| Observer: | Tom Campbell |
| Location: | College Station, Texas (Long: 96°17'W Lat: 30°37'N) |
| Telescope: | Zhumell 12" f/5 Dobsonian |
| Eyepieces: | Explore Scientific 18mm (83x) Explore Scientific 11mm (136x) |
| Lenses: | Celestron Luminos Barlow (2.5x) |
| Weather: | The sky was mostly clear. Temperature was in the low 80s (F). There was a breeze, getting stronger as the evening progressed. |
Today was clear and breezy. There were some clouds in the evening, but they cleared off as sunset approached. I wheeled my telescope outside and let it begin "cooling down" while I ate supper.
Comet C/2015 V2 (Johnson) - Boötes - NEW! - The comet is diffuse. It isn't difficult to find, but is fainter than I was expecting. With averted vision, it has a stellar nucleus with a large, mostly round coma which has a dark greenish hue. No tail was apparent. The sky isn't quite dark and there are some high altitude clouds in the region, so I will want to try this one again in better conditions. The best view was at 136X.
Jupiter - Despite the strong breeze, there were moments when the telescope would sit still and I would get an awesome view. The Great Red Spot (GRS) was easily visible as a bright orange-red oval right along the meridian. Several bands were detected, with festoons and swirls making the image look like a photo. All four Galilean moons were off to one side, with Europa very close to the planet. The best view was at 341x.
At this point, I decided to go inside and get my father-in-law and wife to take a look at the GRS. My FIL saw Jupiter last week and loved the view, but the GRS was on the other side of the planet at that time. Both enjoyed the view, but my wife went back inside afterwards to attend to some other things. But my father-in-law was hooked. He remained outside with me for the rest of the evening.
I showed my father-in-law the comet, but he wasn't very impressed with it. I could tell by his reaction that he was having a difficult time seeing it clearly. I decided to go for something easier: a few nice double stars. I took a quick peek in my Pocket Sky Atlas and found a couple that were well positioned.
Zuben Elgenubi - Libra - At 83X, this wide double still took up most of the field. Two bright white stars, one a little dimmer than the other.
STF 1962 - Libra - NEW! - This one looks very nice at 83X. Two equally bright yellow-orange stars that are close together.
I was starting to hunt around for another double star system to show my father-in-law when I realized that Hercules was clearing the treetops and he had not yet seen M13. So I swung around there.
M13 (Great Hercules Cluster) - Hercules - At 136X, this globular cluster is teeming with pinpoint stars. I stared at it for several seconds, with each second revealing more and more stars. I let my FIL take a peek. He watched it, mesmerized, until it had drifted out of view.
The strong breeze had turned into a wind and clouds were beginning to build up in the south. A pity, because otherwise it was a great night. My FIL asked if that bright object in the east was a star or a plane. "Oh, that's a star. Vega," I replied. "Let's take a look."
Vega - Lyra - What can I say? A ridiculously bright star that had diffraction spikes going everywhere. A lot of people imagine this to be what the Christmas Star may have looked like. Beautiful.
M57 - Lyra - Even though it was still pretty low in the sky, I thought I'd show him the Ring Nebula since it was nearby. I was admiring its beauty at 136X, but he had difficulty seeing it. I kicked the magnification back down to 83X and he saw the celestial donut more clearly. I'll have to show it to him again in another month or so when it is much better situated in the sky.
Saturn - I was looking around for something else to show him when I spied Saturn just popping up above a neighbor's roof. I pointed it out with my laser, and then swung the telescope around. The telescope was almost pointed horizontally, and Titan was still hidden by the roof, but there she was. The thick atmosphere and heat waves rising from the roof made the view mushy, but there was no denying the yellow planet and its rings. My father-in-law doesn't express emotions very often, but even with the poor view, Saturn elicited a "Wow!" from him.
The wind was really fighting me now, as I tried to hold the telescope onto its target. I decided to take one more peek at Jupiter and then pack it in. The GRS had now moved significantly towards one side of the planet and Europa was now lost in the glare as it moved in front of Jupiter.
Despite the clouds and wind, I had a good time and was even able to see two new objects! Plus I had some more bonding time with my father-in-law. He really seems to enjoy looking through the telescope.