NASA HOAX: Did man really visit R Leporis?

(I try to title my observing reports to be consonant with the zetigeist
of my audience)

Observing report from the urban murk:
It is well known that the intensely red carbon star R Leporis can be
hard to find since there are no bright stars near it, and particularly
since it may be near the minimum of its variable star cycle. I have
several times failed to find it from the urban murk around Cincinnati,
using a 6 inch f5 Dob even though the scope gives a wide field of view.
Last night, though, things were different. R Leporis was barely
visible in the Wally’s 80 mm Celestron shortube finder at 16 x, but it
was discernible. This was late in the evening, or rather, early in the
morning of Feb 5, and so R Leporis was not as high in the sky as it was
earlier, and so was seen through the urban murk. What was interesting
here was that though discernible, R Leporis hardly looked red at all,
because of faintness.
In Scott’s 5 inch Dob, we again found it, looking a definite orange
red but not intensely so, since it was not very bright.
In my 11 Starmaster ELT f4.5, at 75x, R Lep was very bright and an
impressive orange red, a definite high point of the evening’s observing
and an outstanding sight.
In Wally’s 25 inch Obsession, things were different. R Lep was very
bright, brighter than Betelgeuse is naked eye, and fiery orange red. A
magnificent sight,, unforgettable, not to be missed.
I was astonished to find out this way that aperture is so important in
viewing some of the less bright carbon stars, since my memories of Y
Canes Venatici with my 6 inch Dob are that it was always impressively
red. although Deep Map 600 lists it at comparable magnitudes to R Lep.
Perhaps I was always lucky to catch Y Canes Ven at a favorable point in
its cycle, or perhaps the difference is that Y is often higher in the
sky than R Lep.
In any event, I discovered that there is an easy way to find R Lep,
without star hopping, no matter what portion of its variable cycle it
is in. It is always exactly at the southeast corner of a rhombus whose
other corners are Rigel, Saiph, and Alpha Leporis.
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

But what about the zeitgeist??
"Bill Meyers" wrote in message
...
(I try to title my observing reports to be consonant with the zetigeist of
my audience)

Observing report from the urban murk:
It is well known that the intensely red carbon star R Leporis can be hard
to find since there are no bright stars near it, and particularly since
it may be near the minimum of its variable star cycle. I have several
times failed to find it from the urban murk around Cincinnati, using a 6
inch f5 Dob even though the scope gives a wide field of view.
Last night, though, things were different. R Leporis was barely visible
in the Wally’s 80 mm Celestron shortube finder at 16 x, but it was
discernible. This was late in the evening, or rather, early in the morning
of Feb 5, and so R Leporis was not as high in the sky as it was earlier,
and so was seen through the urban murk. What was interesting here was that
though discernible, R Leporis hardly looked red at all, because of
faintness.
In Scott’s 5 inch Dob, we again found it, looking a definite orange red
but not intensely so, since it was not very bright.
In my 11 Starmaster ELT f4.5, at 75x, R Lep was very bright and an
impressive orange red, a definite high point of the evening’s observing
and an outstanding sight.
In Wally’s 25 inch Obsession, things were different. R Lep was very
bright, brighter than Betelgeuse is naked eye, and fiery orange red. A
magnificent sight,, unforgettable, not to be missed.
I was astonished to find out this way that aperture is so important in
viewing some of the less bright carbon stars, since my memories of Y
Canes Venatici with my 6 inch Dob are that it was always impressively red.
although Deep Map 600 lists it at comparable magnitudes to R Lep. Perhaps
I was always lucky to catch Y Canes Ven at a favorable point in its cycle,
or perhaps the difference is that Y is often higher in the sky than R Lep.
In any event, I discovered that there is an easy way to find R Lep,
without star hopping, no matter what portion of its variable cycle it is
in. It is always exactly at the southeast corner of a rhombus whose other
corners are Rigel, Saiph, and Alpha Leporis.
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 11:39:25 -0500, Bill Meyers wrote:

Observing report from the urban murk:
It is well known that the intensely red carbon star R Leporis can be
hard to find since there are no bright stars near it, and particularly
since it may be near the minimum of its variable star cycle. I have
several times failed to find it from the urban murk around Cincinnati,
using a 6 inch f5 Dob even though the scope gives a wide field of view.

I've found it a few times in the past, and in my 14" TScope it's
always appeared an intense, deep red. This is from suburban and
rural New Hampshire.

Sky & Telescope predicts a maximum for R Lep next month at about mag
6.5, so it's easier to find now than it has been for a while.

In any event, I discovered that there is an easy way to find R Lep,
without star hopping, no matter what portion of its variable cycle it
is in. It is always exactly at the southeast corner of a rhombus whose
other corners are Rigel, Saiph, and Alpha Leporis.

Last night I made a concerted effort to find a reliable wao of
locating R Leporis. The method I use for star hopping to it is
to extend the line of Alpha and Epsilon Leporis until it forms a
right triangle with Rigel. That is where R Leporis is.

-Paul W.

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Bill,

I've been a fan of carbon stars for many years. As it turns out, I
spent some observing objects in Lepus while at the ASH Naylor
Observatory (see http://www.astrohbg.org/naylor_observatory.php for
information on the observatory) last Monday evening. Using the 17"
f/15 classical Cassegrain I viewed the winter globular cluster M79, the
Herschel II spiral galaxy NGC 1832, and a number of binary stars
including h3750, h3752, h3770, and Burnham 317. Of course, while I was
in the part of the Hare I also had a look at Hind's Crimson Star, aka R
Leporis, which this time around had a deep red hue with just a touch of
orange.

Dave Mitsky

On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 18:41:25 GMT, Paul Winalski
wrote:

Last night I made a concerted effort to find a reliable wao of
locating R Leporis. The method I use for star hopping to it is
to extend the line of Alpha and Epsilon Leporis until it forms a
right triangle with Rigel. That is where R Leporis is.

That should have been Mu Leporis, not Epsilon Leporis.

It's all Greek to me. :-)

-Paul W.

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