Clear Skies
Tag: observing
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A Moonlit Night at Kaʻohe
It was Norman who started it.
An innocent email… Anyone interested in a star party this weekend?
Last weekend’s new Moon star party had been a bust, heavy clouds overhead were a disappointment to those of us waiting for a good dark night.
Given the positive response to Norman’s email there seems to be a few folks ready to go despite a bright Moon in the sky. With the weather looking good the Saturday afternoon email flurry showed that a few folks were going, thus I joined in.
As per Mauna Kea normal I drove through the clouds, heavy fog on Saddle Road just a mile from Kaʻohe made the trip seem hopeless. But as I neared the turn I suddenly found myself above the clouds, the bright Moon high over Hualalai.
Continue reading “A Moonlit Night at Kaʻohe”A Bit of Moonlight
A bit of moonlight, OK, more than a bit, still worth spending some time in the dark…
A Night Between Hurricanes at Kaʻohe
Our monthly dark skies star party had been originally planned for the night of July 27th, a few days before full Moon. With the governor’s emergency order all access to the mauna was closed, and the gals at the DLNR office let me know I could not get a permit. With that I put out a message I hate to post… Star party cancelled.
One week later and things look better, the emergency order has been rescinded and we again have access to the mauna, no problem getting our permit.
The problem this time looked to be weather, no big problem… Just a couple of hurricanes.
Continue reading “A Night Between Hurricanes at Kaʻohe”A Crisp Night at Kaʻohe
I was a bit concerned as I drove to the site, a heavy fog all the way up Saddle Road persisted as I turned off on the old Saddle Road to climb the ridge to Kilohana. It was not until halfway up the gravel access road that I broke out of the fog, just a hundred yards before the Kaʻohe site.
On top of the fog it was gorgeous, a beautifully clear sky overhead with the first stars peeking out. Time to setup a telescope!
I brought the restored 8″ Cave Astrola expecting to spend the evening exploring the clusters and nebulae of the southern Milky Way in Scorpio or a bit further south. This rich region would be well positioned through the night.
We had a small group this particular evening, just six of us… Andre and Anna, Maureen, Andrew, Cliff, and myself set up by the gravel pile. There were pleasant conversations in the night, cookies and brownies to share, and views through each other’s telescopes.
Continue reading “A Crisp Night at Kaʻohe”June Observing List
Our next club dark sky star party will be June 1st at the usual Kaʻohe site.
For the evening I have again assembled an observing list for those who want to explore some of the more interesting objects available in the sky this month.
These are all visible in the early evening, all suitable for average telescopes of at least 6-8″ aperture.
M5
RA: 15h 18′ Dec: 2° 4’N Mag: 5.8 Globular cluster in Ser
A nice bright globular, about 15′ in diameter
Iota Cnc
RA: 8h 46′ Dec: 28° 46’N Binary star in Cnc
A pretty yellow and white pair, 4.0 and 6.6 separated by 30″
V Hya
RA: 10h 52′ Dec: 21° 15’S Mag: 8 Carbon star
Reddest carbon star known variable from 6.5-12 magnitude with a period of 533 days
M92
RA: 17h 17′ Dec: 43° 8’N Mag: 6.5 Globular cluster in Her
This nice globular cluster is often overlooked in favor of its more famous neighbor M13, but M92 is also worth the stop.
NGC6207
RA: 16h 43′ Dec:36° 50’N Mag: 11.6 Galaxy in Her
Just 28′ north of M13 this faint 11th magnitude galaxy is a nice challenge object for eight inch or larger optics.
NGC5846
RA: 15h 6′ 29.3″ Dec: 1° 36′ 20″N Mag: 10.2 Galaxy in Vir
A bright elliptical, those with larger aperture may note a small companion galaxy on the south edge of the halo
M99 Coma Pinwheel Galaxy
RA: 12h 18′ 49.7″ Dec: 14° 24′ 59″N Mag: 9.8 Galaxy in Com
A nice spiral galaxy, larger aperture will show some of the spiral structure
NGC5128 Centaurus A
RA: 13h 25′ Dec: 43° 1’S Mag: 7 Galaxy in Cen
A large bright galaxy with an obvious dust lane
Proxima Cen
RA: 14h 29′ 43″ Dec:62° 40′ 46″S Red dwarf star
The closest star outside our solar system, a challenge object to be sure, you will want good charts to find this one. The coordinates given above are from the Gaia mission data release 2 and are recent enough to be accurate, this high proper motion star moves about 4 arcseconds each year.
NGC5286
RA: 13h 46′ Dec: 51° 22’S Mag:7.6 Globular in Cen
Another nice, but oft overlooked globular star cluster
Keep in mind that this list is assembled for the usual West Hawaii Astronomy Club observing site at Kaʻohe, on the side of Mauna Kea at 20N latitude. It may include southern objects out of reach for anyone much further north.
Observing
A Dark Sky Above
