The Night Sky Naturalist

My next astronomy project is the Astronomical League’s Galaxy Groups & Clusters. I figured this would be a good project for the 18” Obsession as it would give me a good bit more light grasp than my 12.5” Dob. It should allow me to see some of the fainter galaxies in the list as well as seeing the brighter ones bigger and better. For this program, you are supposed to observe at least 120 of the 250 “objects” listed, including at least 30 galaxy trios, 30 Hickson compact galaxy groups, 30 Additional galaxy groups, and 30 Abell galaxy clusters.

To choose from, you are given lists of 50 galaxy trios from the Atlas of Compact Galaxy Trios by Miles Paul, 99 Hickson Compact Galaxy Groups, 50 Additional galaxy groups, and 50 Abell clusters. Einstein’s Cross is included as a challenge object.

I am using the Galaxy Groups and Clusters guidebook by Robert McGown and Miles Paul. I will try to post these observations more or less as I do them.

Inverted pencil sketch of Compact Galaxy Trio #40 — Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Wednesday evening of last week was cool and clear with the crescent Moon setting early behind the trees in the west. It was an excellent night to begin a new project. I chose as my first target one of Miles Paul’s Compact Galaxy Trios, Number 40 in Delphinus, consisting of NGC 6928, 6930, and 6927 (6930 is mistyped in the guidebook as 6929.) There is also a fourth, very small and faint galaxy (NGC 6927A) about 2 arcmin south of N6927. According to my logbooks, I had visited this little group twice before with my 12.5” Dob — once in 2003, when I could see only the two brighter galaxies, N6928/6930 and once in 2009 when I also just glimpsed N6927 with averted vision, but not N6927A. This time, with the 18 inch, all three of the trio were pretty readily apparent and I also pulled in N6927A with averted vision about 20% of the time. Click on the Galaxy Groups & Clusters link in the header above and see my Trio #40 entry and sketch for more details.

Tuesday night (7 August 2012) was clear and not too hot, so I went out and did a little observing through my “new” 18” Obsession. I decided to view the targets in Sue French’s July 2012 Sky & Telescope article, By Draco’s Scaly Folds, partly because of the inclusion of the quasar Q1634+706 found in the constellation Draco. There is always something fascinating about superlatives – the biggest, the smallest, the brightest, the most distant — and this quasar is touted as one of the most distant objects visible in amateur telescopes.

So, what is a quasar? According to another S&T article by James McGaha in March 2006 “…quasars are hot accretion disks of gas spiraling toward the supermassive black hole at the core of an active galaxy nucleus.” They have an unbelievably high intrinsic brightness. According to Brian Ventrudo, Phd., on his One Minute Astronomer website, “…if this quasar was at the same distance as the Orion Nebula, [about 1344 light years] it would shine as bright as our sun!”

Most quasars are so far away that the expansion of the universe must be taken into account when determining their distance from us. Q1634+706 was much nearer to us when the light we now see left it. Its light has traveled for some 8.6 billion years to get to us but the universe has expanded since the light set out, resulting in the amazing current distance for the quasar of about 12.9 billion light years! A few years ago, I had viewed the brightest (mag 12.6) quasar known as 3C273 in the constellation Virgo at about 2 billion light years distant and I thought that was pretty incredible.

Unfortunately, viewing a quasar is not as visually spectacular as it sounds. I was a bit surprised at how easy Q1634+706 was to find and observe, but due to its great distance, it appears only as a dim “star” through my scope. At magnitude 14.4, Q1634+706 was dimly visible with direct vision but plainly visible with averted vision. This is one of those objects that causes you to pause and think about what it means for those photons to travel 8.6 billion years (more than half the currently accepted age of the universe) through intergalactic space only to end up impinging on your retina to form that tiny star-like spot.

So, the next time someone asks me, “How far can you see with that scope?” I can honestly tell them, “Pretty damn far!”

Quasar Q1634+706. West is up and North is to the left.
18″, f4.5 Obsession – 231x
Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

I caught these primary and secondary rainbow arcs late one afternoon a couple of weeks ago. They are the left and right ends of the same rainbow which never showed as a complete bow. The secondaries are fainter and shorter but visible farther out from the primaries. They are about twice as wide as the primaries and have the order of the colors reversed. Secondaries are not uncommon but there are higher order rainbows (3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.) that are more unusual. So far, I haven’t seen any of higher order but I intend to keep my eyes open…

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

My wife, Melissa, has chastised me for not including “…the rest of the story” of the 18” Obsession in the previous blog post, so here it is:

Several years ago (I think around 2007) I was dreaming of getting a larger Dob and actually got on the Obsession website and printed out a picture of an 18” Dob to keep in my “inspirational” notebook. Years passed as I tried to save money for the larger scope (not easy to do while helping to put two kids through college!) and I looked at that picture many times. About a year ago I happened to Google “18 inch Dobsonian telescopes for sale” and ran across an ad that Ronnie Harris and David Lamb had placed on Flickr to sell their 18” Obsession because they wanted to get an even larger one. The scope looked great in the pictures they posted and it seemed like a really good deal but, at the time, I still didn’t have enough money to buy a scope of that size, so more time passed. Finally, about a week ago, I had enough money to get a used scope, so again I Googled “18 inch Dobsonian telescopes for sale.” What should come up but that same ad on Flickr? I couldn’t believe Ronnie and David’s scope had not sold yet even though they had reduced the price. I inquired on Flickr if the scope was still for sale. It was. So, I gave Ronnie a call, and after an evening drive to Mississippi a couple of days later, came home with a “new” six-year-old scope.

As it turns out, Ronnie Harris, the previous co-owner of the scope, is the webmaster for the Obsession Telescopes site and as such he used a picture of his and David’s 18” Classic scope for that web page. Care to guess what picture it was? That’s right, the one I printed out in 2007. Not only did I get an 18″ Obsession, I got that 18″ Obsession!

Cosmic? You decide.

I finally took the plunge and bought an 18″ Obsession telescope. Ronnie Harris (webmaster for Obsession) and observing buddy David Lamb had their 6 year old 18″ scope up for sale at an affordable price, so after work on Tuesday, I made a five hour round-trip drive down to Mississippi and came back with an excellent classic Obsession. No major issues. I didn’t have time to do anything that night so I just left it in the car. Yesterday, I had just enough time to unload it (with some ramps I borrowed from my dad) and get it into my 10′ x 15′ roll-off-roof observatory before a big thunderstorm came up. I’m sure the storm was brought on by the new-scope-effect!

Last night, in spite of the stifling heat and humidity, I managed to at least get the scope set up even though I didn’t get to do any real observing.

Following is a series of “First Assembly” pics.

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Warp three Mister Sulu. Let’s see what’s out there!

Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

I have another Night Sky Naturalist article published in Amateur Astronomy magazine entitled More Fun on the Moon. See the Articles page for a link to the “split out” of the new article. This is a follow up to the original Fun on the Moon article published in the Spring 2012 issue.

More Fun on the Moon (NASA Photo)

Here are two graphics showing the aureole of light (the Sun’s illumination of Venus’ atmosphere from behind) as I saw it develop along the edge of Venus just before second contact with the Sun’s limb. I did not see any evidence of it from first contact up until about 4 minutes before second contact.

About 4 minutes before second contact. Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

A thin, dim (as it appeared through the scope) arc of light began to develop first along the upper (northwest) edge of Venus and then along the lower (northeastern) edge until it looked something like the image above.

The two slivers gradually lengthened until they met to form a very slender “ring of fire,” as seen below. The aureole was very “faint” and did not show up on the photographs I took, but Melissa and I both saw it visually. I did not notice any brighter spots along the arc except it did appear to be brighter at the two ends near the Sun’s limb.

About 1-2 minutes before second contact. Copyright (c) Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

The curvature of the Sun’s limb is a bit exagerated in the above graphics but you should get the general idea. As I mentioned in my previous post, I did not see the teardrop (or black drop) effect just after second contact.

In 2004, when I witnessed the third and fourth contacts of that Venus transit, I did not see the aureole. I don’t know if I am just a better observer now (my eyesight is certainly not any better) or if this effect was not apparent then. In either case, I’m glad I got to see it this time. It made the whole fantastic event even more interesting. Also, since I have now seen the end of the 2004 transit and the beginning of this transit, I can say that I have seen nearly a full Venus transit. I’ll check that off my bucket list and look forward now to the total solar eclipse in 2017.

I took off work a little early and came home to set up my 12.5″ Dobsonian telescope in our front yard to view the Venus transit (where the planet Venus comes between the Earth and the Sun).  The last Venus transit was in 2004. The one before that was in 1882. The next one won’t be until 2117.

I used a stopped down white light filter affixed to the front of the scope. It was partly cloudy and very windy. I was paranoid about the wind possibly blowing the filter off the scope and allowing the focused sun to melt my eyeball so I put extra tape all around to secure it.

Venus Transit Setup - Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

A Curious Spectator - copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

All of the following shots of the Sun were taken with my Canon Power Shot SD1100 IS digital camera hand held at the telescope lens. First Contact was right at 5:05 pm CDT. You can see the silhouette of Venus just starting to appear at the bottom left of the picture below. Several good sunspots were also visible.

First Contact - copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Above shot was through a 26mm Plossl (59x). Next two shots were through a 9mm Televue (169x).

Between 1st and 2nd Contact - copyright (c) 2112 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

This next picture really doesn’t show it but I could definitely see a very thin band of light (called an aureole) around the edge of the planet beyond the limb of the Sun. About 3-4 minutes before 2nd contact (where the trailing edge of Venus comes inside the Sun’s limb) I could see two very faint glows along the back edge of the planet nearest the Sun’s limb and about 1-2 minutes before 2nd contact I could see a very thin streak of light all the way around. I will try to do a sketch or two of this phenomenon for posting at a later date.

I did not, however, see any “teardrop effect” (where the silhouette of Venus appears to still be connected to the Sun’s limb by a small thread following 2nd contact).

Approaching 2nd Contact - copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

At this point, I could clearly see Venus “naked eye” through filter glasses. I tried to take some pictures through the filter glasses but they didn’t turn out very well.

Just after 2nd contact - copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

The blackness of the silhouette of Venus seemed darker than the blackness surrounding the Sun. This must have been an illusion because earlier I had not been able to discern the outline of the planet before first contact.

About an hour into the transit - copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

About 1.5 hours into transit - copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Nearly two hours into the transit, the Sun started to set into the treetops in our backyard.

About 2 hours into transit - copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

About 7:20 pm CDT. Last glimpse of beautiful Venus transiting the Sun for 105 years. I wonder what the world will be like then?

Venus transit through the tree tops - copyright (c) Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

Observer observing observer - copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

They say patience is a virtue. Nowhere is that more evident than in amateur astronomy. If you don’t have patience, you must develop it or you might as well just plop yourself in front of the TV every night. Weather is often the main culprit. Our best-laid schemes “gang aft agley” when they are dependent on the cooperation of the forces of the atmosphere.

Last weekend, we were all set to watch the annular solar eclipse (only partial from our location). We had chosen a good spot to watch from at the local park that offered an open view to the west. The weather had been wonderfully clear all day long and was predicted to stay clear into the evening. But, about an hour beforehand, ominous clouds began to collect in the west. By the time the eclipse began, the western sky was totally blocked by dark storm clouds complete with lightning in the distance. What to do? Nothing, but enjoy the beauty of the clouds and the power of the lightning (from the relative safety of our car) and realize that there is always another interesting event just around the bend – an upcoming partial lunar eclipse, the Venus transit, the 2017 total solar eclipse, etc. We probably won’t be able to see them all but if we don’t make the effort we see nothing. It’s a percentage game.

Non-eclipse - Copyright (c) 2012 Robert D. Vickers, Jr.

After we went back home we did see some of the live eclipse coverage online, even the ring-of-fire which we couldn’t see from here. Nice, but it’s just not the same as firsthand experience. Be patient. Even if it doesn’t always work out, seeing with your own eyes is always worth the effort.