Glencullen Friday 24th September

Hello, Michael. 

Is Glencullen near Kilternan?
I'm a bit rusty on where it is. 
Is it next to Johnny Fox pub?

Clear skies from Aubrey. 

Yes, Michael. 
That's the one. 
I remember it now. 
Thank you. 
I am free to observe on Friday night; but not Saturday. 
Do you reckon we can observe Jupiter, Saturn and Mars from Glencullen?

Aubrey. 

I remember the occultation of Saturn from Glencullen.
I must check and see when that was.
Valerie and I were newly weds.

Aubrey.

Hi Michael,

Very many thanks for organising this observing session. I am happy to join in tomorrow night. I was up that way today, and it looks like a great spot.

See you tomorrow, hopefully!

Clear skies,

Darren.

flt158 wrote: Hello, Michael. 

Is Glencullen near Kilternan?
I'm a bit rusty on where it is. 
Is it next to Johnny Fox pub?

Clear skies from Aubrey. 

If you do make it up this evening just watch out for those two very sharp left-hand turns on the way up from Kilternan Aubrey. They come in quick succession. I've had a few near misses over the years. 

All the best, 

Darren. 

I'm leaving the house now.

Thank you for the advice, Darren.

I will be driving slow alright.

For the record we observed the lunar occultation of Saturn at the same site on 22nd May 2007 - which was 3 days before my 47th birthday.

Happy days.

Aubrey.

Good morning Michael,

Very well done on capturing Mars last night. No doubt about it: that's the ice cap alright! You were spot on when you called it last night.  Super image, and it's great to have it as a visual reminder of last night's session. 

Again, very many thanks for organising the event. It was brilliant, and the craic was 90!

Also, many thanks for sharing that video - it's remarkable! 

Chat soon, and I'll put together my observing notes later on. 

Clear skies, 

Darren. 

Good evening, everybody.

It's great to see our favourite Irish astronomy website quite busy again in recent days.

I start by giving Michael a big thank you for encouraging Darren and me to get out of our homes with 3 fine telescopes for a little while on Friday night. Maybe more will attend next time! The car park beside St. Patrick's Church appears to be a very good observing area.

Anyway as you all know, I own a William Optics (WO) 158 mm F/7 apochromatic refractor and a WO 70 mm F/6 small apo which are both placed on a Berlebach Planet alt-az mount. 2" mirror diagonals are fitted to both scopes. Therefore my north is up, but my east is to the right.

It was all about 3 planets on Friday night 25th September 2020. But I also had a look at the Moon also.

I observed from about 8.15 pm to just before 11 pm. Sunset had occurred at 19.15 pm. The temperatures fell from 4 degrees down to 0 degrees Celsius during our time. The winds were brisk enough.

1. Where better to start than with Jupiter. Using the WO small apo at 11X the -2.4 magnitude disc was very bright of course. But I could make out on the east side 5.7 magnitude Europa, 5.1 mag Ganymede and 6.4 mag Callisto. Switching to the main scope then using magnifications 40X and 112X at 21.37 or thereabouts, a mag 5.7 Io appeared from behind Jupiter's shadow. All 3 of us let out a few roars as Io slowly brightened! What a magnificent sight it was. I did have the very same privilege about 8 or 9 years ago when I last observed Io doing precisely the same thing. It meant that all 4 moons were now on the east side of Jupiter. And all 4 moons are in the correct order in their orbits. Io having the closest orbit was a lot closer which was followed by Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. How cool is that?! I did not go higher in magnifications as the seeing was not great because of all the wind currents. For the record Jupiter was 716,000,000 kms from Earth and had an angular diameter of 41.2".

2. Next up was Saturn. Even at the considerably low power of 112X I could make out 8.6 mag Titan south of the beautiful rings of Saturn, mag 10 Rhea, mag 10.5 Tethys and 10.7 Dione which was between Rhea and the rings of Saturn. That's not bad: 4 moons at 112X with a noticeable wind. Right now the rings have a 23 degree tilt and they are closing a bit year by year. Saturn's magnitude is +0.4. Its distance was 1,433,240,000 kms from us.

3. Mars was affected by the less than reasonable seeing conditions too. Its magnitude was -2.4. Its distance was less than 63,350,000 kms from Earth. Its angular diameter was 22.1". But even at 112X I could make out the great dark area called Syrtis Major which is hugely famous. Mare Serpentis, Mare Tyrrhenum were quite easy to see also. Michael's image had those 3 features and also, I believe, he could see both Hellas and the South Polar Cap. Good catch, Michael!

4. Lastly I should say something in regards to the 8.5 day old Moon which I observed at a mere 40X. Straight away all 3 of us saw Rupes Recta in our own scopes. The 3 craters Plato, Archimedes, Eratosthenes and the Montes Apennines were all on view. However I was looking around for the crater Tycho. Where is he? But there he was right on the terminator! The centre of the 65 km crater was in darkness, but its complete rim was catching the Sun's illumination. There were no rays or central peak on this particular Friday night. I don't remember seeing the crater this way before.

Thank you for reading.
The 3 of us had great craic. And seeing Darren's new car and his 10" Dobsonian. Michael's C11 with his very good imaging system and laptop was a real bonus - especially when he zoomed in on Albireo.

Tomorrow I will do another report on what I observed on Saturday night 26th September.

Best regards from Aubrey.

I just love reading your reports Aubrey because they always capture the session so well. So, very many thanks for putting your report together for us. As it was my first occultation it was an extra special night too. I will always remember your 'Whoo-Hoo' as IO reappeared. I can only imagine what the locals must of thought when they heard the three yelps of joy coming from the graveyard late at night!

In addition to viewing Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and the Moon on Friday night, I managed to observe the Andromeda Galaxy at 42X. As we were under a Bortle 5 sky, dust lanes were visible. M110 was easily seen too. Both Galaxies showed their bright core, and using a 2" 30mm eyepiece, which has a 70° AFOV, there were many stars in the TFOV - such a beautiful sight. Before leaving Glencullen, I also managed to observe the Pleiades for the first time this season. Using the same eyepiece I could see each of the 'Seven Sisters' and their parents 'Atlas' and 'Pleione' in my FOV. I've yet to observe any nebulosity around 'Merope'. Maybe a darker sky is required???

All in all it was one of my favourite observing sessions since I started out - there was even a little 'sing song'. I'm smiling now just thinking about it: 'My Pal's name is Foot Foot...'  : )

Clear skies to all,

Darren.

p.s. I hope Valerie's NCT went well.

You're very kind, Darren.
Thank you very much.

Now about the term occultation. Io reappearing behind Jupiter's shadow is not an actual occultation. It's called "Io exits eclipse by Jupiter's shadow". That piece of information comes directly from Sky & Telescope's website. But it was a totally stunning sight all the same - seeing Io getting brighter and brighter as the seconds went by. An occultation would have been if Io had gone behind the disc of Jupiter. Maybe we will see one of those in 2021.
The next time you here me give a "Whoo-whoo" please phone for the men in white! I'm only joking!

Well done on observing M110. Maybe you have already observed M32. It's on the other side of M31.

The Pleiades(M45) are always a super sight.

We must keep up having great laughs in regards to "Worst Songs Ever". Please keep checking on the Off Topic Observatory on www.cloudynights.com
Ha Ha!

Best regards,

Aubrey.

Hi Aubrey,

You're more than welcome, and very many thanks for clarifying what the term 'occultation' for me. I wasn't sure whether I got it right when I posted it, and I couldn't seem to find a clear definition of what the event was. 

Yes, I have seen M32 in the past. All three are a sight to behold.

Until next time, clear skies and I'll be sure to keep an eye on that forum : )

Darren.