Mars came next, showing a little polar ice cap and an indistinct Syrtis
Major smudge. Our red planet Mars was right at the end of the inky black
Pipe Nebula. Comet Linear C2001 A2 was our next target, as we watched
the horizon to horizon Milky Way brighten to an unaccustomed sparkling
clarity. The comet was easy in binos and beautiful in the telescopes,
and frequent observations as the night progressed showed movement of the
comet against the background stars. Bright meteors, many which flared
multiple times, caught our attention throughout the night.
Ophiuchus was high enough that by 11:00 p.m. we were Pluto bound. Armed
with the RASC Observers Handbook and the Sky and Telescope annual and
very reliable Pluto finder chart, we were soon able to observe and
sketch our Pluto candidate (at 188X with a 19 Panoptic plus barlow in
the 14.5 telescope and a 9 Nagler in the 17.5 incher for 222X), and show
it to several of our observing companions. As is our annual custom, we
will verify the tiny planet by observing its position the next night at
a dark sky site. But the star field is not cluttered, the chart is very
easy to use, and the project is not daunting. We gave ourselves the
secret handshake created exclusively by and for the local members of
F.L.O.P, the Fraternal and Loyal Order of Plutocrats, who have located,
observed and verified the planet Pluto.
We had high hopes for a nine planet night now. We brought along SkyMap
Pro 7 charts for Uranus and Neptune, in addition to those we had already
used for Pluto and the comet. Neptune was a pretty blue disc in both
telescopes and again we hollered for anyone to come over and see it.
Uranus would look better later when it was higher in the sky and so we
tackled some personal deep sky projects while waiting for the smiley
face (or bikini bottom...your choice) shaped constellation of
Capricornus to fully rise.
Mojo poked around Aquarius and I brought two of my favorite Deep Sky
magazines and tackled some projects of my own while waiting for planets
to appear. Using DS#32 I hunted for Pease 1, the faint planetary nebula
inside M15. The article gives great starhopping and identifying
guideposts, a finderchart of M15 showing Pease 1, stellar magnitudes of
surrounding stars, plus a photo of the object, and with my 17.5 inch
mirror, a 9 Nagler and barlow plus O111 and UHC filters and plenty of
patience I was able to detect the tiny planetary at 444X. Pease 1 is one
of only a handful of planetaries within globular clusters and is an
important object for understanding stellar evolution.
That project took enough time that when I was done, the full shape of
Capricornus was as high as it gets and the green blue hued planet Uranus
was easy to spot. I continued with my deep sky projects in Pegasus from
DS#32, looked at some pretty summer carbon stars, and kept my eye on the
eastern horizon.
The North America Nebula looked great in some mounted binos nearby, and
we took a half hour and showed the others how to see it, putting a UHC
filter in one bino eyecup for better contrast. We also spotted the
asteroid Ceres near the handle of the Sagittarius teapot.
At 2:30, an hour before the first morning planet was due to rise, we had
a double delight shared with the only two other observers still there.
Two satellites moving in tandem right past Capella caught all of our
attention. We were all looking in the right place at the right time and
watched the two objects for nearly a minute. We surmised that it was the
undocked
ISS/shuttle STS-104, and a computer check in the morning verified our
suspicions.
An hour later, at 3:30 a.m. we glimpsed Saturn rising with three moons
visible through our telescopes. This was followed by Venus at 4:00
a.m., Jupiter and three moons (sans Callisto, but with a bit of red
spot) at 4:45 a.m. and then as the sky brightened we waited anxiously
for planet number nine. It was really getting bright at 5:30 a.m. and
we kept our binoculars aimed anxiously at the horizon below Jupiter. At
5:33 a.m. I hollered to Mojo, "Mercury!"
After he took a look at Mercury the planet, he removed the cork from the
bottle of Mercury Rising, Cinnabar Winery's rich 1998 Bordeaux-style red
wine. We had saved a splash from the bottle to celebrate our hoped for
ninth planet morning conquest. We started the planet quest nearly eight
hours earlier with a larger glass of the ruddy elixir. Cinnabar, the
beautiful red mineral of mercury, was the most inspirational material to
the alchemists of old. Local amateur astronomer and telescope maker Tom
Mudd's 30 acre vineyard is his inspiration, from it he turns rainwater
and grapes into wonderful wine.
Our nine planet quest was complete, and we headed home a little tired
but deeply satisfied. The next night we were back out again, this time
at Lake Sonoma, the same distance but an easier drive as Palmieri (70
miles) to view the dance on the ecliptic plane and verify our ninth
planet, Pluto. We quickly spotted our suspect, and were delighted to
see it had moved with respect to the background stars on the sketch from
the night before!
With that confirmation, I moved out of our galaxy to look at some
extragalactic action along the summer Milky Way, using a project from
Deep Sky Magazine #31. Faint galaxies I hunted and suspect I saw were
mag 13 NGC6000 near Lupus, mag 15.6 Zwicky397.014 near Altair, and mag
15.3 Zwicky447.001 in Sagitta, plus a few brighter objects. For these
dim objects I alternated between my 9 Nagler and 6mm Lanthanum eyepieces
and a 2x barlow for between 222X and over 500X, and we left for the
night at 12:30 a.m. a couple of real happy Plutocrats.
For those of you interested in Cinnabar Winery's 1998 Mercury Rising red
wine, here is the link:
http://WebWinery.com/Webuser/displaywine.taf?function=form&Wineid=1192
Location#1: Palmieri Observatory, The Geysers, CA
Altitude#1: ~2700 feet
Longitude#1: 122d49m Latitude: 38d46m
Location #2: Lone Rock Flat, Lake Sonoma
Altitude #2: 1000 feet
Longitude#2: 123d02m Latitude: 38d42m
Temperature: ranged from 55F to 60F
Humidity: 60 percent for most of the evening
Seeing: Limiting Magnitude 6.8 both nights
Transparency 10/10 - awesome conditions both nights
Equipment: 14.5 inch f/4.8 at 94 to 188X and 17.5 inch f/4.5 at 91 to
526X
Date: 21/7/01 10:00 p.m. PDT (UTC 05:00 22/7/01) to 5:35 a.m. PDT (UTC
12:35 22/7/01)
and 22/7/01 10:00 p.m. to 23/7/01 12:30 a.m.
-- Jane Houston Jones San Rafael, CA jane@No-Spam http://www.whiteoaks.com