Posts Made By: Ron Bee

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html#2005cs

It's magnitude 13.5 now but brightening. The bright star "embedded" in the galaxy to the right of the SN in the picture is approx. magnitude
13, which was fairly easy to see under fairly dark sky with my 4" TV-102 Ligth Cup. So this new SN maybe a really good hunt for the 4-inchers!

Best of luck.

Ron the 4-inch Tall Evangelist B[ee]

For this fateful event, my 4-inch TV-102 Light Cup and I took a long trek to a 2800m high mountain top (9333 evel.) Due to the series of unfortunate events, we had to settle for around
2000m (6666 ft evel.) :-(. More on this site in the report, Light Cup High Sierra ;-).

Now I've tried to bag Comet 9/Tempel 1 from my NELM 3.5 backyard sky and it was a hopeless quest. The NELM is a prestined magnitude 7.2, not bad ;-). After setting up, I started to
locate the comet around 10:05pm (Jul 4th 05:05 UT). Using my 40mm Pentax XL (22x), I suspect the comet in the area indicated by my The Sky chart. Switching to the 20mm TV Plossl (44x),
the comet could be readily seen as small very dim smudge. Upping to my Galaxy Grabber eyepiece, 12mm Radian (73x), gave the best view of the comet. The comet was situated SW of the mag 12 star GSC 5546-1397 which forms a triangle with the star GSC 5546-882 and the brightest of the triangle, GSC 5546-1273. The 8mm Radian (110x) was used often as well especially with averted vision, exposing a stellar core at times. The seeing wasn't particularly good. I'd say the comet was very dim, more like magnitude 10-11 galaxy with a core.

About 10:20pm, I side tracked to M51 to try to catch the new supernova, SN2005c, but alas, while the 13.3 magnitude foreground star was easily seen, the SN was nowhere in sight :-(.

Now the press and predictions were saying that the result of the impact could have brighten the comet to magnitude 6! I was always skeptical of this but figure magnitude 8 might be more reasonable.

At 10:45pm, I quickly switched back to the comet and settled in at 73x. Lo and behold, at the appointed time of 10:52pm (05:52 UT), nothing happened! I stayed at it until 11:20pm (thank to the Radian comfy eye relief). Zero, zip, nada, no
flashes, no brightening. I noted the stellar core blinked in and out perhaps due to the seeing.

I stayed at it until 11:50pm and decided to throw in the towel :-( and move on to observe the more profitable ;-) Palomar globulars. My Light Cup speculated on the cause as one of the following:

- it was a miss ;-) (just saw on the net that it did hit!)
http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1541_1.asp
- the impact occurred at much later time
- 4-inch was alas too small of an aperture :-(
- it hit the target alright but without much hoopla ;-)

Anyone saw a huge flash or brightening? Magnitude 6 in brightness ;-)?

Well not all is lost ;-). My Light Cup did manage to show me that the comet did move from the first noted position to south of the star GSC 5546-1397 by 11:50pm ;-).

Ron B[ee]

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1108 (long)

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

This morning I had to get up early for a conf. call with my colleague in Scotland and lo & hold, the sky is clear and Mars was riding high
in the sky! I've been getting my morning clouds every mornings :-(.

At 5am, out went my TV-102 Light Cup so fast (I still had it mounted on my Vixen SP mount last night from watching the Moon). Totally
unprepared was I. The TV-102 went from 75d F inside to 65d F outside. At 44x (TV Plossl), I could see Mars in two or three orange disc due to lack of acclamation. Amazingly, it was immediately useable nevertheless and I watched it at 110x (8mm Radian) for a few minutes.
After 5 minutes, the view was stable enough to clearly see the SPC along with some dark surface features. I switched to 146x (6mm
Radian) for a grand view. Mars my most loved planet has returned! Switching to 176x (5mm TMB SuperMono), the view has stabilized shortly after 5 minutes and I could make out Syrtis Major near the terminator along with Hellas. Didn't have my Mars map with me to
make out the rest. I used my Baader Moon & Sky Glow filter for a natural view which turned Mars pinkish but also bring out the SPC very brilliantly while enhancing the albedo. I then played with y 2-4mm Nagler zoom. Incredible! The seeing was Antoniadi II-III.
It's so great to bring Mars "closer & closer" by simply twisting the knob. I still got a grand view at 3mm (293x) and still a nice
view at 2.5mm (352x) and somewhat soft view at 2mm (440x!). Judging from the sharpness of the view between 4mm-3mm, I can now see the Nagler zoom is a Mars eyepiece. I'm itching so badly on that 3-6mm zoom now. Incidentally, the polar cap looked smaller to me than I remembered in 2003 when Mars was around this size. This quickie observation ended at 5:40am. There is no other telescope design
that can afford such quickie, so totally unprepared observation almost instantly.

The time to see Mars through your 4-inch Tele Vue (and of course 'em lucky you with the NP127) is now which is 10.3 arcsec in size.
I'm waiting for my Tele Vue Mars Type B filter to get here this week. My Light Cup and I look forward to see everyone share their Mars experience this year.

Ron B[ee]

I just got my Mars Type B filter from Skies Unlimited.

Prior to getting it, I thought the color rendition would be similar to the #21 orange filter (since TVO web site said the effect would be similar to the #21 filter). Surprised!

Well here's a couple of pictures, one taken on top of a white piece of paper at an angle and one through the camera at my backyard. When
looked through, the Type B filter is decided less orange that #21. I can't wait to try a shoot out between the two. Or the case that
come with the Tele Vue is way better than the Meade filter case which always seems to wanna snap opened ;-).

http://users.adelphia.net/~ronbee/TEMP/TV-Mars-B-Meade-21-Filters.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~ronbee/TEMP/TV-Mars-B-Meade-21-
Backyard.jpg

I also gave the Type B the "shake test". No rattle - a good sign! Some of my Meade filters would rattle when new and even after
tightening would rattle again after extensive use :-(.

Ron B[ee]

Well, the rumor is true! My Light Cup has seduced me to the dark side of the imaging force ;-). Rather than sharpening my pencil this year, my Light Cup is "sharpening" my new TouCam Pro II camera and polishing my new 5X Powermate from Skies Unlimited.

Ok speaking for Ron B[ee], this is his first imaging attempt with the webcam (deploying illiterate image processing technique - ie.
he just let Registrax/Photoshop do its thingy) and he knows the result is really lousy :-(. So please go kindly on your comments ;-) but comments/suggestions are all warmly welcome.
http://www.cloudynights.com/images/ronbee/Images/LC-Clavius-072705.jpg

Thanks in advance.

Ron the 4-inch Tall Imaging ;-) Evangelist B[ee]

Well, the rumor is true! My Light Cup has seduced me to the dark side of the imaging force ;-). Rather than sharpening my pencil this year, my Light Cup is "sharpening" my new TouCam Pro II camera and polishing my new 5X Powermate from Skies Unlimited.

Ok speaking for Ron B[ee], this is his first imaging attempt with the webcam (deploying illiterate image processing technique - ie. he just let Registrax/Photoshop do its thingy) and he knows the result is really lousy :-(. So please go kindly on your comments ;-) but comments/suggestions are all warmly welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Ron the 4-inch Tall Imaging ;-) Evangelist B[ee]

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=352813&poll_id=&news_id=

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

Well this morning's mission was actually to capture Mars through my new Tele Vue Mars Type B filter and Meade #21 orange filter. This was harder than I thought it would be (I later shoot the Moon to relieve frustations because it was close to Mars ;-)). I realize the photo left much to be desired but hopefully may help you guys see the differences. The photos was taken between 11:30-12:00UT. The telescope used was my trusty TV-102 Light Cup, only 4-inch you notice ;-).

On 7/22, I had the first light with it. Firstly, I can tell you that the Type B is not a filter to be used by holding it in front of the eyepiece near dawn. I do this to detect dust cloud or dust storm by moving it in and out in front of the eyepiece. The dielectric coating caused me to see a clear reflection of my eye ;-). This was predawn so I'll have to try again at nighttime. When screwed into the eyepiece, there's no issue whatsoever. My jacket hood over my head also take care of this issue nicely ;-).

The Type B has dielectric coating which will make the surface very tough. This #21 orange filter is my most often used Mars filter, the Type B may suit this purpose more durably ;-).

Immediately, I can tell the Type B transmit more light; this might be because it's lighter in color. At the time, Syris Major was visible and it was a tad sharper through Type B. Most of the features could be seen through both filters. But what struck me most was I could get a glimpse of the NPH (North Polar Hood) while using Type B and not seen unfiltered nor through the #21! So I'm speculating that the Type B will bring out more low contrast features than the #21 presently.

Here's the photo from this morning and 2nd night out with the filters.
http://users.adelphia.net/~ronbee/Toys/Mars-TypeB-21-Photos.jpg
You can see for yourself (also compared to unfiltered view). Visually ;-), Mars Type B gave the best view of all, much sharper and crisper than the image convey. Unfiltered, I couldn't see Mare Tyrrhenum the small extension from the rim just south of the SPC. The large Mare Cimmerium was seen best in Type B. Notice the variation in the lightness of the plain (eg. Elysium). The #21 filter was no slouch either but with Mars presently at magnitude -0.4, the Type B has a decided advantage. I used my 5mm Radian (176x) for visual inspection ;-). One other scrutiny, note how the Type B still retains the morning limb haze/cloud (you can see this better in the unfiltered, processed image) but not so in the #21 filter. Just a note - limb haze/cloud is supposed to show up better with a #80A blue or Baader Moon & Skyglow filter.

At this juncture, the Type B filter is working great for my 4-incher. I have to clean my 8" Dob mirror to try out with larger aperture (as noted by Randy Roy).

I'll be doing more comparison until close to opposition to see how the Type B fare throughout the apparition. We'll also see how it will fare in my soon to arrive NP127!

Lastly on the imaging note, I've discovered that planetary imaging is many order of magnitude more difficult than lunar imaging and I just have to had my first try on a small 10.9" disc size :-(.

Ron B[ee]

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=352999&poll_id=&news_id=

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]