Posts Made By: Kim Colter

Jim
I observed from the west side of Kauai using an AP traveller a couple of years ago during June. I observed from sea level on the west side, near where the Waimea Canyon road joins the shore highway. I had clouds coming and going most of the nights I was there. I was up the Waimea Canyon road during the day. The state park at the top might be a reasonable spot to try observing from. I don't think it will have a great southern exposure, however. I don't remember the turnouts on the way up the canyon road as being very large, but observing from them may be possible. Being that far south, one wants to see those southern objects. You should be able to see Eta Carina, Omega Centauri, Vela SN remnant, Southern Cross, Jewel Box, and Coal Sack from that latitude. Most of these will be late night/early morning objects this time of year.

Richard
"Shazam!!" may not translate into Dutch very well--what an image you have taken!! Great work.

Inge
Thanks for the great observing report. The Ghost of Jupiter is a favorite object. With large aperture scopes in locales where NGC 3242 is higher above the horizon than Norway, I see several different colors in the Ghost of Jupiter. The outer shell appears blue/white to me, the inner shell a turquoise/blue, and I see highlights that are pinkish in the outer shell surrounding the inner shell. The inner shell always reminds me of the CBS "eye" logo. It is indeed a splendid object. I am eager for you to see it from southern latitudes.

Inge
I enjoyed your report very much. The Coma Galaxy Cluster is a favorite of mine as well. We have had very little observing weather since I returned from WSP and the few clear nights have been filled with other obligations. I have hopes for the pre-dawn hours tomorrow. I have been wanting to look at NGC 5775 in far western Virgo to see if I can see any visible dust lane in the big Dob.

Dave
Your nice photo reminds me of something that happened to me right after the Venus transit began--with Venus just about at the second contact point and a huge prominence adjacent to it, an airliner's silhouette was seen against the sun for a second or so followed by the lingering contrails of the engines from both wings. Alas, I was not set up for imaging, but the memory is a powerful one.

Inge
I have read that Campbell's hydrogen star in Cygnus responds to the H-Beta filter. However, when I have tried it myself I have been most underwhelmed. I personally could see no benefit.

An observing buddy and I tried to see the asteroid pass and were thwarted by hazy skies and our own malfeasance. We had the excellent charts from the Sky and Telescope website. We were using my friend's V11 Starmaster scope and a 14 inch Newtonian on a GEM with attached CCD camera. We started our attempt when the asteroid was quite low in the northeastern sky and immediately discovered that low lying muck and haze was going to make that impossible. Even Gamma Andromeda was dim and the most unspectacular I have ever seen it. We both had to work the next day so we slept for two hours and then resumed the effort when the asteroid was about to pass the brighter stars in Casseopia. We entered a coordinate wrong in the computer driving the GEM for the 14 inch and ended up imaging the wrong segment of sky. My friend's wife proclaimed she had found it in the V11. I ran to the eyepiece to find a 10th magnitude satellite moving slowly north to south (opposite direction of the path of the asteroid) through the field of view. Although it was immediately obvious that one had to move the scope in the wrong direction to track this object it may have been the highlight of our night. When the asteroid left Casseopia and headed toward Cepheus we found a dearth of nearby bright stars to use to attempt to locate it.
So, at the risk of embarassment about our Missouri skies and Katzenjammer antics, that is the tale of how we failed to find the rascal. No one should expect us to locate any near earth asteroids that threaten life as we know it.

Bill
You will definitely see it from 31 north when you have a clear transparent night that is clear to the horizon between about Jan 1 and the first of June. I have seen it multiple times from 38.5 north latitude. It is only 4 degrees above the horizon when it culminates at my latitude--it should be about 11 to 12 degrees above your horizon and I'm sure will present a nicer image at your latitude than mine. As you probably know it culminates when Spica culminates and can be found due south of Spica at culmination. You need an observing site with an excellent southern horizon to see omega.

Abdes
I wonder if this is a lubrication problem or if it might originate in the set screws that are used to adjust backlash. Bob Luffel of Alpine Astronomical in Eagle, Idaho is a super guy and is very knowledgeable about the APQ focuser. He sent me a set of instructions about how to adjust the screws that eliminate backlash a couple of years ago. I would send him an email. Web site is www.alpineastro.com

Inge
I really like NGC 6946 and think it may be a little overlooked and underrated. I see a lot of spiral arm structure in my large Dob.