Critter, Jupiter-Venus-Mercury, Some Lunar Observing
Posted: 20 May 2013
Cassiopeia Observatory was opened Sunday, 19 May 2013, at 1847 MST, 89°F. The sky was clear, but as was the case on the previous session, breezes were blowing. At 1859 MST, briefly viewed the moon at 83X.
At 1913 MST, I left the observatory to view and photograph the western sky with Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury. As I walked up the path from the observatory, saw this Gambel's Quail:
I set up the D7000 DSLR on a photographic tripod on the front patio of the house and began searching the sky for the planets using 7x50 binoculars. At 1928 MST, spotted Jupiter and Venus. I began photographing the sky at various exposure settings. At 1947 MST, with some assistance by using the binoculars, saw Mercury with my naked eyes. At 1952 MST, captured this image showing Jupiter (top), Venus (middle), and Mercury (bottom). Mouseover the image to see pointers (especially helpful to locate Mercury).
I returned to the observatory at 1957 MST and resumed lunar observing, 222X. Seeing was not very good again this night, however, at times, the views of the moon were occasionally very nice. The craters Copernicus, Tycho, and Clavius were especially nice.
At 2013 MST, viewed Saturn, 222X and 83X. Lousy view due to poor seeing.
Since I would be doing the Kissing Bug spraying on Monday morning, I decided to close up for the night.
The observatory was closed at 2024 MST, 71°F.
Comments are welcome; use the Comments section below, or you can Email Me. Thanks.
Cassiopeia Observatory Home Page
