Students Observe the Mercury Transit

On Monday, May 9, 2016, close to 100 students from grades 7 thru 12 walked into the Kohout-Dingley Observatory located on the Sacred Heart High School campus to safely view the rare transit of the planet Mercury crossing the disk of the Sun. This was the first use of the new Baader solar filter manufactured by AstroZap recently purchased specifically for the event. The session, in partnership with the staff of Insight Observatory, hosted entire classes throughout the course of the school day as well as small groups of students visiting during their lunch session. All observers were treated not only to the Mercury transit event but were able to observe groups of sunspots as well.

Sacred Heart Students Observing the Mercury Transit - Photo by Joe Masi.

The early morning hours of May, 9th brought a potential promise of clear observing conditions for the transit. However, just as I was leaving for the observatory to set up for the day, clouds started quickly rolling in. I checked in with the transit's live coverage feed from Sky and Telescope Magazine and J. Kelly Beatty, one of the publication's Chief Editors, was reporting the same weather conditions from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Once I arrived at the school's campus around 8:10 am located in Kingston, Massachusetts, I noticed the clouds were starting to break up and scatter a bit. Joe Masi, a science teacher at the school, assisted me with opening the facility that houses the 11" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope. As the sky proceeded to clear up, we locked the solar filter onto place on the telescope and proceeded to slew the telescope towards the Sun. Remember, NEVER look directly at the Sun find it. As I focused the telescope I immediately detected a defined sharp black dot on the Sun's disk along with a few small groupings of sunspots. Mr. Masi wanted to get a quick peek before his 9:00 am class started. He quickly spotted the tiny planet as well.

A little after 9:00 am, Mr. Masi returned to the observatory with his first class. As the students in groups of 2 or 3 took turns viewing the Mercury transit upstairs at the telescope, the rest of the class below learned about the event taking place with a display set up by Insight Observatory on the first floor. The science teachers were discussing what was actually transpiring as well by using the display as an aide. While Mr. Masi's first class was enjoying the event, he suggested that the students image the transit on their smartphones. Some of the students attempted this throughout the day (as I did myself). However, it was very painstaking trying to hold the device steady enough to get an image in decent focus. A student from the first class, Nolan D., had the most successful image of the day. The morning classes that visited the observatory were treated to excellent views of the transit as the sky completely cleared up. However, the students that stopped by during their lunch period were challenged by fast-moving clouds. As they patiently waited, they were able to get a quick glimpse.

Mercury Transit at 9:15 am EDT - Image by Nolan D.

After the last class left around 2:10 pm, I sat in the observing chair at the telescope and took in the last part of this rare event. I watched the silhouette of the planet slowly disappear at the sun's limb exactly at 2:41 pm EDT. It was a great astronomy education experience and a pleasure in sharing the transit of Mercury with the Sacred Heart students. Some of them are already looking forward to the next one in November 2019.

Special thanks to Frank Lopez of the Stellarvision Astronomy and Science Shop located in Tucson, Arizona for his prompt delivery of the AstroZap Solar Filter allowing us to observe this special event.

Read More

What's In The Sky - May 2019

Get outside with your telescope on clear May evenings to see celestial treats! With the weather warming up and skies clearing up, there's no shortage of celestial delicacies to view with telescopes and binoculars. Here are a few of Orion Telescopes and Binoculars' top suggestions for May observing:

Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower

Grab a blanket or a comfy lounge chair to sit back, relax, and watch the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, one of two annual showers caused by dust particles from Halley's Comet. Catch the peak of the dazzling show before dawn on May 6th. The approximate peak rate is 10-30 per hour, but meteors should be visible from April 24th through May 20th. Look for meteors appearing to radiate from the constellation Aquarius.

M97 - The "Owl Nebula - Planetary Nebula in Ursa Major. - Imaged on ATEO-1 by Joe Masi.

Four Big Planetary Nebulae

Use a 6" or larger telescope and an Oxygen-III filter to catch nice views of four relatively large planetary nebulae in May skies. See the "Ghost of Jupiter," NGC 3242 in Hydra; M97, "the Owl Nebula" in the Big Dipper; NGC 4361 in Corvus, and the famous "Ring Nebula", M57 in Lyra just a few degrees from the bright star Vega. To help you locate these objects, use the Orion DeepMap 600.

New Moon, Dark Skies

Take advantage of the dark skies provided by the New Moon on May 4th to scope out the many star clusters, galaxies, and other deep-sky gems on display. Pack up your astronomy gear using our full line of telescope and accessory cases and head to a dark sky site for the best viewing conditions.

M13 and M3 were imaged on ATEO-1 by students from Plymouth South Elementary School, Plymouth, MA.

Five Glittering Globulars

Five picture-perfect examples of globular star clusters will be visible in May skies. Check out M3 in the constellation Bootes. M13, the "Great Cluster in Hercules," will be visible near the zenith. M5 can be found in Serpens and M92 in the northern section of Hercules. Be sure to track down M4 (NGC 6121) in Scorpius on May 27th, as it will be in a great position for telescopic study throughout the night, reaching zenith around midnight. Big telescopes will provide the best views, but even a pair of humble 50mm or larger binoculars will show you these dense balls of stars from a dark sky site.

M101 and M51 were imaged on ATEO-1 by students from the Astro Club at Sacred Heart High School in Kingston, MA.

Four Face-On Spirals

Use a large telescope to see the classic pinwheel shapes of galaxies M51 and M101 in the Big Dipper asterism of Ursa Major, and M99 and M100 in the Virgo galaxy cluster. There are also dozens of additional galaxies to explore in the Virgo cluster with a large-aperture telescope.

May's Challenge Object

May skies present some of the best opportunities to grab a view of Omega Centauri - the brightest globular star cluster in the sky! While it's big and bright, even visible as a "fuzzy" star in binoculars, the challenge Omega Centauri presents is its low position in southern skies, which can make it unobservable from higher northern latitudes. If you're having trouble locating the famous globular cluster, Bruce McClure from EarthSky.org suggests letting the sparkling blue-white star Spica help you. He explains that when Spica climbs highest up for the night, so does Omega Centauri - look for it 35 degrees directly below Spica.

Read More

Observing Objects in the Summer Milky Way

On the evening of October 27, 2014, Joe Masi, a Science Teacher at Sacred Heart High School, and I had our first successful observing run at the newly renovated Kohout-Dingley Observatory in Kingston, MA. This observing session was the first since the installation of the new Celestron 11 telescope mounted on a Losmandy Equatorial mount. Due to the unstable weather here in New England this fall, we have been challenged with finding a clear night to start getting acclimated to the new telescope system. 

Observing with the 11" Telescope.

Joe and I figured we could do a dry run of with equipment before having the students present. I arrived at the observatory shortly before sundown. The waxing crescent moon was hanging in the western sky. As I waited for Joe and total darkness to arrive, I thought I would get a glimpse of the moon through the C11 for the first time. The full disk of the moon (due to earthshine) fits nicely in the field of view of the 23 mm Axiom 2" eyepiece. The optics displayed fine detail in the moon's terminator, especially when steady pockets of air passed allowing good seeing. When Joe arrived at the observatory, I still had the moon in the eyepiece which allowed him a chance to get a good look at the moon as well. Joe was just as impressed with the optics performance as I was.

As the sky became darker, we configured the telescope and mounting system so we could utilize the Gemini 2 GOTO system. Once we completed the two-star alignment method with the GOTO system, our goal was to slew our way up through the summer Milky Way. The first targeted object was M8, the Lagoon Nebula. The object was so slow in the sky; the nebulosity was faint due to the murkiness of the horizon. The next object of choice was M11, the "Wild Duck" open star cluster in the constellation of Scutum. We then observed common deep-sky objects in the summer Milky Way such as M57, The "Ring Nebula" in Lyra, and M27, the "Dumbbell Nebula" in Vulpecula.

NGC 869 and 884, "Double Cluster 

in Perseus"Imaged by Tristan and Alek, 

from the Plymouth Community 

Intermediate School

I noticed the constellation of Pegasus was getting higher up in the sky and knew we could get a good view of M15, a nicely condensed globular cluster that rivals M13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. Joe very impressed with this deep-sky object commented on how bright the cluster was. As we winded down our observing session, we ended with a nice view of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the double open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884 Cluster in Perseus. As Joe sat in the observing chair comfortably, he could detect the difference in the colors of some of the stars.

Content with this successful dry run, Joe and I then closed up the dome and parked the new telescope system. This observing session inspired us to introduce the students in the school's astronomy club and science classes to this newly renovated observatory with its new state-of-the-art instrumentation.

Read More

Comet Lovejoy Heading Our Way

The latest Comet Lovejoy should reach 5th magnitude in late December and January when it will be nicely placed high in the dark for your binoculars or telescope in the northern hemisphere. There is also a possibility the comet could even become detectable naked eye.

A new Comet Lovejoy, designated C/2014 Q2, is heading our way out of deep space and out of the deep southern sky. The object may brighten to 5th magnitude from late December through a greater part of January as it climbs into an excellent viewing position for the Northern Hemisphere, high in the dark winter night.

The New Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 G2

Imaged by Gerald Rhemann.

This is Australian amateur Terry Lovejoy's fifth comet discovery. He measured the 15th magnitude "dirty snowball" in the constellation Puppis last August, in search images that he took with a wide-field 8-inch scope. It hasn't moved very much since then, however, it's still in Puppis as of December 11th, however, it's now hundreds of times brighter now at a visual magnitude of 6.8, reports David Seargent in Australia. On December 9th "I saw it easily using a pair of 6x35 binoculars," Seargent writes. Using a 4-inch binocular telescope at 25×, he says it was a good 8 arc minutes wide with a strong central condensation and no visible tail.

In the early part of January, there will be a collaboration between Insight Observatory and Kohout-Dingley Observatory in Kingston, MA (located at the Sacred Heart School campus) for a community viewing session with the recently installed 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Please check back on our website for the exact dates and times.

Alan MacRobert
Sky and Telescope Magazine

Source: Binocular Comet Lovejoy Heading Our Way 

Read More

Students, Parents and Staff Enjoy Comet Lovejoy

Students, parents, and a few staff members from the Sacred Heart School enjoyed comet viewing on the evening of January 20, 2014, at the Kohout-Dingley Observatory located on the school's campus in Kingston, MA. The event was planned and presented by Insight Observatory. The comet that was on display was Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2. The event featured a display of a 3-D model entitled "Anatomy of a Comet" that was designed and constructed by Insight Observatory's Creative Director, Paul Bonfilio. Paul greeted the attendees of the event as they entered the observatory and presented them with a brief lecture on what a comet actually is utilizing his 3-D model. After the audience listened to Paul's lecture, followed up with some questions and answers, the guests then proceeded up the stairs of the observatory to get a glimpse of this rare celestial visitor through the observatory's 11" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, operated by Insight Observatory's Project Developer, Michael Petrasko.

Insight Observatory's Creative Director,

Paul Bonfilio Explains the Anatomy of

a comet to students and parents.

The seeing conditions for viewing the comet through the telescope were only fair due to scattered clouds that rolled in over the course of the event. However, the thin clouds didn't hinder the observers from seeing Comet Lovejoy's nucleus and dust tail. Even though only a pair of binoculars would be more than ideal to observe the comet, the telescope's wide-field eyepiece provided observers to see about 50% of the comet in the field of view. It turns out that this evening allowed all of the attendees to get their first view of a comet ever.

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is a long-period comet discovered on 17 August 2014 by Terry Lovejoy using an 8" Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope. The comet was discovered at apparent magnitude 15 in the southern constellation of Puppis. It is the fifth comet discovered by Terry Lovejoy.

By December 2014, the comet had brightened to roughly magnitude 7.4, making the comet a small telescope and binoculars target. By mid-December, the comet was visible to the naked eye for experienced observers with dark skies and keen eyesight.

Astrophotographer Chris Schur captured Comet Lovejoy 
C/2014 Q2 with globular cluster  M79 on Dec. 28, 2014,
 from Payson, Arizona.

On 28−29 December 2014, the comet passed 1/3° from globular cluster Messier 79. It brightened to roughly magnitude 4−5 and became one of the brightest comets located high in a dark sky in years. On 7 January 2015, the comet passed 0.469 AU ( 43,600,000 miles) from Earth. It crossed the celestial equator on 9 January 2015 becoming better seen from the northern hemisphere. The comet will come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 30 January 2015 at a distance of 1.29 AU (120,000,000 miles) from the Sun.

Before entering the planetary region (epoch 1950), C/2014 Q2 had an orbital period of about 11000 years. After leaving the planetary region (epoch 2050), it will have an orbital period of about 8000 years.

Read More