Moon and Venus

The evening was clear and the RH was down to 46%. My observations began early with a binocular view of the crescent Moon near Venus. The ashen light was bright enough to see clearly the features on the dark part of the Moon. The maria were easily discernable as was the crater Copernicus. I then used the binoculars to view a few open clusters, M45, M44, M41 and even M36.

As it got darker I took out the scope. First on the list were the Leo triplet. M65 and M66 were easily visble; the elongated shape of M65, M66 with a star very close to it and I also saw for the first time the ghostly form of NGC3628 which is very faint with my viewing conditions. Before it got too cloudy I managed to observe M38, a beautiful cluster with a cruciform shape, M36 which I had already observed earlier with binoculars, and then used the UHC filter to view the M97 Owl Nebula.

Open clusters

With a RH of 82% accentuating the light pollution, my original intent of galaxy hunting was scrapped after I found M65 and M66 were barely visible. Instead I concentrated on open clusters. I observed M67 in Cancer and M48 in Hydra, two clusters I have often neglected. I then went over to the M35 in Gemini, and M37 and M38 in Auriga.

I also used the UHC filter to observe NGC3242 "Ghost of Jupiter" planetary nebula in Hydra for the first time. It looked bright in spite of the LP which is especially severe to the South. I also observed NGC1931 in Auriga, near M38. It is amazing how the nebula stands out when the filter is used. I used a magnification of x80.

Saturn is still putting on an amazing show. The Cassini division, cloud bands and darkened polar regions were all visible. The moons Titan, Rhea, Dione and Tethys were visible as was Iapetus some distance away to the East.

At one point, looking up from the eyepiece, I saw a bright meteor, yellowish white with a yellow orange short shimmering tail, relatively slow moving parallel to a line joining Castor and Pollux.

Mira

This evening I finally did manage an observation of the now fading star albeit with a relative humidity of 72%. Unfortunately it is now in the Western sunset glow so comparing it to Menkar is not easy. However it is visibly fainter than the +2.53 alpha Ceti and much fainter than the +2.0 Hamal.

Mira dimming

Although Mira's (omicron Ceti) expected maximum was to be tomorrow, the star has dimmed significantly since its maximum around the 17th February. I could not get a good view since being clouded out for the past days. Tonight is clearer but thin high cloud foiled any meaningful observation. From the little I could see, the star was fainter than Menkar (alpha Ceti mag +2.53). The AAVSO website gives the present magnitude at around +2.7.

It appears that this year's maximum was brighter than average and came earlier than expected.

Total Lunar Eclipse

This is a big event so I had prepared for it. I had the exact times for my location from CalSky.com, camera set up with my 25mm eyepiece and lunar filters attached to my 40mm and 15mm eyepieces. The telescope was set up on the roof of my house (we have flat roofs here) and had the laptop in nearby room. My browser was set on the Greenwich exact time, the direct webcast from the Mira Observatory in Belgium and another two webcasts which unfortunately must have been swamped by hits and were unavailable. I also had my 16X50 binoculars at hand. The weather was good except for some dispersed cirrus clouds initially and an ever strengthening wind.

The moon entered penumbra at 21:18 (times are local i.e. CET, UTC +1). At first not much was visible but eventually a dusky patch could be seen in the Mare Nubium / Oceanus Procellarum area. This increased in size until at 22:30:01 the partial phase commenced as the Moon entered the Earth’s umbra. A progressively larger bite was taken out of the Moon. Details in the shaded area could sill be observed with the telescope. I managed to take some photos of this and three of them may be seen above. I posted two of these on flickr.com almost in real time. As the shadow increased in size, it started taking on the characteristic reddish brown or coppery tinge.

Totality started at 23:43:46. The moon was now of a deep copper colour with a lighter rim, especially the North East area North of the Mare Crisium which was the last to go into shadow. Totality brings some interesting observations. The sky was dark almost as in the New Moon phase. The fainter stars became visible. The image of an orange ball suspended below the lion was unusual. At eclipse maximum at 00:20:52 I could even see the M44 with the naked eye. Another interesting effect is that the stars very close to the moon are observable with the telescope. From my position, for example, star TYC 0261 00664-1 Mag 10.19 was only 22 arcseconds South West of the Moon and the motion of the moon against the star was discernable. Unfortunately my small camera was not sensitive enough to photograph totality. Totality ended at 00:57:58.

I tried to place the intensity of the eclipse on the Danjon scale. I am not experienced at this and found it difficult. I personally don’t believe it was very intense. The lunar surface features were visible even with the naked eye. I would say it was closest to L3 but I stand to be corrected.

It then got too windy for the scope and continued following the event visually until 2:08 when only a small shadow was left in the Mare Smithii area. The Moon was about to leave the umbra at 2:11:42.

Larger versions of my photos are on my Flickr site

The Moon Approaching Eclipse

With the total lunar eclipse two nights away, I photographed the moon to check my exposures. This is one of the shots taken through a 25mm eyepiece with the exposure setting set at -1.5 e.v. It seems to work so I'll try this setting on Saturday night. The weather forecast seems o.k.

I also took the opportunity to observe Saturn which later tonight will pass very close to the Moon. Further North from my position there will actually be an occultation of Saturn by the Moon. The viewing was quite good in spite of the proximity of the Moon. The rings were glorious. There is actually the shadow of the planet visible on the rings to the East. Just under one month ago, at opposition, this was not visible. The moons I could see were all to the East; Tethys and Dione close to the North-East, Rhea further out to the East and Titan to the South-East.

Earlier I took advantage of the cloudless night to observe Canopus which culminated at 19:49 local time at an altitude of only +01°43'