The Cool Stuff Katy Saw

I realized that I need to start logging all the cool stuff I see in the night sky with the telescope (or in some cases without...). I had the telescope out Saturday and Sunday night this weekend, and I don't want to forget the cool nighttime objects. So here is the first installment of "The Cool Stuff Katy Saw".


Here is a list and some descriptions of things I've seen since purchasing my telescope in March 2007.

• Saturn. Could see the rings and it looked fake, like an orange sticker.


• The Moon. Can easily see small craters and texture along the rim of the moon's surface from craters and mountains. Also noted last night, that along the edge of the shadow, it appears that there are more craters. However, my uncle and I concluded that it's only because the shadows are longer the closer they get to the edge of the darkness (just like on Earth approaching sundown). The craters appear more numerous there.


• The Sun. The real reason I bought the telescope in the first place. 2007 has not been very active because we are just coming out of the solar minimum. I've got high hopes for next summer. Solar maximum is due in 2011, though. Horrible timing for me! With my Solar Continuum Filter, I can see some granulation on the surface of the sun.


• Venus. Bright and fairly blurry.


• Mars. Red and fairly blurry.


• Jupiter and four moons. Definitely impressive. Could see cloud bands on Jupiter, but no red spot as of yet. Four moons are usually visible. Sometimes only three because one is in front of or behind the planet.


• Uranus. First sighting on 8/18. Not impressive because my telescope isn't that nice! Blue dot.


• ISS and Space Shuttle Atlantis (mid July '07 I think). Saw the ISS and Atlantis two night before the Atlantis returned to Earth. It was especially cool because the shuttle was doing de-orbit burns. Very impressive!


• ISS and Space Shuttle Endeavour (8/18 and 8/19). On Saturday 8/18, the two were still docked and floated overhead around 8:50pm. Very bright! On Sunday 8/19, the shuttle had undocked from the ISS, and the two trained across the sky around 9:15pm. That was amazing to see the two gliding over together. They got about 2/3 of the way across the sky when they disappeared... out of the sunlight. One more sighting due TONIGHT Monday August 20th. If you are in the Boston area, look up at 8pm. If you are elsewhere, go to http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/ and plug in your location.


• The Double Cluster. Really cool! Two groups of stars next to each other. Cannot see the clusters with the naked eye!


• The Butterfly Cluster. Also very cool! The cluster of stars resembles the outline of a butterfly.


• Dumbbell Nebula. Blurry, but cool to know what you're looking at!


• Andromeda Galaxy. Again, blurry, but cool!


• Ring Nebula. Wicked awesome. Very faint, but you can definitely make out the ring shape.


• Random meteor. While aligning the telescope on 8/18, had my eye on Altair, getting it centered, when a meteor streaked across the telescope view!!