Eclectic Night of viewing

[lunator]

It was a challenging night for observing last night.

Metcheck had said it was cloudy, Metoffice said clear and there had been showers all day so I didn't want to put the scope out until I was sure it wouldn't rain and the gusty wind had eased off.

At about 9.00pm I noticed that the cloud was breaking up. I decided that it was a good opportunity to to do some binocular observing.

I didn't really have any targets in mind but enjoyed sweeping through the Milky Way looking at M29, and Chi Cyg which is now just a Binocular object.

I had made myself confortable on garden furniture and with this relatively stable position started looking at some doubles. I started Beta Cyg & then zeta & theta Lyra and surprised myself by splitting eta Cas.

At this point the clouds rolled in again and it was fascinating to watch the clouds move up to and across the Moon purely by chance the clouds surrounded the Moon before covering it. At this pint it started to rain a little and I thought my night was through.

Fortunately the clouds blew through within 15 minutes (it was very windy) and then the sky cleared and the wind dropped so I was able to get the scope out. I knew the scope would not be properly cooled and I had found my batteries in the reticle eyepiece were flat do that ruled out any serious double star measurement.

I spent the next hour generally observing starting with M57 and working my way through Lyra & Cygnus with the scope. I did spend some time investigating a neglected double ES 2674 which has only been seen in 1908 and I can confirm it wasn't there last night although a pair nearby looked to fit the bill.

By about 11.30 the Moon had cleared the house and was finding anything faint a challenge (not helped by my neighbours all turning their security lights on. I thought I moved up to blackpool) So I decided that taking some pics of Moon would be the best thing.

I started with my camera phone and took several photos. I then used my Fuji A607, both cameras struggled with the Moon brightness. In the end I had to mess around with the fuji EV exposure and put in on minimum to stop the image being burnt out.

Once I have downloaded the pics I'll post them here.

At about 1am the clouds stared to appear again so I decided to call it a night.

all in all I got a lot of observing in on what appeared to be a very unpromising night.

Cheers

Ian

[FLO]

all in all I got a lot of observing in on what appeared to be a very unpromising night.

Good to hear

I confess, I threw the towel in - moonglow, blowing a gale and fast moving cloud!!!

You are clearly made of stronger stuff!

[OXO]

Yes, well done Ian on not being a wimp(Sorry Steve )

I started Beta Cyg & then zeta & theta Lyra and surprised myself by splitting eta Cas.

8) I managed that with the 5" Frac a lovely one that

James

[Astroman]

8) I managed that with the 5" Frac a lovely one that

James

"Managed"? No, ya think?

[The Warthog]

"double ES 2674 which has only been seen in 1908 and I can confirm it wasn't there last night although a pair nearby looked to fit the bill. "

How's that again? Somebody reported a double that hasn't been seen since 1908? How do we know the reporter wasn't drunk at the time? Seriously.

[lunator]

WH

You may be right. He may have had one too many pinacoladas.

There are over 100,000 doubles listed inthe WDS and several thousand have only be seen once that's an awful lot of tipsy astromomers :drunken: :drunken: :drunken: :drunken:

[Astroman]

Lots of other reasons to see it once and not again for centuries, actually. Proper motion, seeing, scope quality, positional errors etc. Could be mistaken, even. But if someone saw it as double once, it pays to keep and eye on it, pun intended, "just in case".

[The Warthog]

WH

You may be right. He may have had one too many pinacoladas.

:drunken:

I'm not sure, but I don't think pina coladas had been invented in 1908. He was probably chugging sidecars.

[OXO]

The whole point of observing is to see if this is the case imho

[The Warthog]

To see if you see more doubles while drinking them?

[Astroman]

Excellent point, WH.

Just for fun, here's an image of the 8" Flagstaff Astrometric Scanning Transit Telescope (FASTT) at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.

This scope is used, among other things, to study the proper motions of stars. Notice it only moves in altitude, and the slot in the roof extends from north (right) to south (left). It's an 8" scope, and you're looking at just the top of the two piers it sets upon. The young man appears to be about my height-6'. The piers extend in truncated pyramyds to the floor and measure ~10'x5'. Its measurments are so accurate, they are used to compare coordinates taken by radio telescopes to measure the difference in "rest frames", which correlates to the expansion of the universe. I was told when I visited, it has been used to detect the orbital motion of some of the double stars in the WDS that Ian mentions. When we got down to business that night, (we were doing field photometry on V838 Mon with the 1.3 meter), I asked if I could see it in action. Brian said something like, "Nope. Your walking around in there would vibrate the floor too much and throw off the measurements. If you could go in while it slewed and stand absolutely stil for half an hour, maybe." This seemed a bit severe, but I "decided" to pass. :? 8)

[lunator]

THanks for the pic AM

Is this the scope they used to get the proper motions that have been analysed in the UCAC2 catalogue?

Cheers

ian

[Astroman]

No. That one is at the USNO outside Washington, DC.

[OXO]

Wonderful Setup :shock: thanks for the pic 8)

[lunator]

No. That one is at the USNO outside Washington, DC.

Thanks AM

What surveys has this scope been involved in?

CPM pairs (or CO) pairs are an areaI am getting to know a bit about as a natural development of my DS observing.

Cheers

Ian

[MartinB]

:shock: Doesn't look like my 8"! Ancient monitor though

[Astroman]

Ian,

It's contribution is to a general astrometry database held at Lowell observatory. It's not really a "catalog" per se, it's more of a compendium. The comparison I mentioned is an example.

Radio telescopes currently provide the highest resolution "images" of the universe, due to the large size of instruments and the ability to use interferometry to combine individual data. The data from this scope is accurate enough to use as a check of errors of the larger radio positions. Basically, it's part of a confirmation set of data rather than a regular catalog. I could ask Brian to be sure where the data reside, if you like and whether it's available to the public. Since Lowell is a private institution, I'm fairly sure the data is available. Not too sure how you or I could apply it, but... :scratch:

HTH

[lunator]

AM

Thanks for the offer.

At present I get all my info via Simbad at Strasbourg.

I have contacted Brian on several WDS pairs I have investigated.

It's good too see one of the soueces/resources that are used in the area of Astronomy that I am most 'into'

When I visit the states on Hols I will have to put a visit to this on the itinerary.

Cheers

Ian

[Astroman]

If you're using Simbad, I'm pretty sure you'll have access to it.

If you get to the States on hols, I'll be insulted if you don't drop a line and we can meet up. If you have time, of course.