Venus - 19 June 2007

Date: 19 June 2007 U.T.
Time: 22:40 - 22:50 U.T.
Telescope: 102mm SCT
Magnification: 72x
Seeing: Poor - Fair
Transparency: Partly Cloudy (thin clouds)
NELM: Daytime observation
Temperature: +86 F (+30 C)

The above is my rough, at-the-telescope sketch. North is up. Preceding is toward the left. Disk details are questionable under the seeing conditions; but the south cusp was suspected to be somewhat brighter than the north. The limb was brighter than the terminator. The planet appeared white against the blue daytime sky.

I went outside around 4:00 pm local time, looked up, saw the Moon, looked a few degrees west of the Moon and spotted Venus with the unaided eye. Afterwards I set up the telescope and made the above observation.

Observational Slow-Down:
Lately a combination of factors have slowed down the frequency of my astronomical observations. Among those factors is increased activity in my other (long neglected) hobby - chess. If my renewed interest in chess continues long enough I may start an additional blog devoted to that interest.

Sunspot - 03 June 2007

Date: 03 June 2007 U.T.
Time: 16:53 - 17:22 U.T.
Telescope: 102mm SCT
Magnifications: 40x, 90x
Filter: Baader, white light
Seeing: Fair
Transparency: Scattered Clouds

The above sketch shows the sunspot group (Sunspot 960) that has recently rotated to the earth-facing side of the Sun. Preceding is up and south is to the left in this mirror-reversed view. At times during this session clouds blocked the Sun from view.

For most of the observation the telescope was used at 90x. Later 40x was used for the faculae portion of the sketch.

After completing this observation the view was shared with a guest.

Sharing the View

Date: 3 June 2007 U.T.
Time: 3:00 - 5:00 U.T.
Telescope: 13cm refractor
Magnifications: 35x, 90x, 170x, 240x
Filters: #56 and #58 Green (for Venus only)
Seeing: Good
Transparency: Bright and darkening twilight

After many cloudy or otherwise missed nights everything fell into place for a good evening. The telescope was set up on on an equatorial mount with an electric RA drive. The motorized tracking simplified sharing the view with two guests.

Venus was our first target, and for a long while our only target. The seeing was very steady with the refractor -- one of the benefits to using a relatively small telescope. The planet's sharply defined quarter (or 'half-moon') phase was easily visible to everyone present.

The green filters helped cut down the brightness of the brilliant, white planet to a more tolerable level. We took turns studying the planet at 90x. Through the use of questions and answers, it looked like the guests may have been able to perceive some of the subtle markings in the Venusian atmosphere.

Eventually the sky darkened enough for the younger guest to spot Saturn in the twilight sky. We shared views at 35x and gradually worked our way up to 240x. Titan was immediately noticed near the ringed planet. After the sky had darkened a bit more we saw three more of Saturn's moons. The two moons between Titan and the planet, one above the other, were later identified as Tethys (to the north) and Rhea (south of Tethys). Just off the north-following limb of the planet was Dione.

At the higher magnifications the ring was visible in front of the planet. The guests also noticed Saturn's South Equatorial Belt (SEB). Cassini's Division presented a challenge for the guests, but they eventually succeeded in seeing this division between Saturn's A and B rings -- at least on one side of the ring system. The shadow of the planet on the ring system proved to be a bit more of a challenge for the guests.

After Saturn we took a look at the globular cluster, M13 in Hercules. Next was the Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra. The final object was Albireo (Beta Cygni) -- one of the northern hemisphere's "showpiece" double stars.

Twilight had still not quite ended by the sessions end. Nevertheless, part of the summer Milky Way was seen. We also saw at least one meteor, an airplane and at least one satellite.