Consolation for missed Phobos & Deimos = Triton and Angelina

It seems that from near London this month Mars with its moons is too low in
a light polluted sky for practical visual observation of those moons with a
NexStar 11 SCT. It scarcely seems useful to employ over 200x magnification,
though for objects much higher above horizon a higher magnification is
sometimes easy.

I have however been pleasantly surprised to see Triton at about 12 arc
seconds separation from Neptune on one evening recently when my local sky
transparency was above average ( though still rather greyish orange
colour ).

Another point of interest has been observing minor planet 64 (Angelina)
magnitude circa 11.6 which is retrograding within a degree of Neptune
(decreasing to minima of separation about 9th September and 18th October).

Although Phobos and Deimos are obviously far beyond reach, Triton and
Angelina are pleasant solar system consolation prizes !

Ant

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 22:58:58 +0100, "Anthony Stokes"
wrote:

It seems that from near London this month Mars with its moons is too low in
a light polluted sky for practical visual observation of those moons with a
NexStar 11 SCT. It scarcely seems useful to employ over 200x magnification,
though for objects much higher above horizon a higher magnification is
sometimes easy.

I have however been pleasantly surprised to see Triton at about 12 arc
seconds separation from Neptune on one evening recently when my local sky
transparency was above average ( though still rather greyish orange
colour ).

Another point of interest has been observing minor planet 64 (Angelina)
magnitude circa 11.6 which is retrograding within a degree of Neptune
(decreasing to minima of separation about 9th September and 18th October).

Although Phobos and Deimos are obviously far beyond reach, Triton and
Angelina are pleasant solar system consolation prizes !


I managed Deimos tonight with an Orion Europa 250. I had to make a
home made occulting bar to do it and wrapped a dark cloth over my
head. Couldn't see Phobos though

Problem with the Europa scope was that it's two vaned spider created a
diffraction spike over the area where the moons were positioned. I'll
rotate the tube later and see if I can move the spike out of the way.

--
Pete
Homepage at http://www.pbl33.co.uk
CCD/digicam astronomy

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 23:20:27 +0100, Pete Lawrence
wrote:

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 22:58:58 +0100, "Anthony Stokes"
wrote:


I managed Deimos tonight with an Orion Europa 250. I had to make a
home made occulting bar to do it and wrapped a dark cloth over my
head. Couldn't see Phobos though

Problem with the Europa scope was that it's two vaned spider created a
diffraction spike over the area where the moons were positioned. I'll
rotate the tube later and see if I can move the spike out of the way.

Well done. How did Mars look at the time the observation was made (no,
I mean when you move the occulting bar out the way :-)) I'm just
trying to gauge how 'bad' the seeing can be and still have a hope of
success. I had no chance tonight I think, barely make out the S polar
cap.

ChrisH

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