Posts Made By: Dave Mitsky

Jupiter is developing a second red spot!

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/02mar_redjr.htm?list85666

Dave Mitsky

Here's another one of the photos that I took of the crescent Venus and the old crescent Moon from the Naylor Observatory last Friday morning, 2006/2/24.

The French Dome housing the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain is in the foreground.

Dave Mitsky

Here's another shot of Venus and the old crescent Moon that I took with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel and a Canon 80-200mm EF-S lens.

Dave Mitsky

In case you didn't see my post in the Solar System forum, Jupiter is developing a new red spot!

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2....htm?list85666

Dave Mitsky

I missed a few opportunities to observe Comet Pojmanski A1 last week but I did manage to spot it this morning with my Celestron 8x42 binocular. It was a small, nonstellar fuzzball located below and between the bright stars of Delphinus and Aquila. I was observing from a fairly light polluted location and could not see any hint of a tail, although the comet certainly is sporting a fine one as John Chumack's image attests http://www.bautforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2113&d=1141429080

A finder chart is posted at http://www.skyhound.com/sh/comets/2006_A1a.gif

There's an article on the comet at http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/observing/objects/comets/article_1687.asp

Dave Mitsky

I took this prime focus shot with the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain and my Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR on Saturday night. Since the seeing was not the best, I stopped the scope down to 10".

The crater Gutenberg, whose nickname is the Lobster Claw, is located in the upper right quadrant of the picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutenberg_(crater)

Dave Mitsky

The lunar "X" near the crater Werner should be visible tonight.

http://www.dl-digital.com/images/Astronomy/Moon/leftmoon0-xcrater.jpg

http://joecarr.ca/astro/astrophoto-moon.htm

Dave Mitsky

On Saturday morning, I finally observed Comet Pojmanski through a telescope, albeit only a small one (namely my 80mm Orion ShortTube achromat), from a nearby park from sometime before 5:00 to about 5:30 a.m. EST. I had planned on joining my friend Tony Donnangelo (we would have used his 102mm Takahashi FS 102 apochromat) but I got no answer when I called him. I later found out that he was outside observing at the time that I called.

After locating C/2006 A1 with my Celestron 8x42 binocular, I began viewing it through the ShortTube refractor. I first used a 26mm Tele Vue Ploessl (15x) to find the fast moving comet and then inserted an 8mm Tele Vue Radian (50x) for a more detailed view.

At 50x, Comet Pojmanski resembled an unresolved globular cluster. I compared it to the fine globular cluster M5 (see http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m005.html for further information) in Serpens. The coma seemed to be a bit smaller than M5 and was about the same brightness but with a higher degree of condensation. I could not see a tail.

I also observed Jupiter and its four Galilean satellites, the crescent Venus, the beautiful binary star Albireo, and Alcor-Mizar as the sky began to brighten.

Dave Mitsky

Will any experienced speaker who is willing to give a talk on an astronomical topic at the Cherry Springs Star Party (near Coudersport, Pennsylvania) in late June please contact me?

For further information, including the mail-in registration form that is now available see http://www.astrohbg.org/s4/index.php

Dave Mitsky

I watched a borrowed copy of "Starsky & Hutch" on Saturday night. It was mildly amusing but I'm glad that I didn't have to pay to see it.

Dave Mitsky