Steve’s Virtual Planet

SVC Tip #3 - Planets and trees

This season, the planets are coming around into view again in the evening sky. But, what about trees in the title of this blog? Ahh, if you’re viewing from the suburbs, trees tend to get in the way of objects only a short angular distance from the horizon. The point is that your plans for planet watching need to take your neighborhood tress into account. The tree line will be a factor in determining when your best line of sight will give you access to any of the planets.

Here is a great reason to use one of several interactive planetarium tools to give you a view of the sky you can plan for. My favorite is Sky View Cafe (SVC). (see the other tips here SVC Tip #1 & SVC Tip #2). With Sky View Cafe, you can set your time and date and check in advance how the night’s sky will progress. You can move the time forward and backward to see where the planets will be. And by hovering the mouse pointer over the object, you will see the coordinates in the info band at the bottom. In the case of planets, right ascension and declination aren’t really useful since the planets are drifting across the background of stars. But the altitude and azimuth are very helpful because you can predict where to look for the planets in relation to the horizon and any trees in your viewing site.

Use the azimuth and altitude values of your target and compare with the height of the treeline in that part of the sky. Tweak the time settings to get your target planet in a portion of the sky that is easily viewable. You can even print a sky map from SVC and use that to make an observing plan. Then you can even go one step further and measure the height of the treeline in degrees altitude every 15 degrees of azimuth and make a plot on a circle the same size as the SVC printout. That becomes your reference to use when picking the best time for viewing any object.

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Jupiter’s Back

This past couple of months have granted some great views of Jupiter. We’ve had better seeing than normal the preceding two months in the Atlanta area. I had two exceptional views of the GRS through the Fernbank 36 inch on December 1st and 8th.

When I drew a bead on Jupiter early that first night, I couldn’t believe the seeing had improved that much from the week before. I kept looking, looking, and sure enough, it was crisp, more detailed than most nights. In the suburbs already! Early on, the GRS was coming around the east and it was already looking distinct, if not fully visible. By 9:00, it was going to be right on the meridian. And boy was it ever there! Not very bold in color but a very distinct football shaped outline. The boundary of the oval was very crisp.

We had a fairly big crowd at the observatory that night, well over 120 people. I felt like a kid at Christmas announcing to the visitors, many of them students, that this was a treat! And the seeing just kept up. I couldn’t believe we had such a sustained steady sky that evening. That kind of view registers almost permanently and you just don’t forget it for a while. What a nice memory!

In any case, there are still plenty of days left to catch Jupiter this apparition. And you get some extra dark hours when daylight savings time kicks in on March 11. Jupiter will rise back up 15 degrees at the same time the next evening and give you a double bonus with Venus right next to it! Our largest planetary neighbor will hang around through most of March.

Have fun with Jupiter and good luck hunting the GRS!!

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Winter targets sans planets

These last few weeks have seen the gradual westward track of Jupiter. In the evening hours, Venus has been working it’s way easterly. They are always fun to explore. But the evening are much longer now, so, why not work on finding nice objects to look at once the planets have been thoroughly checked out. Hmmm, what to do!?!?

Well, check the Messier list first. A few choices there. And maybe a planetary nebula or two. Check. Galaxies? not much right now. How ’bout stars with color. Yep. Several of those to enjoy. Of course, there’s always the standby - double stars! You never run out of them. So, here goes.

First, the Messier objects - M79, the only globular up right now; M81, one of the few galaxies you can catch in suburban skies; M36, M37, M38 in Auriga, good wide angle objects for binoculars or low power scopes; M45, The Pleiades and the Hyades too, great wide open clusters that look good even in 7 power binoculars; And don’t forget M42, The Orion Nebula.

There’s Caldwell 59 (or NGC3242), The Ghost of Jupiter, a nice planetary in Hydra, about 30 degress south of Regulus. For colorful objects, there Hind’s Crimson Star, a very red carbon variable star about 8 degrees below Rigel; there’s also Betelgeuse, obviously orange at just about any magnification.

Finally for doubles, there’s Castor, Rigel, Mintaka, Alcor/Mizar, Algieba. Since winter time brings longer nights, you might as well hop around and visit some of these charmers. Whether they are old favorites or your catching up for the first time, they are all easy enough to catch even with a small scope and in suburban skies.

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Happy New Year 2012

Hello again and welcome to Steve’s Virtual Planet for another year. Time for me to get these long overdue articles out on the bloggosphere. I got so darn busy last year with work and other commitments I had to put this site on hold for a while. Anyhow, I’ve accumulated lots of ideas so I’ll be attempting to catch up a bit over the winter months.

Lots of news to come about another great year at Fernbank and my new role as instructor at Emory Center for Lifelong Learning. The Fall 2010 class went very well and the Spring class is starting in late March. More on that in the coming week or so.

But sky watching is what it’s about. I already have some upcoming articles on winter time objects so those will be online real soon. Keep your eyes open for more astro stuff.

Clear skies all!

Steve

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Back from the shadows, again!

Man! I can’t believe I’ve been away from things so long. Had a bit of a detour down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon but it’s time to get back in tune with the sky. Work, PC problems, overseas visitors. Everything requires time. So now it’s back to astronomy stuff.

Longest day of the year today. Hot weather good for catching up on things though. More articles and viewing tips forthcoming.

Clear skies, all! Talk at ya soon. Watch this space.

Steve

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Dobsonian project alive again

Well, I have finally worked my way through other priorities and I now have some time for astro projects. I am reviving the 12.5 inch Dobsonian telescope build project for the AAC Charlie Elliot Chapter. Here’s the project link - Charlie Elliot Chapter 12.5″ Dobsonian Project

I have received the parts to make the alt az bearings and the pivot for the base. Next step will be to begin the fitting of the mirror box assembly. Most of the wood pieces had been cut some time ago but I needed time and some space to lay everything out again. The mirror box is sort of taped together so I can do some trimming and shimming to make the pieces fit together.

I am pleased to be moving forward again. Once the mirror box is setup. I’ll be adding the aluminum sections. All of this is geared toward having the OTA ready to perform the balancing. That then leads to the construction of the altitude bearing pieces and the sides for the base.

Anyhow, one step at a time. It’s best to enjoy the journey. There will be another update when I get far enough to take some pictures of finished assemblies. … some time this decade, I am sure!!!

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First glimpse of Saturn for 2011

I just happened to be up in the wee hours of the morning last Sunday after a long night at work making computers happy. It was 2:30 AM by the time I got out to the parking lot and it was really nice and clear. (oh yes, the computers were happy too). But this work was planned so I knew by the time I finished, Saturn should be up high enough to clear the trees. Such a pretty night was forecast, I made sure I would take a peek as soon as I got outside.

In my hazy state of mind, I thought “The big bright thing towards the west had to be Sirius” and it was really quite bright too. But I couldn’t find Betelguese in the thin veil of clouds. Anyhow, that gave me a rough orientation so I spun on my heal back about 90 degrees to head over to the eastern hemisphere and there was .. yes, I think that was it! Saturn! Back in town like a savy traveler you only see now and then. Ahhh, yes. It’s back. A little off white perhaps, a little yellow-ish maybe. Strange that I didn’t catch Spica but I may have just stopped at the first thing that looked like a planet!

In any case, I am now making plans to revisit my glorious friend over the coming months. I am sure I’ll be making notes in the early spring about planning my suburban driveway viewing. And of course, I’ll be anxious to get views of the ringed planet through Fernbank’s 36 inch Cassegrain. The more glass, the better! The rings are up past a 10 degree tilt so it will certainly look a bit more ring-ish this apparition. Already have the Saturn observing guide handy for some more preparation. Can’t wait!!

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Busy Times!

Happy New Year! Started a new job a few weeks ago. That and the fairly busy Holiday season kept me away from the eyepiece more than planned. But, it’s a new year and the skies are much better than last January (so far).

There will be new blog entries coming forth so check back over the next week!

Clear skies all!

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Another great year at Fernbank Observatory!

The Winter Solstice has arrived and I can now celebrate another great year of volunteering at Fernbank Science Center Observatory. Wouldn’t you know that the last two nights were clouded out last week but overall we’ve had a good run with weather overall for 2010. AND … I finished up the year with over 350 hours logged!! I have had a great time working with Dr. Angela Sarazine, April Whitt and Dr. Ed Albin up in the “dome”.

Even though most of that time in 2010 was spent upstairs as observing assistant, I also helped out in the planetarium. When I could, I helped with mounting slides, wrestling with projectors and learning more about the Zeiss Mark V. Then, in the fall, I got to do my first Saturday morning Sky Tour .. Live!! with a real audience even! With great coaching as usual from Angela, I did a pretty good job of showing the autumn sky using the Zeiss and a laser pointer. I am quite proud of of how well it went and I hope to do it again sometime.

Well, the upcoming Christmas break is upon us, so I’ll look forward to another great year and hopefully decent (or better) weather. See ya up in the “dome” in 2011!!

Clear Skies All!

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Astronomical League Outreach Award

I am proud to say that after achieving the required number of hours and submitting the paperwork, I have qualified for and received the first and second level Outreach Award from the Astronomical League. The purpose of this particular award is to recognize the work and time put in by volunteers in reaching out to the public in what we call Astronomy Outreach.

I have participated in a few of the club events over the last several years but my main outreach activity has been the five and a half years spent as volunteer at the Fernbank Science Center Observatory in Atlanta. So, I can truly say I’ve played my part and it is wonderful to be recognized for time I’ve spent as “Tour Guide to the Cosmos”! Of course, I can also truly say, that my reward comes every time I help bring that joy to someone by sharing my passion.

Art Zorka presented the aware at the AAC Charlie Elliot Chapter meeting,  November 6, 2010. Art is the club’s AL representative and has acted in this capacity for a number of years. Art is a good friend and also a very accomplished observer, having achieved a few AL awards himself. It was a joy and an honor to be presented this award by Art.

Steve receiving the AL Outreach Award, presented by Art Zorka

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