Posts Made By: Ron Bee

Well, how there are treasures to be discovered in what seemingly might have been a dreary open cluster! My 4" TV-102 Light Cup stumbled upon NGC 7380, an open cluster with a nebula in it under the sky LM of 5.6.

Here you'll find an "arrowhead" shape starting at the yellowish variable star DH Cephi (also SAO 34810), with the arrowhead tip at the star GSC 3996:1632 and ended at star GSC 3992:69. The wonderous revelation was that at 176x, it gave a 3D appearance with the grainy texture, like a surface of a granite arrowhead. At first I thought
it was unresolved stars 'cause I didn't know about the nebula. After the research, I did see what I think was the nebula in and around the area at 73x! I was too dumb to try the UHC/O-III filters on it :-(. See this great photo I found on the web.
http://www.feraphotography.com/NGC7380.html
Henceforth, my TV-102 Light Cup has christened NGC 7380 as the "Arrowhead Cluster".

Does any know if this nebula is a reflection or emission nebula? Why not take a peek and tell us what you think.

Thanks,
Ron B[ee]

Having been under supernova of work lately (had to work today) :-(, my TV-102 Light Cup beckoned me to go nip this new nova, reportedly around magnitude 5. I could see the skyglow in the east due to the rising moon (though the moon itself wasn't seen). There was no time for scope cooldown (it was a hot day today), no time for dark adaptation :-(. We observed from 7:50-8:20pm PDT.

Easily found at 22x (40mm Pentax XL) and most definitely not one my printed chart 'cause it's quite bright. It forms almost a perfect triangle with the mag 6.14 star SAO 187519 and mag 6.25 SAO 187584. The Nova Sgr 2002 seems brighter than these two stars. Having a 3d FOV, it was easy to find that the mag 5.91 star SAO 187468 seems to
have the same magnitude as the Nova while the mag 5.0 Nu2 Sagittarii is clearly brighter than the nova. Through the 12mm Radian (73x), the Nova there's a "T" shape asterism south of the Nova (mag 9.2 SAO 187580 which is a double star, GSC 6294-1465, SAO 187591, SAO 187585 and GSC 6294-1334). The Nova is much brighter than all of these stars. Double checking the magnitude of the Nova against the mag 5.91 star SAO 187468 seems to confirm equality. Color is white. Immediately, we wonder if there are nova with yellow, red or blue colors. At 176x (5mm Radian), the Nova itself forms a "T" shape asterism with 2 very dim stars GSC 6294:1085 and GSC 6294-1104 and the double SAO 187580. Neat, the Nova nows looks like a nice round, very small dot. At 220x (4mm Radian), the very, very dim star GSC
6294-2448 to the west of the Nova is seen with averted vision. There are also stars scattered around the region with averted vision.

Someone said that a nova occurs in a binary star system. We looked really hard and couldn't see any. Perhaps, it's closer than 1 arcsec or dimmer than the 4" Light Cup could see :-(.

A nice hot break from work with the quick cooling, quick deploying TV-102 Light Cup refractor ;-).

Ron B[ee]

http://members.cox.net/ronby/Observations/100502.htm

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

http://members.cox.net/ronby/Observations/100802.htm

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

Tonight with scattered clouds is far from idea from hunting down mag 12 galaxy or dim emission nebula :-(. But rather than coming back in with an a cup half empty, it came back with a half full cup ;-).

NGC 225 at 30x looks a mirrored capital "S" (or straight "S" in the reflector).

The dimmer NGC 381 at 73x looks like a tadpole. The OC itself forms the head/body of the tadpole while its tail extends into the stars: GSC 4017:1012, GSC 4017:162, GSC 4017:850, GSC 4017:714 and GSC 4030:280. The Light Cup christened this OC, the "Tadpole Cluster" ;-).

Being a heretical Light Cup, it believes that large aperture ruins the shape of many open clusters (sure more stars are seen through the 10" ;-). Try masking down your light bucket and tell us if our cup is full of aromatic coffee or stale cr_p ;-).

Ron B[ee]

Well, in the shower, a great vision lit up while memories
was immerged in school years science lab. My father
got me a microscope (with chromatic aberrations like
an achromat) for my science class); it didn't even have
a fine speed focuser :-(. Yes, my highschool science lab
did have better *professional* microscopes, but I got years
of fun out of the el cheapo ;-). As we know from the
history of microscopes, it evolved from being optical to
electronics with the electron microscope. Diving deeper
into the pool of thought, I wonder why there was no
reflecting microscope, you know made with mirrors ;-)?

Perphas the telescopes will go the ways of the microscopes,
with the CCD as the forerunner of the "electron telescope" ;-)? And we all know how much more the elecron microscope can magnify over the optical ones ;-). I would call this new generation of telescopes the, "Teletron 102" ;-).

Ron the Toddler Trolling ;-) B[ee]
PS Did I do a good trolling, oops I meant strolling job ;-)?

Contiuing the "new way to view the old moon", dubbed "Novovue" comic strip, the 4" TV-102 Light Cup, having been lost on the moon often, loves to view the moon using the CCD image as a guide (I'm still waiting for the new Rukl :-() and snucked out for a 30 minute virgil.
I tell you, observing the moon and trying to identify features is much tougher than DSO :-(. I admire the lunar observer Tom T. who can identify lunar features like reciting NGC numbers! Charles Wood's Nov. "lunar notebook" in S&T is very well done and the image through the C11 yields incredible details through the 11" aperture. This CCD image is also a good test of optics and resolution of your small telescopes!

The seeing wasn't good tonight, with wavering image but steadiness at times. Clouds also passed over the moon from time to time. Being only 4" large ;-), the Light Cup could see the followings using the 6mm Radian (146x), (using the map in the link as reference).
http://www.astro.hr/library/atlas_mjeseca/moon_sw.htm#Section%2044

Ptolemaeus: crater A, D (seen as only one). Only moments of steady seeing revealed M, C, and crater above the letter "P" in "Ptolemaeus" being the hardest. The rille seen in the CCD couldn't be seen :-(. Being too sloppy, I forgot to note if crater B (like a dent) was seen (need a revisit).

Alphonsus: the Ranger, crater G (seen as only one), crater I obvious and A (being the hardest). Alas, Rimas Alphonsus was not detected :-(.

Arzachel: A and K. I wasn't expected Rima Arazachel, but the Light Cup caught it pretty easily actually!

Catena Davy (near Davy): looked like a discontinuous arc (almost like a dotted line - but I couldn't even see the dot). The craterlets in the picture was not seen.

As you can see, many many small features (like those unidentified craterlets in Ptloemaeus) were beyond the 4-inch aperture, for tonight anyway ;-). Or perhaps the Light Cup can whimsically wish for a steady excellent seeing and the right solar angle to catch Rima Alphonsus?

Ron B[ee]

Ever since I was a kid, I heard of the story of the Old Man on the moon which has captured my immagination (and I bet yours too). Whenever, I go out and watch the moon, I always tried to see if I can catch him. Well, tonight at 7:30pm (03:30UT) with 11-day old moon, has my TV-102 Light Cup finally capture the Old Man? Please assist us in catching this elusive fella ;-). You guys with the Newt may have to watch upside down :-(.

From Gassendi, move south into Mare Humorum to Crater Doppelmayer; this crater is the suspected Old Man with the crater rim (i.e. ring) forming the face of the old man which looks like a fella with a mustache ;-). You should see 3 small craters that form a curve midway in Mare Humorum. Can you see him? Although 73x and 110x will unveil him, it seems anything over 146x is better. I'll observe again tomorrow night (weather permitting to see if the sun angle might allow the Old Man to escape.
http://www.astro.hr/library/atlas_mjeseca/moon_sw.htm#Section%2052

Thus perhaps, there was life on the moon afterall which has now been fossilized ;-)!

Ron B[ee]

Well, my 4" TV-102 Light Cup and I took the imagery plunge.

When Eric Jamison first conversed with me about sketching and I saw his beautiful sketches, I told him no way - that's just plain too darn tough! Besides, I'm no artist and my only *formal* drawing classes were one year of Engineering Drawing as an engineering student ;-), a class which I found thoroughly unenjoyable (but I can sure draw circle and cubes ;-). More than a year later, my TV-102 Light Cup and I finally worked up the gut with the help and
tips from Eric who is now my e-Mentor; the Light Cup showed me the view and I the scribe doodled the image.
http://members.cox.net/ronby/Sketches.htm

Well, my sketch isn'tt very good but there's a first try for
everything ;-). I used 176x, 220x and 293x (5mm, 4mm and 3mm TV Radian - eyepieces made for sketching). Seeing was steady but the wind shakes things up now and then. There are several things I did learn from this first experience:

1. Saturn is definitely a good start for sketching a planet.

2. I think the ALPO template is too large (was probably designed for some 10" scope :-(). So I think I'm gonna use a scaled down template next time.

3. Last night, it was quite cold (49d F) for me, no joke. I'm glad the 4" is so quick to setup and cooldown because if seeing was bad, I'd have packed it in and called it the night!

4. The Cassini Division can be seen all around. But had I not done the sketch, I wouldn't have noticed that it's a lot more prominent around the ansae than in front of and behind the planet.

5. Eric is absolute right. After I finished the sketch, I went back to observe over and over again. Then, I noticed I missed the tiny shadow on the ring! Sketching indeed does help me see more! Also, indeed I noticed no gap in the Cassini Division from the 4-inch as I've seen in the photos from large aperture :-(.

6. I've got to get new batteries for my motor drive. Even though the slow motion knob works just fine on my EQ mount and the wide field of the Radian helped a lot, I can't see doing sketching long-term without the drive. Interestingly, sketching has now exposed the question of whether a Dobs without EQ platform for planets (and EQ platform is no cheap accessory) is in my kharma? Just curious, how do you Dobsters sketch?

7. Need to go get some *artist* pencil sets in the attempt at improving my skill ;-).

Here's a pointer to a great tutorial on how to do planetary sketching.
http://home.fiam.net/ericj/drawing.html

Thanks for taking your time to read this and viewing the sketch. Comments, criticism, critique (except stone throwing ;-) are warmly welcome.

Ron the 4-inch Tall Doodling B[ee]

After being on sabbatical for 3 months, my 4" TV-102 Light Cup finally got back under the stars tonight. What's wrong with me? Jupiter was burning beckconingly bright and we went off to look at DSO instead under LM of 5.5?

The latest Light Cup craze is double clusters (i.e., any open clusters that are closed together). Although it has bagged a few already subconsciously last year, this year it went intentionally looking for them. NGC 2335/2343 is such a pair for which the Light Cup would classify as "micro double clusters" Best view is with a 20mm TV Plossl (44x), although both still fits snuggly in the entire FOV of
the 12mm Radian (73x). Approx. 15 stars counted in both, with NGC 24343 being the brighter of the pair. Not impressive by any means.

Cone Nebula hunting even with UHC resulted in no ice-cream cone :-(. This old nemesis is so ellusive. Has anyone seen it in a smaller aperture telescope?

Being out-of-shape due to the sabbatical :-(, the Light Cup chose an easier target, NGC 2346 also known as the Hourglass Nebula. Last year, it eluded us; so it's no piece-of-cake object by any means. See this great info material from the Skyhound. Both the Skyhound and
the Observing Handbook made no mention of aperture smaller than 6-inch!
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/archive/feb/NGC_2346.html

At 22x (40mm Pentax XL), it looks just like a dim star but cheating with the UHC blinking confirm the identification. At 73x (12mm Radian), it divested itself as an unfocused star, the usual mark of a PN. It forms a sort of a curve line with the mag 8 star SAO 134279, SAO 134276, and GSC 4815:3669. Skipping to the 5mm Radian (176x) reveals the PN as a dim roundish nebulous glow around the mag 11.3
central star. 220x (4mm Radian) was unable to yield the "hourglass" shape :-(, only larger and slightly dimmer nebulous glow. The central star brightness is similar to the nearby mag 11.6 star GSC 4815:2564. Curiously, what I saw looks more like this great sketch I found on the web but dimmer.
http://www.jwebdale.btinternet.co.uk/ngc2346.htm

Well, 3 months of no DSO photons does indeed put the "belly" on the Light Cup and it needs to start some stellar jogging to get back in shape!

Ron B[ee]