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Class Night at the Naylor Observatory, 2003/5/14

Started by Dave Mitsky, 05/15/2003 03:44PM
Posted 05/15/2003 03:44PM Opening Post
I drove to the ASH Naylor Observatory (click on
Naylor Observatory at http://www.astrohbg.org ) last
night to help out with the spring introductory astronomy class. The
class had already done a bit of solar observing with our old
orange-tube 8" f/10 Celestron C8 before I arrived. Although the sun
was getting fairly low in the sky I took a quick look and saw three
smallish sunspots.

I sat in on the class until the sky began to darken. I was aware
that a rather rare shadow transit by Callisto was underway and went
out to see it through our 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Astrola. The shadow was
clearly evident through a 15mm Edmund Scientific RKE (138x).
Callisto and Io were closing in on a mutual occultation (see
http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_771_3.asp
for further information) that eventually occurred at 12:11 a.m. EDT
(4:11 UT 5/15).

As the students started to filter outside I trained the C8 on Jupiter
using a 13mm Tele Vue Ploessl (156x) and then opened the French Dome.
The transit was displayed quite nicely at 202x through our 17" f/15
classical Cassegrain and a 32mm University Optics Koenig-II. After
the students all had had a turn I increased the magnification to 259x
(25mm U.O. MK-70), but the view was a bit soft given the seeing. A
28mm RKE (216x) provided a great view a bit later.

We began looking at the 13-day old moon and other objects with the
12.5" Cave, the C8, and our 10" f/7 Cave Astrola. I swung the 12.5"
to Saturn and then the 17". A few double stars (Mizar, Castor, and
Algieba) were sprinkled in as well.

Callisto's shadow reached the CM around 9:00 p.m. EDT (2:00 UT 5/15).
Bob Young, the class instructor and the club's resident lunar expert, and I
spent a few minutes on the moon (not literally mind
you) as some clouds began scudding through. Reiner Gamma
( http://web.tiscali.it/no-redirect-tiscali/themoon/reinergamma.htm )
was a standout feature.

So on the first semi-clear night in some time an enjoyable
evening of observing occurred despite the bright moonlight and occasional clouds.

Dave Mitsky
Harrisburg, PA

Chance favors the prepared mind.

De gustibus non est disputandum.