19 April 2990

The Science, Industry and Business Library is having an exhibition on the way maps have been used in science. One of the maps on display is from Sky and Telescope.

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Observing Location	TotL
Observational Period	2015-0100 EDT
Atmospheric Conditions	It was mild and clear with one passing stripe of stratus and some cloud low on the western horizon. A light breeze came up out of the NE around 2120 that felt a little cool and moist. Seeing seemed to be stable. There was some light haze but it wasn't too bad. Transparency Good Seeing Good
Instruments	SAR: Coulter CT-100 reflector - Charlie Tacahashi 102 refractor - Peter
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway
Peter Tagatac Kin Lee

I borrowed Peter's TeleVue 2x Barlow to try it out on SAR and see how it would respond to the increased magnification. While looking at Saturn both Kin and then Peter said that they felt the view was better with the Barlow. The increase in magnification (to ~42x) was nice and the image was something I could live with.

Peter and I each discovered independently that my scope exhibits less coma before the eyepiece screw is tightened. It seems like the top of the eyepiece gets canted off the optical axis when the screw is tightened.

Target	Mars
Constellation	Gem
Category	Planet
Time	20060419.2020
Comments	Mars has moved from over M35 and is too far away to fit in my reduced FOV. It looks like a big orange star but does not appear circular due to coma.

Target	Saturn
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Planet
Time	20060419.2048
Comments	Saturn was observed multiple times in both SAR and Peter's scope at varying magnifications. In SAR, without the Barlow, I was able to see ring separation, the Casini Division and Titan. I am not sure that I saw any more with the Barlow but the planet was bigger and more impressive. The upper left quadrant had a ghost image around it that Peter tells me is Coma. In Peter's scope I saw the C ring and a band on the planet as well as two more moons. With the 3x and 2x stacked Barlows I don't see the fainter moons.

Target	M44, Presape, The Beehive Cluster
Constellation	Cnc
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060419.2100 EDT
Comments	All of the stars of M44 appeared to have two tails pointing off to 10:00 ans 11:00.

Target	M42/M43
Constellation	Ori
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060419.2109 EDT
Comments	I centered on this to show a young couple who had stopped by something else. Some nebulosity was visible but appeared more extensive with averted vision.

Target	73P/Schwassman/Wachmann 3
Constellation	Boo
Category	Comet
Time	20060419.2146 EDT
Comments	Not Seen We looked for the comet in both scopes and didn't find anything. Peter had a new issue of a Japanese astronomy magazine which neither of us could read but their finder charts are in good agreement with where Planetarium places it based on my entered elements. The comet is supposed to be Mag 8 and we were seeing Mag 9 stars so theoretically should have seen it. But maybe that Mag 8 of light is spread over a large area and the comet appears darker than the Mag 9 point sources of llight we are seeing. Star Mag HIP 74052 7.21 HIP 73968 8.65 HIP 73931 9.23 HIP 73890 9.18 TYC 2030-00168-1 9.09

Target	Jupiter
Constellation	Lib
Category	Planet
Time	20060419.2345 EDT
Comments	Jupiter is right next to Zubin Elginubi. Three moons are on the leading limb and one on the trailing. The view was nice in SAR except for the ghost image in the upper left Quadrant. I spent more time looking at it in Peter's scope though. The SEB appeared to be knotted. There was texture visible in the Equatorial Zone. The south polar region appeared a little bluish.

Target	M13, Hercules Cluster
Constellation	Her
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060420.0009 EDT
Comments	A small puffball. The stars around it were well resolved.

Target	M57, The Ring Nebula
Constellation	Lyr
Category	Deep Sky Object
Time	20060420.0040 EDT
Comments	I may have seen it in Peter's scope but I didn't see it in mine.