[AZ-Observing] Re: naked eye Milky Way
- From: "Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)" <mrgalaxy@xxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, amastro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 21:31:04 GMT
Benson, AZ 85602
hm ph: 520-586-2244 I wondered how the rest of AZ was doing with the strangely
bright skies we've been having lately, Steve. Even though the skies have been
fairly bright along the horizon, overhead the transparency has been quite good.
One of the main reasons that I live in Mescal is because I can step out the
back door and see a very nice contrasty Milky Way without having to drive an
hour away. If it's good (or even decent) I just roll out one or both of my
telescopes, the big one for deepsky and the little one for double stars or
planets and the moon. During the nights I look at double stars I merely look at
my Sky Atlas 2000, which I use religiously though its poor cover has recently
come off, and look for double star symbols and star-hop my scope to those
stars. I don't know about the rest of you (many of whom probably use your
electronic programs to point your telescope, though I'm sure there are a couple
of us dinosaurs still around!) but I am disappointed that many times I cannot
resolve the double star that is supposed to be at that location on the chart. I
enjoy the sense of discovery so that I typically don't check to see what the
characteristics (separation and delta magn) of the chosen double star are. Many
times I find that the delta magnitude is the culprit, the secondary being 5-10
magnitudes fainter than the primary and being very close. The seeing has been
marginal lately so that I have not been able to split stars much below an
arcsecond, much less trying to split these extreme stars. They're good tests,
but the seeing has to be very good...
Clear skies,
Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)
---------- Original Message ----------
From: stevecoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: "az-observing@fre" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Bill" <malachite@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [AZ-Observing] naked eye Milky Way
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 03:57:14 -0400
Howdy all;
I watched some TV tonight and decided to step outside and see what I could
from the Happy Jack RV park once the movie was over. It certainly was
warmer than last night and the wind has finally slowed down to a light
breeze.
Once I started to get some dark adaption it was a nice view. There are
few lights near where I have the RV parked and so the Milky Way stood out
quite well. Obviously, not as good as the SAC observing site at
Fredericksen Meadow, but it was very enjoyable. Both Sagittarius and
Scorpius are well above the tree line and M 6 and M 7 were easily naked
eye. The Rift within the glow of the Milky Way was obvious and had some
detail from the Lagoon to Cygnus.
I stood outside in pretty thin socks and tennis shoes for all I could take
and then needed to get back to the warm confines of the Winnebago. I
forced the furnace to kick on for a while and got warmed up enough to post
this message. It is very nice to have Milky Way right outside your door.
It is one of the nice treats while living in the RV.
Clear skies to us all;
Steve Coe
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