Observing Report: Lunar Geography + Picture

I mainly focused on the 90% Waxing Gibbous moon tonight. I went out at about 9pm and took a few pictures. Then I did started the Lunar 100 list. I focused on the craters near Aristarchus at 57x. Then I put in my 8mm Baader Hyperion at 150x for some more detailed views. I managed to get 5/100. I used Turn Left at Orion for detailed charts. It was a big help. I took a quick look at Saturn and Mars. I came in at 10pm after a fun night of lunar geology!

Moon (10 pictures stacked. 1/800 sec, ISO 200)

First Quarter Moon Processing Evolution

I got a picture of the first quarter from tonight and decided to show a before and after processing. Exposure was 1/250 sec, ISO 200.

Raw image

Final Processed image

Earthshine Crescent Moon June 22, 2012

Here's the 12% Waxing Crescent Moon from tonight. Single shots. Earthshine was ISO 400 0.8 sec exposure and curves adjusted in Photoshop. Plain moon was ISO 400, 1/200 sec.

Galaxy Hunting in Virgo Part 1: Observing Report June 16, 2012

Tonight started out frustrating but was very rewarding. I went out at 9:15pm with poor seeing and good transparency. I started looking for M51, nearly at zenith with Ursa Major high in the North/West sky. My iPod Touch 4G running Sky Safari Plus kept crashing. I struggled to find M51 because the position at zenith had me confused. After about 15 minutes of looking I finally found it and breathed a sigh of relief. It was looking better than usual which gave me hope for finding some more galaxies. I went on to find M106 with a little difficulty. It was had a nice bright “mottled” looking nucleus. Then I headed over to Virgo! I was a little freaked out at first, I thought it was going to be difficult to distinguish each galaxy. I quickly star hopped to the general area and began observing. I started from a magnitude 5 star and moved down a degree or so. I could barely make out M98, a face-on spiral galaxy, with averted vision. It was at least 3-4 times as long as it was wide. I then went to M99, another very faint spiral galaxy East of the 5th magnitude star. North to M100 next, another spiral galaxy. Then things started to get confusing. I went East a few degrees to Markarian’s Chain. I’m pretty sure I saw M84 and M86. They were about equal brightness but M86 was a little more elongated. Then I moved a tiny bit East and saw M87, a Giant Elliptical galaxy. It was a tad brighter than M84 and M86. There are so many galaxies in this area that I’m not 100% sure I saw the right ones. I still have some more Messier’s to go in Virgo, so hopefully I can track them down in the next month or two. Tonight was a great night despite some frustration. I also saw a short meteor in the East as an added bonus!  I got 7 more Messier’s, all galaxies, bringing me up to 46/110. I’m slowly but surely adding more to my list!   

          Markarian's Chain

Sun + Observing Report June 15, 2012

Here's a picture of today's sun. Single shot, 1/2500 sec, ISO 200. Prime Focus through Baader Solar Film. Processed and edited in Photoshop.

Observing Report

Tonight was disappointing. I ambitiously planned to observe a few galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. I went out at about 9:20pm, not completely dark. I noticed a few low clouds but I wasn’t worried. I observed Saturn and Mars for about 10 minutes. Seeing was poor/average, I managed to spot the Cassini division in moments of steady atmospheric conditions. The clouds started to advance higher in the sky and after five more minutes, they extended up to 50* towards the South. Virgo was clouded out, so I quickly observed M51 so the night wouldn’t completely go to waste. I came in at 9:45pm after a very disappointing night.

Three More Messier's: Observing Report June 8, 2012

Tonight was my first real night out in a couple weeks. Good transparency, good seeing. It’s not getting officially dark until about 9:40pm, but I went out at 8:50pm to do my first summer observing session. I planned four objects to observe in Sky Safari Plus, and went to work. Saturn and Mars weren’t on my list by why pass up the chance to observe them? Saturn was spectacular and I investigated the moons for a couple minutes. Tethys, Rhea, Dione, and Titan were all easily visible but nothing new. Mars was tiny and unspectacular. I went over to M51, the first object on my list. It was a good view but not the best I have had. Then I observed brilliant M13, stars shining to the core with averted vision at 150x with my 8mm Baader Hyperion. My focuser was very stiff tonight, which made it difficult when switching between the 21 and 8mm Hyperion. Next stop was M5, a very nice Globular cluster. Stars extended far beyond the core with averted vision. Almost as impressive as M13. Last object on the list was M64, the Black Eye Galaxy. The sky glow was bad in this section of the sky. It was a little challenging to find, I didn’t know which star to start at, but I used M53 as a guide. M64 had a very bright nucleus but was relatively small. I decided to stay out longer because tonight turned out to be a really good night. At about 10:00pm I found M57, a stunning planetary nebula. It’s definitely in my top two or three favorite Messier’s. I got a glimpse of the elusive M108, but still no luck with M97. I finished at 10:25pm, bagging three more Messier’s. That brings me up to 39/110. (I did not take these pictures)

M5

M64

M57

Venus Transit 2012!!!

Today's Venus transit was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was mostly sunny until about 2:30pm, then it cleared up until there were no clouds in the sky. I set everything up and began taking pictures at 3:00pm with my 6 inch Dobsonian, Baader Solar Film, and Son A300 DSLR. At 7:15pm the Sun sank below some trees so I called it a day and loaded the pictures. Here they are (click to enlarge).

Time-lapse

Sulfuric Atmosphere (notice the hazy outside glow of Venus' thick atmosphere)

"Blackdrop" effect

5:40pm

4:10pm

June 5, 2012 Venus Transit Simulations

The Venus transit will take place in a couple days! Here are two simulations from the U.S.

San Diego, CA

Phoenix, AZ