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Posts Made By: Herbert Kraus

May 23, 2008 07:37 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

SAO numbers

Posted By Herbert Kraus
Alexander Wilson said:How do I find out the SAO numbers for variable stars?
If you know the object's name (e.g., T Lyrae) and/or its epoch 2000 celestial coordinates, you can get its SAO catalog designation on http://webviz.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/VizieR?-bgcat

July 19, 2008 11:31 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

book on double stars

Posted By Herbert Kraus
tim wetherell said:Does anyone know of a book they could recommend on double stars?. . . Lots of books contain bits of this info but I've never seen one that had it all?
I have made good use of "Double Stars for Small Telescopes" by Sissy Haas (Sky Publishing Corp.). It covers all celestial constellations, in your part of the world as well as up here in the northern hemisphere. But -- as the title implies -- if you're looking for doubles with sub-arcsecond separations or primaries dimmer than about magnitude 8, this book won't accommodate you.
By the way, there is an Astromart forum for double stars, which may be a better place for your inquiry.

July 20, 2008 05:35 PM Forum: ASTRONOMY

Single Purpose Astro Clubs

Posted By Herbert Kraus
One thing that seems to have escaped the participants in this thread is this: Amateur astronomy clubs can be -- and many are -- 501(c)(3) organizations, the dues and donations to which are tax deductible. My understanding is that a strictly social organization would not qualify for that. But if it is an educational organization, with such activities as public outreach functions, it should qualify.

August 5, 2008 06:02 AM Forum: Refractors

Double transit WOW (EON 120)

Posted By Herbert Kraus
Itz: Yes, I think you were seeing portions of a double transit. You apparently saw Callisto against the planet, and you saw Ganymede right next to Jupiter, having just emerged from transiting the planet, with Ganymede's shadow still visible against the planet.
Your message arrived here at 9:40 pm Pacific time on Monday, which I believe was 12:40 am Eastern time on Tuesday morning, or 04:40 am UT on Tuesday. According to S&T, Callisto was transisting Jupiter, beginning at 02:30 UT and ending on 06:05 UT, but its shadow would not appear on Jupiter until later in the morning; and Ganymede had begun a transit at 00:04 UT which had ended at 03:17 UT, with its shadow moving across the planet from 02:38 UT until 05:55 UT.
Good show!

August 28, 2008 05:58 PM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Tracking down the Big Game

Posted By Herbert Kraus
When you're at IC 4756 and NGC6633 go a little further west to IC4665 near Cebalrai (Beta Ophiuchi).

September 4, 2008 02:52 PM Forum: LUNATICS

Anybody know anything about 2 moons tonight?

Posted By Herbert Kraus
What I did not see mentioned in the previous comments in this thread is the probable origin of this silly rumor about "two moons tonight:" The new moon phase occured twice (in Universal Time) last month, on August 1 and August 30. (Since the second of two full moons in the same month is called a "blue" moon, should the second new moon be called an "orange" moon?)

September 12, 2008 05:41 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Please identify this DSO

Posted By Herbert Kraus
Thanks for your answers. Of course you're right: it's the flame nebula and surrounding area, which I would have recognized if the horsehead nebula had not been blocked out by the picture of the HST in the foreground.

October 26, 2008 06:28 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Polar Scopes...right forum?

Posted By Herbert Kraus
Marc: I have devised a method for polar aligning a scope on a German Equatorial mount that utilizes looking toward the north celestial pole through the scope's diagonal, with no significant physical discomfort. I can furnish you the details, if you are interested, but you will need the following: (1) the ability to write your own spreadsheet program (based on data available on the internet) to calculate the exact sidereal times as of when you are doing the aligning, (2) a low power (wide angle) eyepiece that has (or can be fitted with) a cross reticle, and (3) knowledge (or the ability to determine) the actual field of view of that eyepiece. My system may or may not be precise enough for astro-imaging, but it works almost flawlessly for visual observing.

March 22, 2009 04:00 PM Forum: Beginning Astronomy?

Pronouncing funky star names

Posted By Herbert Kraus
Walt Soderman said:What is your pronunciation guide for the star names?
Most of us mispronounce these names, but if you want professional guidance you'll find it in A Dictionary of Modern Star Names by Paul Kunitzsch and Tim Smart (2nd revised edition 2006), published by the publisher of Sky & Telescope.

August 3, 2009 03:29 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

The 5 Moons of Jupiter

Posted By Herbert Kraus
Jeff Blazey said:who else besides me saw the 5 moons of Jupiter tonight all lined up in a nice, very straight line.
As I write this, Jupiter is not yet above our horizon here on the west coast, so I couldn't see what you did. But, although Jupiter is now known to have 60 or so moons, the ones we usually see with our amateur telescopes are the Galilean satellites, of which there are just four. I think the fifth one you saw was 45 Capricorni, a 6th magnitude star in line tonight with Calisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa, and the westernmost among these five objects. (You probably knew all this and were just tweaking our interest).

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