[AZ-Observing] Weekend observing
- From: Jeff Hopkins <phxjeff@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:37:37 -0700
Friday night I spent part of the evening in Gilbert at the GRCO with
Gene Lucas. We used the observatory's 16" LX200 to do some infrared
photometry of epsilon Aurigae with my SSP-4. The data looks very
good. I tried seeing Comet Holmes with a pair of binoculars from the
GRCO. I could see no trace of it. An excellent, but cool evening. A
long drive from the west side of Phoenix, however.
Last night (Saturday) I did UBV work from my back yard. Another very
excellent night. The 11 PM temperature in my two story observatory
was 32.1 F. I tried my new 7 X 50 binoculars on Comet Holmes. It is
just barely perceivable from my location. If I did not know where to
look and have an idea what it should look like, I surely would have
not found it. This is with the Moon down and the comet close to the
meridian. It has faded considerable over the past week.
Last night I also experimented with using a camera telephoto lens on
a DSI Pro CCD camera. Focus is a problem, but I think I have worked
out a system. The purpose of this is to get BVRI CCD photometry of
epsilon Aurigae with lambda (the comparison star) Aurigae in the same
image. The stars are several degrees apart and very bright for CCD
work. I still need to work out some problems, but it's looking like
it may work.
For those hearty souls who would venture out on these cool Arizona
evenings, you will be treated to a spectacular sky, even from within
Phoenix.
Jeff
--
Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
Counting Photons
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
7812 West Clayton Drive
Phoenix, Arizona 85033-2439 U.S.A.
(623)849-5889
(623) 247-1190 (Fax)
www.hposoft.com
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