Report - 09/09/2007

Sunday, 09 September 2007 19:51

Faboulous evening for gazing.  Tonight was spent just familiarizing myself with the night sky, and confirming that my gear was working okay...flashlight, clothing, etc...though I'd prefer to wear jean; sweats worked really well. Have to play things by ear for next weekend.

Light Pollution from Winnipeg, caused a severe brightening of the western sky.

First and foremost...before even really starting...saw a shooting star streak across the sky in a north-west to south path which lasted about a second, though visually the trail was about 3-4 moon widths long. Very pretty...

Secondly, finally got to see Jupiter...if I had gotten outside about 5-10 minutes later, it would have been below the tree line; as it stood, it was just inside the tree line, but wholly visible, as it hadn't yet set...they weren't kidding...it's the brightest thing in the sky...binos didn't have enough magnification to see anything, but it didn't have a color that stood out...hopefully I can get a telescope (or borrow one) and get a better view.

Basically my tour was in a north-east-south-west direction. Using my flashlight and a starchart from orion's site...I did the grand tour, and marked off what I saw on the starchart using dry-erase markers.

Big Dipper (including snout of Ursa Major)...pointer stars to Polaris and found Ursa Minor...found Cepheus and Cassepoeia. Next I re-located Pegasus' diamond, and proceeded to trace out the entire constellation. Next, I looked for a located M31, and realized that it could actually be seen with the naked eye. From there located the Great Triangle and proceeded to locate/identify the three constellations that denoted, Aquila, Cygnus and Lyra. Spent some time locating/identifying Aquarius and Capricornus (but didn't remember to id it during my later review). Next I realized that I could see most of the Teacup, but not enough to see the true shape (really just an academic exercise). Shifted my attention back to the Big Dipper, and using the ‘pointer' (arc to Arcturus), found, realized that the constellation of Bootes, really is easier to find that I thought, which inevitably led me to Corona Borealis. Next headed back to Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and located Draco. Then using the star chart, traced out Hercules, and came to realize that he's really not that hard to locate, especially when you use legend to help out (i.e. Draco and Hercules being related in Greek Mythology). Before wrapping up for an evening review, proceed to identify the better part of Pisces, though the bottom 3 stars in the constellation were below the tree line. Using the twin trails of Pegasus, was able to locate Triangulum and Aries. Lastly, with more help from the star chart, located/identified Perseus.

Finally, I should note that the Milky Way was clearly visible from the north-eastern Treeline right through the south-western Treeline.