Due to the weather I never expected to do an astronomical all-nighter, my first in some time, last night at the ASH Naylor Observatory but as things turned out I was certainly glad that I was able to since it gave me a chance to observe the current supernova in M100, SN 2006X, and RS Ophiuchi, the recent nova in Ophiuchus. I also got some good shots of Mercury in the early evening, the waning crescent Moon and Venus prior to sunrise, and a rather prominent morning antitwilight arch with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR camera.
I arrived at the observatory around 23:40 UT (6:40 p.m. EST) and opened up the French Dome. I then took some quick afocal shots of Mercury through the 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain and its 5" f/5 finder scope, followed by a number of tripod-mounted shots through the 18-55mm Canon EF-S lens.
By approximately 00:10 UT, Mercury was no longer visible so I began observing with the 17". The seeing was rather poor, perhaps a 4/10, so any hope of splitting Sirius was out of the question. Using a wide-field "finder" eyepiece, a 40mm University Optics MK-70 (162x) with a 70 degree apparent field of view, I looked at the open cluster M41, the bright reflection nebula M78, the globular cluster M79 (one of the winter's few globulars), and the colorful carbon star R Leporis, otherwise known as Hind's Crimson Star.
After that, I retired to the Asper Administration Building to have something to eat. I watched portions of the big dance contest (you know what I'm talking about, admit it)* and went back to the dome. Inclement weather was on its way and before too long clouds began to appear. I closed the dome and began to watch the great PBS series "Battlefield Britain". The front arrived with strong wind gusts, followed by rain, sometime around 4:15 UT.
I watched Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and some of the Winter Olympics, and was ready to leave when I noticed that large parts of the sky were starry. I decided to stay and by 7:00 UT or so the skies were mostly clear. I was quite happy about this since I now had a chance to see the recent supernova in M100, SN 2006X, and perhaps even Nova RS Ophiuchi, the recent nova in southeastern Ophiuchus. I warmed up with the bright globular cluster M3 (162x) in Bootes and then headed into Coma Berenices. I visited the spiral galaxy M98 (162x) on the way to the supernova. Some patchy clouds appeared and I thought my supernova quest was over. However, they eventually passed.
I finally located the face-on spiral galaxy M100, boosted the magnification to 202x with a 32mm U.O. Koenig-II, and then to 259x with a 25mm U.O. MK-70. After a few minutes of study at that magnification, I was able to pick out the Type Ia supernova. Additional data on SN 2006X can be found at http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/sn2006/sn2006x.html and http://www.astrosurf.com/snweb2/2006/06X_/06X_Home.htm
I also added the nearby galaxies NGC 4312 and NGC 4379 to the south and NGC 4340 and NGC 4350 to the north of M100 to the night's catch, as well as the Sombrero Galaxy, M104.
I had a appreciative look at one of my favorite globulars, M5 (162 and 259x), before searching for RS Ophiuchi (17h50m, -6d42'). With a bit of perseverance, I was able to positively identify the "new" star using both the 5 and 17" scopes at approximately 8:30 UT. RS Ophiuchi was still relatively bright and had a slightly ruddy tint. This recurrent nova, or cataclysmic variable star, consists of a M2 red giant and a hot, blue companion. For further information, see http://www.aavso.org/news/rsoph.shtml and http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/observing/objects/variablestars/article_1681.asp
I ended my dome observing with views of Jupiter (the Galilean satellites and a bright field star formed an interesting pattern) and Saturn, the bright galactic pair M81 and M82, as well as two of the Leo Triplet galaxies M65 and M66. The summertime globular cluster M4 was my final observation with the 17".
But my observing wasn't finished quite yet. After a cup of coffee and a little morning radio, during which I identified Venus as the bright object near the waning crescent Moon for the audience of one of the local AM stations, I began to photograph the picturesque pairing of planet and natural satellite with my two Canon zoom lenses. I couldn't work the camera with my gloves on so my fingers and hands were nearly frostbitten as strong gusts of wind made their assault, but I did manage to capture some worthwhile images.
Next I dragged the club's 8" f/6 Hardin Dob out of the Asper Building and viewed the Moon and Venus with the 25mm MK-70. I also took a number of afocal shots of the crescent Venus as the wind buffeted the telescope.
After putting the Hardin away, I took some photographs of a very colorful morning version of the Earth's shadow and the Band of Venus, otherwise known as the antitwilight arch (browse http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=antitwilight-arch1 and http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030822.html for further information).
Well, it was without a doubt a long and windy night but also a productive one. During its course, I saw all the naked-eye planets except Uranus, a nova and a supernova, and a host of other celestial objects, and captured what will hopefully be some fine images.
* "Dancing With The Stars"
Dave Mitsky
