2004-10-27, 20:30 | +47°14'51.0", +122°26'01.0" (map)
The Moon
Lunar eclipse from Tacoma's Thea Foss waterfront near the Museum of Glass.
2004-04-01, 21:04 | +47°15'34.0", +122°27'38.0" (map)
Jupiter
2004-03-27, 21:16 | +47°15'34.0", +122°27'38.0" (map)
Jupiter
The weather in this area is turning nicer and with that, I find myself hauling out the 'scope more and more often. Tonight I focused on Jupiter and its Galilean moons and our own Moon. Clouds slowly rolled over the sky from the southeast and prompted a most hasty telescope setup. Once ready, I went straight for the high power (10mm) eyepiece and was dazzled by the giant planet and four of its many moons. Sarah was present and she was likewise blown away at the sight. Our Orion telescope did exactly what I'd hoped in revealing multiple bands of clouds on Jupiter as well as allowing us to see the shadow of one of the moons (my bet lies with Io) on Jupiter's atmosphere!
Thanks to a graphical ephemeris of Jupiter and it's moons found at http://www.calsky.com/cs.cgi/Planets/6/6 to help me I.D. all the little dots in my photo.
2004-03-27, 21:07 | +47°15'34.0", +122°27'38.0" (map)
The Moon
Had a great view of a crescent moon tonight so I decided to zoom in through a yellow filter and take a few shots. I later stitched the best ones together in Photoshop. The final mosaic was over 4000 pixels tall! Great for printing but not for the web (hence the significantly reduced version).
2004-02-10, 20:28 | +47°15'34.0", +122°27'38.0" (map)
Saturn (mag: -0.5)
Tonight I hauled the 'scope out for a late winter amateur practice session. The evening was crisp and clear and I decided, despite city light pollution, I would just give my attention to Saturn tonight. Most of the times Sarah and I have used the telescope we've invited other friends to join us. This is great for our social life but bad for a couple of astronomy newlyweds. My remedy tonight was to fly solo and watch Saturn for a) as long as I could stay warm, b) as long as I could stay up, or c) as long as I have room on my digital camera's memory card.
I tried many different settings to capture some digital pics of the ringed planet and settled on using our 10mm eyepiece and my camera in manual focus mode (F/2.8, 1/64 sec, ISO 400).
2003-12-29, 21:04 | +47°08'36.0", +122°26'53.0" (map)
Saturn (mag: -0.5)
My buddy Matt, Sarah and I were joined by my co-worker J.D. near the Keck Observatory on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University on a crystal clear, winter night. Since the night was crystal clear, temperatures quickly dipped into the 20s. We came prepared with long underwear and hot chocolate so we could enjoy views of a half moon and brilliant Saturn. We followed the mythical father of Jupiter for over a half-hour until we could no longer verify the existance of our fingers and toes. The primary mirror stayed clear all night but the exterior of the tube was covered in frost by the time we packed everything up.
2003-08-29, 23:18 | +46°56'38.0", +120°42'15.0" (map)
Mars
Sarah and I set out camping on Manastash Ridge near Ellensburg, WA for some R&R and to use our 'scope to view Mars on this historical night. The night before our observing was cancelled due to high (and chilly!) winds but tonight turned out to be a calm, quite and comfortable one. There was some light pollution from nearby Ellensburg and Yakima (to the south) and also some smoke in the air from some fires in the Mt. Rainier National Park. It was a good night to view Mars, however, and one I'm sure we'll never forget.
2003-08-09, 23:15 | +45°52'25.0", +122°40'36.0" (map)
Mizar ~ SAO 28738 (ra: 13h 24m 03.164s | dec: +54°54'44.362" | mag: 2.23)
Took our first look at a double star system (Mizar and Alcor) in Ursa Major tonight and it came out brilliantly.
2003-08-09, 23:00 | +45°52'25.0", +122°40'36.0" (map)
Mars
Tonight Mars played a bit nicer than last night by appearing slightly earlier in the east and only gliding behind a small group of clouds once. This was the latest we'd watched the Red Planet and slight variations in object brightness lead us to think we were seeing surface features.
2003-08-09, 22:45 | +45°52'25.0", +122°40'36.0" (map)
The Moon
Still a waxing gibbous, the Moon was a great sight to behold tonight during very clear, summer skies (despite a nearly totally cloudy day). We headed up to La Center to my parents' house where we first helped our insides reach the outdoor ambient temperature by eating some ice cream with toppings! We threaded on the yellow filter which seemed to reveal more detail on harshly lit portions of the lunar surface.
2003-08-08, 22:20 | +45°52'35.0", +122°40'42.0" (map)
Mars
Just after a marvelous, albeit cloud-interrupted, viewing of the Moon, Mars began to rise like a blood-colored pearl above the eastern horizon. Before dashing behind a nearby tree, Sarah and I caught a glimpse of the Red Planet showing off its distinctive hue and perhaps a faintly recognizable distinction between its north Polar region and the red of the planet. What we "saw" may have been a product of optics or the pile of atmosphere we were viewing through. After Mars disappeared and reappeared from behind that pesky tree, it shown somewhat less red but sensibly brilliant nonetheless. Unfortunately, before we could wait for it to glide further into the sky, Mars vanished behind some clouds that we didn't even know were there.
2003-08-08, 21:45 | +45°52'35.0", +122°40'42.0" (map)
The Moon
Tonight was the first chance we had to use our scope from a decent vantage point. At the suggestion of my dad, we headed up the hill from his house where the view stretched far and the view of the sky was clear of obstructions. Since my mom and dad would be early to bed, we briskly set up the scope and, without allowing it to properly reach ambient temperature, pointed it at the Moon. What a stunning sight! My mom gasped as her only reaction when she saw the craters near the edge of the waxing 3/4 Moon.
2003-07-27, 00:20 | +47°15'34.0", +122°27'38.0" (map)
M13 (ra: 16h 41m 50s | dec: +36°27'46" | mag: 5.9)
After Sarah woke up we decided to hunt down our pal M13 just below the right armpit of Hercules. I manned the 'scope and had M13 in the finder's crosshairs in a matter of minutes. Fortunately for a first night of observations, the alignment between finder and the big telescope were nearly spot on.
With our 25mm eyepiece M13 was easily visible in our field of view but once we kicked it up a notch to the 10mm we could actually make out the individual dots that make up this globular cluster. Brilliant!
Unfortunately, our dual axis motor drive didn't seem to be keeping M13 in our sights so we have some work to do before our next set of observations (and we have to learn how to stay up later!).
2003-07-27, 00:10 | +47°15'34.0", +122°27'38.0" (map)
Vega (ra: 18h 37m 04.577s | dec: +38°47'16.455" | mag: 0.03)
I think Sarah was asleep (by which I mean letting her eyes adjust to the dark) at this point but I decided to aim the 'scope at Vega anyway just to see it in action. Even in a urban setting, Vega's light shone like a brilliant and infinitely one-dimensional blue-tinted diamond.
It was a good first observation.
Comments (4) | To Top
7/21/2007 @ 9:16pm
Impressive! Thanks for sharing the photos.
by Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Flim
5/20/2008 @ 5:30pm
Are you a Tacoma resident? How often do you get to Ellensberg.
by David Ingram
5/20/2008 @ 7:57pm
Hey David. I am a proud resident of T-town. Don't get over there often at all but enjoyed our jaunt there for that Mars gazing above. Most of the other astrophotos I've taken have been from right here in town. So long as they're planets or the Moon, it seems to work out pretty well.
by KevinFreitas
9/17/2008 @ 11:38am
is it cool to be in space
by freddy