2019

A quiet year for my amateur astronomy.

Tried a few dark sky trip arrangements, but got rained out - of course.

Updated my mobile phone caddy, and made it better but still not great. 

Pulled Dobby out into the back courtyard at the new unit, the view is limited to a smaller area - a circle around the zenith.  Had a couple of looks at Jupiter and Saturn when they were up.

Other than that, didn't get much done.

M8 or M20?

The trials of midweek amateur astronomy on the front step...

Found a faint nebulous area just down a bit from Saturn tonight, just beside Sagittarius.
(by the time I got out at 2245 Sagittarius was already over into the Western sky, still high, but already "upside down" to how I usually visualise the "teapot")
Obviously this was either M8 (the Lagoon Nebula) or M20 (the Triffid nebula). I'm not really familiar with either through Dobby, and it was hard enough just finding that faint patch, so without being able to find the other nebula, I'm not sure what this one is.

Finding it was not easy. It's a moonless night, and the transparency is great and the seeing not bad. Started with a look at Mars, and no matter what eyepiece I used, Mars is still looking washy. Cranked up to near max magnification with the Barlow and my 13mm ep, but still was unable to make out any surface detail. The seeing was not quite good enough to hold still at that magnification.

Moved over to Saturn next and it is looking pretty good! It always does. Couldn't see any moons. The rings are still quite open and providing a great view.

Then I started looking around for the nebulae. I studied the star maps a few weeks ago, but that was with Sagittarius higher in the sky and the other way around, so I was having to remember it, flip it, rotate a bit, and then hope the damn tree wasn't in the way. Scanning around in the area with my 25mm ep on the Barlow turned up the faint nebulousity. It was roughly regular, so I'm guessing it was the Triffid Nebula, but when I looked a bit further afield to find the other nebula, I couldn't. I assume it was washed out by the light pollution, but that leaves unsure of which one I was looking at and how much of it I could see.

And that was it for that night. Had to get to bed, so packed up with at least a new nebula on the list. With a bit more time I'll nail it down, so feeling good about that.

Lakes yesterday, opposition today

A lake on Mars. That's cool.
Although, it is 1.5km under ice at the Southern Pole, and to be liquid at -68c it must be full of salts.

So another tantalising hint that life could be on Mars. All that salt is bad for cells, but I'm holding hope that life has found a way. Perhaps if the salt levels raised slowly enough to give Martian deep-lake-life enough time to adapt?

And today, the 27th, is opposition for Mars.

Hopefully the cloud cover parts enough tonight for a quick look from the front steps.

Saturn!

Oh, and Saturn was at opposition on June 28th. Which I missed, due to reasons. However, it doesn't move fast, so I'll have a chance to check it out over the next few nights. It's cold though, so I'll be moving fast!

Mars attacks!

Well, it looks like it is.

Last night the transparency was great ( a rare sight this time of year) and Mars was amazingly bright in the Eastern sky as I took Kn to Martial arts. By eye, it seemed just as bright as Venus - but very, very orange.

So just before bed, about Midnight, I quickly dragged Dobby on to the front step for a quick look.

It was windy, and biting cold (even through the big coat and scarf), and as it turned out the seeing was a bit poor. I lined up with the 25mm ep (Mars looking great on a sparse star field) and jumped straight to my 6mm ep but the shimmer was too strong, with Mars quite large and bright, I don't think I've ever seen it so close. Moving to the 13mm ep reduced the shimmer, but detail still eludes me. I might be able to convince myself I saw a white tinge at the top of the disc, where I would expect to see the polar ice, but everything was smeared by the seeing (and probably the dust storm as well).

No photos, as it was too cold.

Dare I hope for more clear nights as opposition approaches?

Setting a record

As part of the Stargazing Live TV event on ABC this week, the Uni of Melbourne was a site for the attempt on the world record for most people looking at the Moon through optics at the same time. This was a coordinated attempt across lots of sites across many cities.

Melbourne had other ideas.

Probably a new personal best for number of annoyed amateur astronomers at the same time.

I did take Dobby in the car, but didn't bother dragging it all the way into the universe, coz I know how these clouds work by now - and there were no gaps to be expected in these.

So L&K and I got counted, tagged, lead into the marshalling area and sat and watched the big screen showing Brian Cox and Julia Z doing the show. When the time came for the 10 minutes of gazing that were required for the attempt we all laughed darkly, gazed at the clouds, held our phones up with various apps running and took ironic photos.

The 10 minutes finished, we watched a bit more of the show and slowly packed up to leave.

The clouds parted for a 30 second glimpse of the moon, just to remind us of what could have been, then closed over again. There was much groaning. At least most people there got a quick go with the new mini telescopes they had bought with their ticket.

Apparently, the record was set. Over 40,000 people participated - which is awesome. But of course, they couldn't count us in that.

Bloody Melbourne. Again.

Picking the gap

Jupiter was at opposition back on May 9th, but was clouded out that night. Last night at 11pm I had a quick look out the front door and was pleased to see that not only was Jupiter nearly at zenith, but the sky all around it was clear, as was Saturn further down to the East.

Grabbed Dobby and started with the 13mm on Jupiter, which was very bright, but clearly saw two strong bands and a fainter, smaller, third band. The moons were in interesting positions, with (quick check of JoveMoons) Callisto and Ganymede close together and Io in close all on the right of the image, and Europa stuck out on the left by itself.

I tried the blue filter, which reduced the glare a bit but I'm not sure if I saw any extra detail with it. I also tried it with the Barlow, but that just magnified the atmospheric distortion so wasn't really worth it. I then put the yellow filter on my 6mm ep and found the extra magnification worked well, and the filter enhanced the bands a bit.
Had a good look and grabbed a few photos on the mobile.

I then had a quick look at the bright star to the North. Just because it was quite prominent and ruddy. It was Arcturus, the red giant in Bootes - although the constellation was not visible in the light polluted low Northern city sky. I don't notice Arcturus very often, but as the third brightest star in the night sky, and an interesting red giant as well, I'm going to work to memorise it as another sign post.

I then swung over to Saturn, now high enough in the eastern sky to be visible above the neighbours and the bushes in my garden.

It's been a long while since I last observed Saturn (has it been since the science day last year at the primary school???)

These observations were rushed, as the bastard clouds were rapidly approaching, sweeping around from the South West. I lost sight of Saturn behind clouds twice as I was observing due to the broken leading edge of the clouds. I tried a couple of rushed photos and then the clouds covered the sky almost entirely - except for a gap low on the East where Mars shone brightly. Unfortunately too low to bring the scope on to.

Some interesting more observing to do.
Saturn reaches opposition on Wednesday June 27th, and Mars on Friday July 27th. Maybe I should try firing up T for another dark sky excursion?