Grazing the Moon

Dave Nelson tipped me off about an neat astronomical event, a "grazing occultation". Between 9:05 and 9:15 on January 31st the Moon passed in front of the star Botein, resulting in an occultation. In this case only the edge of the Moon covered the star, making it a grazing occultation.

What really stood out for me was the optimal path of this event. As we all know, astronomical events don't look the same from everywhere on the planet. Take an eclipse, people sometimes take cruises miles out into the ocean to catch the perfect fit of the Moon over the Sun, while a thousand miles away the eclipse appear to be more partial. Lunar eclipses, ugh. It's going to be years before New Jersey is in a good spot to see the show. But this was an amazing exception. Dave sent me a map showing the line of optimal positioning for this event - and it went right through New Jersey! And not just anywhere in the state, for northerners like me it was a true gift from the heavens. The line passed through Rockaway and Andover. I'm in Roxbury township, so I was pretty close to the front row right from my yard!

I was able to get a couple shots by placing my digital camera to the eyepiece on my 10" Discovery Dobsonian. I dimmed the Moon by using an approach John Andrews told me about just this weekend. He mentioned "stopping down" his scope on bright objects to increase contrast. He simply placed a cover on a 8" scope with a 4" hole cut in it. I did the same, cutting a 12" piece of cardboard in a circle, then removing a 4" circle from the center. I still got a great view of the Moon, but a lot less blinding! Cutting back the light enabled me to get the star in there too.

The top image shows Botein at 9:01PM before it disappeared behind the Moon, the bottom image show it at 9:14PM, moments after it reappeared.

 Steve Gale

Imaging Jupiter the olde fashioned way!

During the December research meeting Bill explained and demonstrated that modern imaging techniques are not the only option for recording images of the planets. Over the last couple hundred years imaging equipment was pretty much paper and pencil! Sure, the mechanical approach offers way more detail, but drawings provide an apples to apples means of comparing today's Jupiter to Jupiter of a century ago. I'm not so much into gizmos thus I thought that as a Dob user that I was left outside looking in. Not so! Get good, clear magnification between 150 and 200X and even with a non-tracking scope you can pitch in and help with the research effort.

There was another benefit I learned back when I completed the lunar challenge that I'd forgotten about. In preparation for drawing Jupiter I spend a few minutes studying it, making sure I see all the things I think I see. It makes you really focus on details that are otherwise too easily lost. As a result I am seeing more when I observe the planet now. Having a goal like this really makes you stop and smell the roses.

The illustrations here were the result of observing at 204X magnification using a 10" 5.6 Discovery Dobsonian mounted telescope with a 27mm Nagler placed in a Teleview 4X barlow. BTW I had real doubts about a 4X barlow, Televue insisted though that this is not yer Daddy's barlow. They were right, the thing is awesome. After 5 minutes or so of really studying the planet I did a rough sketch, recording every feature I could in terms of size and positioning along with any necessary notes. With my previous study time that just took a few minutes, the time I recorded represents the conclusion of the note-taking part of the process. I then went inside and did a more rendered drawing, following the notes to a tee.

Steve Gale, NJAA President

12" Meade RCX and Schirra Observatory update!!

Good news!!! The NJAA 12” f8 Meade RCX400 is back up and running. 

The scope was placed back into the Walter Schirra observatory a few months ago.

This was after a slight renovation of the observatory.  The goto problems that plaqued the

scope have also been completely fixed.  

Walter Schirra Observatory



 During the end of December, Research Group member Vladimir Alexandrov took the time to collimate and polar align the scope.  This is just in time as the 12” RCX is an ideal imaging platform for lunar and planetary work.  The telescope has a thermally stable carbon fiber tube.  Also the electronics are able to readout the temperature inside of the telescope tube.  Not to mention an electronic focuser.   All of this adds up to a telescope that should be exceptional for lunar and planetary imaging. 

12" f8 Meade RCX400

   Below is one of the first images from the scope by Vlad.  In the coming weeks this scope will be instrumental in an imaging campaign aimed hopefully at Mars and Venus with images being regularly sent to the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO).

Saturn by Vladimir Alexandrov, 12” Meade RCX400  2x Barlow, ~ f/16, 1/1/12

W. Anthony
NJAA Research Director