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Great Seeing! 2003/4/3 UT

Started by Dave Mitsky, 04/03/2003 04:29PM
Posted 04/03/2003 04:29PM Opening Post
A number of Astronomical Society of Harrisburg members who gathered at the Naylor Observatory - http://www.astrohbg.org/naylor_observatory.php - were treated to some extremely steady seeing on a very pleasant Wednesday night, 2003/4/3 UT. Those present were Bob Pody, Rob Altenburg, Ted Nichols II, Dave Gaskill, and yours truly.

Saturn had its moments through the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain even though it is slipping closer to the western horizon with each passing day. Viewing Jupiter (162, 202, 216, and 259x), however, was a revelation. The GRS transit of the CM at 3:33 UT was one of the best that I've ever seen. The feature dubbed the "eyebrow" that abuts the GRS was plainly evident as were a barge in the NEB and the disruption in the SEB trailing the GRS. I counted 13 cloud belts and bands. If only the new Stellacam EX that ASH recently purchased had been working properly! (We also missed taping a great pass of the ISS on Tuesday night because of the malfunction.)

The GRS was clearly visible through ASH member Bob Pody's 60mm Unitron achromat and a 7mm Pentax orthoscopic. Before that I beheld M42, M37, and M35 through Bob's refractor.

Naturally enough the 12.5" f/6.5 Cave Newtonian did a fine job on Jove at 258x (8mm Brandon). A bit later Rob put asteroid 4 Vesta into view using the 12.5". Earlier I saw the fine binary star Epsilon Monocerotis and the variable star R Leonis thanks to Rob.

One of the many deep-sky objects (including NGC 2362, h3945, M42, M65, M66, and NGC 4565) that I observed with the 17" was the brightest supernova of this year, 14th magnitude SN 2003cg in NGC 3169 (162, 202, 216, and 259x). It looked pretty much the same as it did on Monday night. For more on this recently discovered subluminous type Ia exploding star see http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/

The temperature in the French Dome was a balmy 66 degrees Fahrenheit at the end of the session, a far cry from Monday night's low of 29 degrees.

Dave Mitsky

Chance favors the prepared mind.

De gustibus non est disputandum.