Asteroids, Doubles and Planets

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Bigzmey United States of America
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Asteroids, Doubles and Planets

#1

Post by Bigzmey »


Location: Anza desert site, Bortle 4.
Equipment: Celestron 9.25” Edge HD SCT and 150ST achro on SW SkyTee 2 manual AltAz mount.

7/1/2020

Bright Moon and nice dry desert weather. Typically, I would bring SV102 ED to split some doubles, but it has been awhile since I caught some asteroids and that activity would benefit from larger aperture of Edge. Most of asteroids on my list were in Aquilla and Sagittarius. While waiting for these constellations to rise I went after Lyra binaries.

Lyra doubles (all with Edge 9.25”)

STT 352 – 7.9, 9.4, 24.3”, yellow, silver. Wide pair with nice colors. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).
STF 2333 – 7.8, 8.6, 12.9, 13.7, ab6.4”, ac164.4”, ad85.8”. AB – close white pair in TV Plossl 32mm (73x). C- silvery and D – gray dots with averted vision in Pentax XW 10mm (235x).
STT 356 – 7.3, 9.2, 10.9, ab28.6”, ac48.9”, gold, yellow, silver. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).
STF 2351 – 7.6, 7.6, 5.0”, white pair. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).

Double Double (Eps1,2 Lyr) – wanted to test Edge 9.25” on this famous quartet. With TV Plossl 32mm (73x) A and C looked elongated. Two pairs were partially split with Pentax XW 20mm (118x) and cleanly split with XW 10mm (235x). Overall, the look was not as clean as in SV 102ED. It seemed that the stars were too bright for the Edge 9.25”.

STF 2349 – 5.4, 9.4, 12.1, ab6.8”, ac32.9”, cream, light blue, silver. Nice colors and contrast. Pentax XW 20mm (118x).
STF 2362 – 7.5, 8.7, 4.4”, uneven yellow pair. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).
STF 2367 – 7.1, 8.8, 11.0, ac14.3”, ae151.7”, gold, blue, white. Pentax XW 20mm (118x).
STF 2372 – 6.5, 7.7, 11.8, ab25.2”, ac114”, white, silver, gray. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).

Jupiter
Around midnight GRS transit was in progress. The seeing was not too good, but I was able to resolve a few belts and GRS in both Edge 9.25” with Pentax XW 10mm (235x) and stopped down 150ST with TV Delite 5mm (150x). Amount of visible details was about the same in both scopes. I have used Baader Moon & Sky Glow + Contrast Booster filter combo to cut the glare and improve the contrast. Jupiter moons were in a neat formation captured in my sketch below.
Jupiter-070120.jpg
Saturn
Saturn was small, fuzzy and disappointing again.

Asteroids
Each month typically bring a new set of asteroids. I usually go from brightest to dimmest until I start having trouble detecting them. I though with 9.25” I should be able to go comfortably down to 13 mag. However, bright Moon and poor seeing have stopped my hunt at about mag 12.5. Here is this evening catch. (453) Tea and (197) Arete are two smallest asteroids I have observed after Eros. Still amazes me how we can see something as small as 21 km from 150,000,000 km away.
Roids-070120.jpg
7/4/2020

4th of July evening started with some homemade fireworks bangs in the valley below, but they died out quite fast. The rest of the night was quiet and beautiful. I started the session by watching Full Moon rise and continued with Lyra binaries.

Lyra doubles (all with Edge 9.25”)

STF 2380 – 7.3, 8.7, 25.5”, gold, light blue. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).
STTA 172 – 7.9, 8.7, 61.2”, white pair. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).
STf 2390 – 7.4, 8.6, 4.3”, yellow, bluish. Tight split with TV Plossl 32mm (73x).

Beta Lyr – 3.6, 6.7, 13.0, 14.3, 10.1, 10.6, ab4.6”, ac46.4”, ad64.4”, ae67.1”, af85.7”. AB is a beautiful and easy double with rich bright white and blue colors. Dimmer white E and F components are also easy to spot. TV Plossl 32mm (73x). Faint C and D require large aperture and even in 9.25” Edge were detected only with averted vision at high power. TV Delite 7mm (336x).

Delta 1,2 Lyr – 5.6, 4.3, 644”. This is a beautiful binocular target: blue and orange star embedded in a glow of unresolved stars of Stephenson 1 open cluster. In Edge 9.25” Delta 1 and 2 were spread far apart. Delta 1 lost its blue hue and became plain white, but Delta 2 was even more beautiful gaining rich copper color. Stephenson 1 was resolved into individual stars in Edge 9.25”. Some of them are considered components of Delta 1 Lyr or Delta 2 Lyr systems. I have identified eight of them ranging from mag 8.7 to 12, all of white color. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).

STT 525 – 6.1, 9.1, 7.6, 11, ab1.8”, ac45.5”, ad215.3”, gold, white, blue, white. AB – partial split with Delite 7mm (336x), TV Plossl 32mm (73x) for C and D.

AG 366 – 8.5, 8.7, 1.4”, pale yellow pair. Figure 8 split with Pentax XW 20mm (118x) and Pentax XW 10mm (168x).
STF 2431 – 6.2, 9.6, 19”, white, blue. TV Plossl 32mm (73x).

Jupiter and Saturn
Views of both planets were poor. GRS was barely resolved on the Jupiter disk edge. 9.25” Edge, Pentax XW 14mm (168x).

Moon
I have played with EPs and filters to achieve best details contrast for the full Moon. The winning combo for the evening in Edge 9.25” was Pentax XW 20mm and old stock Celestron Dark Green #58.

Hit the slipping bag around midnight, woke up at predawn as I often do while in the desert. The sky was grayish-blue. Bright yellow full Moon was low in the west. Jupiter and Saturn were high in the south with Mars and Venus to the east. What a splendid sight!
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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terrynak
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Re: Asteroids, Doubles and Planets

#2

Post by terrynak »


Another fine session from Anza Andrey! I've only seen the Double-Double and Beta Lyr on your Lyra double stars listed here, some of which looks doable with a 60mm. Right now though I'm focusing on finishing the Double Star Marathon Observing List (110 objects) first, before I look further.

Missed the GRS, since I can only get Jupiter a little after midnight when it clears the apartment building next door.
Scopes: Reflectors, refractors, and 1 catadioptric. Ranging in aperture from 50mm to 150mm.
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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Asteroids, Doubles and Planets

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Post by Bigzmey »


Thanks Terry! How far are you in the double marathon?
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: Asteroids, Doubles and Planets

#4

Post by terrynak »


Bigzmey wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 4:39 am Thanks Terry! How far are you in the double marathon?
About 55%. Probably finish by the end of the year.
Scopes: Reflectors, refractors, and 1 catadioptric. Ranging in aperture from 50mm to 150mm.
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Re: Asteroids, Doubles and Planets

#5

Post by KingNothing13 »


Bigzmey wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:49 pm Still amazes me how we can see something as small as 21 km from 150,000,000 km away.
I try not to think about things like that - it makes my head hurt. And the fact that what you are seeing is the little object reflecting the sunlight back to us - it is REALLY astounding.

Sounds like a couple of good sessions, Andrey! Thanks for sharing them.
-- Brett

Scope: Apertura AD10 with Nexus II with 8192/716000 Step Encoders
EPs: ES 82* 18mm, 11mm, 6.7mm; GSO 30mm
Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars
List Counts: Messier: 75; Herschel 400: 30; Caldwell: 12; AL Carbon Star List: 16
Brett's Carbon Star Hunt

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Re: Asteroids, Doubles and Planets

#6

Post by 10538 »


Terrific reports Andrey! I could visualize your description of the early morning desert sky. What a beautiful sight! Thanks for sharing your fine report with us Andrey!
Ed :Astronomer1:
Scopes: Orion 14 inch f/4.6 Dobsonian w/MoonLite focuser. Meade LX200 Classic 10”w/AudioStar and MoonLite focuser, Criterion RV6, Orion ST80A w/2” GSO micro focuser.
Eyepieces: ES 5.5mm 100*, 6.7mm 82*, 11mm 82*, 14mm 100*, 18mm 82*, 20mm 100*, Meade 9mm XWA 100*, 24mm UWA 82*, 56mm 50*, TV Delos 6,8 & 10mm, Panoptic 24, 27 & 35mm, 17mm Nagler, Powermate 2X, Baader 6mm Ortho, Paracorr II.
MISC: William Optics Binoviewer, Revolution 2 Imager, Orion Skyview Pro Mount, Skymaster 15x70, 20x70, 25x100 Binos, HoTech Collimator, Kendrick Dew System,Catsperch Chair.
Messier 110 Complete/ Messier 110 Sketches Complete / Herschel 400 Complete / H-2 and H-3 Complete
Bortle 3 Skies in Down Eastern NC
“Starlight, I hear you calling out to me so far away” Jeff Lynne ELO.
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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Asteroids, Doubles and Planets

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Post by Bigzmey »


Thanks Brett and Ed!
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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