip (or lag) across our moon?
Now that would be a wild observation.
The time-delayed terminator also translates
to a constant observed surface phase delay.
I got about 15 feet/5 meters at the equator.
Maybe 70% of that at mid-lats.
Anyone else feel ripped-off?
sliver spotting tips...
Set up at a site with as much altitude as possible overlooking an unobstructed horizon.
Optimal sky transparency allows the crescent to be detected and tracked down to, or up from, the horizon.
Using a telescope or binoculars (mounted binos are recommended), fine tune the focus on Venus, Jupiter, or one of the brighter stars beforehand.
For dusk attempts, have Sol's setting azimuth on hand- making note after sunset of a random landmark at that position for reference- as well as Luna's altaz position at sunset thru moonset. Accordingly, for dawn attempts, have Luna's altaz info for moonrise thru sunrise.
As dawn slivers have the advantage of possible detection with dark-adapted eyes, wearing sunglasses during the day prior to sunset attempts is recommended for maximum 'dusk' adaptation.
Once the crescent is acquired in binoculars, walk the bino down to the horizon/random landmark in consecutive FOVs for the approximate naked-eye altaz.
A favorable elongation (aka 'moonlag') is important. In the 24 hours before or after New Moon, Luna's angular separation from Sol can vary by several degrees. With a favorable ecliptic, net elongations (as altitude) of 5° or more at sunset or moonrise offer the best window for detection. 8-10° is necessary to catch Saber's Beads in optimal/deep twilight.
Slivers near perigee help present a thicker and brighter lunar profile for personal record crescent spotting. Illuminated fractions of same-age crescents within 24 hours of New Moon can vary by 200% and a full magnitude of brightness.
Last but not least, don't always count-out a shallow ecliptic. Occasionally our moon's extreme northern or southern declination will compensate for a less than favorable ecliptic angle.
the other moon illusion...
The shadowplay along our moon's surface often coaxes our depth perception to transform sloping craters into bulging domes (aka the convex/concave con).
Some people think they're hallucinating.
Others never see it.
I practice inverting them at will.
A related Solar illusion known as the Wilson effect gives a depth perspective to sunspots as they approach the limb.
memoirs of a giant bino junkie...
Just kidding. But I should write a book about it someday.
My first serious glass was a 16x80 binocular.
I keep several Armoralled and on display.
I'm still compelled to audition any Giants with my preferred specs.
saber's reform of met-error-ology...
1. Scrolling tickers reading 'For Entertainment Purposes Only' required during forecasts.
2. Local LVMs, Transparency, and Seeing conditions will be diligently measured and reported.
3. The phrase 'Fair Skies' will be replaced with 'Roll the Dice'.
4. Meteorologists will be paid on commission alone.
5. Forecasts beyond 2 days will now be limited to two words: 'Mostly Seasonal'.
response to a bino query...
Leery as well. Bullwinkle only has 6 rounded tines. For a hundred bucks, I'd be content if it arrived collimated and without any mechanical defects. Btw, Tycho Brahe had a pet moose that once got drunk and fell down the stairs in his castle. Seriously.
outreach: adopt-a-star...
I used to buy novelty stars like candy as 'dozen-roses-alternative' gifts. (This was before any contribution-worthy Adopt-A-Star programs
existed).
The International Star Registry even offered me their Cluster Club Visa.
One night, I decided to go out and hunt one of those stars down.
I haven't went a day without Looking Up since.
Adopting these stellar gifts could even be considered a form of Outreach.
All it took was one obscure sun in Perseus (besides running into the Alpha Persei and Double Clusters along the way) to trigger my obsession.
Btw, I'm still stuck with a star in Ursa Minor's bowl from a breakup before the certificate arrived.
A shame, being as it's in such prime celestial real estate.
Years later, I'm still looking for another qualifying recipient hottie with the initials TLS.
Until then, the 11th magnitude sun just goes by 'Tough Luck, Saber'.
For a small fee, adopting a star thru a local astronomy club not only benefits a good cause, but just might help spark a lifetime of fascination with the night sky.
('TLS' aka 10.8 mag TYC4417-00335-1 can be visited at radec 1506+7420)
a mane attraction...
There's a beautiful parade of 7th and 8th magnitude stars winding south and east from etaTau in the Pleiades.
I imagine this stellar chain as Ally's Braid (the flowing locks of Lady Alcyone).
little joe (from kokomo)...
This colorful 'four the hard way' naked eye asterism lies just southeast of the pisces circlet at nearly the zero radec nexus (27, 29, 30, and 33psc; psa 07). Also my nod to the nasa rocket series of the same nick, the quartet makes an equally convincing piece of 'chicklet' gum.
dreamcatcher...
A wreath of 5th-7th mag stars loosely surround gammaCygnus (Sadr). Nebulosity in darker skies thickens the 2° ring and enhances the void between. Best in 15-20x binos. (2023+4017 psa 62)
the planetarium tour story...
Okay, picture an insolent and gung-ho (not mellow like now) neo-amateur Saber on a 30-person tour of a certain large and famous planetarium. The condescending tour guide is a 3rd grade science teacher on summer break.
During the Solar system slide show an unmistakable photo of our moon is shown. The guide non-rhetorically asks, "Who knows what this is?".
A man sitting a few chairs away from me happily states, "It's the Moon!"- and gets chastized by the pedantic guide; "No. It's just A moon. There are x-number of moons in the Solar system! Ours is called Luna!".
It was very rude, and the admonished man looked like he was going to cry.
A few more slides and scoldings go by.
The crowd is not having a good time.
Then an unmistakable slide of a very close star appears.
The guide begins his rote commentary; "Here's the Sun showing quite a few sunspo...".
I'd had about enough of this joker.
"What?!", I scoffed loudly. "The Sun?! There are billions of suns up there! Ours is called Sol!".
He was speechless as the entire audience and onlooking staff began laughing and applauding.
The deflated guide finally managed to utter the word, "Touche' ".
His commentaries remained carefully generic and pleasant for the rest of the tour.
[note: planetarium mentioned is not the Adler. Chicago's Adler planetarium is the Disneyland of stargazing and you should go this weekend if possible.]
you must become one with the ecliptic, grasshopper...
Ecliptic Grasshopper.
Sounds like a mixed drink.
Ever want to memorize the Great Lakes?
Just imagine beautiful homes along the shoreline:
Huron
Ontario
Michigan
Erie
Superior
How about one for the number of chapters in the Old and New Testaments?
Old: 39
New: 3x9 (27)
Here's an easy mnemonic for the classic zodiac constellation order.
It might save your life someday (or at least come in handy in the field).
Cats Are Pets, And The Good Cats Live Very Long Some Say
[Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius.]
The word order can also be transposed and tweaked to start at (the first point of) Aries.
most impressive observations...
#5 First Luna/Saturn Occultation
#4 First Experience with the Southern Skies (LMC, SMC, Eta Carinae, et al).
#3 First Experience with real (Arizona's 7+ mag) skies. Quite an eye-opener for those from the mediocre, light-polluted Midwest.
#2 Feb. '98 Total Eclipse (Aruba). Jupiter and Mercury poised as vanguards on either side of Totality.
#1 The Millenium-class Finger of God: Hyakutake
Honorable Mention:
Venus transits Sol (June 2004)
Revisiting everything thru my first set of Naglers
on first trips to dark skies...
Darksky fever can be just as addicting as aperture fever.
First it's a 20 minute drive, then an hour. Next thing you know, you're in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.
Unfortunately, it just makes coming back home that much harder.
After my first trip to Arizona, I was kicking and screaming as they dragged me back into the 727.
doublevision...
The appeal of doublestars? If you have to ask you'll never understand.
It's about uncovering a star's secrets; companions, colors, and personality.
Personally, I prefer the opticals as they are unique to our perspective from Earth. Binaries, OTOH, can't help but be doubles.
Illusion or not, one of the liberties of Double Star observing is that there are no 'wrong' apparent color interpretations.
I'm also not a fan of knowing the PAs ahead of time.
Kind of a plot spoiler, and can lead to false positive IDs.
Estimating mag/sep between oncoming headlights and noting the color variation in rows of traffic lights are common signs of DS addiction.
sharpshooting m81...
4.6 mag 24UMa is my m81/82 guidestar, just 2° west of the pair. Chances of nokking these fuzzies literally do not bode well unless this sun is visible naked eye.
The two galaxies also make a large but nearly equilateral triangle with alpha and upsilonUMa.
The Phecda/Dubhe route works best if the line continues over the top (just north) of Dubhe.
on opposition...
Definition #2: Approaching an unsympathetic spouse about any astro-purchase.
on stress-free stargazing...
I stopped watching/reading the weather forecasts years ago. My horoscopes have a better track record. I just look out a window. If it's clear, I'm there. Out of state excursions have an exactly 51% chance of decent skies.
DSO junkies are well advised to come to terms with Lady Luna. You don't have to embrace her- just tolerate her. Remember- stress is bad for your eyes.
Also, reminding myself that starry nights are a privilege, not a right.
sol is not a four-letter word...
Since the discovery of other suns and moons those terms have become common nouns, so I've always been more comfortable with the clarity of referring to our sun and moon by the proper names Sol and Luna. Besides, it's the Solar system and Lunar eclipse, not Sunar and Moonar.
Following this, there are no other Solar systems. It is the celestial neighborhood unique to our star. Solar-type or Sol-type systems has a better semantic ring to me for similar suns with orbiting planets.
Sun-like stars always sounds redundant and silly to me as well. Kinda like Canine-like dogs. I like Sol-type stars.
On the even lighter side, the term 'The Sun' might not come across as very PC in the future...
Imagine one of the neighboring gangs of ETs get lost and land on Earth to get directions. The Head Alien gestures at Sol and asks the name of the star in our system. Joe Astronomer puffs-up his chest and replies, "That is The Sun!", to which the Aliens all fall on the ground laughing, "The Sun?! Sun, Schmun! You call that a sun? Our sun could engulf this and two other star systems and then go home and chop firewood. Pathetic earthlings. Because of your arrogance we will assimilate you first!"
I'd hate to think that after all this time preparing for contact with other life forms that we would be assimilated on the grounds of mere semantics.
a foxy hat trick...
Vulpecula's Coathanger completes a nice 8 deg equilateral triangle with Albireo and the Dumbell Nebula.
Great trio of targets for public star parties.
got rhodopsin...?
After being under beautiful dark skies for a few hours, one might take a break from the eyepiece and notice that the sky and especially the surroundings look brighter. The LVM hasn't dropped, but the black just isn't so black anymore.
Even those 7+ mag skies that begin as *pitch-black* lose their aesthetic contrast after hours of dark adaptation.
But our eyes are only doing what they're supposed to. The rods are in overdrive and the cones are doing their best to catch up.
The ability to read and walk safely by the Milky Way's skyglow alone is a common sign of 'hyper-adaptation'.
Personally, I miss the contrast.
Not to the point where I'd intentionally ruin my galaxy eyes with an artificial light source...
but I miss it.
ecliptic delinquency...
In addition to the 12 zodiacal constellations, Luna and the visible planets can also appear within the borders of Auriga, Ophiuchus, Cetus, Orion, Corvus, Sextans, Canis Minor, Pegasus, Crater, Scutum, Hydra, and Serpens.
(Pluto can cover the real estate of an additional 17 constellations.)
beads and smoke rings...
Along the centerline of an eclipse, the 'beads' aspect of our sun and moon's limb being so properly aligned can be so short-lived as to escape notice.
The full necklace of Saber's beads could be thought of as this moment frozen in time (and enjoyable with much less risk to our eyesight).
I only claim to have inherited the few disconnected beads on larger crescents- if anyones, they would be Galileo's, but while viewing these older waxing and waning phases, zero in on those stray limb beads at high power and slowly defocus them. The diffraction rings from the sunlit peaks against the terminator intertwine with the smoke colored links- transforming Saber's beads into Saber's chain.
In heavy turbulence the chain takes on a multicolored neon appearance.
Like Mardi Gras- the more beads, the better.
and at 2 days it's called diana's thong...
To the Romans she was Diana, the Goddess of the Moon and of the Hunt, but has many names in many cultures worldwide. By whatever name (Isis, Ishtar, Artemis, Bridget, Ngami), she hunted with a silver bow and shot arrows of moonlight. Luna's 3-day-old crescent is said to be shaped like her Bow.
It's also a wiccan reference. Diana's Bow is important to witches for its magical forces.
At the opposite phase (3 days before New) Luna forms a 'C' and is sometimes referred to as Hecate's Sickle (Hecate is another possibly not-so-pleasant moon goddess). The sickle is an ancient image which relates to harvesting and death.
Nothing morbid intended- just googled this stuff up.
virtual observing: sitting in plato...
Wanna hear something scary?
I think I've spent more than enough time watching Earth from our moon using Celestia. Now when I've got Plato in my sights the view back at us is conjured nearly simultaneously.
observing clubs we'd really like to see...
THE CRYOGENIC DEEP-SKY CLUB
Participants must observe any 100 NGC objects during the months of December and January in temperatures not exceeding -5 F (wind chill optional). At least 25 of these observations must
be made with no sensation or feeling in your fingers or face.
Projects also include making snowangels with your Dob and sketching a friend's tongue frozen to your optical tube. In case of lethal frostbite, pin a
note to your chest instructing paramedics not to revive you with paddles; remembering that electronic aid is not allowed.
THE ANT-BURNERS CLUB
Amaze neighborhood children with the true destructive powers of your scope. Requirements include partially, annularly, and totally frying 50 insects with your finder scope. At least 10 of these should be from the arachnid order. Sketches should be made in gory detail and include smoke plumes. Note the elapsed time, aroma, and Solar angle of all annihilations.
THE AMAZING STORIES CLUB
The list of audacious visual claims is endless. To qualify for this certificate you must visit a minimum of ten starparties and collect the top 3 Amazing Stories from each. Note the date, time,
sky conditions, and expressions of disbelief from those listening.
Don't leave the party without interjecting your own fantasy observations, each time adding a couple tenths of magnitude to your LVMs.
THE GO-TO CLUB
No observations required. Participants need only mail the purchase receipt of their Go-To scope or accessory to the program coordinator to receive this certificate. Congratulations! You can now proudly show everyone that you have no idea how to aim a scope. Projects for those wishing to receive the additional commemorative pin include breathing, shooting fish in a barrel, and walking on the Earth's surface.
THE IDA VIGILANTE CLUB
Using rocks, slingshots, or automatic weapons, amateurs are encouraged to extinguish a minimum of 25 pesky streetlights in their neighborhood. With each conquest, make sure to note the location, time, weapon of choice, and police activity in your area.
A commemorative pin is also available for those eliminating 100 or more stray light sources or an entire Wal-Mart parking lot.
If arrested, hold strong to your belief that you were only acting in self-defense against the harmful, misdirected photons.
wtf was that...
I caught my first fluke Iridium in the summer of '97 (shortly after their original launches).
I spent days pondering what that bizarre -5mag brightening that blazed thru the Little Dipper's bowl was before finally hearing of their existence and apparition potential.
The explosion's sketch is still penciled in on Map 2 of my old SA2000.
fess up, iridium junkies...
How many have actually traveled to a flare center?
I've gone after brighter than -7s that were en route to my darksky sites and planned local outreach events around some impressive flares just to wow the public. Good stuff.
messier's sweet sixteen...
Here's an easy galaxy-hop thru sixteen of Messier's finest non-comets in the Virgo/Coma cluster.
Choose an eyepiece that provides as close as possible to a 1° field. The trail begins at our Lion's tail.
[SA2000 14, PSA 45]
From Denebola (betaLeo), go 0.3° (fields) N and 6.8° E to star 6Com.
From 6Com go 0.5° W to M98.
From M98 go 0.5° S and 1.2° E to M99.
From M99 go 1.0° E and 1.4° N to M100.
From M100 go 0.6° E and 2.4° N to M85.
From M85 go 5.3° S to M84.
From M84 look 0.1° N and 0.3° E for M86.
From M86 go 0.6° S and 1.1° E to M87.
From M87 go 0.2° E and 2.0° N to M88.
From M88 go 0.1° N and 0.8° E to M91.
From M91 go 0.4° E and 1.3° S to M90.
From M90 go 0.3° W and 0.7° S to M89.
From M89 go 0.5° E and 0.8° S to M58.
From M58 go 0.2° S and 1.1° E to M59
From M59 look 0.1° S and 0.4° E for M60.
From M60 go 3.4° W and 3.5° S to M49.
From M49 go 2.0° W and 3.5° S to M61.
Don't forget to reward yourself with M104, 3.6° south of 4.8mag chiVir.
resolving the galilean moons...
Ganymede's diameter can swell to over 1.8", which puts its disc resolution in the 60-70mm range. Near opposition the discs of Io and Europa are good tests for 90-100mm scopes.
drive to succeed...
'DSO' can also stand for Dark Sky Objects.
Hunting for galaxies and nebulae without 5th magnitude stars showing can get pretty masochistic.
Seeing the entire Little Dipper asterism (or more) is a popular indicator of galaxy-class skies.
Traveling even 20 minutes farther from city lights, catching your targets as high as possible above the horizon, and a good dose of dark adaptation can also make the difference between detection and detail.
You know you're under truly dark and transparent skies when even the Little Dipper's background actually looks like it's part of the Milky Way.
Which it is.
be prepared...
Consumed with hunting Herschels several Januarys ago, I didn't even realize it was -16°F until I heard it on the radio driving home.
But the coldest I ever felt while observing actually happened one August.
Laramie, WY was enjoying a warm 85 degree summer day.
That night however, I froze my aperture off at 14,000ft in the neighboring Medicine Bow mountains, nearly paralyzed by temps dipping
only into the mid-20s.
Flatlander lesson quickly learned;
Dress for temps 30 deg colder when going out observing.
Prepare for temps 60 deg colder when going up observing.
Plenty of fuel in in the furnace is also an essential for cold weather observing.
Load up on pizza, tacos, monster burgers with 4-digit calorie counts, etc. For sessions over an hour I also bring Snickers Marathon Bars and hot chocolate (Mountain Dew in the summer).
I've even kept my warm vehicle idling nearby- but not too close, allowing myself 10-15 minutes per hour to defrost (cover or disconnect the dome light beforehand).
As engrossed in observing as we become, make sure to get up and stretch or take a short walk at least every hour. Keeping the blood and oxygen pumping also increases eye/brain performance at the eyepiece.
and it transits with spica...
I've had some great views of Omega Centauri from points south, but from home it barely claws itself more than a degree above my hopeless horizon.
Still, every spring I find myself driven to scan the deck below iotaCen in hopes of sighting OC's telltale glow.
Honorific starhopping?
Good practice, anyway.
'knowing' the constellations...
In the end, one only needs to know the constellations well enough to enjoy them.
But if there were an absolute (short of biblical) to knowing the constellations it would certainly include recognition and logistics beyond our '2-D' skydome stuck at 1au from Sol. That is, to be able to navigate the bright stars and swing through the radec monkeybars from all points of (starting small) the Milky Way as our familiar asterisms distort and ngc targets are regularly found grazing in alien constellations. (Unfortunately, our primitive early-21st century planetaria only allows simple and approximate virtual touring.)
In this sense, even the most symbiotic Earthbound knowledge of the stars and constellations is just the first word in very thick celestial novel.
the daytime planet hunting story...
Sometimes you get the gas giant, and sometimes the gas giant gets you.
One afternoon several years ago, my mounted 16x80 and I pegged Jupiter under a very blue sky. I only had the altaz position to go by, but the ghostly gas giant popped into the field on my first swing. I knew this was a gift- and my dumb luck was about to run out.
The next afternoon I was ready to show off my daytime hunting skills at the EISP. Jupiter had other plans. I spent twenty minutes searching and begging for that pale ghost to reappear. I was convinced that Jove had taken the day off to visit another star system.
Incredulous and with eyeballs bleeding, I got some food and went for a short walk around the park.
Fifteen minutes later I walked back over to my binos to find that Jupiter had already posed itself dead-center in the field. A 3.5 degree field. It was bizarre.
It somehow even appeared to be laughing at me.
on minor planets...
Hunting and tracking asteroids does have its own appeal.
There are many available on any given night, over a hundred are detectable with moderate aperture, they holdup well against light pollution, and their rapid movement can often even be noticed over the course of an hour. Occasional stellar grazes and occultations are pretty interesting as well.
Good stuff for those 'what else could I look for' nights, too.
saber's wow factor scale...
Follows the Bortle sky rating (1-8) while concurrently and subjectively escalating the thrill, detail, and enjoyment like magnitudes; each rating providing 2.5x more wow.
As indicated, even a 20 minute drive from the city to a green zone yields nearly 40 times more wow to your obs session. Trust me.
bortle/more wow
white/x 1.0
red / x 2.5
orange/x 6.3
yellow/x 15.8
green/ x 39.8
blue / x 100.0
gray-black/ x 251.1
Don't be in too much of a hurry to experience those Bortle 8 skies.
Observationally speaking, once you've had Black (or Gray), you can never go back.
celestial navigation blues...
Until it becomes innate by repetition (anymore it takes a conscious effort for me not to see the labeled radec grid superimposed on the sky), use a star atlas to find the coordinates' constellation and a planisphere to determine that constellation's visibility. Right ascension and declination are the sky's longitude and latitude, so think of the constellations as countries and stars as cities.
Another option is to pass on the right ascension/declination coordinates in favor of a target's altaz position (altitude: horizon = 0 deg, zenith = 90 deg. azimuth: compass point along the horizon;
north = 0 deg, east = 90 deg, south = 180 deg, west = 270 deg).
Astro software programs often provide this info automatically.
Basic altaz (altitude/azimuth) navigation: Everyone is equipped with close to a 10 degree fist at arm's length. 4 fists stacked vertically from the horizon gets us close to 40 deg altitude. Facing north, 5 horizontal fists to the right along the horizon takes us to 50 deg azimuth (northeast). Stick out your thumb for another 5 deg.
there's something about mira...
Cetus would arguably make a better mermaid than monster.
After all, the jewel-like Mira seems more appropriately adorned by a beautiful sea nymph than forever found lodged in a whale's gullet.
The added mythological spice of the catfights with Cassiopeia alone would've been worth it.
Mira maximas through 2012:
2008: Dec 1-10
2009: Nov 1-10
2010: Oct 21-31
2011: Sep 21-30
2012: Aug 21-31
more marathon...
Naked-eye, bino, scope, sketching, and imaging marathons have all been attempted.
Traditional marathon or a goto Messier 'Tour', there is no wrong way to enjoy the event.
Alternating methods also allows the observer to become more intimate with the various target perspectives and appearances.
Enjoy a February Marathon if weather permits.
The evening rush Messiers are cake, and totals over 100 are still easily attainable (40N).
It's hardly a requirement, though.
One can always wait and roll the meteorological dice in March.
And I've never cared for the initial handicap of April Marathons
(but don't let this stop you). As always, ymmv.
the m74 sprint...
While attempting early-March Marathons I've often made a mini-challenge of how many Ms can be bagged before m74 reaches threshold detection.
It's good dark adaption warm-up, plus most can be revisited later
for a closer look.
in too deep when...
You secretly plan your honeymoon around the next total solar eclipse
Large collections of books, CDs, DVDs, etc. are arranged by Bortle-class
color
You've hired a private plane to get above the clouds to witness a partial or total lunar eclipse
You can point to the current altaz of Luna, the planets, and the Messiers without going outside
You've used SkyAtlas2000 charts to wallpaper at least one full room of your house
stranded- which instrument?...
Actually, this is probably my 10th forum desert island stranding. Big binoculars are fine.
Just need to change travel agencies.
(still a few dozen to go...you thought i was going to give the answers to the anagrams didn't you?)
**********
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