Bill's Sky

  On May 3, 2025, I caught a bright flash out the window that immediately drew my attention and made me think fireball. It was so bright that it  actually reminded me of a flare. I went outside to verify that it wasn't someone shooting off a firework.  It only lasted a couple of seconds before disappearing behind the Sapphire Mountains. It left an indelible image in my mind. The core was almost magnesium white, with a greenish tint around the edge. The smoke trail was easy to see, and only extended about 3 core diameters behind. The swirls in the smoke trail were visible and my immediate impression was how much it looked like some of the old artists renderings with fanciful curlicues. I had always seen those renderings as embellishments, but now realize they weren't!  I found out the next day that the Fireball had been reported to the American Meteor Society by 118 people, from southern Alberta to southern Colorado. It was caught on a coupel of videos, here is a lin...

  Crater Thaetetus The sky was mostly clear, but very bright and transparency was low. The Moon was at about 60% full waxing. Bright enough to cast visible shadows. There was also a lot of moisture in the air. The lights on the side of the truss company, about 1/2 mile away, had halos around them. Luckily no dew formed while I was out. Seeing was probably Antoniadi 3, possibly 3.5. I wasn't able to push magnification past 156x without turning Jupiter into a fuzzball of light. I was hoping it was better because I wanted to check collimation after the 'scope fell last time I was out.  With the sky so bright, I made Jupiter my initial target. I was only able to resolve the North and South  Equatorial Bands. Seeing was unsteady enough that at times they disappeared. The Galilean moons were easily visible. I had read that using the Moon filter on Jupiter can sometimes help bring out more detail, so I gave that a try. The only effect for me was a dimmer view. I spent quite a wh...

This was my first opportunity to get out and observe for a month. Weather has not been very cooperative! The sky started out with some high, thin clouds. It seems like there was a lot of haze/humidity in the air, lights in the area showing definite halos. For some reason there wasn't any dew yet though. I started setting up at dusk, and made my first observation about 21:00 MDT. I did a solar system alignment using Jupiter, then observed that using 17mm Plossl (119.5x) and 13mm Plossl (156.3x) eyepieces.Seeing was much better than last time out, but at 156x it was hard to maintain focus. I would estimate seeing as Antoniadi 3. The North and South  Equatorial Bands were easily visible as distinct very light brownish bands. There were occasional hints of the South polar Band.  Since seeing was decent, I wanted to make another try at Mars. It is rapidly diminishing after opposition, which was not a real great one. Again used the 17 and 13 mm eyepieces. the view through the 17mm w...

  On 23 December, the sky was mostly clear for a change so at about 21:30MST decided to try for Mars.  I waited until then because that would put it about 10 degrees above the mountains to our east. The temperature was 33deg F, RH 82%, and some frost was starting to form. Got aligned using the 24mm reticle eyepiece, then moved to the 17mm Plossl, then the 17mm with the 2x Barlow. A high thin layer of clouds moved in before I could get focused. it obscured most of the stars. It obscured most stars, and Mars wasn't discernible. Jupiter could be located by eye, but was just a fuzzy ball. I packed up at 22:30. 7 January was a little different. We had our first clear night in  several days, so I thought I'd try for Mars again. Set up at 20:30MST, temp was 27deg F. Moon was waxing gibbous, about 63% illuminated. There was a few inches of snow on the ground. Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were all visible and bright.. Transparency was fair. There was a lot of moisture in the a...

  Sky was looking clear so I set up about 19:30 MST. Plan was to just look at the Moon and then Jupiter. I used Solar System Alignment with Jupiter for the alignment target. I messed up and put the date in as Dec 12 instead of Dec 10! I didn't realize what I had done until later. GoTo was obviously off  because of that, but tracking was good and I was able to scan over to the target, Moon was at 77%, very bright, and was the first target for observation. Just after I got aligned and moved to the Moon a layer of cloud started moving in from the northwest. it eventually mostly obscured Jupiter. It kept moving SE and didn't affect the Moon. I initially had the 32mm eyepiece in just to scan and look for interesting features that might catch my eye. I didn't have the Moon filter in to start, but it was so bright it left an after image in my eye when I looked away. I put the filter in to make it easier to look at. I started looking along the terminator and the rim of Montes Jura ...

 Tonight was a little bit of an exercise in frustration. Starting about 20:0 0MDT I tried setting up the tripod and leveling it before attaching the mount and then the telescope. In the process, I bumped the tripod and knocked it out of level. Grrrrr! I eventually got everything set, and was able to successfully bring targets into the field of view. I am really looking forward to getting a permanent pier put together!  Skyglow was pretty bright despite the Moon not being up. Seeing was fair. Transparency wasn't great, with a NELM (Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude) of about 4.  The first target was M2 , a globular cluster in Aquarius. It is about 55,000 light years away and contains about 150,000 stars. I was only able to make out a couple of individual stars on the periphery by using averted vision.     Second set of targets wee from the AAVSO class. Z Andromeda and AC Hercules. Hercules was just past zenith. That is a difficult angle for me to see with the red dot ...