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Saturday Night Viewing at Area 51 in Big Cypress National Preserve
March 13, 2004
Jay Albert
The scattered fair weather clouds had departed by the time we got to Area
51. The air was cool, but comfortable and the mosquitoes that joined us
after sunset weren't too bad. We had 11 telescopes and 14 people present
including Fred Lehman, Jim Mayes, Mike Gruber, new member Gary Wasserstein
and yours truly from the ASPB. Fred showed us Mercury shortly after
sunset. It was hardly more than a tiny ball of light dancing in the
unsteady air of twilight. Probably the biggest hit of the night was
Jupiter, which showed a lot of action including an occultation of Europa,
a transit and shadow transit of Ganymede and later, a transit of Io's
shadow. In the case of Ganymede, that moon could be seen as a small light
gray disk between its shadow and Jupiter's preceding limb. As Ganymede
reached Jupiter's limb, it brightened against the background of Jupiter's
disk and gradually became a "pimple" before separating as a band of clouds
moved in. We had a few instances of passing cloud bands lasting 15 to less
than 30 minutes throughout the night. Although the seeing was poor when
the cloud bands were passing through, the air steadied between cloud bands
and the transparency improved enough to make magnitude 5+ stars visible to
the naked eye.
My first major target was the newly discovered (by an amateur!) MacNeil's
Nebula near M78 in Orion. I had a good view of M78 and noted an unfamiliar
extension with a star included, but couldn't be sure if that was the new
discovery. The object just north of M78 also with a star included turned
out to be the small nebula NGC2071. I had good views of numerous galaxies,
emission and planetary nebulae and open clusters during the lengthy clear
intervals between cloud bands. When Saturn disappeared in my eyepiece
about 11pm due to another cloud band, I decided to shut down, pack up and
check out the views in some of the other telescopes. The cloud band
passed just as I finished loading my SUV. By the time I left after 11:30,
Fred had still not put on a jacket or sweatshirt, even though it had become
rather cool. The legend of Minnesota lives on!
Jeffrey Kramer
I was at Area 51 tonight with my Meade 8" LX200GPS. I observed for about
5½ hours (from 7:00PM to 12:30AM). Tonight was clear at times but then
a haze and some high clouds would move in only to clear up again a little
while later. This continued throughout the night but when it was clear
the views were very good, although the transparency was only average at
best. Also, the seeing was a bit better than average, about a 6. It was
mild with the temperatures in the mid 60s. There were quite a few
observers tonight: Attendees included Ron with his 18" Starmaster, Jim
with his 12.5" Starmaster, Fred with his 14" LX200GPS, Mike with his
Nexstar 11GPS, Jay with his Nexstar 11GPS, as well as several members
of the West Palm Beach Astronomy Club. Some of the other telescopes
included an 18" Obsession, a 10" Starmaster, another Nexstar 11, and
several other scopes. The Milky Way was easily visible. As the sky was
starting to get dark, I viewed Venus and it's crescent phase. Venus is
about half full and some dusky markings could be seen. I also viewed
Jupiter tonight and there was a transit of one of the moons and the shadow
could be seen moving across the planet. The last planet viewed briefly was
Saturn and it looked like it's usual pretty self. The first deep sky
object of the night was M42 and M43 and I easily saw the 6-stars in the
Trapezium as well as a lot of nebulosity. The whole FOV was just filled
with wisps of nebulosity. A beautiful sight. Next, I viewed M31, M32, and
M110. M110 was pretty tough as Andromeda was very low in the Western sky
but I could see it along with M31 and M32 in the same FOV of my 41MM
Panoptic eyepiece. After Andromeda, I viewed: M41, M34, M35 and NGC2158,
M36, M37, M38 and NGC1907, and M45. I also viewed M76 (The Little
Dumbbell) and the Double Cluster. M81 and M82 looked fantastic as they
both fit in the FOV of my 41mm Panoptic. M46 and M47 in Puppis looked
very nice and I could see the Planetary Nebula (NGC2438) near the edge
of M46. M65, M66, and NGC3628 (3-galaxies in Leo) fit in the same FOV of
my 41MM Panoptic. Other Messier Objects viewed included: M5, M95, M96, and
M104 (Sombrero). I could make out the dark rift in the Sombrero with
averted vision and it was easy to see in the larger scopes. Lastly, I
viewed M51 through several scopes and here are my observations: Through
my 8" LX200GPS: M51 showed a circular appearance with some mottling but
the spiral arms could not be seen. Through Ron's 12.5" Starmaster: M51
started to show its spiral arms but they were tough and not clear at all.
Through Fred's 14" LX200GPS: The spiral arms were a little easier to see
and they could be traced around the core but they were still on the faint
side. Through Ron's 18" Starmaster: The spiral arms were easier to see and
could be traced around the core. I have seen them clearer through Ron's
scope in the past but they were visible tonight without averted vision. I
also viewed NGC2354, an open cluster in Canis Major. In addition, I viewed
the following Caldwell Objects tonight: C53 (NGC3115 - Spindle Galaxy),
C59 (NGC3242- Ghost of Jupiter), C60 (NGC4038 - Ring Tail Galaxy in
Corvus), C61 (NGC4039 - Galaxy in Corvus), C58 (NGC2360 - Open Cluster
in Canis Major), C64 (NGC2368 - Open Cluster in Canis Major), C38
(NGC4565 - Galaxy in Coma Berenics), C32 (NGC4631 - Long looking
galaxy), C77 (NGC5128 - Centaurus A Galaxy) and C80 (NGC5139 - Omega
Centauri). Omega Centauri looked spectacular as it was higher in the sky
than last month. All in all, a very fun night despite the occasional haze
and passing clouds.
Mike Gruber
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After more than 10 weeks and $240 cost my camera is
back from repair. I took a few shots at area 51, and this one is the
best of the bunch. It was taken from the end of the road looking
north. More people arrived later in the evening. |
Fred Lehman
Since the Mid Florida Star Gaze was less than one week away, I decided to
commit an unnatural act and set up my scope for viewing rather than
imaging. It seemed as if we were going to have a rather modest turnout,
and I have always felt a little uncomfortable and even a bit anti-social
while imaging in a small group of astronomers. I will be imaging for the
entire duration of the Star Gaze, and it wouldn't hurt me too much to
actually look at some of these objects once in a
while.
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The declination drive on my scope had been loose for several weeks, and
the problem had been getting increasingly worse with time. There was
still plenty of twilight, so I dismantled the drive unit to determine
the nature of the problem. Once disassembled, I discovered that the
single screw that attaches the gearbox to the mounting scissors had
worked itself loose and had fallen out of its hole and was lodged into
a crevasse at the bottom of the housing. Luckily, when it fell out it
did not jam itself into the worm gear. I quickly retrieved the screw
and tightened into place. I replaced the dust cover and was ready for
viewing well before the impending darkness settled in on us. |
As it turned out, I was incorrect in my estimate of how many people would
show up. By nightfall, we had 11 telescopes and 14 people at this rather
hastily organized viewing session. The monthly viewing at JD Park had
been canceled due to a Park Service party, so several of the regular
members had followed me out into the Everglades instead. We had quite
an array of scopes, four of which were larger than 12", including two 18"
DOBs.
The sky was clear and stable for the first couple of hours after sunset,
but as the temperature continued to fall, thin clouds formed in the lower
atmosphere at the crests of the waves between the two lowest layers of
air. The cloud bands would haze up the sky for 15 to 20 minutes, after
which it would get perfectly clear for an equal length of time. There
was very little turbulence during the intervals of clearness, but each
successive cloud band was a bit thicker than its predecessor and lasted
a bit longer. By 2 AM, the cloud bands had turned into a continuous
sheet, and it looked as if they might be thick enough to drop a little
rain on us.
Ron D'Oria and I were the last two to pack up and head for home, and I
finally crawled into bed just before 4 AM.
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