Observation
Messier Award
At our last meeting our president, David Adalian, suggested that our club members take advantage of the different observational awards that the Astronomical League provides. These awards are designed to improve ones observational skills. I am proposing that our club work together on the AL’s Messier Award. This will also tie-in nicely with Dan Demmers’ [...]
Also posted in Messier Club
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Night Sky Tracker Log
So, Since I am feeling rather prolithic this week, I thought I would share my most recent purchase from my favorite online store, Amazon. I have been attempting to get Austin, my son, involved in this hobby and have been looking for a beginner’s logbook of sorts that would allow him to record his oberservations [...]
February Challenges
NGC 891 – Andromeda This is one of my all-time favorites. NGC 891 is a beautiful edge-on spiral galaxy, elongated in the NE-SW direction just west of the bright star Almaak. Particularly striking is the prominent lane and central bulge. I really like the way this galaxy takes on a “ghost-like” appearance against the foreground [...]
Also posted in Marvin's Marvels
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Friday Night at Pena Planetarium
For those not -in the know-, TAA provides free public viewing opportunites. Friday night is one of them. This is a great time to see several planets. Neptune, (if the sky gets dark enough, early enough), Uranus, Venus, and Jupiter. The moon will also be about 1/3 lit, which makes for some great viewing It [...]
Also posted in Announcements
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Horsehead Nebula 1-13-12
Friday night, while observing in the Mojave Desert, I decided to try again to find the Horsehead Nebula. This time I had my 13.1 inch Dob. The sky was very clear with very little wind. After much trial and error, I was able to make out the Horsehead. I used my 17mm Nagler (88X magnification) with [...]
Also posted in French Files
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Desert Observing 1-13-12
Last Friday night in the Mojave Desert was great. The sky was clear and transparent. There was a very slight breeze and the temperature was about 42 deg. Saturday morning the clouds came it and stayed all day. Saturday night there was a big hole in the clouds over our head and the sky looked pretty good but [...]
San Simeon December 2011
I set up my Nexstar 11 early in the evening to let it get acclimated. The evening was warm, for December (about 50 deg.) The stars were twinkling franticly. There was no moisture in the air and no dew. The air felt like a spring evening. About 9:00pm Butch and I began our observing session. [...]
Dry Creek Observing 12/23/11
Butch and I arrived at Dry Creek about 7:00pm. The temperature gage in my truck said “icy conditions”. It was cold. The sky was 75% covered with high thin clouds, especially in the south and west. I talked with Butch and we decided to only set up one scope (his Dob) because we didn’t know [...]