[AZ-Observing] Re: naked eye Milky Way
- From: "Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)" <mrgalaxy@xxxxxxxx>
- To: amastro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 00:36:35 GMT
Benson, AZ 85602
hm ph: 520-586-2244 Those observations sound great, Dick. I wondered how good
the seeing was in the Cave Creek area since you have the high hills around you.
I held off on my reply a little so that I could possibly track down which ones
you may have observed. I had about 20 double star observations in Ophiuchus and
Serpens over a few nights and seeing varied a bit night to night and even hour
to hour. I only give the ones in Ophiuchus and only the closest. It's a fun
challenge to split the very closest double stars and it's interesting to see
how discordant the magnitudes and separations are in the three sources I used.
I used my undriven 13-in reflector, a real challenge with high magnification.
Others should try observing with about 6 inch telescopes, stable seeing is
probably the most important requirement. You don't even need dark skies! The
position angle (pa) could only be estimated with respect to (wrt) east-west as
the given double star drifted through the field of view. The numbers I give are
very gross and colors subjective, but I had success in 4 out of 5 cases: 24 Oph
- ~0.8 arcsec separation, colors: wht/wht, ~equal magn, pa ~ 15deg N of drift
(E/W), 180x and 360x35 Oph - ~0.6 arc sec sep, colors: wht/wht, ~equal magn, pa
~ 15deg S of drift (E/W), 360xStruve 2173 - ~0.8 arcsec separation, colors:
wht/wht, ~equal magn, pa ~ 90deg wrt drift (E/W), 180x and 360x69 Oph - ~1.5
arcsec separation, colors: orangish/orangish, ~0.5 delta magn, pa ~ 45deg wrt
drift (E/W), 180x and 360x3 Oph - could not separate - I understand it's a
short period binary and it may be at minimum now, same may be true for another
double that frustrated me, beta Delphini. Both stars are bright, but now they
seem to be too close (at least for me) to separate. Anybody have better success
on these two stars?
Clear skies,
Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)
---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Richard Harshaw" <rharshaw2@xxxxxxx>
To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: naked eye Milky Way
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 14:39:30 -0700
Wayne, I had a great night a couple of nights ago here in Cave Creek, using
my 6-inch refractor on some tight doubles in Ophiuchus. I split one pair
0.80" using 240x (got a nice figure 8!). Last month I even managed a 0.7"
pair at 500x. Not bad for a little 6-incher.
Richard Harshaw
Cave Creek, Arizona
Brilliant Sky Observatory
-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Wayne (aka Mr.
Galaxy)
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2012 2:31 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; amastro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: taaaforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; haclist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: naked eye Milky Way
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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