Good librations
I've had three days off for New Years' weekend, during which I've managed to throw my sleep schedule completely off. Just in time for the new job on Monday, too. On the plus side, at least I woke up last night at 4 a.m. to completely clear skies.
A few mornings ago I'd been awake at about the same time, and gone out to find partly clear skies. The area between Denebola and Vindemiatrix was clear; this is the fabled "Realm of the Galaxies," home to many, many Messier objects. I looked at SkyMap and plotted my strategy. I could starhop from Vindemiatrix west to rho Virginis, but the hop from Denebola east to 6 Comae looked easier, and a quicker route to more guidepost stars, so I chose to try it first. It's a longer way from Denebola than it looks on the map, and the only marker on the way is a reddish 7th-magnitude flicker less than halfway. But 6 Comae itself is pretty easy to find, and there was another red star just ENE to confirm I was in the right place. I ran upstairs to get reoriented. The best choice seemed to be to use the T of stars starting with those two to find M98, M99, and M100. But when I got back downstairs the clouds had moved in, just covering the area.
Last night the cloud cover seemed to be breaking up, so when I awakened at 4 I went out to check and sure enough it had cleared up. Unfortunately, this time the area between Denebola and Vindemiatrix was lit up by the last-quarter moon, about five degrees away. I tried to find my way around the area a little but it was hopeless. However, this month's Sky and Telescope mentioned that a favorable libration of the Moon would bring the coy Mare Orientale into view on January 1st. Sure enough, it was still plainly visible this morning. I could easily identify the Inner and Outer Rook Mountains, and the lava plain was also visible. There was also a nearer dark mare patch, shaped like two slightly skewed lines end-to-end, and a lava-flooded area still nearer. S&T identifies these as Lacus Veris and Lacus Autumni.
The good weather held until tonight, so I went out and tried to find Machholz again, It should have been easier tonight, as the Hyades point right at it (and lambda Tauri). Sure enough, it was easily visible in my finder, and showed a broad bright nucleus and diffuse coma in the 25mm eyepiece.
Since Taurus was rising once again, it was time to take another stab at M1. I've done my homework since last time. I started by getting detailed images of the area from the DSS. Zeta Tauri is at one vertex of a triangle I've mentioned before; this points to two other stars that can then be used as markers for the location of M1. I found the triangle, I found the marker stars, and I found the spot they point to, but there's nothing visible there. I tried averted vision, sweeping gently around the area, and just staring, but danged it I could see anything. I have absolutely no doubt I was in the right spot; I could identify a dozen or more stars from the DSS image (though, oddly, a rather bright spot I thought was a star was also not visible). I guess the light pollution of the city does limit me after all.
I spent the next few making myself feel better by starhopping back to my most recent successes, M38, M36 and M37 in Auriga. I finally saw the "pi" shape of M38 that the SEDS Messier database mentioned, although I still say an arrow is more appropriate. In the elongated loop of stars nearby is supposed to be another open cluster, NGC 1907, but all I saw in that spot was what appeared to be a faint double star. I noticed a trio of stars just above (I guess that's east) of M37 that. when I look in their direction, focus my averted-vision "sweet spot" on the cluster. I hadn't been sure where it was; and with a little practice, I could discern a fair amount of detail without looking directly at M37. I tried using this trick on M1, but still, nothing doing.
First-timers: Mare Orientale, Comet Machholz
Still to go: M98, M99, M100, M1
A few mornings ago I'd been awake at about the same time, and gone out to find partly clear skies. The area between Denebola and Vindemiatrix was clear; this is the fabled "Realm of the Galaxies," home to many, many Messier objects. I looked at SkyMap and plotted my strategy. I could starhop from Vindemiatrix west to rho Virginis, but the hop from Denebola east to 6 Comae looked easier, and a quicker route to more guidepost stars, so I chose to try it first. It's a longer way from Denebola than it looks on the map, and the only marker on the way is a reddish 7th-magnitude flicker less than halfway. But 6 Comae itself is pretty easy to find, and there was another red star just ENE to confirm I was in the right place. I ran upstairs to get reoriented. The best choice seemed to be to use the T of stars starting with those two to find M98, M99, and M100. But when I got back downstairs the clouds had moved in, just covering the area.
Last night the cloud cover seemed to be breaking up, so when I awakened at 4 I went out to check and sure enough it had cleared up. Unfortunately, this time the area between Denebola and Vindemiatrix was lit up by the last-quarter moon, about five degrees away. I tried to find my way around the area a little but it was hopeless. However, this month's Sky and Telescope mentioned that a favorable libration of the Moon would bring the coy Mare Orientale into view on January 1st. Sure enough, it was still plainly visible this morning. I could easily identify the Inner and Outer Rook Mountains, and the lava plain was also visible. There was also a nearer dark mare patch, shaped like two slightly skewed lines end-to-end, and a lava-flooded area still nearer. S&T identifies these as Lacus Veris and Lacus Autumni.
The good weather held until tonight, so I went out and tried to find Machholz again, It should have been easier tonight, as the Hyades point right at it (and lambda Tauri). Sure enough, it was easily visible in my finder, and showed a broad bright nucleus and diffuse coma in the 25mm eyepiece.
Since Taurus was rising once again, it was time to take another stab at M1. I've done my homework since last time. I started by getting detailed images of the area from the DSS. Zeta Tauri is at one vertex of a triangle I've mentioned before; this points to two other stars that can then be used as markers for the location of M1. I found the triangle, I found the marker stars, and I found the spot they point to, but there's nothing visible there. I tried averted vision, sweeping gently around the area, and just staring, but danged it I could see anything. I have absolutely no doubt I was in the right spot; I could identify a dozen or more stars from the DSS image (though, oddly, a rather bright spot I thought was a star was also not visible). I guess the light pollution of the city does limit me after all.
I spent the next few making myself feel better by starhopping back to my most recent successes, M38, M36 and M37 in Auriga. I finally saw the "pi" shape of M38 that the SEDS Messier database mentioned, although I still say an arrow is more appropriate. In the elongated loop of stars nearby is supposed to be another open cluster, NGC 1907, but all I saw in that spot was what appeared to be a faint double star. I noticed a trio of stars just above (I guess that's east) of M37 that. when I look in their direction, focus my averted-vision "sweet spot" on the cluster. I hadn't been sure where it was; and with a little practice, I could discern a fair amount of detail without looking directly at M37. I tried using this trick on M1, but still, nothing doing.
First-timers: Mare Orientale, Comet Machholz
Still to go: M98, M99, M100, M1
posted by Pete in Space at 7:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home