Northern Sydney Astronomical Society

After several months of cancelled and clouded out observing nights, the skies finally co-operated on Saturday 29/1/11. Five members (three with scopes) and one visitor attended.

The Dobs (12 and 10 inch)

We set up our scopes well before sunset and then, as the the daylight faded, we competed in trying to be the first to spot Jupiter. Gary spotted it first and quickly got his scoped pointed at the giant planet. The equatorial bands were very obvious even in the semi-daylight. Io was very close to the edge of the planet’s disk as it was due to be occulted at 9pm.

Examining charts as the sun sets

For much of the evening we worked from an observing list which Gary had obtained from http://www.calsky.com a website which allows you to print an observing list for any time and location.

During the evening, we observed the following objects:

• Jupiter and the occultation of Io just before 9pm. However the planet disappeared below the trees in the west before the Red Spot came into view.
• M42 (Orion Nebula) – Perhaps the most spectacular object in the sky. We returned to this several times during the evening as the sky darkened showing more and more detail.
• 47 Tucanae (Globular in Tucanae) – A magnificent object which we also observed several times.
• NGC362 (Globular in Tucanae) – Small and fuzzy but worth a look for comparison to the nearby 47 Tucanae.
• Iridium Flare – The CalSky list predicted this for 9.13pm. Just before the appointed time, I used my digital setting circles to rapidly slew my scope to within a couple of degrees of the co-ordinates given in the CalSky list. This gave us a rough indication of where to look. We looked in that direction and almost immediately the flare appeared as a bright Venus-like object. It lasted a few seconds and then faded rapidly.
• IC348 (Nebula in Perseus) – Barely visible nebulosity surrounding a central star
• NGC1851 (Globular in Columba)
• M77 (Cetus A – Spiral Galaxy in Cetus) – Small and dim but easy to spot. Almost like a planetary nebula in appearance.
• M1 (The Crab Nebula) – Just a smudge.
• M79 (Globular in Lepus)
• M35 (Open cluster in Gemini) – I stumbled on this nice open cluster by accident while searching fot NGC2129 (next)
• NGC2129 (Open cluster in Gemini) – so unimpressive that we were not sure it was even a cluster.
• NGC2070 (Tarantula Nebula in Dorado) – A spectacular sight with lots of spider-like structure visible.

We packed up at about 11pm after a very enjoyable night of viewing.

Bob's Scope

Unfortunately some unexpected cloud appeared late in the afternoon and as of 8.30 pm it does not look like improving.

Therefore observing tonight is now OFF.

PeterN

The forecast for tonight looks good for most of the evening, although it may become cloudy after 11pm. Therefore, observing at North Turramurra tonight (Saturday 8th) is ON.

The location is North Turramurra Golf Club.
A map can be found here:
http://nsas.org.au/contact/north-turramurra-golf-club/
The gates should be open by 7.15pm.

The sun sets at 8.10pm.
The moon will be a 4 day old crescent, setting at 10.17pm. It shouldn’t be too troublesome after about 9.30pm.
A list of objects visible tonight can be found on the web site here:
http://nsas.org.au/observing/observing-for-january-78-2011/

This will be a good opportunity to try observing Uranus and Neptune.
Uranus will be less than 2 degrees below Jupiter at magnitude 5.9. It should be an easy object in even the smallest scope. Neptune, at magnitude 8.0 will be about 8 degrees to the left of the crescent moon. This willl make it easy to find if the moon’s light doesn’t interfere too much.

Peter Nosworthy

The weather forecasts for tonight are generally for cloud. There may be a period of clear sky, but not enough to ensure a good observing night.
Therefore, observing at North Turramurra tonight (Friday 7th) is OFF.

The forecast for Saturday night (8th) looks much better, so we will plan for an observing night tomorrow instead.
Email and SMS notifications will be sent by 4pm tomorrow, or check the web site for updates.

Peter Nosworthy