The plan was to do some astrophotography Saturday night. The weather forecast forced a re-schedule, a winter storm arriving Saturday afternoon, Friday it was to be.
The Pleiades, M45, with the Canon 6D and TV-76mmThe timing proved to be excellent, Mauna Kea providing glorious skies Friday night. Clouds hovered over the side of the mountain on arrival, but there was no worry. These were the sort of clouds that would vanish with the daylight. Anxious tourists wanting to see through the telescopes repeated the same question, will the clouds go away? I answered the questions with the relaxed assurance of experience of years on Mauna Kea, and continued to set up the gear. The clouds didn’t even last as long as I expected, dissipating as the sun settled into the horizon.
Setting up at the Mauna Kea VIS means a crowd of people. Hundreds of tourists that have come to enjoy a dark Mauna Kea Sky. I was joined by Raymond, a Hilo amateur also looking to take some photos. We setup side by side in a parking space just off the patio where the VIS was setting up their telescopes for the night. We would be in the center of the crowd for a while.
Some unaided eye sunspots visible today and for the next few days. The huge group, AR1967 is probably another visitation of AR1944, which spawned a few large solar flares during the first week of January.
I took a few quick images using the AT6RC and a Canon 60D. A quick process is shown below, give me a bit I should be able to produce a better image.
The Sun on 30Jan2014 including the large sunspot group AR1967
Amateur astronomers love lists… The Messier observing list, the Hershel 400, the Hershel II, and on. Some lists can be complete on a night or two, some lists may take years, or even a lifetime to accomplish. Amateur astronomy is not the only avocation to use lists like this. Birders attempt to see all of the birds known to occur in their home country. Aircraft spotters love to see each model of aircraft in the air. Divers keep lists of species seen underwater.
Lists like these are not only fun, but allow the list chaser to sample the wonders our universe has to offer. The challenge of finding and observing each of the items is worthwhile. Each object is a lesson into the science, hunting each object allows skills to be practiced.
Most of the astronomy observing lists require a small telescope to accomplish, or at least a pair of binoculars. One list is a bit different, it does not require any optical aid at all… The Naked Eye 100.
While comet C/2012 S1 ISON is getting all of the attention, it is not the only comet currently visible. There are a couple other good comets available to observe or photograph. On Sunday morning I tracked down and photographed three comets.
The ZEQ25, TV-76mm and Canon 6D setup and taking photos of comet ISONComet ISON is sharing the stage with comet 2P/Encke and comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy. All three are bright enough to be spotted in a small telescope. Encke was about magnitude 8, Lovejoy and ISON were both about magnitude 5 on Sunday morning.
Despite following comet ISON for the last year, I had never actually observed it myself. Attempts to change this repeatedly ran into problems, either work commitments or bad weather. Over the last month cloudy skies have been more common than clear, even the big ‘scopes on the mountain losing a large amount of time to poor conditions.
