Constellations: Aquila, Cassiopeia, Cygnus, Perseus, Scorpius
Asterism: Big Dipper, Coathanger/Brocchi’s Cluster/ Collinder 399/Al Suffi’s Cluster (looked for NGC 6802 to find it in telescope),Keystone of Hercules, Little Dipper, Teapot
Stars: Albireo, Aldebaran, Altair, Alshain, Antares, Arcturus, Capella, Deneb, Mizar-Alcor, Polaris, Tarazed
Clusters: Alpha Persei Cluster/Melotte 20/Collinder 39
Planets: Jupiter, Mars, Saturn
Identified, not Observed: Auriga, Boötes, Cygnus, Ophiuchus, M13
Attempted to find without Success: M4, M22
Location: St. Croix Observatory (SCO)
Date: 2024-08-30/31
Time: 8:00 PM – 12:45 AM ADT
Equipment: 10x42 IS Binoculars, Sky-Watcher Evostar 80ED with star diagonal
Eyepieces: SvBony 30mm-10mm Zoom eyepiece
Magnification: x20 - x60
Transparency: Very Good (4)
Seeing: Good (3)
It was a great night at SCO! No clouds. No wind, perhaps a little breeze part way through the evening that kept the flies at bay. Because this was a Member's Observing Night at SCO, I did not keep a written record of the evening’s observations but made the list once I returned home. Therefore, no idea as to timing except for the view of Saturn as it was observed after most folk had left SCO, and for some reason I had recorded it.
Nine souls ventured into the wilderness this night to take in the dark skies:
- Me! touring the sky with my Evostar 80ED refractor to look for whatever I was asked to find. I had no particular objectives in mind.
- Dave Chapman had the Centre’s 16” Dobsonian in service and gave instruction in how to use the telescope. He shared close-up views of some of summer's showpiece objects.
- Michael Gatto with his 13” Dobsonian sketched some Herschel objects.
- Tony McGrath had his 120mm refractor and was star hopping through the southern sky.
- Jerry was fine tuning the HyperStar imaging setup which he has assembled over the last several months, converting the Centre's 8 inch Celestron SCT into a superfast f1.9 imaging setup.
- Guests:
- Chris Young (RASC member) was accompanied by his sister Cathy who was visiting from New Mexico,
- Stephen Payne (RASC member) had brought along Laurent Kreplak, the head of the Physics department at Dalhousie University.
Chris requested I show his sister the double star Albireo. Nothing like being under pressure with two observers waiting albeit patiently to see this star. Altair and Arcturus were used for 2-star alignment purposes; Cathy saw Arcturus that was just about to disappear in the western treeline. Eventually, with Jerry’s assistance, the Evostar and I became friends and Albireo was centred in the FOV. Cathy saw the two stars and quickly noted the differing colours – one a yellow-gold with the other a blue-green.
I became friends with Cathy and we joined forces to tease her brother. This was certainly true when attempting to find the Coathanger (Cr399) asterism. Problem: the Evostar does not a Collinder (Cr) designation as a search choice, so we asked Chris to look for NGC 6802 that I knew was located at the end of the "rail" of the Coathanger. He was having challenges finding it (connectivity issues) but I did in SkySafariPro. Because of the wider field of view, both the NGC and the asterism were visible in the same FOV for all to see.
Mizar-Alcor (in the Big Dipper), Cassiopeia
With the Big Dipper so high in the northern sky, I pointed to the handle and asked her what she saw when looking at the centre star in the handle. Like others our age, she saw one star – until I asked her to look through her binoculars. I explained about Mizar and Alcor, and how Mizar (a double star) could be seen in a telescope. The pointer stars of the bucket and how they pointed to Polaris were also explained.
I also noted Cassiopeia nearby. I told Cathy the story of how our youngest grandson at the age of 5 was shown the constellation at Blomidon Provincial Park. Because he couldn’t pronounce it, it became known as the “William” constellation (named after him).
Milky Way, Scorpius
Looking south from the observing pads, the Milky way was pointed out along with the two constellations that were on either side. Scorpius was to the west and many of its main stars could be seen, especially Antares. I noted the curve of stars and how the scorpion body curved southward. Also mentioned the numerous Messier objects in the area. Chris and I explained how the star clusters came to be identified by the French astronomer Charles Messier.
The Teapot (in Sagittarius)
I also pointed out the Teapot, the asterism in the constellation Sagittarius. There were several Messier objects around it as well but it was noted that steam (aka the Milky Way) came out of the teapot spout. This made it a little easier to find in the night skies.
Perseus, Alpha Persei Cluster/Melotte 20/Collinder 39, Capella (in Auriga)
Chris, Cathy and I relocated between the Warm Room and the Storage/Washroom to view the constellation Perseus and the Alpha Persei Cluster. Using binoculars, I looked at this, one of my favourite clusters, with my binoculars (cannot remember if they did or not). Such a gorgeous open cluster! There was a bight object below it that initially we thought could be a planet but it was Capella (the brightest star in Auriga).
Keystone of Hercules, M13 (Hercules Cluster)
This was above our heads but not at Zenith. Using the binoculars, I quickly located the Hercules Cluster Eta Herculis and Zeta Herculis. Confirmed it was still a small grey fuzzy.
Boötes, Ophiuchus, Aquila, Cygnus
(Visual Observation)
West of Hercules, we could still see Arcturus (“arc to Arcturus”); I was able to quickly note where the other stars of the constellation were located. South of Hercules, I identified the 3 stars in the “cap” of Ophiuchus. This constellation always amazes me because of the enormity of the skyscape that it covers. Now looking into the Milky Way, Altair and its two fainter stars (Tarazed and Alshain) could be seen. The constellation Cygnus was then seen above Aquila and its brightest star, Deneb, quickly identified.
Saturn (in Aquarius)
Time: 11:38- 11:50 PM
Equipment: Visual, binoculars, telescope
Eyepiece: SvBony 10-30mm
I found Saturn initially visually, then located it in binoculars in the SE sky. When I used the telescope, I was able to identify the moon Phoebe. Also cool was seeing the rings edge on – no sign of distance between the rings and planet nor of the Cassini Divisions. I showed this to Stephen, Laurent, Dave, Michael and Jerry. The others had already left.
M4, M22
At some point in the evening when there was some quiet time at my scope, I looked for these two Messiers. M4 was to be found close to Antares in Scorpius and M22 in Sagittarius near the Teapot‘s lid star (Kaus Borealis). Unfortunately, I had waited too late – both constellations were quite low on the horizon and the horizon was a bit murky to discern stars – with binoculars or the scope. Bah!
Jupiter, Mars, Aldebaran
Looking out my passenger window while leaving SCO, I noted three bright orbs – Aldebaran (the brightest star in Taurus), Jupiter above it, and the reddish Mars above it – all forming a shallow triangle in the sky. Oh, to have my scope up now but, alas, it was packed in the trunk behind me. Bah!