Observer's Log

Hiking in the moonlight

I've decided to go camping tonight and, since the Moon is just a day and a half past full, it may be a great time to hike the trails at this site at night. During a full Moon I have treked the entire eight mile loop without the need of a headlamp and the experience was one of my best on a hike. The woods become a cometely new world when lit in moonlight - Think of all those movies where the woods are tinted blue and everthing is eerie. That's exactly the experience. And, you can bet there will be a lot of wildlife to run into - mostly deer.

-- Post From My iPhone

Oregon Inlet

This is on the front page of the blog but I wanted to post it here, too. Lots of stars to be seen at Oregon Inlet Campground on the outer Banks of North Carolina on June 20, 2009.

The dark coast

I'm getting ready to take a trip along the coast of North Carolina and I'm hoping to get in some stargazing.  Maybe there will be a good photo opportunity with a lighthouse in the foreground.  A nice time exposure would sure be good.

Quick camp

I didn't take the scope but I did camp last night at Goose Creek State Park. The night started out very clear but a nearly full Moon diminished any observing I could have done.  I got out the binoculars for a little while and then the clouds moved in.

The sky is falling, the owls are calling

The trail is still being hiked but the blog is being neglected.  I've been to Goose Creek several times in the past two months (eight to be exact) and have taken to setting my scope up in an area of the park wide open to the stars.  When it's been cloudy I've hiked the 8-mile trail loop that winds along the creek with numerous board walks over swamps and under spanish moss-covered trees.  Lately the owls have been hooting all night long between campsites #3 and #5 and the deer have been brave enough to walk through my campsite.  The weather is getting nice and cool and the bugs are finally going away (almost).  This will start the new season of hiking, camping and stargazing.

Darned good to darned bad.

I set up my scope at Goose Creek State Park with scattered clouds above. The Milky Way was shining like I haven't seen it in a long time and this convinced me that I've found my new favorite observing location. Not too long after I got started though, the clouds moved in permanently. But here's what I observed in the meantime, while listening to my new Telescopin' playlist:

M13 in Hercules
The Globular Cluster NGC 6229 in the constellation Hercules and at magnitude 9.39. At 100,000 light-years distant it appeared very tight and fuzzy but not point-like, or star-like. I could not resolve any part of it.
I observed what I think were NGC5985, a barred, spiral galaxy, and NGC5982, a class E3 elliptical galaxy, in the same Field of View in the constellation Draco. Both were very faint but I could seperate them from one another. NGC 5981, another barred, spiral galaxy, should have been in the same field but I could not locate it. So, I may have been seeing it instead of one of the other objects. I can't be for sure.
M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, was very faint because of its location in the sky. The Globular Cluster M92 in Hercules was very bright. This has been my favorite Messier Object to observe lately.

Dark in the park

I took the scope out for the night at my new favorite place at the state park and spent until about 2:30 a.m. observing. It was a nice night to view the Moon and some of its craters and other features on the terminator. I also took a look at the following objects:
M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy
The Double Cluster
M13 - The Great globular cluster in Hercules.
M92 - Another Globular Cluster in Hercules.
M11 - The Wild Duck Cluster
M57 - The Ring Nebula
M27 - The Dumbbell Nebula (very faint in the bright moonlight but I could still see it)
M15 - A Globular Cluster in pegasus.
M2 - A very dim-looking Globular Cluster in Aquarius.
M52 - An Open Cluster in Cassiopeia.

Abundance of riches

You, devoted reader, have been waiting patiently for updated news and goings-ons from the Observer's Blog headquarters and I have decided to hospitate your thirst with information gathered recently on a trip to the dark side. I have had scope and traveled.

There I peered into the universe at the Open Cluster NGC 7789 and marveled from a distance of 6,000 light-years. I gazed at Messier Object 52, an Open Cluster of stars 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. Two more NGC Objects, NGC 7510 and NGC 7142, were easy targets. From there I set my sights on Messier Object 25 the Open Cluster in Sagittarius, Messier Object 15, a Globular Cluster in Pegasus, the Open Cluster Messier Object 29 in Cygnus, Globular Cluster M2 in Aquarius, the very faint Globular Cluster M72 in Aquarius and the also very faint asterism of 4 stars, M73, in Aquarius. Then I went on to view the Globular Cluster M71 in Sagitta and, most spectacularly of all, the Dumbell nebula, M27, a Planetary Nebula in the constellation Vulpecula and the Double Cluster, NGC 869 and NGC 884 in Perseus. And, speaking of Perseus, this same night was the peak of the Perseid meteor shower and as I observed away at the stars I was privy to quite a few of those as well.

The Fuzzy Globs

At Goose Creek State Park in an open parking lot at the end of the park road I set up the scope Friday night and observed from about 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. I started off just above the tree line in Ophiuchus with the 7.7 magnitude Globular Cluster M9, It is about 25,800 light years away from our Solar System.
Next was magnitude 7 Globular Cluster M10, Globular Cluster M12, and then Globular Cluster M14.
Next, In Hercules I observed Globular Cluster M13 and then M92. M92 was located at the zenith and appeared much brighter and more clear than M13, even though M13 is brighter in magnitude.
I piggybacked the camera for a few frames of the Milky Way looking toward Cygnus and Cassiopeia and also shot a Frame of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy.

No Moon is good

Jupiter is dominating the night sky in sagittarius at magnitude -2.7 with the Galilean satellites Ganymede, Callisto and Europa on the left and Io on the right. The moons are clearly visible in binoculars.
Tonight is a Messier Object night with no Moon to get in the way. I observed M13 in Hercules, M31 in Andromeda, the Sagittarius Star Cloud M23, the open cluster M25 and the Lagoon Nebula, M8 in Sagittarius, the globular cluster M15 in Pegasus and M11, the Wild Duck Cluster, an open cluster in Scutum. Most all were faint except for M8.

I also observed two meteors and they were not part of the Perseids. While looking through the binoculars I picked out 8 satellites, most of them very faint.