Partial solar eclipse

Wednesday, 14 November.  0730 - 0900

A beautiful clear morning dawned for the 54% partial solar eclipse that we were to enjoy today.  We had decided at short notice to take the telescope and light box to the school again.  
As the show was going to be over by 0845 there was going to be a fair opportunity for the kids and teachers to see what was going on if they wanted.
By the time we were set up the eclipse had started and there was about an eighth of the moon already over the face of the sun.  
We took a couple of photos and the kids started arriving soon after that.  

 Setting up at the school.

 Just in time - the moons moving in now.

 Almost as good as it is going to get.  A good amount of sunspot activity to be seen as well.

 That's the max for today!

 Some of the kids checking it out.
Again, like for the transit of Venus, it is so much fun sharing this with the kids (and teachers!) at the school.  Lots of questions kept me on my toes, and it was clear they were thinking about what was going on.

Will have to find an excuse to do this again next year somehow.

Northern lights?

Just back from holidays in Singapore and Hong Kong.  Would have been nice to record some thoughts about the night sky in the Northern hemisphere... but unfortunately the atmospheric haze and the light pollution from these major cities meant the most stars I saw was one night in Disneyland, when they dropped all the lights in the park just before the fireworks.
Four.  I saw four stars.  Not even in the same constellation.
Nice to be home and see so many more stars from my front steps last night.

Interplanetary Olympics - Curiosity sticks the landing!

Wahoo! Watched the Universe Today hangout and NASA TV cast this afternoon at work (still working at the same time... well, mostly) as Curiosity went through all her convoluted gymnastics while landing. The seven minutes of terror were pretty nailbiting, although it helped that all the checkpoints were being hit smoothly. Listening to the confirmations as each step of descent went smoothly was incredibly exciting. Sending out the txt updates to Weis every minute was fun too! Congratulations to NASA for a great start to the mission, and the Universe Today crew for a great simulcast.

A quick look around

Friday, 15th June
2045-2100
Melbourne suburbia

A clear night after a cloudy, drizzley day.  Moonless.

Had a quick look at Scorpio and enjoyed a couple of clusters found there.

The Transit of Venus

June 6 2012
Suburbian Melbourne Primary School - one of the most satisfying days I ever had

After nearly a whole week of overcast and mostly rainy days, Wednesday 6 June 2012 dawned clear and bright.  Fantastic!

We made it to the school and set up in time to see Venus just complete its entry onto the disc of the Sun.

We were soon swamped by kids wondering what was going on,and the interest they showed was wonderful!

The rest of the morning went fast as a couple of the 5/6 grades and some 1/2 cycled through, listening with interest to my little blurb about the telescope (a 'reflector', bouncing light around), the history (Captain Cook in 1769), the significance (measuring the solar system), and how long it would be until this ever happened again.
The afternoon clouded over, but was patchy enough that we still managed to grab short views of the transition, right up to the end - when the clouds finally parted again at the last minute to let us see Venus move off the disc of the Sun.

My home made light box, allowing the projection of the Sun to be seen by the audience beside the scope.

Venus and sunspots were clearly visible.

Another shot of Venus and some sunspots.

First Winter night

1 June 2012 2315 - 0030

Melbourne suburbia.

A beautiful clear night, but with a very bright waxing gibbous moon high in the sky adding to the general light pollution of the city.  And cold, very cold - but not the coldest it will get later in Winter!

Checked out the moon first.  Very bright - dazzling through the scope even using the cover with the hole exposed.  Looked for the volcanic crater that I read about in the Sky and Telescope mag recently, but no joy.

Then moved to Saturn.  Beautiful views of the plant and rings.  One small point of light to the left of the planet possibly a moon.  

Then to Alpha Centauri, very bright and was able to make out the binary system.

Beta Centauri was noticeably a much colder bluer colour.

Found some nice looking open clusters in Scorpio, and spotted an interest trio (plus one?) of very faint, but very red stars.  Very pretty.

Then casting about in Sagittarius stumbled across a fuzzy.  Looking closer and trying to block out any extra light by cupping my hands around the eyepiece, I could make it out better.

At first I thought it could be a galaxy, but looking a bit longer and better it seemed more like a cluster.  Skyeye on the phone helped and I'm sure it was M75.  A tight Globular Cluster some 65,700 LY away.

M75 (Image copied from Wikipedia)

On that success, packed up and back into the warm house.

Planet spotting

Wednesday, March 28. With the folks just arrived for a visit nd an unexpectedly clear sky (the days clouds had just blown through), Dobby was dragged out and we had a quick look at Jupiter, Venus and Mars.
Unfortunately there had been a bushfire North of the city that afternoon, so there was extra haze and a reddening effect from the smoke.
Jupiter was very close to the horizon, and we only were able to make out the disc of the planet and very faintly three moons.
Venus was in a 3/4 phase, and very bright.
Mars was a small orangey circle.
We finished up with a quick look at the Orion Nebula, which was much appreciated, and then back inside to get the kids off to bed.

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Dark Skies - Mk 1 Eyeball

14 March, 2012. 2230.
At Apollo Bay, Victoria.
Fantastic to see a proper dark sky again. Wasn't able to fit Dobby the scope into the car along with all the luggage, so had to just enjoy the.night sky (on the clear nights) with the Mk1 eyeball - standard issue. The first night we were still surrounded by some street and house lights, but it was still about a 2 on the dark sky index. Spotted Mars, Crux, Orion, a fantastic Milky Way, the large Magellanic Cloud, a few meteors (just short streaks), and a sky full of stars I hadn't seen in a long time. The next night we stopped out of town on a rise beside the road and enjoyed an even darker sky. Fortunately the Moon was not up at this time. Additionally spotted the small Magellanic Cloud, the Pleiades, and was generally overwhelmed by the majesty of it all. Soon to be added to the equipment list, a set of binoculars.

Quick look

Thursday, 1 March , 2012. 2345.
Took advantage of a decent breeze blowing away the day's cloud cover and revealing a beautiful moonless night. Looking at Orion, about a 4 again on the dark skies chart.
Wasn't planning a long session, so straight to showing EllBee Saturn. Beautiful! (The planet is too!)
Orion now had dipped below the big tree, so we missed the nebula tonight.
Back to Carina to find the nebula there - now identified as (NGC 3372).
Checked out the double star that is Alpha and Proxima Centauri in the Southern Cross. (Crux)
Found I can jam the smartphone in its case between the finder scope and the eyepiece mount, and it stays there! Fired up SkyEye on the phone and calibrated on Hadar, Sirius, and A Crux. Practised searching around for a few clusters, but they may have been a bit too faint for the conditions.
Another good night. Off to bed.

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First light for the year

Observations - Friday, 24 Feb. 2012.

Despite the light polution of suburban Melbourne, Friday was a beautiful clear night, so I dragged the scope out onto the front step for a quick sweep around the sky.

Clear night. No moon. Very little haze. About a Mag4 on the GaN light pollution charts.

Mars - First time observed through the 8". Very bright. Distinctly a disc, burnt orange colour. Unable to make out any real detail, so shattered dreams of seeing 'canals' and polar caps. Reality is like that. However, will try again and may get different results in different atmospheric conditions.

Orion nebula (M42) - Beautiful! Loving the 8" for this. Any greenish colour is probably more imagined than actually with this scope and this sky tonight, but could make out the nebula and four embedded stars very nicely.

Betelgeuse - bright point of orange light. Disappointingly completely failed to supernova while being observed. Will try again soon.

Crux - on a whim checked out the stars of the Southern Cross.

Carina - after waving Google Sky and SkyEye around a bit I realised that Carina was just about 'there', so checked it out. Stumbled across a beautiful Globular Cluster (?) while casting about which I will have to make a point of identifying next time. Then found the nebula (NGC 3372)
:) Very happy with that, my second nebula with the new telescope.

Saturn - finally! Saturn was high enough to put the scope on. Wowzah... Saturn always blows my mind. Looked great through both the 10mm and 25mm EPs. The rings are currently at that classic angle.



(Image credit: Picked up from the 'Starts With a Bang' Blog, which credits it as "Earth-based telescope, retrieved from SolarSystemQuick.com.")

I wish I could make out that much detail! But very happy with what I could see.

Content with that, picked up the scope and staggered inside to go to bed.

Equipment

Picked up for the family last year a Saxon 8" reflector on a Dobsonian mount.

Loving the new light bucket! Very glad I went with the 8" aperture instead of spending the money on the fancier mounted but smaller 6" on an Equatorial mount.

Will eventually pick up a motorised GoTo pack for the Dobsonian base, but for now doing ok adjusting by hand as I improve my constellations knowledge and practice hopping around the sky.

The finder scope on the Dobby, once dialed in is very accurate as well. Actually, it was initially a shock that the view through the finder scope was better than the view through my old original Tasco 50mm refractor. Although in all fairness that old thing is easily 30 years old.

2012

OK - new blog to record what I've looked at, where and when and associated ideas.

Hoping for a good year of clear skies and dark nights!

Lets go.