This was our fifth observatory night in a row that wasn't clouded out! Woo hoo!
Earth hasn't moved that much around the Sun since our last event (and the one before that), so the observing log is the same as it has been, save for the Andromeda Galaxy. Here's what we saw:
- Jupiter : Heat coming off the roof made the image a little fuzzy, but we were able to make out cloud bands on the planet and three of the four Galilean satellites- Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Io was behind Jupiter and not visible while we were watching.
- Saturn : The lovely ringed planet was also a little low, but even still, we could make out the brightest of its moons (Titan, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, and possibly Enceladus.)
- M13 (the Hercules cluster): Next we looked at the globular cluster, M13. M13 can be found in the constellation of Hercules and is about 22,000 light-years from Earth. There are about 150-160 globular clusters located in the halo of our galaxy. These clusters contain some of the oldest stars in the Milky Way.
- M57 (the Ring Nebula): After M13, we headed to M57. The Ring Nebula is located in the constellation of Lyra and is about 2,300 light-years from Earth. Planetary nebulae are the remnants of lower mass stars (like our Sun) after they've used up their nuclear fuel. The Ring Nebula appeared as a delicate smoke-ring in the eyepiece.
- M31 (Andromeda Galaxy): We looked at M31 through the 8-inch scope on the deck. This object 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.
- The Albireo System: We finished the night with a double star in Cygnus. The stars of Albireo (one blue, one gold) can't be resolved with the naked eye, but through our telescopes we are able to see the pair. The brighter yellow star is also a binary system, but these two stars are two close for our telescopes to resolve. Albireo is about 430 light-years distant.
Sincere thanks to Iadviga and Ryan for their assistance with the event.
And as always, an astronomical-sized thank you for everyone who attended. Your enthusiasm for the night sky is a joy to witness!
