Posts Made By: Dave Mitsky

My new Coronado Personal Solar Telescope continues to shine. I've used it every day since Monday and have had some great H-alpha views of the Sun and chromospheric phenomena including many prominences, some sunspots, plage, and filaments. One very long filament provided a unique 3-d perspective as it neared the leading limb on Wednesday. On Friday I caught a loop prominence. Yesterday I took the PST to the annual ASH picnic. Everyone there was suitably impressed.

David Knisely, an extremely knowledgeable amateur astronomer, just posted his review of the PST at http://www.cloudynights.com/premium2/accessories.htm

Dave Mitsky

Don Machholz has discovered his tenth comet, C/2004 Q2 (Machholz). See http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/news/article_1336.asp for the story. An ephemeris is available at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2004Q2.html

Dave Mitsky

I observed the Sun with my friend Tony Donnangelo on Thursday afternoon from approximately 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. EDT (19:00 to 20:00 UT). It was his first look through my Coronado Personal Solar Telescope and he was rather impressed. We compared it to his Lumicon Solar Prominence filter mated with his 102mm Takahashi FS-102 apochromat. It really was no contest. The PST displayed prominences far more readily and with greater definition. The Lumicon filter is not capable of showing filaments and other features of the chromosphere due to its high bandpass.

Using the PST I saw 4 loop prominences, more than I'd ever seen before simultaneously. One, located on the leading limb, was very narrow and elongated.

I was able to employ a few more eyepieces with the PST for the first time including a 14mm Radian, an 8mm Lanthanum Superwide, and a 5.2mm Pentax XL. Tony's Pentax did a good job and provided my favorite "high power" view so far. Also used were my 8-24mm Vixen zoom and 12mm CEMAX.

Dave Mitsky

Date: 2004/9/4
Time: 2:10 to 2:20 p.m. EDT (18:10 to 18:20 UT)
Instrument: 40mm f/10 Coronado Personal Solar Telescope
Conditions: Mostly clear
Temperature: 29 degrees Celsius
Atmospheric pressure: 1006 millibars

I am just having a blast with my PST. I've used it almost every day this past week and have seen something interesting each time. For example, on Thursday afternoon I noted 4 loop prominences, more than I've ever seen before at one time.

On Saturday afternoon there were some very extensive prominences on the Sun's leading limb that immediately caught my attention as did the long filament that has been working its way across the disk the past few days. I inspected the penumbral area of AR10667 (originally AR10649 or Sunspot 649) to see if I could see any hint of the phenomenon known as filigree that David Knisely mentioned on Cloudy Nights when discussing Paul Hyndman's excellent H-alpha image of September 3rd. I thought perhaps I did but it may have been just my imagination. During this relatively short solar observing session I used an 8-24mm Vixen zoom eyepiece and a 7mm Nagler T6.

Dave Mitsky

Eighty binary and multiple stars for September: 12 Aquarii, Struve 2809, Struve 2838 (Aquarius); Alpha Capricorni, Sigma Capricorni, Nu Capricorni, Beta Capricorni, Pi Capricorni, Rho Capricorni, Omicron Capricorni, h2973, h2975, Struve 2699, h2995, 24 Capricorni, Xi Capricorni, Epsilon Capricorni, 41 Capricorni, h3065 (Capricornus); Kappa Cephei, Struve 2751, Beta Cephei, Struve 2816, Struve 2819, Struve 2836, Otto Struve 451, Struve 2840, Struve 2873 (Cepheus); Otto Struve 394, 26 Cygni, h1470, h1471, Omicron Cygni, Struve 2657, 29 Cygni, 49 Cygni, 52 Cygni, 59 Cygni, 60 Cygni, 61 Cygni, Struve 2762 (Cygnus); Struve 2665, Struve 2673, Struve 2679, Kappa Delphini, Struve 2715, Struve 2718, Struve 2721, Struve 2722, Struve 2725 (in the same field as Gamma Delphini), Gamma Delphini, 13 Delphini, Struve 2730, 16 Delphini, Struve 2735, Struve 2736, Struve 2738 (Delphinus); 65 Draconis, Struve 2640 (Draco); Epsilon Equulei, Lambda Equulei, Struve 2765, Struve 2786, Struve 2793 (Equuleus); 1 Pegasi, Struve 2797, h1647, Struve 2804, Struve 3112, 3 Pegasi, 4 Pegasi, Kappa Pegasi, h947, Struve 2841, Struve 2848 (Pegasus); h1462, Struve 2653, Burnham 441, Struve 2655, Struve 2769 (Vulpecula)

Challenge binary star for September: 1 Delphini

Dave Mitsky

Here's my list of extended deep-sky objects for this month. They lie within a 2 hour swath of right ascension from 20 hours to 22 hours.

Fifty deep-sky objects for September: M2, M72, M73, NGC 7009 (Aquarius); M30, NGC 6903, NGC 6907 (Capricornus); B150, B169, B170, IC 1396, NGC 6939, NGC 6946, NGC 6951, NGC 7023, NGC 7142, NGC 7160 (Cepheus); B145, B164, B168, B343, B361, Ba6, Be87, Cr 421, Do9, IC 1369, IC 1516, M29, M39, NGC 6866, NGC 6871, NGC 6888, NGC 6894, NGC 6910, NGC 6960, NGC 6992, NGC 7000, NGC 7008, NGC 7026, NGC 7027, NGC 7063, NGC 7086 (Cygnus); NGC 6891, NGC 6905, NGC 6934, NGC 7006 (Delphinus); NGC 7015 (Equuleus); M15 (Pegasus); NGC 6940 (Vulpecula)

Challenge deep-sky object for September: Abell 78 (Cygnus)

See http://dvaa.org/AData/AD2004_09.html for data on these objects.

Dave Mitsky

I returned from Cherry Springs State Park not too long ago. In brief the 2004 Black Forest Star Party was another great event. The skies were clear during the star party and remained clear for two additional nights. Four nights of clear skies near new moon is unheard of in these parts this year!

There were numerous vendors, some fine speakers and plenty of impressive telescopes including many big Dobsonians up to 32 inches in aperture. The views of the Sun through two binoviewer equipped Astro-Physics Starfires and Solar Spectrum 0.2 Angstrom H-alpha filters were simply incredible.

On the down side was the extremely heavy dew that drenched eyepieces and objectives each night and the fact that one well-known CSSP regular was struck in the eye with a green laser pointer despite the fact that these tools of the devil are banned at the park. He left earlier than he had planned to have an eye exam.

Needless to say I got very little sleep and must sign off for now.

Dave Mitsky

I observed C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) again on Sunday morning from a club dark site using a modified 10" Meade Dob. The comet is currently heading eastward through Eridanus towards Lepus.

Dave Mitsky

I've noticed that a number of other planetary nebulae blink, NGC 2392 for example.

Dave Mitsky

One of the many celestial objects that I observed at a club dark site during the course of Monday night was the newly discovered Comet Tucker Q1. C/2004 Q1 (Tucker) was fairly faint at 12th magnitude but was nevertheless readily visible through a friend's 14.5" Starmaster Sky Tracker Dob. The coma was small and relatively uniform.

An ephemeris for the comet is available at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides...ets/2004Q1.html and a finder chart at http://www.skyhound.com/sh/2004_Q1.gif

Dave Mitsky