Observation Log: Trane Francks

[Trane Francks]

Excuse this newbie's lame attempts at an observation log, but perhaps something may be of interest. Comments regarding my entries are encouraged in the Black Hole ... Thanks to Dave Mitsky for his report posted in Deep Sky, on which I'm basing my own log format.

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Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-06 05:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 12 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: Daytime
Seeing (1-10 best): 4
Moon Presence: Not visible
Instrument: Nashica M100 D=50mm f/8.4 refractor
Magnification: 21x (K20mm) plus ocular projection theatre
Filters: None
Objects: Sol
Category: Intragalactic star
Class: G2, large
Magnitude: -27
Description: After three weeks without a scope, I spent my first afternoon back home enjoying some solar observation. Unfortunately, seeing conditions were not very good, with considerable wind and haze contributing to a swimming image with poor detail. Two fairly prominent sunspots (0325 and 0330) were plainly visible and, with some patience, seeing improved over time to show two much smaller "dots" (0324 and 0331) in the projection theatre. Alas, during the session, it was not possible to discern any umbrae/penumbrae divisions. Observations were split across three 10-minutes sessions with a 10-minute scope-cool-down period in between each. A comparison of the white-light image available here at astronomydaily.com with my own projected image indicate that with the K.20mm ocular, I may not be able to resolve quite enough detail. I will experiment with an O.12.5mm ocular in the next session, but I will need to cut my observing durations in half (i.e., 5 min. observing/10 min. cool-down) to prevent damage to the ocular.

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Date: 2003-04-06 09:30 UTC
Temperature: 2 deg. Celsius
Sky Darkness: 2.1 (naked eye), 5.6? (scope)
Seeing (1-10 best): 2-6
Moon Presence: 4th-day waxing crescent ~45-deg. above west horizon
Instrument: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53, 78 and 210x
Filters: None
Objects: Luna, Jupiter, Saturn, M44, Polaris, M42
Description: Despite the poor seeing, I wanted to take the opportunity to work with the NexStar again. On this third session with the scope, the main goal was to adjust the backlash settings so that initial alt-az. alignment would be more accurate and offer better tracking throughout the session. (On this, I was only slightly successful, so more work is needed.) A secondary goal was to try to observe Jupiter's GRS, which was at CM at the time the session began.

Prior to alignment stars being visible to the naked eye, I manually tracked the moon and, despite the atmospheric turbulence, enjoyed watching as twitlight faded and earthshine became more and more apparent. At 53x, the image showed noticable "swim" around the edge of the object and crater detail was poor. At 78x, the image was too unstable, so I dropped back to 53x. There were brief moments when seeing stabilized and the image clarity improved, but overall it was pretty poor.

Alignment procedures were repeated several times, during which backlash settings were changed. Currently, all settings are at 60, which seems fine for azimuth, but not appropriate for altitude. Further experimentation is required. With the twilight still in effect, it was not possible to see Polaris yet, so two-star alignment was based on Sirius and Capella.

First up, at the request of my daughter, was Saturn. The image was stable at 53x. At 78x, it began to be difficult to find focus, but patience won the day and the Cassini division became just apparent. No shading could be discerned in various regions of the planet itself, however. For a brief moment, I tried 210x, but focusing was hopeless so far along the ecliptic, so back to 78x it was. Of note, I think I saw Titan, but I did not check orbital information for the satellite to determine whether it would be visible during the session. Moreover, I'm not at all certain that I am able to view mag. 8.4 objects from this location. (Obviously, considerable time will be required with Saturn to determine whether Titan is visible to me.)

Jupiter, nearly at zenith, proved a much better target. Focusing at 78x was not much of a problem, but 210x was initially out of the question. Although the wind was dying down, the atmosphere was still quite unsettled. All four Galilean satellites were in view and it was very interesting to observe the end of what appeared to be an eclipse of Io by Europa. (Subsequently verified with the Juplet applet at http://www.shallowsky.com/jupiter.html.) I observed this event between 10:20 UTC and 10:45 UTC.

While attempting, in vain, to see the GRS, a satellite passed through the FOV of the 17mm Ploessl (78x), heading in a northerly trajectory at approx. 10:58 UTC. A subsequent check at Heavens-Above.com indicated that this was the Okean-O satellite, mag. 3.5. Seeing improved at this time and I switched to 210x magnification. There were moments at times up to 12:00 UTC where I thought I might have spied the GRS, but seeing never stabilized long enough to be 100% sure. By 12:00 UTC, the GRS was to have passed out of view, so I gave up. Although the GRS has remained elusive (or, at least, not definitely sighted) for me in three out of three sessions, I enjoyed being able to note the redder appearance of the NEB as well as the somewhat darker gray of the SPR compared to the NPR.

Backing off to 53x and 78x, M44 proved to be its usual self, which is to say lovely. The close proximity these days of M44 to Jupiter makes for a convenient and enjoyable jump.

M42 proved to be less than impressive, due in part to the seeing so far from the zenith, but also because of light pollution in that direction. The farther west in the sky (and closer to the horizon) this object gets, the more difficult it is to view. For a brief instant, seeing improved enough to make out some pleasant luminescence.

The last stop of the night was Polaris, with the goal of seeing whether it's possible to split (I just found out that this is a double star). Whether it was the seeing, my only having a 4" scope or both, I could not resolve the image into two stars regardless of the magnification used. Cold and tired (having been awake for some 30 hours), I called it a night.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-09 15:30 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 2 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.6 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 3
Moon Presence: Waxing gibbous, set during session
Instrument: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53x, 78x
Filters: None
Objects: Luna, Jupiter, M5
Description: Another post-rain session spent in poor seeing with the intent of figuring out running the NX4GT in EQ-North rather than alt-az. tracking mode. Transparency was better than usual after 1 AM local time, with Polaris visible to the naked eye for a change and bright enough to sight in the red-dot finder.

By the time I got out there and set up, the moon was only about 15 min. away from setting. So low to the horizon, turbulence was very bad. The saving grace was the rather orange colour seen the closer to setting it got. Only viewed at 53x due to poor seeing.

Jupiter was suffering from the seeing and it wasn't worth moving beyond 53x. During a few brief moments, seeing cleared enough that the NEB and SEB became readily apparent. I had hoped to take a brief look at M44 before it set, but clouds moved in to obscure that part of the sky before I had a chance.

Without any clear targets left, I pulled out the planisphere and tried to figure out what to view where the intermittent cloud wouldn't get in the way. I opted for M5, being curious to see whether I'd find it. The NexStar slewed-to, but all I saw was a star. I decided that this was probably the 5.2 mag. star that is just south of M5, so I nudged it forward and, presto, there was my first globular cluster.

For considerable time, I studied the cluster at both 53x and 78x. As I was viewing from my rather light-polluted balcony, I admit that I really didn't grasp any detail. It was just fuzz, but I'm not discounting a better view under dark skies and higher magnification. I'll return to this object again.

Although the session may not seem stellar, M5 extended my verified limiting magnitude from 5.6 to 6.1.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-10 08:00 - 17:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 12 - 3 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 4-8
Moon Presence: Waxing gibbous, set during session
Instruments: Nashica M100 D=50mm f/8.4 refractor and NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: refractor (34x); mak-cass ( 53x, 78x, 210x)
Filters: refractor (none); mak-cass (moon filter)
Objects: refractor (Sol); mak-cass (Luna, Jupiter)
Description: This was a long, mixed-scope evening based on excellent seeing and moderate transparency.

Beginning around 5 PM local time (JST), I began a late-afternoon solar-observation session. This session utilized the Nashica M100 D=50mm refractor with an Or.12.5mm ocular. Conditions at the time were questionable, but I was able to make out sunspot 0330 with apparent penumbra detail. Three 5-minute sessions took place with 10-minute cool-down periods in between. Performance of the scope and projection theatre was excellent.

As the sun began setting, I focused on the moon, still using the small refractor. Seeing started out fairly poor, along with moderately poor transparency. Approximately 30 minutes in, seeing steadied noticably and I decided to prepare the NexStar 4 Mak-Cass for the session.

As it was still early twilight, no alignment stars were visible. I set up the NexStar in EQ-North mode with true-north alignment based on compass-based magnetic-north + declination offset. Scope alignment was nothing more than "Quick Align" mode, with a subsequent change from the default Alt-Az. to EQ-North tracking. All subsequent object slews were handled manually.

Luna offered marvelous views long the terminator with exceptional detail and very stable seeing. Focus at 210x with the NexStar 4GT was crisp and stable for several hours. Lunar objects viewed included the Straight Wall in Mare Nubium, which offered superb detail and shadow definition. Of particular interest was the change in apparent lighting from the beginning of session to end, prior to moonset. Awe-inspiring doesn't do it justice.

Jupiter and its Galilean satellites also put on a superb show. From 11:13:40 UTC to 11:25:45 UTC, an apparent occultation of Io by Callisto took place. The duration, of course, is subjective based on the aperture of the instrument and its resolution.

During the session, the GRS transited the face. Approximately 20 min. before the GRS was to disappear from view, I determined that I saw it, though I am still not 100% sure that this is possible in a 4" scope. Comments regarding this point are encouraged in the Astronomy forum.

Subsequent to the GRS transiting to the dark side, I moved back to Luna, where I was utterly shocked at the change in view. Many objects along the terminator were lit considerably differently. I spent considerable time moving back and forth along the terminator studying various details.

At approximately 15:00 UTC, I attempted to track M5, but haze and cloud moved in to make this impossible. Also, the last slew attempted netted a scope-gone-crazy -- the batteries were too weak for the scope to function, so I closed the session.

The nine-hour session was bliss. I have never experienced such stable seeing over so many hours. Most of the session was spent at max. magnification (210x with he 6.3mm Ploessl on the NexStar). I felt that I could have pushed magnification further had I the hardware to do so.

Probably the best session I've ever had. Of significance was the fact that the NexStar 4 was initially set up in a most haphazard fashion, yet I enjoyed the best object tracking to date. Even at 210x magnification, I was able to relax and only centre objects every few minutes. It is somewhat amusing to me that a mere polar-compass-based alignment would perform better than anything I've tried previously.

I also took some 35mm prime-focus photos of the moon, Jupiter and Saturn. I did not include Saturn in the observations as I only visited that object long enough to take two photos.

[ Edited to fix a few typos. ]

[ Edited again to add the following observations: ]

In my initial report, I forgot to mention how spectacular Clavius appeared at the southern terminator. In the beginning hours of the session, Clavius had an almost spooky appearance. The two craters that break the main wall were completely dark. The only detail that could be made out was that the walls of the two larger interior craters were lit. The overall appearance was like some ghostly cat-like apparition with distorted eyes. (Vivid imagination, I know.) Returning to view Clavius shortly before moonset offered a much different image.

Also, it was fascinating to view the Alpine Valley, Pico and other peak-type features near Plato. These features somewhat resembled grazing sheep to my sleep-deprived mind.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-11 17:00 - 22:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 8 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 4
Moon Presence: Not present
Instruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53x, 78x, 210x
Filters: None
Objects: M5, M13, Mars, Venus
Description: I awoke about 2 AM local time for a drink of water only to discover that the clouds of the evening had dissipated and the night looked reasonably clear. I wanted to revisit M5 and hunt down M13, too. What I hadn't planned on was being up well past sunrise thanks to viewing Mars and Venus for considerable time.

Seeing was not so good, but I still wanted to spend some time working on M5 and M13. The task: get a feel for focusing on dim fuzzies. With 25mm and 17mm oculars, focusing isn't difficult thanks to a wide enough field to include surrounding stars. At 210x with the 6.3mm ocular, things get difficult in a hurry. Part of the problem is that my balcony is now enjoying higher levels of light pollution than ever. While I was away on business, they installed horribly bright lighting along the river below my building. And, of course, they're shining upward and radiating in all directions. *GRRRR*

So, while finding these objects isn't too difficult, focusing on them at high power is. This is especially so with M5, which has a much more diffuse appearance than the more granular M13. I spent the better part of 2 hours working on focus and then studying the objects. I don't think I'll really enjoy high-power views of them until I can find suitably dark skies.

As it is, I rather like both, but M13 strikes me as somehow more appealing. I guess it's the "granular" versus "diffuse" appearance.

Mars was up next and, yikes, the image swam terribly at high power, so I held back to 78x for most of my viewing. With heavy turbulence in the atmosphere and a thin veil of cirrus, there wasn't much to see but a little orange-ish ball swimming around the eyepiece. I waited patiently for the blessed moment of good seeing, but it never came.

The ecliptic has moved enough that I now have an unobstructed view all the way down to the horizon. I tracked Venus for quite some time, but seeing was bloody awful. At 210x, the planet looked like it had been immersed in a stream of running water. Still, it was interesting to view and I'm learning to be more grateful for good seeing than to expect it.

Although I officially stopped my session at 22:00 UTC (07:00 JST), I left the scope tracking Venus while I brewed coffee, showered and chatted with the kids over their breakfast. An hour later, a couple of tweaks brought the planet back into the eyepiece, nearly 3 full hours after sunrise. So, I learned something yet again: Venus may be a "morning planet," but if you know where it is, you can observe it during daylight hours. I had no idea. Polar-aligned on the wedge and I'm good to go.

A note about the NexStar 4GT: The scope and I seem to be coming to terms. With the anti-backlash settings getting closer to perfection every time out and my alignment skills improving, I'm enjoying better tracking and have little about which to complain. I think I'll have to ditch the red-dot finder, which I actually like, for a decent finder that will let me get a nice, rich-field view of the area. I still enjoy star-hopping to a target and the red-dot finder under light-polluted skies is useless for this.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-17 09:00 - 17:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 12 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 6-9
Moon Presence: Waning gibbous, 1 day after full moon
Instruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53x, 78x, 210x
Filters: Moon
Objects: Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Luna
Description: Wow, talk about your inadvertent marathon session. With a forecast for clear skies, low humidity and a nearly full moon, the night looked promising. I would not be disappointed!

At 5 PM local time, I set up the NexStar with the intention of finding Mercury. This took quite some doing, as a no-star Quick Align can only put one in the ballpark. Shortly after sunset, I found the planet, but conditions for viewing could hardly have been worse (for the most part). Peering westward, the view goes right over top of an adjacent rooftop balcony and it was shedding its afternoon heat in droves. Mercury shimmered and danced in the eyepiece and the best I managed through an hour of observation was to determine that I thought there might be a bit of crescent discernable. Satisfied that I'd gotten the most out of the GEE event, I turned my attention to Saturn.

Higher up the ecliptic, conditions were better, but still not great in the twilight. Viewing at 210x was tolerable, but it was only good enough to say "there's the Cassini Division." The rings were lacking their customary detail. It may have been that I saw Titan, but without first confirming that I can view such dim objects here in the 'burbs, the jury's still out. At this point, I'm pretty doubtful.

Jupiter was up next, offering reasonably stable views over the course of 30 minutes, with "solid" shading in the NEB and SEB and more subtle shades visible at the poles. No GSPS (Great Salmon-Pink Spot ) was visible during the observation period as it was hiding behind the planet. I still haven't seen it and, alas, I'm still not sure I'm able to with my NX4GT.

Time to realign the scope ... Found north by sighting Polaris and then started my two-star alignment. Hmmmm. I'll have to tinker with anti-backlash settings again. I thought I was getting close to perfection, but the scope was jerky and unruly. Great when it's tracking, but slewing was not good tonight -- far off the mark and unsettled. (I just joined the NexStar Group listserv, so maybe I can get some solid advice there.)

Okay, fine. I don't need strong go-to capabilities tonight anyway. The main reason I'm out is to follow the progression of the terminator on the moon. Only one day after the full moon and the show around Mare Imbrium should be good. There are some nice features along that section of the terminator. Seeing gets better and better and it's warm -- we're talking being outside in shorts and a T-shirt! -- at 12 degrees Celsius. Just chilly enough to keep you alert, but not enough to make you feel cold.

Over the course of 4-5 hours, the terminator progressed nicely, with features and shadows developing. With the scope set to Lunar tracking, I could view a specific feature at 210x without having to give the scope even the merest nudge. This is what observing is about! Decent transparency, moments of superb seeing and pleasant temps and no bugs. It hardly gets better than that.

At 2AM local time, I realized that it really was time to go to bed. All objectives were met and I lay in bed smiling at how wonderful this hobby is. Observing the universe, learning and seeing first-hand...sharing the sights with my family. I'm grateful.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-19 09: 17:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 12 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 6-9
Istruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53x, 78x, 210x
Filters: None
Objects: Polaris, 54 Leo, Albireo, Algieba, Iota Cancer, Crown Cluster, moon
Description: An evening that featured an uncharacteristic "dashing" from one object to the next. This night's viewing was a race against the clouds. The sky was patchy, but seeing tended to be better than average throughout the session.

The first stop was Polaris. After polar-aligning on the wedge, I wanted to see whether I'd be able to split this double. Alas, at the time, I was unable to see anything interesting, so I moved on.

I knocked off 54 Leo, Albireo (GORGEOUS), Algieba and Iota Cancer in rapid succession. None of these proved difficult, though Albireo struck me as about the prettiest thing I've seen to date. Not only is the pair wide and easily resolved, the colour contrast is impressive.

I visted Polaris again and, this time, seeing and transparency was good. I thought I'd missed the split, but just as I was about to turn away, I saw the dim component in averted vision. After concentrating on the area, I could clearly make out the star, so I decided it was a hit.

The last bit of the evening was enjoying the Crown Cluster asterism (very pretty) and a few hardly-transparent minutes with the moon before the clouds rolled in and ended the session.

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-21 15: 00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 8 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 5
Istruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53x, 78x, 210x
Filters: None
Objects: Polaris, Mizar, 19 Lyncis, 24 Com, 35 Com (1st companion), 54 Leo, 95 Her
Description: I guess you could call this a double-header! After sunset, I checked the weather and had a feeling that the next several hours would be nicely clear. Despite the severe wind, I figured it would settle down and offer decent seeing and transparency. I was not mistaken.

Of interest was the fact that none of the objects viewed seemed to offer any colour differentiation.

Polaris split easily, as did all others except 35 Com. The NexStar's database listed 35 Com as a triple, but I could only get the wide component (subsequently, it has been pointed out to me that the close, dim component is under my scope's resolution, so I'll need more aperture to get down to the nitty-gritty on this one.

A quick stop with54 Leo and 95 Her rounded off a superb evening as the clouds rolled in and smothered the sky.

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-27 11: 00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 13 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 4
Istruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53x, 78x, 210x
Filters: None
Objects: Jupiter, M44, M13, M5, Castor
Description: Transparency and seeing were not quite up to par this day, and it made for some difficulty meeting my primary objective. The night would offer an excellent pairing of events: the transit of Europa's shadow that would be right above the transit of the GRS! I had every intention of seeing it.

The first hour, the seeing was pretty decent, though transparency was poor. The equatorial bands and polar regions were well defined and focusing was quite easy. I enjoyed viewing at 210x. At this time, three of the moons were visible, with Europa still occulting Jupiter and, therefore, not visibile in my 4" scope.

At 12:00:25 UTC, I was finally able to resolve Europa peeking out on the western edge. The change from being a bump to being a fully separated object was interesting to witness. Okay, I thought, showtime! How long would it be before I'd be able to catch the shadow and GRS? As it turned out, that would take nearly an hour.

I caught the shadow first, looking like a fleck of dirt on the surface. Seeing was not very good at the time, so I can't say that it jumped out as a perfectly clear little black hole. I had to look very hard to catch the tiny spot between the equatorial bands. And had I not been aware that the event was to happen, I might very well have missed it.

At 13:20 UTC, there was one brief moment when seeing suddenly became completely calm and I literally had an "AHA!" moment. There was the GRS not quite directly below Europa's shadow, trailing slightly to the east. Definitely not appearing very red, the GRS really did look a bit different colour-wise than the rest of the band. The band there was ever so slightly swollen and I'm confident that I got it at last.

A few seconds later, both the shadow and GRS passed out of view into a swirl of poor seeing. I only caught both a couple more times while the features were at CM. As I was observing, I noticed Ganymede twinkle a bit. Oh, no! DEW! I checked the objective and, sure enough, dew was beginning to settle nicely. I decided to dash off and view a few more objects before calling it a night.

M44 was a logical short hop and, as always, I just love looking at the beehive with my 25mm EP. It just fills the FOV and gives me a complete eyefull. I can hardly wait for my 35mm Ultima to arrive so I can enjoy even wider views.

Next, I quickly dialed in M13 and M5. I've determined that with these objects, I get more enjoyment out of viewing them at lower powers than I do trying to do anything at higher power. Perhaps it's having only 4" of aperture, but I sure can't resolve much there. Both appear as a quintessential "fuzzy," though M13 hints at being both brighter and somehow more granular.

Capping off the night, I slewed over to Castor for a quick look. Interestingly, the NexStar's database lists Castor as "Double star challenge." Challenge? Hmmm. Well, although seeing was occasionally drifting off into the realm of the "pretty lousy," even at 53x, I could see definite "bread-loafing" of the pair. Dropping in the 6.3mm Ploessl split the pair easily, especially since the two are well matched in magnitude. Interestingly, I had not expected any colour variation due to the pair being spectrally similar, but noted a hint of light yellow in the primary component and some blue to the companion? Hmmmm. Was it dew? Seeing? Focus? I'll have to visit again under better conditions and see whether I can duplicate the observation.

Conclusion: Tonight, I had the NexStar polar-aligned on the wedge and both its tracking and slewing performance was excellent! Slews easily placed the object within the FOV of the 25mm EP and tracking at high power only required guiding corrections every few minutes. Although this scope is generally considered to be an alt-az unit, I far prefer sitting to the side of the scope and looking into the eyepiece than I do looking down into it, so I'll continue to set up the scope in equatorial mode. It's only a little more effort and nets me a far more enjoyable viewing experience.

Lastly, I'm immensely pleased to note that the GRS and a shadow-transit event were both within the grasp of this scope. On s.a.a, I read a lot of posts hinting that 4" isn't nearly enough to be a rewarding experience. It makes me wonder just how much time such posters actually spent working with this amount of aperture. True, it isn't the HST, but I'm delighted with the views I'm getting. And working for that "AHA!" GRS moment makes the journey so sweet. It's been over a year of waiting for the right scope and conditions to catch this feature. I finally got it.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-04-28 09: 12:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 14 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 2.1 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 9
Transparency: (1-10 best): 3
Istruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53x, 78x, 210x
Filters: None
Objects: Polaris, Castor, 19 Lyncis, 17 Cygnis, 24 Com
Description: I guess you could call tonight a "double header." The day wound up hazy, but there was very little wind, so as the sun set in the west, I dragged the NexStar out to cool down. By 8 PM, we were both ready for setup and some viewing.

During polar alignment, I took the opportunity to split Polaris. Seeing was incredible! Although transparency was quite bad, with a hazy atmosphere and a thin layer of cirrus up top, seeing was rock steady. Polaris's primary component dished up a textbook classic Airy disc, so I decided that tonight would be a double header.

Unresolved from my last session was the point of Castor's secondary component having some differing colour from the primary. I went there first to see how things were with such stable seeing. At any magnification, I could discern no differentiation in colour.

Next up was 19 Lyncis. Another observer had indicated some visible colour differentiation, but again, I could not. An easy split, this pair, too, resolved into lovely Airy discs.

17 Cygnus was next. This pair proved to be most challenging from my rooftop balcony, as the secondary component is very dim compared to the primary (mag. 5 vs. mag. 9?). It took considerable effort to discern the companion and getting it was most satisfying. I'd be lying if I said that I got it with direct vision -- with the haze and relative distance from zenith, I needed to use averted vision to catch it.

24 Com was next. This is such a beautiful pair, and I was blessed again with textbook-perfect Airy disks. With transparency being what it was, the primary appeared white, while the secondary component seemed somewhat blue with a hint of green.

I attempted 35 Com, but by the time I got into the neighbourhood, the clouds rolled in and I was not able to see the wide component at all. I wound up the evening enjoying a drink as I watched the clouds roll by.

Conclusion: It's becoming apparent that most times I enjoy superb seeing, I'm also facing bad transparency. When splitting doubles, I get the impression that transparency becomes an issue with regard to colour analysis. I'm looking forward to having a night where I can have my cake and eat it, too.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-05-01 10:30 - 18:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 9 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 4.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 9
Transparency: (1-10 best): 8
Istruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 53x, 78x, 210x
Filters: None
Objects: Polaris, Jupiter, 19 Lyncis, 25 Com, 35 Com, 54 Leo, 95 Her, Albireo, 17 Cygnus, Algieba, Algorab, cor Caroli, delta Cep, delta Ser, epsilon Boo, 61 Cygnus, epsilon Lyr 1 & 2, Dabih, epsilon Peg, eta Cas, kappa Boo, Mizar, nu Dra
Description: What a perfect combination of seeing and transparency this night! I watched during the course of the day to see how the haze of the mid-afternoon might clear and was awarded with one of the clearest nights I can remember here in Tokyo. I also successfully experimented with a blind on my rooftop balcony to see just how good things can get without dragging my scope off to the hilltop some 30 minutes away. As it turned out, the blind and conditions combined to make this a memorable night of splitting doubles. Many I'd visited before and were becoming old friends, but just as many were new to me.

Polaris: While setting up the NexStar prior to alignment, I decided to take a look at Polaris. At only 78x, the dim companion in this pair was quite apparent. This made it clear to me just how good the transparency would be for the session. I bumped up to 210x and thought I could catch a bit of blue in the companion. This was the first time I've managed to catch any colour difference in this pair.

Jupiter: As I fully intended this to be a doubles session, I really didn't spend much time looking for detail on the big planet. Mainly, I stayed with it long enough to determine that the scope had cooled down sufficiently for some of the tighter splits I'd be doing later in the evening. As the difference between inside- and outside temperatures was reasonably close when I began setting up at around 7:15 PM local time, it only took about 45 minutes before the image stabilized nicely. During the cool-down period. all three kids took in the view. My eldest daughter (7) surprised me by quoting the names of the Galilean satellites and then proceeding to ask which of the moons was not visible and why. We went into the house and fired up the GALSAT v5.3 program under dosemu where we determined that Io was hiding behind the planet. We then took this opportunity to drop by shallowsky.com and use the Juplet applet to see whether the GRS would be visible tonight. It wouldn't be. With that information, she lost interest.

19 Lyncis: With the scope cooled, I ventured to this double to see whether I could discern any colour differences between the pair. I couldn't and due to the conditions, I'm convinced I won't.

24 Com: This is one of my favourite doubles so far. It looked very nice at 78x, but 210x really brings out the colour in the Airy discs. While the image is sharp enough at 210x, the lack of contrast makes me wonder whether I'd do well to upgrade from my generic "Taiwan" Ploessl. I'll know better when I receive my 10mm Ultima in the coming week.

35 Com: Another easy 78x split in the 17mm Taiwan Ploessl. Although I might be less than delighted with the 6.3mm unit, the 17mm Ploessl always impresses me with its decent contrast and sharpness. 35 Com generally takes 210x and averted vision when transparency and seeing is poor. Tonight made for short work.

54 Leo: The split was already apparent at 53x with the 25mm SMA EP and looked very nice at 78x. This yellow primary and bluish companion is lovely.

95 Her: Another nice pair at 78x, the components of this double are very nicely matched in magnitude. The SW component appeared to have a yellow-orange hue to it, while its NE component had a flare of green to it. I know "green" isn't a valid star colour, but, hey, one calls 'em as one sees 'em. Very, very pretty tonight.

Albireo: This is probably one of the most profound coloured pairs and is easily split on pretty much anything. At 78x, this pair is positively stunning. At the time of observation, there was a slight "swimming" of the first diffraction ring and it rather added to the attractiveness of the pair. From my notebook: Best @ 78x -- STUNNING!

17 Cygnus: This was a nice, easy split @210x. I noted that at this magnification, there was a low-magnitude star some ~100 arcsec east (I think) of the companion. I cannot identify this star with Xplns or KStars as I belive it is too faint for their catalogs. It appears to be ~9th magnitude? Oh, well. Great contrast on this double, according to my notes.

Algieba: This was a fun one. The batteries were beginning to fade a bit on the NexStar and slewing was several degrees off-course. With good transparency, it was actually pretty easy to find gamma Leonis with the StarPointer and slew the scope to the target manually. It was so fun, in fact, that I decided to let the batteries go till the scope quit. Thusly armed with red flashlight and planisphere, I used go-to and then manually corrected it based on old-fashioned techniques. Who says go-to scopes keep you from learning the sky? Getting there was rewarding enough, but seeing the tight couplet with touching diffraction rings gave me a shiver. This was my first time visiting this pair and, man, am I impressed. From the notebook: "@210x, companion bluish -- stunningly tight and beautiful." I spent a lot of time admiring this pair.

Algorab: Getting there wasn't very difficult and it split cleanly at 53x and looked its best at 78x. I might have viewed at 210x but for the fact that I was looking straight across the roof of my building and things looked very odd. In-/out-focusing produced semi-circle diffraction patterns, so no point in going up in magnification.

cor Caroli: Brilliant primary and secondary components. Easy split at 53x, best at 78x. Strikes me as very "diamond-like." I spent quite a few minutes admiring this pair.

delta Cep: Easily split at 53x and pretty at 78x, but "lovely colour at 210x -- yellow primary and blue companion."

delta Ser: Oh, this one gave me problems. At 53x and 78x, I couldn't really even be sure I was on the right star. At 210x, I just couldn't grok the secondary component unless I slightly averted my vision. When looking at the primary, the secondary consistently fell into my blind spot. I think at times like this, with great seeing and transparency, doubles work might actually benefit from exceeding the old 50x-60x/inch rule. Maybe a 2x Ultima barlow to go with my 10mm Ultima EP? This warrants serious consideration. Getting enough separation to avoid my blind spot would be nice, even at the risk of soft focus. Anyway, I got the pair, but I found the tight coupling combined with the dimness of the companion to make this one a tough-but-satisfying split.

epsilon Boo: To be honest, I'm not 100% sure I got this and will revisit this one another time. My info calls for a separation of ~3 arcsecs and I would expect to see this pretty cleanly at 210x. What I got was a "bump" right on the diffraction ring of the primary. I think if I'm going to be positive to nail this one, I need a bit more magnification. IIRC, the secondary is around mag. 4.9, which makes for pretty severe magnitude contrast so close to the mag 2.5 primary.

61 Cygnus: Nice yellow-blue pair ~30 arcsec separation.

epsilon Lyr 1 & 2: This one caused me some trouble. First, the NexStar's batteries finally failed during my attempts to find this quadruple star. Second, I found that the NexStar's database calls ep Lyr 1 a mag. 6 star. So, while the batteries were running out, here I was looking for dimmer stars than the pair so obviously right before my eyes. When the batteries died, I took the opportunity to check Xplns and discovered that both primaries of ep Lyr 1 & 2 were brighter ~mag. 5 stars. Well, in with the new batteries and align the scope. Slew to this neck of the woods and I see the two epsilon stars. Centered, I couldn't determine anything at 53x. At 78x, focusing was a bit weird. Hmmmm. This is it? At 210x, WOW, wouldja look at that! One couplet stacked vertically in the EP, the other stacked horizontally. Incredible! Absolutely fantastic! In each pair, the secondary sat nicely inside the diffraction ring of the primary. At 210x, I'm pushing my ability to resolve these components and really would like just a bit more grunt. A 2x barlow to go with my 10mm Ultima is really starting to seem like a good idea now.

Dabih: 205 arcsecs? Man, that one's wide!

epsilon Peg: "Another wide one."

eta Cas: Ah, now this one was nice after the previous two. Lovely coloured double that looked really pretty at 78x.

kappa Boo: Oh, I like this one, too. According to my notes: "Absolutely sweet with its white primary and blue companion. Best @ 210x thanks to perfect Airy discs."

Mizar: This was my first double, thanks to it being so recognizable in the sky. As such, I like to visit it from time to time and tonight was no different. By this time, however, the Dipper had rotated far to the northwest, so although it looked nice at 210x, those picture-perfect Airy discs and diffraction rings were beginning to suffer.

nu Dra: My last stop of the night at nearly 3 AM local time. nu Dra is a nice equal-magnitude pair that, in my opinion, is most notable for the pretty star field that is immediately adjacent to it. I spent most of my time looking at this pair at 53x (25mm SMA) and will undoubtedly like it even more when my 35mm Ultima arrives next week.

Conclusion: A marathon session last night, to be sure, and I'm suffering for it today. Man-oh-man, though, was it worth it. After I had turned off the scope and was just kicking back on the lawn chair, I enjoyed more stars than I've ever seen with the naked eye here in Tokyo. My words blurted unbidden: "There's just so much to see!" Slewing woes were fun rather than frustrating and it was really enjoyable to see that I could overcome slews as much as 10 degrees off the target. Go-To scopes are great when they work, but there's no substitute for being able to figure out where you are so you can get to where you want to be.

My "blind" setup -- literally an old wicker partition that we no longer use -- worked really, really well to block the light from the hallway adjacent to my balcony. For the time being, I'll continue to use that, but I'm now considering using something like a SkyTent as the ideal solution for protection from both light and wind while viewing on my rooftop balcony.

What a super night!

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-05-07 05:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 26 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: Daytime
Seeing (1-10 best): 5, but intermittent cloud
Moon Presence: Not visible
Instrument: NexStar 4 GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 38x (35mm Ultima), 53x (25mm SMA)
Filters: Celestron solar filter
Objects: Sol
Category: Intragalactic star
Class: G2, large
Magnitude: -27
Description: The much awaited Mercury transit proved to be an amazing bit of happy coincidence. The weather forecast was for overcast skies and rain. My order had not arrived from Hands On Optics yet, so even if things were to clear enough to view the transit, I'd be stuck with the little refractor and the projection theatre. This was not my idea of fun. So, you can imagine my surprise as the clouds broke about 3 hours before the beginning of the event. About 2 hours before the event, the courier arrived with my order. I quickly prepared the scope for the event to come.

At 5:12 UT, I noticed an indentation in the side of the limb. Wow. It's showtime! Over the next minute, any doubt I had would be removed. Mercury was there, alive and well.

I enjoyed reasonably good seeing for the first hour, but the clouds became less intermittent and much more persistent over the course of the afternoon. I attempted some images and got one that is reasonable and attempted a stack of a bunch of less-"equal" specimens. Alas, I seem to have a lot to learn.

All in all, it was a memorable event. I was extremely pleased with the performance of the NexStar and the solar filter. I got a nice sunburn. And it's really cool that my first experience with a Baader solar filter just happened to coincide with such a major event.

A great day in every regard.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-05-28 01:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 26 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: Daytime
Seeing (1-10 best): 3
Transparency (1-10 best): 3, with intermittent cloud
Moon Presence: Not visible
Instrument: NexStar 4 GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 38x (35mm Ultima), 53x (25mm SMA), 78x (17mm Ploessl)
Filters: Celestron solar filter
Objects: Sol
Category: Intragalactic star
Class: G2, large
Magnitude: -27
Description: The first reasonably clear day in bloody eons! And with the sun shining, I was itching to take a look at sunspot AR0365. I'd been following AR0365 on SpaceWeather.com and its quick development promised a great view. Furthermore, I was interested to see what the recent solar flares from this area might leave behind in the way of a calling card.

Setting up the NexStar for daytime use is a simple matter. I level the tripod, use a compass-offset to align to true north and then mount the scope. The arm and base of the scope are marked so finding north and level is a snap. Set the date/time and I'm good to go.

AR0365 was, indeed, quite a sight. The atmosphere was very turbulent and much of the time was spent waiting for a moment of steadiness before detail would, once again, be lost. The spot itself is complex, with multiple mid-sized areas of umbra surrounded by a much larger area of penumbra. The penumbra, as hoped, did show indications of the recent flare activity by having several broad swaths of plage cutting through the penumbra. I managed to get a couple of shots, which can be viewed in the following discussion thread: http://forums.astronomydaily.com/viewtopic.php?t=686

AR0368 is a much more compact and calm area that is showing little signs of growth. Still, there was discernible plage separating the two primary spots.

AR0373 rested very close to the limb and seeing made it difficult to make out much detail. It seemed very circular with a balanced amount of penumbra surrounding the umbral area. Some plage "rivers" could be detected in the general area around the darkened limb.

It was great to be outside with the scope again after a very long wait.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-05-28 10:30 - 18:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 14 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 6
Transparency: (1-10 best): 5
Instruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 38x (35mm Ultima), 53x (25mm SMA), 78x (17mm Ploessl), 132x (10mm Ultima), 210x (6.3mm Ploessl)
Filters: None
Objects: Jupiter, eta Cas, Polaris, 19 Lyncis, M44, iota Cancer, Crown Cluster, 54 Leo, Coma Star Cluster, M40, 24 Com, Cor Caroli, Mizar, kappa Boo, epsilon Boo, M5, 17 Cygnus, Mars, Uranus
Description: As day turned to dusk, I stepped outside and saw to my delight that the clouds from the afternoon were gone and that transparency looked good. I wasn't hoping for too much in the way of seeing, based on my solar observing earlier in the day, but I'd settle for just about anything it's been so long since I had a good night out.

Note: most objects follow no particular order. I was - ahem - lax about keeping a log as I was too happy keeping my eye glued to the eyepiece.

Jupiter: I didn't really have an agenda this night, but Jupiter was still reasonably high, so I went there first. Detail was pretty much as usual, though during moments of steady seeing, I thought I could catch a hint of an additional band besides my usual 2 equatorial bands and polar shadings. This was with the 10mm Ultima, so on a night with better seeing and transparency, it's possible that this EP will net me more detail than any of my other EP's. If this proves to be the case, I might be going to Ultimas all across the board. No GRS or moon antics would be visible this night. Even so, I stayed put for nearly an hour enjoying the rich detail.

eta Cas: Once this double had climbed high enough, I took a peek. I really like this double. Transparency is an issue and when transparency is good, the dim secondary can look almost purple. I didn't quite get purple, but the pair was definitely yellowish and dim blue. Very pretty and very much worth the wait.

Polaris: Nothing special for you polar-aligners, I know, but I always enjoy testing transparency by how well I can make out the dim, blue companion. This night, the little guy was kind of hard to make out. Viewing early in the session didn't help, I suppose.

19 Lyncis: The Lynx might get panned by a lot of folks for not having anything to offer small scopes, but it's not completely true. There are more than a few doubles there worth seeing. 19 Lyncis is a pleasant split, with reasonably equal magnitudes. I usually see this pair as white/white, but tonight the primary looked to have a hint of yellow. Odd.

M44: Before it slid too far down the sky, I wanted to have a look at the Beehive. Unfortunately, I got there a bit late to see most of the dimmer stars in the cluster, but it was still a satisfying view. In my 8x22 mini-binos, it was somewhat less satisfying, but still fun to find. These aren't naked-eye stars where I live.

iota Cancer: I love doubles, especially yellow-blue pairs. This is a nice short hop from M44. The pair was low enough in the sky that the yellow primary seemed to subtly change colour as I viewed. Beautiful!

Crown Cluster: I slewed to this object to check out the view with my 35mm Ultima. The more I use this EP, the more I like it. The view of the cluster was pleasant, though not so heavily populated thanks to a bit of cirrus blowing through.

54 Leo: I managed to catch this one just about at zenith. This is another nice pair with a blue secondary. The primary had a wee hint of green tonight, which is something I haven't seen before. Very, very pretty. It just goes to show you that it pays to become old friends with these things.

Coma Star Cluster: Time to grab the binos! Although I enjoyed slewing through the long swath of stars here, with each nudge creating a new view in the EP, a 7-degree view in the binos is a great way to sit back and relax. So pretty!

M40: Okay, where's the nebulosity? ;^) I hunted for this and I thought I found it, but I sure couldn't see any nebulosity, even with an LPR filter. Hmmmm. I'll visit this one again on a night of better seeing.

24 Com: This one ranks right up there with Albireo, IMO. The primary had a nice orange hue to it and the contrast with the blue secondary makes for a very pretty sight. A night with doubles is always that much nicer when I can view this one.

Cor Caroli: alpha Canes Venatici might be an easy split, but its light yellow and subdued blue components make for a very pretty site. Very wide (~20 arcsecs?), but worth a look. Pretty close to NGC 5005, so you can stop off for a look to break up all those faint fuzzies.

Mizar: Nobody splits this one, right? I just think zeta UrMaj looks great in the 35mm EP. Low power lets me split an easy-but-attractive double and take in a nice starfield at the same time. Hard to beat that.

kappa Boo: Okay, so I'm a sucker for coloured doubles. This pair has a white primary and a blue secondary. The secondary is 2 magnitudes dimmer than the primary and I think this adds to the contrast. Nice.

epsilon Boo: I keep looking and I keep having trouble with this one. I've been lazy and haven't gotten around to making a hexagonal mask for the scope yet, so I haven't had a chance to experiment with diffraction spikes to help split this one. The way the dim secondary hides in my scope's diffraction ring is maddening. Yellow-orange in the primary. I can't tell you the colour I saw in the secondary because that darn diffraction ring is so bright.

M5: Rule #1 - When viewing diffuse objects with small aperture, do so under dark, clear skies. Just a smudge. Oh, well.

17 Cygnus: I like this one for the contrast. It's not a tight pair, but it has great magnitude contrast. I think the dim component is around mag. 10.5, which makes it the dimmest confirmed star I've gotten on my balcony in the wee hours. Split @210x for the challenge and then backed off to 38x to take in the adjacent stars. It's nice in that area, I think.

Mars: In all the times I've tried to look at Mars with the old refractor, all I got was the tiniest pinkish ball with flare off the side. The first few times with the NexStar weren't much better. It was a bigger pinkish ball, but there was zip, nada, no detail. Hmmm. Reading some s.a.a. articles, however, got me to thinking that it might be time to take another look. Man, am I ever glad I did. Is that a polar ice cap? Either seeing played tricks with me or I saw a polar ice cap. Cool. Cold even. A few times when things settled down, I think I might have glimpsed Syrtis Major, but I'd need to see it again to convince myself. "I'll be back."

Uranus: Last stop for the night. This is one planet I'd never viewed before. I didn't expect much of anything except to resolve it to a disc. I was very surprised when I cranked up the power and caught a blue hue. Pale, but nice all the same. This will be worth a look from time to time.

Notes about the scope: The NexStar 4 GT was a total dog tonight. It was if this were a completely different scope. Alignment stars chosen by the scope were way off, slews were grotesque and, worst of all, the motor in the base occasionally sounded as though it were going to break. Slews, normally loud on this scope, howled in protest. I used it anyway (it's under warranty) and by the end of the evening, things were peachy again. Very weird. I wonder if my earlier session under the hot sun baked things a bit too much. Maybe throwing a white t-shirt over the base would be good during solar observation sessions.

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Beginner
Date: 2003-06-06 10:30 - 18:00 UTC
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 16 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: 3.0 mag. (naked eye)
Seeing (1-10 best): 6
Transparency: (1-10 best): 4
Instruments: NexStar 4GT D=102mm f/13 Mak-Cass
Magnification: 38x (35mm Ultima), 53x (25mm SMA), 78x (17mm Ploessl), 132x (10mm Ultima), 210x (6.3mm Ploessl)
Filters: None
Objects: Moon, eta Cas, Polaris, M5, M13, 17 Cygnus, 61 Cygnus, Albireo, Mizar, Mars
Description: Tonight would be a very special night, unbeknownst to me.

The day was hot and hazy and I didn't expect much for an evening session. Sure enough, at sunset, the sky was laced with cirrus, contrails and the humidity was high. Still, I haven't gotten much observing done since we hit the rainy season, so I'd take pretty much anything at the moment.

By the time it got dark enough to get decent contrast on the moon, the scope was plenty cool. The views were mostly stable, but some sincere turbulence would roll through from time to time. When transparency improved, I grabbed my camera and tried for a few shots. A few turned out nicely, so now I have a 6-day-moon pic to go with yesterday's 5-day moon. This new one is even better.

But what's this? A star crept into the FOV. I watched, assuming that it would be a close pass. In a few minutes, however, it became apparent that this would be no near-miss, it would be a genuine occultation! Yikes! I dashed into the apartment to check KStars. Nope. KStars reports nothing of the sort. Very odd. Regardless, I synced my watch with one of the online atomic clocks and dashed back outside to catch the occultation.

Due to the eastward precession of the moon compared to the stars, the convergence was on the shadow side of the moon. I put in the 17mm Ploessl (78x), centred the star and put the scope into sidereal tracking. With a hint of earthshine visible during the final approach, the effect was stunning. I literally got shivers as the penultimate moment came. And then -- blink -- it was gone.

"TIME!"

Oops. No need to yell, Trane. I looked at my watch and deducted 2 seconds from my time due to my being too startled by the blink to react fast enough. I also noted that although I had intended to use my stopwatch, I failed to depress the button hard enough to start it. Oh, well. Scratch any scientific value from this one. Had I started the stopwatch properly, I could have extrapolated a more precise start time. Judged occultation start: 11:44:00 UT. My heart was pounding. This was actually more exciting than the Mercury Transit thanks to the build-up of suspense before the occultation. (The transit was exciting, yes, but not being able to see Mercury before it popped in front of the sun made a difference.)

I let the scope track its way slowly across the moon, enjoying the view along the way. I thought of ways of better capturing timings. A video EP connected to a video camera with its clock accurately set to record the event? The camera recording my voice ("TIME!") alongside my cell phone broadcasting the time signal from NTT? A simple "start/finish" program running on a laptop that only requires a stab at the space bar to trigger? Literally recording the event would be the most accurate, but the latter would be the most convenient.

Finally, the edge of the moon crept toward centre. It was getting close to the end of the occultation. I watched, staring at my guestimated exit point. Finally, a bit off from where I thought it would be (the NexStar 4GT doesn't track perfectly), the star caught my eye at 12:11:30 UT. I will not go on record as saying that was when the occultation ended, only that I didn't see the star before that point.

I ran into the apartment and fired up Xplns to see if I could get better information about the star in question. Sure enough, it was bang on the money: eta Leo, mag. 3.5. Later, I remembered that S&T had an article online about occultations and, yes, that, too confirmed that eta Leo would be occulted on this date. Way cool!

I managed to take a couple of photos that barely show the exiting star, post-occultation. My little digital camera just isn't up to the task, really, so I need to consider upgrading, I suppose. More likely a proper CCD imager is in order. I'm liking the idea of one of the SAC models.

How does one follow up such excitement? Not so hard. I spent several hours mixing casual observing with anti-backlash adjustment and refining alignment technique. Having figured out what the scope wants makes a big difference. The manual given to me by Tasco Japan states that the scope should be aligned using the up-right buttons for final approach. The scope, however, seems to have the newer firmware in the hand controller and down-right seems to net the best results. Subsequent slews to objects and tracking were better than they've ever been in alt-az mode prior to this. Excellent!

Whilst fiddling with the scope, I hit:

M13: My favourite globular thus far. Transparency wasn't very good, so it was dimmer than usual. Shame, that.

M5: A little too far down the sky at this time to be very nice. Well into "just a bloody smudge" territory again. (Would somebody please ship me some clear, dark skies for a night?)

Polaris: It's one of my alignment stars, so sue me. Over many visits, I only managed to see the dim 1st companion once. Even that was only for a fleeting moment.

Albireo: When all else fails, GO HERE. It's always stunning and I never get bored looking at it at any power. Currently, it's not near zenith till the debt of night, but the star field visible at that time is sure worth the wait.

24 Com: My choice as runner-up for prettiest double.

Cygnus: Grabbed 17 Cyg and 61 Cyg as doubles and then spent about an hour touring the Milky Way with my 35mm Ultima (38x). Darn, I wish I had a wider field. Maybe I need one of those Axiom wide-angle EPs?

epsilon Lyr: With steady seeing, I split this quad cleanly at 133x. Very pretty. I love the verticle/horizontal contrast between the two pairs.

eta Cas: Face it -- this double just rocks! Yellow primary with a blue-purplish secondary. Great colour contrast _and_ magnitude contrast on this pair.

The rest of the night was spent ticking off failure after failure. Objects I didn't manage to see due to transparency and dew finally settling on the objective despite my dew shield:

M3, M82, M31, M32, M103

I'll save those for another day.

[ Edited to add some photos and fix some typos ]
[ Edited to remove said photos ]

[Trane Francks]

Observer's Skill Level: Intermediate
Date: 2003-09-30 12:00 UT
Location: Machida, Tokyo, Japan (Lat: 35.572 N, Long: 139.457 E)
Temperature: 11 deg. Celsius
Site Classification: Urban
Sky Darkness: NELM 4
Seeing (1-10 best): ?
Transparency (1-10 best): 10
Moon Presence: Not visible
Instrument: Nashica M100 D=50mm f/8.4 refractor, 8x22 binos
Magnification: 21x (K20mm), 33x (OR12.5)
Filters: None
Objects: Albireo, M31, M33, M45, Double Cluster, M42, NGC253, Saturn, M35

With my NexStar out of commission thanks to a failed azimuth drive, tonight's amazing transparency left me with falling back to my old dog of a Nashica M100 50mm f/8 refractor and my el cheapo 8x22 binos to take in the sights. With the 2x20 finder on the refractor, necessity dictated that my targets would be easy.

Albireo: Since I could actually see the star with the naked eye, getting there was a cinch. The gem of the sky was not very gem-like, however, with the primary boasting copious CA. I stayed for only a minute or two. With the binos, I couldn't hold them steady enough to make out the companion.

M31: I'd never managed to find this with this scope before, but I decided to cheat with the binos and see whether I could score the galaxy that way first and then make my way with the scope. Sure enough, transparency was good enough that I caught the galaxy in the binos right away. Interestingly enough, it didn't look too bad in the binos. The core was pretty solid and I could just make out the tiniest bit of fogginess extending outward. Finding it with the scope was a bit more difficult, but after about five minutes of hunt and poke, I settled on it. With the 20mm Kellner, I could make out the core, but that was it. I went back to the binos because they offered a better view.

M33: Well, this was a bust. I know I was looking in the right spot, but neither the binos nor the scope could pull it out. The scope is stopped down to 35mm (not my doing, Nashica's), so I'm guessing I just need a bit more horsepower to grok this one.

M45: By no means stunning compared to the NexStar, it was nonetheless fun to look at the very first Messier object I ever bagged with this scope. Although I could resolve more stars with the scope, though, the view was nicer with the binos. I sat back in the lawn chair and soaked in the view for a long time.

Double Cluster: I bagged this immediately in the binos and then almost as quickly found it in the scope. Not bad views in either: more stars resolved in the scope, but a much better star field (of course) in the binos.

M42: As above, an easy bag. Slight nebulosity visible. I preferred the view through the binos.

NGC253: Another bust. No matter now much I poked around between Cetus and the point of Sculptor, I just couldn't make out the galaxy with the binos. I get really bad light pollution from the hallway adjacent to my balcony here, so that didn't help matters.

Saturn: I took a quick look with the scope. With the 12.5mm OR, I could just make out the rings. The CA was bad enough that I didn't bother going up in power. Focus was just too soft to be worth it.

M35: Last stop of the night that was rudely interrupted by a sheet of cloud. I didn't manage to bag this one, either. Next time. That ended the night.

In between each target, I spent lots of time just studying the constellations and cruising with the binos. Transparency was so good tonight that I could clearly make out Triangulum, Aries, Andromeda, Pegasus, most of Cygnus, Orion and Gemini. For a Tokyo evening, the sky was filled with stars like I'd never seen it before. With the twinkling, it was obvious that the seeing was fairly poor, but it didn't matter with the gear I had at hand.

All in all, making do didn't turn out badly at all. That said, I have no idea how long it'll be before the NexStar is back in business, so it's definitely time for me to build a Dob out of the Meade 4.5" optics and focuser I bought from Surplus Shed a few months ago. I may not have had the incentive to get off my duff before, but I certainly do now. That refractor is just depressing.

[Trane Francks]

The clouds broke early in the evening, racing by as if to foretell that seeing would be terrible were I to break out the wee truss dob. Given that this evening would offer Saturn at its largest over the next 29 years, I wanted to make the best of it.

Around 10 PM local time, the scope and I went out to cool off. Binos filled the first few minutes, making stops at M42, M45, the moon, a strained glimpse at M31 and Collinder objects 65, 69 & 70.

Collinder 65 is a wonderful, bright cluster that lends itself well to binocular views. At ~4 degrees across, it fills over half the FOV in my wee 8x22 binos. With most of the stars in the cluster being between mag 6-8, it's a really nice eyeful.

Collinder 69 includes the 3 stars that make up Orion's Head. Within the area are some 20 stars I can make out in a tight 1-degree area, ranging from mag 5-8 or 9. Knowing that the cluster contains at least 20 more stars does, from time to time, make me wish that I'd get around to buying some better binos with a bit more aperture.

Collinder 70, Orion's Belt, is a delight in the binos. Along with the three main stars, the FOV is peppered with up to 100 stars down to mag 10. Even in my diminutive 8x22s, the 3-degree field is impressive. All together, this tops off Orion as my favourite winter constellation.

With the moon still relatively high in the western sky, M31 and M45 suffered a bit. At the best of times, I can make out some elongation in M31 and under this eve's quarter moon, M42's nebulosity was somewhat reduced. Still, it's always worth viewing. Taking in the entire Sword in one go is a delight to the eyes. M45, as always, is a delight, and I always marvel at how much more obvious the 7 sisters are with the binos compared to the 1.9-degree view offered in my wee truss dob.

With the dob's mirror cooled, I sat down to spend time with Saturn. Sure enough, seeing was not much to write home about, but there were definitely moments where things cleared up wonderfully and offered some great views of the planet. The little dob never offers much more than a good look at Cassini's Division, two apparent bands, polar shading and a few moons. Tonight, seeing got in the way, especially with being able to see the moons. Titan was obvious, as always, with Rhea, Dione and Tethys making various appearances when seeing improved.

I was just getting comfy when my wife came to the door. "Happy New Year." Already? It was 10 minutes after midnight. The new year was in and soon my lady would be heading off to bed. Saturn still beckoned, however, and I spent about an hour more waiting for those moments of good seeing to give up details.

A little after 1 AM local time, I decided that it was time to finally track down M81 and M82. For whatever reason, these galaxies have consistently managed to elude me with the NexStar 4 GT. For these objects, go-to never got-to. I was determined not to let them escape me any longer. While seeing might not have been great, transparency was good and the moon was now all but gone. A last, long look at Xplns set up the star hops and away I went.

After a bit of luck, I got them almost right away. I was amazed! So, of course, one should up the power a bit. Along the way, I nudged the scope and lost my objects. Oops. Frustratingly, it took me nearly 20 minutes to find them again. This time, I was much more careful changing EPs and 91x clearly showed elongation in M82. M81 is definitely the obvious one of the bunch, with a bright(ish) core. M82, oddly enough, seemed to be uniformly lit (in significant contrast to the core-heavy M81). To be perfectly honest, I was really proud (okay, AM proud) to have found these by starhopping when the NexStar consistently failed to unearth them. The wee truss dob is turning out to be an incredibly rewarding little telescope.

Upon standing up to stretch my legs after the M81/M82 success, I was rewarded with a 20-degree meteor flash, heading west-to-east along the zenith. WONDERFUL!

For a while, I went back to Saturn. Not much to add here, but that I burned a lot of calories staying warm (-2 degrees C). Afterward, Jupiter beckoned, and that lasted till 3 AM. Seeing still hadn't dramatically improved, so seeing much more than the usual 2 primary bands and polar shading was difficult (AKA, impossible).

At around 3 AM, I decided to go after M65 and M66. I was in the neighbourhood, so why not? These were objects I'd never attempted with the NexStar 4 GT, so I really didn't know what I was after. Xplns indicated that the star hops would be simple and my 35-mm Ultima should make panning a breeze to locate these galaxies. I would not be disappointed.

I found them pretty much right away, though I will confess that they weren't much to look at in my 114-mm dob. M65 seemed a bit elongated while M66 looked MAYBE a bit brighter. I think more aperture is needed to make these impressive objects. That said, I was tickled pink just having found them.

Until 4:30 AM, I then TRIED to observe the GRS transit the CM. While I had a few moments where I thought, "AHA," the painful truth was that seeing was deteriorating and had I not known what it was I was looking for, I'd never have had an "AHA" moment. Rats.

Throughout tonight's session, I kept thinking that astronomy, more than any other endeavor, has taught me patience and my life has benefited from it. I seem to be much less "instant gratification-dependent now. I'm also grateful for the chances to be involved in astronomy now. The year 2003 offered me great views of the Mercury Transit, the Mars Opposition and now the Saturn Opposition. The new year promises to be great.