Wayne's Universe

Wayne's Universe Astrophotography, macro and landscape photography

11/04/2018

More observations from Mudgee, Sunday 8 April 2018.

Another warm to hot day with clear blue skies. Went in to Mudgee this morning to pick up some supplies and catch up with what is happening at home. No mobile service for calls let alone internet out at the observatory.

Tonight was a repeat of Friday and Saturday with average seeing early but then it went poor later on as the heat of the day got captured in our atmosphere making sharp focus difficult to impossible at high magnification. Below are my observations from my Orion XT12G go to dob, starting with carbon stars and finishing with some favourites.

Carbon Stars
Auriga
UU AUR +5.4 - +11.8 var 6h 37' 38*26'N. +7.3 star 22' West has UU AUR around +6 and also observed a dimmer star +9 8.5' ESE.

There are four other carbon stars in Auriga to observe but I've left my run too late this time around and will try again in our Spring.

Cancer
T CNC double star +8.7 with a +12.8 companion which was too faint to observe. 8h58' 19*47'N. According to Sky Safari there is a background Galaxy PGC3089959 but it is so small and faint, +14, it would require a far larger telescope than mine to observe it. I did observe a Scorpius pincher asterism to the East of T CNC.
X CNC +6.0 8h56' 17*10'N this is a bright red star in a field pretty much devoid of any stars and a very easy one to observe given its relative brightness and no other field stars to hinder an observation.

Monoceros
Located in our Summer Milky Way, North of Canis Major (home to Sirius the brightest star in the night sky). Because of this the star fields are extremely busy with literally hundreds to thousands of stars in each field of view. Makes locating one red carbon star quite a challenge.

V614 MON +7.3 7h2' 3*17'S one of 12 stars in an arrow head asterism in a stunning field of stars.
RV MON +7.4 8h59'6*8'N found by following an East to West snake of stars spanning 20 to 30'.
FU MON +8.9 6h23' 3*24'N right on the border of Orion. There is a curve of stars coming from East to West pointing at FU MON.
RY MON +8 7h7' 7*35'S right on the galactic plane. Surrounded by an upper case C asterism of stars to the West of similar magnitude.
GY MON +8.1 6h54' 4*36'S located in the NW corner of an asterism of fainter stars that resembles South America spanning a field of approximately 20 arc minutes.

After finishing my carbon star observing I then moved on to old favourites;
NGC4755 Jewel Box cluster, never disappoints visually stunning.
NGC3918 Blue Planetary is a PN in Centauris 7.5* NNE of Acrux. 20" in size it closely resembles Neptune in colour size and brightness appearing as a bloated blue star in the eyepiece. I didn't observe any structure in this PN.
NGC4372 +7.2 12h27' 72*46'S GC in Musca 18' in size. Its stars are nowhere near as condense as other globular clusters. Its stars are quite dim due to their light being obscured by foreground dust. This dust also blocks the blue wave length light so the stars in the cluster appear quite reddish brown. This is a favourite of mine as it is object you use to find and image the Dark Doodad with. This dark nebula spans 2* of the sky hooking around 4372 in the process.
NGC4833 +6.9 13h01' 70*58'S GC in Musca 14' in size is located just over 3* NNE of 4372. Like 4372 its brightness is impeded by the foreground dust and it also makes the stars reddish brown. It is noticeably brighter than 4372. I think this is because the stars are more dense thus yielding a brighter object.
Jupiter - observed the GRS again noting its brightness, reduced size and also separation from the cloud belt. Observed moon Ganymede very close to the planet following its reappearance which occurred prior to Jupiter rising in a favourable altitude.

By now seeing had worsened to poor so I packed up the dob and went up to the observatory for conversation and meteor observing. The night finished with rum and coffee and a quick look at Saturn.

The forecast remains very good to excellent with hot sunny days and clear sky at night.

11/04/2018

More observations from Mudgee, Saturday 7 April 2018.

Weather very similar to Friday. Very hot day, low 30s, cloud built during the afternoon but cleared as we approached sunset, again after a couple of beers at the time tradition known as happy hour. Again the hour or two after sunset had nice seeing, around 7/10 but then it worsened.

Tonight was all about Jupiter but as a time filler I observed all of my favourite objects. NGCs 5139/5128/2070/4755 etc, all objects I've shown people at our observing nights. It was now time to observe Jupiter once it had risen about 20 degrees above the hill at the back of the observatory.

21:44 Europa shadow transit commenced. This is the shadow created by the moon from light from the Sun that illuminates the moons and planets. We tracked the movement of the shadow for over two hours and it concluded at 23:59.

23:10 while the shadow transit was happening the Great Red Spot (GRS) rose. The GRS has shrunk a fair bit in recent times. This super hurricane is still almost the size of Earth and has been observed for the past 400 years. There is no real known facts behind why it is shrinking but it is noticeable that it has not only shrunk but the colouring is now a darker red/pink. Within a minute of this occurring, 23:11, The moon Europa began its transit across the face of Jupiter. The GRS finished its transit at 01:18 and we observed that through the observatory's 11" SCT, C11, and with its long focal length it was quite a sight.

While all this was happening on Jupiter, Mars and Saturn rose together at similar declination with Mars approximately 2 degrees South of Saturn with the third quarter Moon rising directly behind them this made for a very compact triangle.

We observed this trio and Jupiter till around 1:30 in seeing that had not only improved but improved considerably. We all agreed it was now near perfect, allowing the C11 to be cranked up to more then 700 times magnification. The heat of the day had obviously gone by this stage as we all had jumpers, jeans and some people had beanies and gloves on.

The forecast remains on track to deliver us similar weather to what we've experienced so far and tonight could have been an all nighter except for the Moon.

11/04/2018

I'm currently in Mudgee, below are my observing notes from Friday 6 April 2018.

After a very warm day, low 30s, arrived to a bit of cloud around 50% cover. John, owner of the Mudgee Observatory, assured me the weather has been like this for weeks. A bit of cloud around that usually clears by twilight. And sure enough that is what happened, after a couple of beers around 4pm the sky rapidly cleared. Seeing early was pretty good but as the heat of the day hit the atmosphere the seeing gradually deteriorated and by moon rise, around 22:30, the seeing had dropped to poor at best. The abbreviations used below are the letters of the star followed by the three letters of the constellation. Magnitude is the brightness of the star, the larger the number the dimmer the star. Then there is the right ascention and declination (celestial co-ordinates like lines of latitude and longtitude) and then a brief description of what I observed. These observations were made with my Orion XT12G go to Dobsonian mounted 12" reflector at 97 times magnication between 18:30 and 21:00;

Orion
RT Ori +7.9 5h34' RA 7*10'N forms a right angle triangle with two other stars of similar magnitude.

Gemini
TU Gem var +7.3-+9.5 tonight around +8 6h21' 26*00N. In a field devoid of any other stars it stood out.
VW Gem +8.2 6h43' 31*26N. Upper case J asterism of field stars with VW Gem positioned just above the hook. Very nice star field.
BM Gem +8.4 7h22' 24*57'N. Sitting at the Eastern end of an up and down line of four stars equally spaced, Western most star very dim around +11. Another nice field.
NQ Gem +7.8 7h32' 24*27N. Located within 4 degrees of Beta Gem (Pollux). There is a star of similar magnitude +8 located approximately 5' NE.

Canis Major
W CMa var +6.7 - +8.8, tonight around +7, 7h8' 11*57'S approx 7 degrees South of Alpha CMa (Sirius). Four evenly spaced stars in a line, one quite bright magnitude +6, W CMa sits at a distance of approximately the gap of three of those stars.

Canis Minor
R CMi +7.8 7h9' 9*59'N. Star of magnitude +8 within 4'. My go to was out by a bit and this one took some finding but eventually found it.

Hydra
Y Hyd +6.7 9h51' 23*6'S. This is one of the beautiful carbon stars. It shone like a beacon in a field basically devoid of stars. It would be an easy object in binoculars but as there are no bright stars nearby it makes it difficult to describe a star hop.

I also had the opportunity to look through a 15" dob and we compared some objects on a side by side comparison between it and my 12" dob. Amazing the difference of 3" of aperture makes. Objects were so much brighter but the detail in the objects weren't too dissimilar.

08/07/2015

I've just posted this on my own page - sorry if you get it twice. Heads up for an astronomical event early this evening viewable from near Sydney. The International Space Station will pass the two bright star like objects in the West. The two "stars" are in fact planets Venus (brightest and highest) and Jupiter that have been grabbing some media lately. The event should start around 5:30pm so be in position by 5:20pm, look for the two bright "stars" and then another bright moving "star" will join in. The moving star will start low in the West and then go almost overhead, that is the International Space Station. Enjoy!

23/05/2015

Just in from a dewy and brief night's observing. Always nice to see the Jewel Box (NGC4755) in the eyepiece. Quick look at Jupiter, was hoping to see the reappearance of its moon Europa from behind the disc but Jupiter is getting quite low now. One planet done on to the best one Saturn. Sitting beautifully naked eye in the pinchers of Scorpius, even nicer at 250 times in the telescope. The view was a little hazy so backed the magnification back to 160 times and pow! Stunning as always. I then came inside for dinner and afterward when I went back outside everything was covered in dew. As I don't run dew heaters on my observing gear, only photography, I packed up and called it a night opting for the warmth of the wood heater and Vicki.

06/05/2015

I've just finished writing an astronomy article for our local community newspaper. Hopefully the readers find their way to this page and like it. I'm also going to try and get an open night up and running if there is an interest among the community. Exciting times ahead, if not a little cold this time of year.

16/04/2014

A very long time between posts. I have been busy fine tuning a new telescope, strictly for viewing. It is a magnificent telescope, 12" diameter on a tracking and goto mount. Just in from a brief observing session. Many objects viewed, my plan is to post a few of the highlights after each session.
Tonight's highlights;
NGC3372 Eta Carina Nebula
M65 galaxy in Leo 32.8 million light years away, less than ideal with the near full moon.
M104 Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo 44.7 million light years away.
M93 open cluster in Puppis.
The two galaxies would not normally be on my list with the near full moon but still if I can see them tonight can't wait for a moon less night.

NGC4755, The Jewel Box, is an open cluster in the constellation Crux, The Southern Cross. This is 2 hours total exposur...
19/06/2013

NGC4755, The Jewel Box, is an open cluster in the constellation Crux, The Southern Cross. This is 2 hours total exposure time taken on a recent trip to Sandy and Janet's property at Grattai about 20 minutes South of Mudgee.

With the moon full it is tme to break out the Hydrogen Alpha filter and track down some faint nebulae. And here is one ...
25/05/2013

With the moon full it is tme to break out the Hydrogen Alpha filter and track down some faint nebulae. And here is one of my favourites NGC3576 in Carina, 2.5 hours total exposure time taken at home in Marulan.

NGC2547 is an open star cluster in the Southern constellation Vela. It lies at a distance of about 1,500 light years an...
11/05/2013

NGC2547 is an open star cluster in the Southern constellation Vela. It lies at a distance of about 1,500 light years and at that distance it occupies an area in the sky of 20 arc minutes, around half the area of a full moon.

Address

Robertson, NSW
2577

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Wayne's Universe posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category