We had a beautifully clear and Moonless evening for the observatory night.
I truly appreciate everyone's patience with us as we dealt with the troublesome 8-inch scope on the deck. (BIG thanks to observatory assistants Richard and Shahriar for working so hard last night!)
With the two 14-inch scopes, we able to see the following objects:
- M57 (The Ring Nebula): M57 is a planetary nebula about 2,300 light-years from Earth. Planetary nebulae are the result of what happens when lower-mass stars (like our Sun) run out of nuclear fuel at the end of their lives. There are about 3,000 planetary nebulae known to exist in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Ring Nebula looked like a tiny smoke ring in the eyepiece, but it's actually about 3 light-years across.
- M31 (Andromeda Galaxy): M31 is a neighboring galaxy located about 2.5 million light-years from us. It's a spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way, but it's larger. M31 is about 220,000 light-years across compared to the Milky Way's 100,000 light-year diameter.
Through the telescope M31 looked like a small fuzzy ball with a star-like center. The bright center is the core of M31 and the fuzziness is the light from the hundreds of billions of stars that make up the galaxy.
- Albireo: Albireo is a double star system in Cygnus. The two stars (one blue, one gold) can't be resolved with the naked eye, but through our telescopes we are able to see the pair. The system is about 430 light-years distant.
- NCG 6826 (The "blinking planetary" in Cygnus): NGC 6826 is another example of a planetary nebula, and is about 2,000 light-years away from Earth. It's called the "blinking planetary" because it appears to flicker on and off as you alternate looking to the side of it and looking directly at it. The effect works because we have more sensitive peripheral vision.
Thank you everyone for attending, and for your interest in the Montgomery College Observatory!
