STARLOG

FIGHTING THE CENTAUR

JUNE 5, 2018

This past week had a few clear nights, which has been rare so far this year, but between the gusty breeze and the nearly full moon hanging around all night, they haven't really been conducive for any serious stargazing.

This week the moon is rising well after midnight, but the skies are supposed to be partly cloudy. Today was no exception, with high, thin clouds filling most of the sky. But shortly before sunset, I noticed the clouds were all disappearing and it was turning into a nice night. This was a work night and I didn't really have a lot of time tonight, but I also didn't want to waste this opportunity. I set up Zoomie in the back yard and then went back inside to print out an observing list.

Heading back outside, Jupiter was rising higher in the sky and demanded attention. I obeyed and popped a low-power eyepiece into my telescope and swung it in his direction. Jupiter is near Zubenelgenubi (Alpha Librae) right now, which is a double star. There are also several other bright stars nearby. Along with its moons, Jupiter was nestled in amonsgst a field of bright stars and made a beautiful sight.

I started to grab my phone adapter to take a picture of Jupiter, but when I looked up, I noticed that the southern sky was showing more stars than usual. Transparency must be decent tonight. I wondered whether I could see Omega Centauri.

Omega Centauri is a huge globular cluster nestled in the southern constellation of Centaurus. I had no hope of seeing anything that far south when I lived in Kansas and even when I lived in Lubbock, it was so low that Earth's thick atmosphere made it nearly invisible.

From where my telescope was set up, I could only make out the topmost stars in the constellation. So I walked over to another part of the yard near the master bathroom and found a spot where I could get the right part of the sky in view between two neighborhood rooftops.

I strapped Zoomie's optical tube to the base, removed my eyepieces from the accessory tray and dragged the telescope to its new location in the back yard. As I was unstrapping it again and getting it ready to go, I noticed that one of the neighbors had turned on his back yard security lights and they were shining right in my face. This wasn't good. Omega Centauri would be difficult to see in the best of circumstances. But I'd already moved the telescope. I may as well see what I could see.

Using my finder scope, I "hopped" from star to star until I got to about the right location. There! I saw a very dim smudge of light in the finder. I centered on it and looked in the eyepiece. Something big was there alright, but it was faint. I decided to put in a larger-magnification eyepiece to get a bit more contrast with the sky, but right as I was putting it in, the bathroom light came on, nearly blinding me.

I waited a few minutes, but the light stayed on, so I decided to make the best of it. Blocking the light the best I could with my hand, I took a peek...

NGC 5139 (Omega Centauri)	Centaurus	Globular Cluster	10:00pm CDT
	Using my 11mm 82 eyepiece (138X), it takes up about half the field. With direct vision it's a faint smudge where I have to jiggle the eyepiece a bit to even make sure it is really there. However, with averted vision, hundreds of faint pinprick stars can be seen. I can only imagine how this would look if it were higher in the sky at a dark site. It is oval in appearance, although the exact shape is difficult to discern due to its faintness.

This was really exciting for me. I have literally been waiting years for the chance to see this cluster. I texted an astronomer friend about my accomplishment. As it happened, he was also outside observing and took a look at it as well. Unfortunately, he lives a lot farther north than I do, so his view was less spectacular.

Scorpius was rising as well, and it was the home to another large globular cluster, M4. I wondered how it compared. But to see Scorpius, I had to move my telescope back to where it was originally. This would also put the telescope out of the direct path of the bathroom window, so that would be good, too.

Once again, I strapped up my scope, removed the eyepieces from the tray and hauled everything back across the yard. As I was unstrapping it, the bathroom light went out. Hooray! I looked through the Telrad finder to lock on my new target when the sky suddenly became darker.

I looked around. The neighbor had turned off his security lights finally! I glanced at Scorpius and then back at Centaurus. Should I move the telescope again to see if the view had improved with the lights out? I've been waiting years to see Omega Centauri. I didn't want to waste this opportunity.

For the third time, I strapped down the scope and dragged it back in front of the bathroom window. I settled down to take another view of Omega Centauri. About this time, the bathroom light came on again. Noooooo! My stubborn streak kicked in and I decided to wait it out.

Luckily, I only had to wait 2-3 minutes and it went out again. The cluster appeared more obvious in the finder scope and I could see a few individual stars with direct vision, but the view didn't really improve a lot. The only thing that would help is for the cluster to be higher in the sky where there is less atmosphere to look through.

Satisfied that I had seen Omega Centauri as good as it was going to get tonight, I strapped up the scope and moved it one final time to the middle of the yard and away from that pesky bathroom window. I continued where I had left off.

Messier 4	Scorpius	Globular Cluster	10:30pm CDT
	After looking at Omega Centauri, this faint globular looks very bright. It is also oblong. There's a line of bright stars running right down the middle with a lot of background haze indicating unresolved stars. Several brighter stars can be resolved and seem to be mostly in pairs and are scattered throughout the cluster. The best view was at 211X.

Between all the telescope moving tonight, I noticed that Venus was really pretty and was in the neighborhood of Gemini. Before getting on with my observing list, I thought I'd take a photo.

While I had my phone out, I may as well take a picture of Jupiter. I connected the adapter to one of my eyepieces, added a barlow lens to increase the magnification and shot a few videos. Processing the videos revealed this image:

Okay, time for my main observing list. I wanted to catch a few doubles in Hercules and see if I could also see a galaxy or two there. I looked around and quickly realized that I had left my list indoors. I glanced at my watch. 11:15 already. I needed to gather up the trash and do a few other chores before heading to bed.

This night had been full of frustration, but also was fun, too. The joy of seeing Omega Centauri for the first time and a great view of Jupiter outweighed the obstacles.