Good turn out tonight, almost all the committee! The skies cleared nicely by 7:30, Mike also bought his heavy binos on an even heavier equatorial mounting to add to the fun .
Saturn seems very impressive at the moment inspite of the rings closing up. Recent visitors to the Island (see last months notes) commented on just how stable the air is in the tropics, and is ideal for planetary viewing
Mars also was visible but VERY high up in the Zenith.A good sized disk is still visible with some surface markings in the higher powered eyepeices, though with some flaring of the image.
The Moon also was observed along with an easy target of the open Cluster M41 near Sirius.
After the Plieades we attempted some of the open Clusters in Auriga , we got M36 and M38
Two satellites were observed and one meteor, from its direction it may have been a Leonid
Overall quite a clear night for us at Pedros
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
February 2008 Extra Ordinary Events,The AGM, ISS passes and a great Lunar Eclipse!
Inspite of a poor Observing night at Pedro this month,
1) the AGM was held on Sunday 17th , The Society continues!!
2) On Monday 18th AND Tuesday 19th thanks to a reminder from Richard the ISS together with the space shuttle made passes across the Caymans, the Monday Evening pass was especially brilliant, first the shuttle and then the ISS crossed thr sky in formation. The ISS seems very bright - much brighter than predicted on "Heavens Above" _-3?). The following evening the pass was much lower in the West and not long after sunset, so it certainly appearred less bright. On Wednseday the Shuttle landed safely in Florida
3) An excellent lunar eclipseon the 20th!
Sunday Feb 11th 2008 Pedros Castle
Poor cloud but started with the Moon., nothing else visisbale not even Mars
Good turn out but not much to see :-(
Good turn out but not much to see :-(
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Friday 11 Jan 2008 Pedros Castle
The evening started with an exceptional sunset at 6:00Pm although the meeting officially started at 6:30PM
Unfortunately for us a planned event the following day at the castle meant that the whole of the lawn was covered in marquees and chairs, this happens sometimes, which means that although the tables are convenient to use, we had to move the scope around several times through the evening.
After spotting the Moon and looking at Mars, we managed to spot Mercury through binoculars, then the naked eye and then finally through the 10 inch Scope. The disk was clearly seen but showed no phase.
Mars was a popular object through the evening. In all over 25 people turned up though not all at the same time, which caused some reputation of objects seen.
The Objects seen were as follows
Moon.
Mercury
Mars
Orion Nebula
Andromeda Nebula
Sirius
M42 (Globular Cluster) near Sirius
The Winter “Pentangle”
A number of meteors (3-4) , possibly the Quadrantids
Number of satellites thanks to Richards (Heavens Above predictions)
This included the Hubble Space telescope, though it was quite faint.
Most Satellites disappeared into Earth Shadow.
Also Canopus was easily seen in the South. I also noticed Akibar, which is the tail of Eridanus. I was able to trace for the first time the river all the way from its “source” near Sirius What I didn’t appreciate is that “on the horizon” it may have been possible to see the LMC . Of course I wasn’t looking for it
Unusually, the Pleiades were not seen through the telescope tonight!
Comet Holmes is now very large (well over ½ degree?) and very faint. We couldn’t pick it up at all in the Scope or its finder, but with patience I saw it several times through 8x25 binoculars.
A number of interesting questions were asked, one very simple question produced some good discussion. - the similar apparent brightness and comparison between Mars ( being a red disk) and Sirius being a blue star, as both were “similar” in brightness ( Mag - 1.2?).
Looking at the 3 day old moon a series of craters were seen of similar size. The question was just how many miles across were they? Embarrassingly we didn’t know. The answer is of course is an average of the following, and Ive based this list on the “obvious” row of craters seen on the terminator of a 3 day old Moon ie Langrenus (132 km), Petavius (177 km), Furneriu( 125km) Lets say around 75-100 miles across
Unfortunately for us a planned event the following day at the castle meant that the whole of the lawn was covered in marquees and chairs, this happens sometimes, which means that although the tables are convenient to use, we had to move the scope around several times through the evening.
After spotting the Moon and looking at Mars, we managed to spot Mercury through binoculars, then the naked eye and then finally through the 10 inch Scope. The disk was clearly seen but showed no phase.
Mars was a popular object through the evening. In all over 25 people turned up though not all at the same time, which caused some reputation of objects seen.
The Objects seen were as follows
Moon.
Mercury
Mars
Orion Nebula
Andromeda Nebula
Sirius
M42 (Globular Cluster) near Sirius
The Winter “Pentangle”
A number of meteors (3-4) , possibly the Quadrantids
Number of satellites thanks to Richards (Heavens Above predictions)
This included the Hubble Space telescope, though it was quite faint.
Most Satellites disappeared into Earth Shadow.
Also Canopus was easily seen in the South. I also noticed Akibar, which is the tail of Eridanus. I was able to trace for the first time the river all the way from its “source” near Sirius What I didn’t appreciate is that “on the horizon” it may have been possible to see the LMC . Of course I wasn’t looking for it
Unusually, the Pleiades were not seen through the telescope tonight!
Comet Holmes is now very large (well over ½ degree?) and very faint. We couldn’t pick it up at all in the Scope or its finder, but with patience I saw it several times through 8x25 binoculars.
A number of interesting questions were asked, one very simple question produced some good discussion. - the similar apparent brightness and comparison between Mars ( being a red disk) and Sirius being a blue star, as both were “similar” in brightness ( Mag - 1.2?).
Looking at the 3 day old moon a series of craters were seen of similar size. The question was just how many miles across were they? Embarrassingly we didn’t know. The answer is of course is an average of the following, and Ive based this list on the “obvious” row of craters seen on the terminator of a 3 day old Moon ie Langrenus (132 km), Petavius (177 km), Furneriu( 125km) Lets say around 75-100 miles across
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Review of Observations 2007
Staring next month, we have been keeping records of the objects seen each month for 1 year.
What I intend to do is draw up a table of the objects we have seen each month, the likleyhood of seeing them (weather) and any other difficulties and successes we have had. (For example worst month for mosquetos!)
These past results can then hopefully supplement the monthly newsletter as an aid to what we can see each month as it comes around again
What I intend to do is draw up a table of the objects we have seen each month, the likleyhood of seeing them (weather) and any other difficulties and successes we have had. (For example worst month for mosquetos!)
These past results can then hopefully supplement the monthly newsletter as an aid to what we can see each month as it comes around again
Wed 12 Dec 2007 Pedros Castle
Nick and I arrived early at 6:15 to find the gate still locked and the weather looking increasingly cloudy. After a bad run of recent meetings I guess we were both keen to make this a successful meeting.
The Arrival of Durty Reids during the summer (taking over the small under used restuarant at Pedros) has some potential on nights like these - perhaps an Astronomical Pub Quiz? However as soon as we got the gates open we had one enthusiastic visitor already waiting for us to finish setting up the scope.
The game of "Chase the object though the shifting clouds" then commenced. The moon was a difficult topic!!
Slowly but surely the cloud cover cleared and more people turned up.
Richard was very enthusastic on his predictions for an Iriduim Satellite Flare at close to 7:00PM. Amazingly it happened and it was really very bright. The prediction was for Mag -8 , it certainly shone brightly through the cloud cover. An excellent object for the evening.
Other objects bagged as the night progressed were
i) Comet Holmes now fading rapidly but easily spotted through binoculars
ii) Andromeda Nebula
iii) Pliedes
iv) Double Star Alberio
v) One meteor ( spotted by me - Chris)
vi) Orion Nebula
and finally low in the East
vii) Mars, though still a dissapointingly small disk even through the 10 inch
So a successfull meeting ( in that it happened) , but tampered by the moving cloud cover. Highlight definitely the Iridium Flare.
8 Objects in total but several revisted as visitors arrived
The Arrival of Durty Reids during the summer (taking over the small under used restuarant at Pedros) has some potential on nights like these - perhaps an Astronomical Pub Quiz? However as soon as we got the gates open we had one enthusiastic visitor already waiting for us to finish setting up the scope.
The game of "Chase the object though the shifting clouds" then commenced. The moon was a difficult topic!!
Slowly but surely the cloud cover cleared and more people turned up.
Richard was very enthusastic on his predictions for an Iriduim Satellite Flare at close to 7:00PM. Amazingly it happened and it was really very bright. The prediction was for Mag -8 , it certainly shone brightly through the cloud cover. An excellent object for the evening.
Other objects bagged as the night progressed were
i) Comet Holmes now fading rapidly but easily spotted through binoculars
ii) Andromeda Nebula
iii) Pliedes
iv) Double Star Alberio
v) One meteor ( spotted by me - Chris)
vi) Orion Nebula
and finally low in the East
vii) Mars, though still a dissapointingly small disk even through the 10 inch
So a successfull meeting ( in that it happened) , but tampered by the moving cloud cover. Highlight definitely the Iridium Flare.
8 Objects in total but several revisted as visitors arrived
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
October and November Meetings
The weather these last two months hasnt exactly been THAT bad, after all it is the rainy season. Some nights have been relatively clear, enough for the meeting to have gone ahead, but of course, that wasnt the case on the two nights in question for the October and November Meetings.
Astronomically, Comet Holmes appeared lierally from nowhere in the Constellation of Perseus, I observed it on several occasions, once with the Societys 10 inch , it was very good in Binoculars too. I estimated it to be around Mag 2 but last night (13th) it seemed to be fading. No tail and not too much detail but a superb large "fuzzy" object.
Hopefully the weather will be much improved next month
Astronomically, Comet Holmes appeared lierally from nowhere in the Constellation of Perseus, I observed it on several occasions, once with the Societys 10 inch , it was very good in Binoculars too. I estimated it to be around Mag 2 but last night (13th) it seemed to be fading. No tail and not too much detail but a superb large "fuzzy" object.
Hopefully the weather will be much improved next month
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