Bill Weir: RASC Victoria Centre

Lunar Eclipse - Totality

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:03:53 GMT

August 28 2007 - Metchosin, BC, Canada

I observed the whole event from beside the riding ring, out here in Metchosin. I was listening to late night talk radio from San Francisco and people kept phoning in their reports of observing the eclipse. It was almost like I wasn't observing alone. The same thing went on a couple of weeks ago during the Perseids. Only on that occasion the calls might be punctuated by oohs and wows as a particularly good one went by.

Anyway, back to last night. At totality it was so dark that the Milky way was clearly evident spanning the sky. With my 6 inch dob and the low power eyepiece that I was using to observe the eclipse I could make out both east and west sides of the Veil Nebula with the assistance of an OIII filter.

I also used my son's new Rebel XTi attached to my 80mm Zenithstar to take images. I took one about every 5-10 minutes. If I knew what I was doing I could probably string them together into one continuous movie kind of thing.
I couldn't get about the last 10 minutes as my objective was totally fogged over. Here is my uncropped shot of totality. I know the stars in it are a bit elongated but that's because I was using a non tracking mount. I left it uncropped to show how faint stars were clearly eveident right up to beside the Moon. With the 6 inch dob there were many stars in the field with the Moon. I know the focus is a bit soft but I had taken the camera off to do some wide field shots with just a camera lens and couldn't quite get it right again. I'm just working out the bugs on how to use a digital camera.

Lunar eclipse with stars

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:12:19 GMT

I've been fussing over this for a week to get it right. I was wanting to show how many stars were visible in the sky even as the eclipse was coming out of totality. In reality there were even more visible in person. I took this with my son's Canon Digital Rebel XTi with the 75-300mm zoom set at 75mm, ISO 1600 15 second exposure. With that length of exposure there was a bit of trailing in the stars that I had to trim off a bit. In doing so I lost some of the stars.

Lunar eclipse widefield

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 06:12:19 GMT

This was taken right at mid-totality. I really liked the deep orangy-red of the Moon. To me, this wide field look best represents my time with the eclipse. Canon Digital Rebel XTi 55mm lens ISO 1600 15 second exposure.

Markarian 205

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:41:54 GMT

This object is in the RASC Observers Handbook in the Deep Sky Callenge objects. Markarian 205 is a Quasar, visible as a small faint 14.5 magnitude star at the edge of the 12th mag galaxy NGC 4319. I started looking for this last month when I was at the Mt Kobau Star party. I thought that I had found it and showed it to a friend on the night of Sepember 9th when we were observing together at Pearson College. I hadn't looked at an image before the search so I wouldn't be influenced. After going home Blaire did an internet search. He emailed to inform me that we were looking at the wrong galaxy. When you look at the sketch you will see a small star at the edge of the galaxy NGC 4291. You see there are two galaxies in the high power FOV (317X , 5mm T6 Nagler). I guess technically there are three with the quasar. Well actually at a slightly lower power there is another galaxy NGC 4386 about 20' to the NE. Anyway, I went back out on the night of the 10th to see what would show on the other galaxy. It took a bit, but with my 12.5" dob and steady averted vision I was able to detect the quasar on the edge of this rather interesting spiral. The glow of the galaxy hides it a bit. The two galaxies have about the same magnitude but NGC 4319 has a much lower surface brightness. 4319 wasn't visible with my 6" dob while NGC 4291 was rather easy to see.If you Google Markarian 205, you will find all sorts of interesting stuff regarding comparisons of the redshifts of the quasar and the galaxy. Markarian 205 reads to be about 1 billlion ly away while NGV 4319 is only about 80 million ly away. The interesting thing is that in high res images there appears to be a bridge between them. Many papers have been written about it.The object is located in Draco at RA 12 21.6 Dec +75 18 if you are wanting to give this object a try.

Uranus with Titania and Oberon

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 06:31:21 GMT

On September 12th Alan Whitman put forth the challenge as to whether a moderate sized telescope would be able to see any of the Moons of Uranus. Seeing as he deemed a12.5” scope moderate in size a little voice in my head said, “sign me up”. Here is my tale.The night of Monday September 17th was so much fun. With Sunday having done nothing but rain and it looking like grey autumn had begun, the CSC for Monday showed promise of clears skies and that promise came through. Looking at the S&T applet for Uranus’ moons placement, it also gave the thumbs up. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/3310476.html# inally after looking at the position of the jet stream, I could see that all of my little duckies were in a row. A few days earlier on the 13th, similar conditions prevailed but moisture in the air made the light scatter intolerable. The amount of glare around all bright objects forced me to pack up and head home early. Early in the evening, after driving kids to and from various activities I drove my 12.5” dob the few km down the road from my home to the Newton-Godin observatory, at Pearson College. It was actually a good night to go out there because it was the first night of the astronomy activity for the students. I set up my scope and left it there to cool and returned to driving around doing kid duty. By the time I had returned to the observatory around 2100hrs, it was dark enough to give the students the standard introductory constellation tour around the sky and to show them some introductory telescopic objects through my ED 80mm refractor and 12.5” truss dob. By around 2200hrs the time had come for me to settle into my quest. Uranus by then had become a faint naked eye object. To all who wanted, I show views of both Uranus and Neptune through my dob at 317X. I also showed them how they looked at around 100X through the little refractor to give them an idea of how small these planets actually appear.As I increased power step by step up to 390X using a 10mm eyepiece in a 2.5X Powermate I grew discouraged, as I could see nothing appearing in the glow of the planet. Finally I dropped my 9mm ploessl into the Powermate and with 440X, and averted vision, two faint dots close together appeared out of the mist in the correct orientation. Putting a 6mm Radian into the Powermate for 660X improved the situation even more. I was then able to hold the two dots with a steady direct gaze. My biggest problem was keeping those dots within the FOV. Luckily I was using a well-crafted scope and the movement was very smooth. The attached sketch represents my view at 660X. The grey cloud that I’ve drawn around the green orb of Uranus represents the glow of the planet. Moisture in the air made this observation rather difficult. I was quite surprised at how drained I was when I finished. The Sky and Telescope article mentions how these two moons have been glimpsed with as small aperture as 8 inches. I can only imagine their observing conditions were far better than what I was presented with.I just want to thank Alan for stimulating me into making this very worth while observation.Bill

Comet 17P/Holmes October 25, 2007

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 07:55:58 GMT

This is a sketch that I did of this amazing comet as viewed through an f/5 635mm Newtonian reflector. Using a bino viewer with 23mm eyepieces for 138X magnification. The FOV is approx 0.4 of a degree. The structure to this comet is amazing. There is a very bright stellar central pseudonucleus that then fans off to the south in a bright central concentration. There is then a less bright, almost darker area surrounding this that is then encircled by a much brighter ring. Surrounding this all is a much fainter patch irregular haze. The view was mesmerizing.

Comet 17P/Holmes Oct. 25/07

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 20:56:05 GMT

This is a prime focus shot of the comet taken Oct 25 at 2130hrs PDST using an f/5 635mm equitorially mounted Newtonian reflector using a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. 10 second exposure at ISO 100. no processing other than to crop

Comet 17p/Homes Oct 30/07 Beginings of Tail

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:35:48 GMT

This sketch was done on the evening of Oct 30 at approximately 2145 hrs PDST (UT 0445 Oct 31) I was observing using the f/5 635mm Newtonian at Pearson College. The comet has grown so large that it no longer fits comfortably within the FOV of the higher magnification (215X, 17mm T4 Nagler on a Paracorr) that I had previously been observing it at with this scope. I had to switch to 91X (40mm Optilux on Paracorr). The surface brightness of the coma appears to be more even and its outer edge blends a little bit more into the outer halo. Off to the west I noticed a slight brightening heading off of the outer halo. When I moved the central brightness out of the FOV it became more defined. It appears to me I was seeing the beginnings of a tail! The central fan at the center of the coma has broadened and become more nebulous. The bright stellar pseudonucleus appeared to be less distinct and blended in more with the fan. Perhaps this was a function of seeing conditions or maybe that I was observing at a lower power. Earlier in the evening at higher power it had been more distinct. Every night for the past seven this comet has continued to amaze me with its ever-changing character.

Comet 17P/Holmes Tail very evident

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 05:04:28 GMT

After suffering rain on Wednesday night I was back on the 25" on the night of Nov 1/07. At 91X (40mm Optilux and Paracorr) it was easy to see that dramatic changes had taken place over the entire structure of the comet. First, there were two very bright field stars within the north west quadrant of the coma. Actually with this much aperture there are so many stars visible across the entire structure of the comet. The central fan shaped condensation was far less defined appearing more nebulous but clearly still trailed off to the west. The bright stellar pseudonucleus was still very apparent but had noticably dimmed and was beginning to blend into the condensation. It was the structure though of the previously circular coma that had changed the most. The eastern edge was still sharply defined but the entire edge of the western hemisphere was all jagged and elongating to the west, south west. The difference was quite dramatic. Then there was the very evident streamers blowing off of that in the same direction. They flowed right through the now much fainter outer halo and right out of the FOV.

17P/Holmes Nov. 12/07

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:49:57 GMT

Is it a face or the Starship Enterprise? You decide.

Well, I finally got my family out to look at the comet tonight, Nov 12th. From our better than mag 6 back yard the big bright fuzzy ball was so easy to see naked eye. My wife was the most underwhelmed. Her response of a "that's it?" said it all. Yet still I love her, because she always encourages me with this hobby and even bought me my premium 12.5" mirror. Son #2 looked for slightly longer than she did then wandered off, and he's the one that always goes with me to star parties. (he likes to camp though) My oldest boy looked the longest then pronounced, "it looks like a face, two eyes, with a nose, two long ears and hair.

I think you'll find that my sketch concurs. Tilt your head to the left and think of the childrens book "Where the Wild Things Are" This was done with my f/6.8 80mm refractor and a 22 SWLV eyepiece.(25X) I'm not totally happy with the way this scanned. I'm learning to use a new scanner and haven't worked all of the bugs out yet. No pseudonucleus was seen even at 109X. A pseudonucleus was still visible with this scope the last time I looked a week ago.

Comet 8P/Tuttle with M 33

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:45:38 GMT

On the night of Dec. 30, 2007 at 1945hrs PST (UT 0345 Dec 31) The brighening comet, 8P/Tuttle passed by the bright galaxy M 33. This is how I saw it using my f/8, 6 inch dob with a 40mm widefield eyepiece at 30X magnification. The FOV is approximately 2 degrees. I was observing from my semi rural backyard in Metchosin, B.C. SQM reading was 21.0. This is the sketch in combination with an inversion done with Photoshop

Comet 17P/Holmes with M 34

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:07:21 GMT

At the end of December 2007 in addition to the close encounter of M33 with Comet 8P/Tuttle, Comet 17P/Holmes has been sharing the same area of the sky with the next Messier object, the open cluster M34. On the same night as I did the M33 with comet Tuttle sketch I also did one of M34 with comet Holmes. In order to see the two within the same FOV I used my f/6.8, 80mm ED refractor and a widefield 40mm eyepiece. Even then with this approximately 4 degree FOV the two just barely fit in the view. In order to do the sketch some sense of justice I did an interlocking adjacent FOV sketch. This is how I saw things on the night of Dec. 30, 2007 at 2030hrs PST.

Moon Mars conjunction Jan 19, 2008

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:32:16 GMT

Ever alert Blaire Pellatt noticed in Sky& Telescope that there would be a close conjunction of the Moon and Mars on this date and alerted the rest of the Victoria Centre. The moment of closest approach was around 1400hrs PST and the Moon would have been above the horizon but alas the weather didn't cooperate. At 1640hrs, while I had to be out to get my son, the Moon was in a clear patch in the sky. I pulled over to the side of the road and took out my 10 X 50 binoculars that I always keep there for just such occasions. Mars was easily visible about a degree to the west of the Moon.

I then held one finger up and placed one edge of it against the right hand side of the Moon. Leaning against the truck for stability and staring past the right side of that finger I tried to relax my stare and focus on infinity. Suddenly a small faint dot began to appear to the right of my finger. As I lowered my hand the dot held steady and brightened a bit. I believed that I was seeing Mars naked eye before Sunset in a bright blue sky. The time was 1642 PST. Checking later I saw that this was 11 minutes before Sunset. Woo Hoo!

1/2 hour later after getting back home I took this photo using my son's Canon Digital Rebel XTi, at prime focus, through an 80 mm William Optics Zenithstar EDII refractor on a manual alt/az mount. The time was 1730 hrs and the duo were 1 degree 50 minutes apart at that time. A little editing of curves and sharpening was done in Photoshop. And I do mean little, because I don't really know what I'm doing with the whole imaging thing. Give me a pencil and erasure any day.

Herbig-Haro 1 & 2 with NGC 1999

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:42:28 GMT

The Universe is full of some wonderful objects. On Sunday Feb. 3/08 I observed a type called a Herbig-Haro object. Herbig-Haro objects are nebulae seen around protostars and are caused by the plasma ejections of the young star colliding with interstellar gas and dust. For a more complete definition and information regarding these objects see this Wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbig-Haro_object

Using my f/5 12.5 inch truss dobsonian telescope at 456X, Herbig-Haro 1 and 2 were still only seen as stellar objects. This much power was needed to hold them with averted vision 100% of the time. At 365X they were only visible about 50% of the time with averted vision. To add interest to the view is the fact that they are just a few arc minutes away from the small but interesting reflection nebula, NGC 1999. What makes NGC 1999 so interesting is that within it is a Bok Globule. Bok Globules are very dark, dense clouds of gas and dust that obscure the star formation going on inside them. If you read the Wiki article you would have seen that Herbig-Haro objects are often associated with Bok Globules. At even the modest power of around 160 X the Bok Globule was visible within the nebula. Here is a sketch of how I saw the three objects.

The view from Metchosin

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:30:29 GMT

Last nights eclipse experience couldn’t have gone better if I had planned it. I had hoped to be at the beach before Moonrise but circumstances prevented it. I pulled into the little parking lot shortly after 1800hrsPST. The scene that greeted me when I got out of my truck was pure magic. With the skyline of Victoria off to the east, the Moon with a large bite out of it hovering above, and the Olympic Mountains off to the south across the waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca that was awash in the glow of the Moonlight, I just knew that this night would be special.

On the little outcrop over looking the beach I set up my little ED 80 refractor, 6 inch dob and 10 X 50 Binoculars (on a parallelogram mount), then lay in wait for any passers by. I didn’t have long to wait as this is the place that many in my community go to, to witness such events.

Over the next few hours maybe around 50 people came by. Around totality the place was in a state of total controlled chaos. I was so impressed with the behavior of everyone. Friends and strangers milled about trading views through the various optics, as children of all ages laughed screamed and played about totally excited with the whole situation. Eventually the 6-inch dob was trained on Saturn and everyone wanted a look at it.

During totality the sky filled with stars and many DSOs were visible naked eye. Using the refractor I showed people many DSO. This location is actually quite a good location for observing in general and I wish I taken out my SQM to get a reading at mid totality. I have a good idea though of how dark it was. At one point during a naked eye tour of the sky I was looking in the general direction of the west when I noticed the Pyramid of the Zodiacal Light clearly evident. Showing the general public it was probably the highlight of my night. Then again, it might have been the three yr old girl who was trying to describe to me what she saw while she was looking at Saturn. “It is this ball with these thingies sticking out of it and is floating and it looks so pretty” Her little hands were making all these gestures trying to create a picture. The look of pride on her parents’ faces remains emblazoned in my brain.

The low point came right at the end. It was around 2100hrs and everyone had gone and I was slowly loading all of my gear into my truck, basking in the glow of an evening well spent. A car drove down the road, parked and a man holding binoculars got out. He looked at me and said, “I expected to see more people”. I informed him that there was but they had all gone because the eclipse was essentially over. He responded with, “then the man on NPR must have been wrong because he said it would be starting a 8:30”. My response was, “ I guess that would all depend on where NPR was broadcasting from”. I felt sorry for this man as I drove away leaving him scanning the ever-brightening sky with his binoculars.

This photo was taken shortly after arriving at the beach and was set up. Seeing as the camera tripod was in use I had to balance the camera on the top of a fence post of an adjacent sheep pasture.

Galaxy Cluster Abell 1367

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 20:01:51 GMT

I observed this galaxy cluster in the early morning hours just after midnight on March 27/08. I have been compiling an observing log for the RASC Deep Sky Challenge list and was sure I had observed this group but couldn't find a note anywhere. Consequently this meant I needed to reobserve it. (make a note here to be a better documentarian) Luckily on th night after a long 12 hr drive home from the Kootenays through snow storms, the sky over my back yard was beautifully clear with a SQM reading of 21.14. I put my f/5 12.5" dob out and set to the task.

This grouping is approximately one degree to the south west of 93 Leo, which is just north of Leo's tail. This is the view as I saw the core of the cluster at 182X with a FOV of approx 0.45 degrees. The actual cluster occupies almost a full degree of space. The brightest galaxy of the group, NGC 3842 is at the center. There are only 11 stars in this sketch, with all of the rest being galaxies, including the one just out of the circle.

I also took the opportunity to observe the smaller galaxy cluster Copland's Septet while I was in the area. It lies just off 92 Leo. I didn't get a chance to do a sketch, because shortly after confirming 5 of the 7 galaxies in that group the sky clouded over and it began to snow!

SN2008ax in NGC 4490 on March 28, 2008

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:14:06 GMT

I learned of this SN only 0n March 28 as I've been off line for awhile. My obsessive observing nature made me need to see it. I had hoped to go after it with my 12.5" but the sketchy weather made me cautious. My CSC suggested a clearing for around 2200hrs PDST so I put my 6" dob out to see if there was any hope. At 2130 it was quite clear to the west with patches of clear passing by overhead. My SQM was reading 21.04 so I was hopefull. While I was waiting through clear patches I took in Saturn, NGC 2903, Hickson 44, NGC 2392, NGC 2371/2, and M97 & 108, As soon as it cleared enough in Canes Venatici I locked the scope on beta CVn. At 70X (17mm T4 Nagler), NGC 4490 and 4485 clearly visible. I suspected a faint stellar glimmering about 50% of the time to the east of the core of NGC 4490 and definately the star at its eastern tip. I did a sketch for a later comparison. I then increased the power to 240X (5mm T6 Nagler), and that stellar glimmer in the same position east of the core was then able to be held about 80% of the time. I did another sketch. A comparison to images show that I was seeing it.

This SN seems to be brightening steadily and was quite surprised to be able to see it with only a 6" scope.

SN2008 March 30, 2008

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:35:00 GMT

On the night of March 30/08 I revisited the super nova, but this time with my 12.5 inch dob. Even though I was observing with increased aperture over the previous observation it was quite evident that the SN had increased in brightness. The SN was much easier to see than the 13th magnitude star that lies at the east end of the galaxy.

This sketch represents how I saw things using an f/5 12.5 inch dob at 180X. The observation was made from the Godin-Newton Observatory at Pearson College.

Palomar 4

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:35:00 GMT

On March 30,08 while I had the big scope out to observe the SN in NGC 4490 and seeing as the scope was also pointed towards the zenith I decided to seek out this evlusive DSO.

Palomar 4 is the second most distant Globular Cluster in our galaxy. It lies approximately 3.5 degrees to the SE of Xi U Major.

It was a difficult observation and I wasn't totally sure of myself for awhile, as the surface brightness of this object seemed very low. The Globular Cluster was seen as a 1' very diffuse glow to the west of a 13th mag star that is the apex of an elongated triangle, with the two other stars being approximately 9th and 11th magnitude. A later comparison of my sketch with an image from the DSS confirmed my observation.

Abell 1656, The Coma Galaxy Cluster

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:16:32 GMT

Lately I've been compiling my notes of all the objects I've observed on the RASC Deep Sky Challenge list into one log book. THere are several that I want to include sketches of and didn't the first time I observed them. This incredibly rich cluster of galaxies in Coma Berenices is one of those objects.

On the night of April 3, 2008 I revisited Abell 1656 using my f/5 12.5" dob. This is how it looked to me at 107X magnification through a 17mm T4 Nagler. The FOV is approximately 0.75 degrees. I haven't actually counted the number of galaxies I was seeing but if it isn't an actual dot, then it's a galaxy. I highly recommend observing this to anyone with access to a decent sized scope.

NGC 5053

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:45:08 GMT

In the constellation Coma Berenices many have observed and enjoyed the big and bright Globular Cluster M53. Less than two degrees to its south east lies another Globular that tends to be far more elusive. Even though the two share a very similar apparent size, the the low density of stars and corespondingly low surface brightness can make NGC 5053 a challenge object even for telescopes of moderate aperture.

On the other hand, if the weather gods cooperate and you are observing from a reasonably dark location it can be observed with even a six inch scope. I had such conditions in the early morning hours of March 5/08. The transparency was 8/10 and my SQM was reading 21.29 which corresponds to a limiting magnitude of approximately 6.7.

Here is how I saw NGC 5053 using an f/8 6 inch dob at 100X magnification. The TFOV is approximately 0.9 degrees.

If the conditions are right, go give this one a try. It might not be as difficult as you think.

Moon Mars Conjunction April 11, 2008

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:37:03 GMT

On the evening of April 11/08 I was out doing a little high power observing of the Moon with my 6 inch dob when I noticed a very bright star very close to the Moon. I nudged the scope a tad to the east and suddenly realized that the bright "star" was actually Mars. From my perspective it didn't look like there would be an occultation but there would at least be a very close "fly by". This at was around 2130hrs PDST

I quickly set up my little ED 80 refractor, attached my son's Canon Digital Rebel XTi, took a few out of focus shots and then watched the sky cloud over. Being the optimist that I am, I left everything set up.

Shortly after 2300 hrs I was rewarding with the sky becoming perfectly clear. The Moon Mars shot on the left was the best of the bunch that I managed to capture using the refractor/Rebel setup and was taken around 2330hrs.

I've never been comfortable with focusing that camera so I then went and got my wife's old point and shoot Canon PowerShot S50. The Moon Mars shot on the right was done shooting that camera through a 22 superwide Lanthanum eyepiece and my f/8 6 inch dob. I flipped the shot to give proper orientation. This image was taken just a little after midnight.

I've combined the two to show the apparent movement over that time period. I doesn't give a perfect perspective because my extremely limited processing skills don't allow me to make the size of the Moon the same.

The Return of the Mighty X

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:06:12 GMT

On April 12 2008, at 2200hrs PDST I put my 6" dob out and pointed it at the Moon. The seeing was horrendous. A 1 at best. I expected to be disappointed. I was pleasantly surprised.

Some how I seem to keep missing the Moon memos. ; )

Then at just shortly after 2330 hrs, I watched the Moon occult the 5.3 magnitude star 10 Cnc. It went into the bright side close to the south pole around the crater Hale an reappeared only a few minutes later out of what I think is Wexler. That I don't have a shot of.

This shot was taken using a Canon PowerShot S50 through a 12mm eyepiece in an f/8 6 inch dob. It was only cropped and sharpened a tad. The seeing was so bad, I was surprised it was this focused.

Bill

Jet in M87

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:09:41 GMT

At present there is no way to directly see a Black Hole. There are ways though to see evidence of the existance of a black hole. One of these is the plasma jet that is ejected from the magnetic field around the Black Hole. M87 has one of these jets. M87 is a galaxy located 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It harbours a super-massive black hole of 3 thousand million solar masses from which a jet of particles and magnetic fields emanates. It can be observed visually.

On the night of April 25, 2008 I chose it as one of my observing goals for that evening. In order to accomplish this task I went to Pearson College and opened up the dome that houses Jack Newton's old f/5, 25 inch GEM mounted newtonian.

While I waited for the air in the dome to stabilize I tried for the jet using my f/5 12.5" dob. At best I have suspicions I may have glimpsed it at 445X magnification. Without tracking though, there was not enough time with the object in the field of view to be definate. (make mental note, keep saving for the ServoCat)

Later in the dome, with the aide of the steady tracking of the mount I able to employ a power of 635X magnification. The galaxy practically filled the field of view. The core glowed brightly and the stellar nucleus was easily visible. The seeing wasn't the best but at times when it steadied, I could see a thin bright line extending from the core. It always "popped out" in exactly the same spot. I did the accompanying sketch. Then in order to determine directions. In order to do this I had to climb down the ladder, switch off the tracking, then race back up the ladder to the eyepiece to watch the galaxy drift out of the field.

Later, comparing images of the galaxy and jet I was able to match up the few stars visible at the eyepiece. Their orientation confirm that what I was seeing corresponds with the direction that the jet would be pointing. This direction is slightly north of west.

Here is the sketch that I did of M87 with its plasma jet using an f/5 25" newtonian reflector at 635X. The seeing was A 3, and the SQM reading was 21.14.

NGC 5897

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:25:09 GMT

With observing this globular cluster in Libra I now have only one more object left to observe in order to complete the RASC Deep Sky Challenge list. I observed and sketched it on the evening of April 25, 2008 using my f/5 12.5" dob.

After observing it I did a little research, and discovered that April 25 was also the night that William Herschel discovered this object. I was just 224 years late to the party.

This is how the object appeared to me at 107X using a 17mm T4 Nagler in a Paracorr. It globular is quite difuse, so with the 12.5" there was only a smattering of stars resolved across its approximately 10 arc minute glow. It's faint but large. I judge it to be an easier object than NGC 5053. I'm definately going to have to give it a go with my 6" scope

Mars with M44, May 22&23, 2008

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Mon, 26 May 2008 05:12:27 GMT

On the nights of May 21st through the 23rd 2008, Mars passed thought M44 the"Beehive Cluster". I missed the first night but on the second and third nights I managed to observe the passage, and sketched it. On the night of the 23rd it was a rather brief observation, through a short break in the weather. I wasn't able to sketch for very long before the setting scene buried itself in the clouds along the horizon. This accounts for the lack of fainter stars in the second sketch.

When I inverted the sketchs, the pale orange dots that were Mars turned blue. My limited processing skills prevented me from just turning my little pencil smudges back to orange, so I just replaced them with computer generated orange dots. I'm not totally happy with the artificial look but it's what it is until I figure it out.

I had hoped to get sketches of all three nights but as often is the case the weather didn't fully cooperate. Still, I'm happy with what I got. I think it show nicely the planets movement over a days period.

This is how I saw Mars in the "Beehive", using my f/8, 6 inch dob at 30X magnification. The FOV is just slightly under 2 degrees.

M101 with H-II Regions

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:25:26 GMT

On May 31/08 I was checking out a new very dark observing site with my f/5 12.5 inch dob. I was blown away by the view I had of M101. Many H-II regions stood out. This was a quick sketch that I did so that I could identify the prominent ones. Using an image from the NGC Project I'm able to positively identify 6 possibly seven distinct regions. This is how I saw the galaxy at 152X.

NGC 6540

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:02:15 GMT

It is often considered that this object is one of the two toughest on the Herschel 400 list of the Astronomical League. This challenged me to see if I could observe it with my lovely little 6 inch dob. On July 21/08, my little scope rose to the challenge. I was observing from one of the pads of the Godin/Newton observatory at Pearson College. The conditions weren't the best with the 85% Moon above the horizon. Still this highly obscured by dust, globular cluster did reveal itself. It is located in Sagittarius just north of the spout of the teapot.

It was a difficuly observation to be sure, but for being so low to the horizon and with the Moon actually above the horizon I expected it to be more difficult.

This is how I observed globular cluster with my 6 inch dob at 160X magnification.

NGC 6118

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:02:15 GMT

In the debate of which object in the Herschel 400 is the most difficult object, this low surface brightness galaxy located just inside the southern boundry of Serpens is the other contender. I observed it also with my 6 inch dob from Pearson College. It was on July 22/08 at the same time in the evening as I had observed NGC 6540 on the previos evening.

By far, this was a more difficult object to pick out of the background sky. Getting the right balance of magnification and contrast was difficult. At 80X magnification and averted vision I was just able to make out it's very faint elongated shape. It had a very even surface brightness.

This is how I saw this galaxy with my 6 inch dob at 80X.

To myself anyway, the debate is over.

Butterfly Nebula

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 05:38:10 GMT

In south western Serpens Cauda is a very interesting planetary nebula. It goes by some rather sterile names such as, PK 010+18.2 and Minkowski 2-9, but my favorite is the common name, "The Butterfly Nebula". As you can see it fits its name wonderfully. I observed this for the first time on the evening of Aug 1/08 with my 12.5 inch dob. I was at the observatory at Pearson College. I also had the dome with the 25inch open so went in and had a look. The amount of structure this planetary showed was remarkable. This is how I saw it with the f/5 25" newtonian at 304X magnification (12mm Speers WALER with Paracorr). No filter was used. Personally I found an OIII or Ultrablock didn't help the view. In fact I found they hindered it, because they dimmed the central star.

I know this was a view with a rather large scope but even with my 12.5" the nebula was still clearly bi-lobed and the 14.5 mag central star winked in and out.

It you ever have the chance from a dark location to point a scope with reasonable aperture at this area of the sky, I suggest mark this PN on your list of to see objects

NGC 7008

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:59:31 GMT

In northen Cyngus, close to the border with Cepheus a very interesting planetary nebula is found. NGC 7008 has the common name of the "Fetus Nebula" It is clearly evident why it has this name.

I sketched this on the night of Aug 3/08 from Pearson College while observing with my f/5 12.5" dob. Even without filtration there is great detail to be seen. I started the sketch with no filter to get all the stars then added an OIII filter to bring out even more detail.

The annular shape is so easy to see, but it is the gap on the SE side that jumps out at you. There is that bright knot of a head and a very prominent spine running the length of the broken ring. The wonderful double star at the tail, adds to the view. Even the central star could be clearly seen.

This is how I saw this unique planetary nebula, using my 12.5" dob at 154X magnification.

Jupiter August 21, 2008

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:12:31 GMT

On this evening, I had one of the most unique and special views of Jupiter that I have ever had. It was a view that had it all. It started when I first just looked through the 80mm finder of my 12.5" dob and noticed a triangle of dots framing the planet. In the eyepiece at 107X the arrangement of three of the Galilean Satellites along with two rather bright field stars was wonderful. Then in a moment when the extremely awful seeing steadied I noticed the small black dot at the meridian of the northern zone. Then in another flicker, I thought I noticed the Great Red Spot. I put in a 7.5mm eyepiece for 243X magnification and the picture became clear. It was the Great Red Spot and a shadow transit of the Galilean Satellite, Callisto.

I did these two pencil sketches to best represent how I saw things at the two magnifications described above. Not very much detail could be made out due to the very poor seeing conditions with Jupiters declination being so low plus the rather unstable conditions observing over the ocean.

Draco Dwarf Galaxy

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:05:40 GMT

On the evening of September 20/08 while out at Pearson College observing with my 12.5” dob I had the opportunity to observe the Draco Dwarf galaxy UGC 10822. This is member of our Local Group of galaxies. I was actually planning on observing something else but noticed the galaxy on the page of my Uranometria star atlas.

I was first able to notice it as an elongate on the E-W axis, ½ degree very faint glow. This was at 107 X magnification, using a 17mm T4 Nagler. It was really a matter of noticing a very faint difference in background brightness as I panned the scope around. Noticing this subtle difference required using a “Monk’s Hood”. When I put a 2-inch 40mm eyepiece in for 45X magnification, the area covered by the galaxy appeared to increase. The galaxy was overlayed by a dozen foreground stars, that to my eye appeared as a chain of interlocking triangles.

The attached sketch is how I saw this galaxy with this setup. The field of view is a little over 1 degree.

Venus June 3, 2004, Pre Transit

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:45:19 GMT

It's an old image but I was recently reminded of this so thought I'd post it.

On June 8, 2008, Venus transited the face of the Sun. It wasn't visible from the west coast but I did want to see Venus to as close a point to that transit as possible.

On the evening of June 3 at 2030hrs (June 4 0430 UT) I managed to snap this image of the thin crescent of the planet. This is taken at almost exactly 4 days before first contact of the transit.

I was using a simple Canon digital Powershot S50, shooting afocal through a 12mm eyepiece and an f/8 6 inch dob. The image is only cropped, with no other processing.

If you look closely, you might notice how the arc of the crescent extends beyond the 180 degree bisection of the disc. This is caused by Sun light refracting through the atmosphere of Venus.

It was both a difficult, yet easy observation to make. I located the Sun in the scope with a solar filter attached, then as soon as the Sun had drifted out of the FOV I removed the solar filter. Within seconds, the thin crescent of Venus had drifted into the FOV. The difficult part was maintaining Venus in the eyepiece without overshooting and catching up with the Sun.

Unfortunately after that observation, there were no more chances, as the skies clouded over until after the transit .

C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:31:52 GMT

At present there is a comet that is brightening wonderfully and it has finally started to develope a visual tail. It has also become a naked eye object. This is how I saw Comet Lulin with my f/8 6 inch dob at 54X magnification. It has a wonderful soft green glow.

This observation was made just before midnight PST on Feb 20, 2009 (so UT 0800 Feb 21/09)

C/2007 N3 (Lulin) Feb 25/09

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:46:01 GMT

The evening of Feb 25 provided me with a small window of opportunity to make another observation and sketch of the inner Solar System interloper.

Naked eye the comet appears the same brightness as when I had observed it a few evenings earlier but through the telescope the tail had elongated by quite a bit. It took using a 2 inch widefield 40mm eyepiece with a 2 degree TFOV in order to take it all in. The pseudo-nucleus remains very bright with a bright central concentration and a faint outer coma that appeared to jut off to the north a bit giving it an asymetrical look. The thin tail streamed off to the south east for a full degree.

I'd estimate the brightness of the comet to be slightly fainter than the star 48 Leo (5.08mag) when defocused to the same size as the head of the comet.

This is how I saw things using my f/8 6 inch dob at 30X

C/2007 N3 Lulin Mar 2/09 ED 80 refractor

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:31:45 GMT

Despite the rather bright Moon on the evening of Mar 2 there was still a great deal of detail to be seen in the comet. This is how myself and some of the students saw it from out at Pearson College using my little ED 80 refractor at 25X.

I've enhance slightly the brightness of the tail so that it would scan properly.

C/2007 N3 Lulin Mar 2/09 254mm dob

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:31:45 GMT

On Mar 2 we also observed the comet using one of the schools 10 inch dobs. Even using a 22mm Panoptic eyepiece, the comet wouldn't fit within the FOV, with the tail streaming off to the east.

Comet Lulin with the Beehive

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:01:04 GMT

On Mar 5 Comet Lulin cruise just a couple of degrees south of the Beehive cluster. Despite the 70% Moon shining not far away dowm amoungst the feet of Gemini this nice little comet still had a bit to show. I could even make out a bit of a stubby tail extending to the east. The bright star in the bottom right of the sketch is delta Cancri

This is how I observed it using my little f/6.8 ED80 refractor at 13X. The FOV is approximately 4º

Rupes Recta area

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:45:18 GMT

It's a few year old sketch but I was looking at this last night. These fine features on the Moon are best visible when its phase is around 65%-70% illuminated.

I did this sketch on the evening of April 8, 2006. I was using my f/8 6 inch dob at 240X magnification.

C/2007 N3 with NGC 2392

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:35:42 GMT

On the evening of Mar 14/09 Comet Lulin made a passby of another prominent DSO, NGC 2392 the Eskimo Nebula. Despite poor observing conditions I was lucky enough to get a clear spell long enough to make an observation.

This is how I saw things using my f/8 6 inch dobsonian. I made two sketches. The first was at 30X magnification giving an approximate TFOV of 2º. The second sketch was at 100X and an approximate TFOV of 0.9º.

The comet is past its prime but it is still putting on a bit of a show. The structure has changed somewhat, with that long thin tail being replaced with more of a fan.

C/2007 N3 Lulin March 17

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:00:12 GMT

The seeing and transparency were good tonight so I had another look and did another sketch of this comet. Far more detail was seen in the extensions of the tails.

This is how I saw it using my f/8 6 inch dob at 30x magnification with an approximately 2º TFOV. The bright star to the NE of the comet (bottom of the sketch) is Delta Gem, the star that is the waist of Pollux.

April 13/09 Titan shadow transit of Saturn

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 06:39:30 GMT

One Little Black dot

On April 13, 2009, on and off between 01:30 and 01:50 PDT there were enough cracks in the clouds and thankfully no rain in between, to allow some views of the shadow transit. At 01:50 PDT (UT 08:50) I was granted a long enough clear spell to do this sketch. It's a newtonian view so south is up. This was seen using an f/8 6 inch dobsonian at 240X magnification.

All dots in the sketch are satellites of Saturn. From left to right they are Dione, Titan, Tethys, Enceladus and Rhea.

It's pencil on white paper but I inverted the background after I scanned it.

Supernova 2009dd in NGC4088

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:18:25 GMT

One Little White Dot

On the morning of Apr. 15/09 I read a report announcing a new supernova had been discovered in the galaxy NGC 4088 in Ursa Major. Happily the weather cooperated an on that same evening I was able to observe and sketch the galaxy with the supernova. The SN is the Little White Dot at almost the very centre of the galaxy.

I was using my f/5 317mm dobsonian at a magnification of approximately 180X. The FOV of the sketch is approximately 0.45º. The SN was still relatively easy to see at just 100X. The small galaxy at the bottom of the FOV is NGC 4085

I gave it a shot with my 6" dob and was just able to catch fleeting glimpses of it at 240-300X magnification.

4th contact Venus Moon Occultation Apr 22, 2009

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:16:57 GMT

It took a 30km race but I managed to see just after 4th contact. This was taken at 0645hrs PDT with a Cannon Powershot S50 digital point and shoot through a 22mm eyepiece in an f/8 6 inch dob. All I've done is crop. I also rotated it for proper orientation.

Bill

NGC 5746

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:28:10 GMT

Virgo is full of so many wonderful galaxies and here is one of them. You won't find it hiding in amongst all the others. In fact it is so far to the east of the usual suspects, it's like it doesn't want to share the spotlight. It's located approx 1/2º to the west of 109 Virgo. It is on the RASC 110 Finest NGC list.

The dust lane in it is quite prominent in images but the the eastern half of the galaxy is faint and that half of the dome is rather tenuous. It took the f/5, 635mm Newtonian at L.B. Pearson College to bring it out fully.

This is how I observed the galaxy using that telescope at 433X magnification. Despite requiring a scope of this aperture to bring out this level of detail, under dark skies the galaxy is still striking with even a six inch scope.

Titan Shadow Transit Apr 29, 2009

(RASC Victoria Centre) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:57:07 GMT

Late in the evening of April 28/09 I had the opportunity to watch a second Tiatan shadow transit. The conditions were far from ideal with a very light haze and less than optimum seeing.

I set up both my 12.5" and 6" dobs to observe the event. I had brought out the 6" also, because my yard has very tall trees to the west and I wanted to have some mobility to maneuver views. I wanted the bigger scope for better resolution. In reality I should have gone to a close by better location but I was being lazy.

I picked up the first sighting of the shadow on the limb of the planet at just 0631 UT as an indentation on the edge. It reminded me of the begining of the transit of Mercury a few years back.

With the fluctuations in seeing, variable transparency and tree blockage, I managed to observe almost half of the transit. I marked dots at 5 locations for where the shadow fell. Where I placed the Moons is where they were, when I first spotted the shadow.

This observation was one of the highlights of my observing life, seeing as 50 years ago on April 29th, my own shadow began to fall on this planet.