djb@cbosgd.UUCP (David J. Bryant) (08/20/85)
I've heard stories about reliable observers back in the 1700's who reported
seeing as many as 14 stars in the Pleiades. Obviously these were people with
extraordinarily acute vision, plus they lived in an era before light
pollution. I only see six, as do most people I've talked to. The best
response I've heard to the question "If there are seven sisters, why do I
only see six?" is "The seventh one is very young and can't stay up
this late." I've never viewed the nebulosity naked eye, nor have I heard
anyone claim to.
A group of us here observed the Perseid meteor shower from 8:30pm EDT on the
11th until 3:30am EDT on the 12th. We saw quite a few meteors, although
they did seem to be weirdly distributed (peak activity about 11:30pm and again
at 3:00am). This year I specifically avoided attempts to photograph, count,
trace or otherwise study the meteor shower since all my previous attempts
have failed to the degree that I can only conclude that I am jinxed when it
comes to such activities. Our metric of quality is whether the first-time
meteor shower observers "oooh" and "aaah" enough to come away satisfied
with the evenings viewing, which was clearly the case this year. For the
record, the absolute best meteor was about 2:15am. It left a bright
glowing first-magnitude trail over 45 degrees of the sky, disintegrating
at the eastern edge of the "Water Jar" in Aquarius. Nice display for those
few of us who were still up to see it.
On another note - Anyone tried spotting Comet Halley yet? Theoretically it
should be visible in a 10-12" scope under nearly ideal observing conditions.
My wife and I got up at 4:30 last Sunday morning and looked diligently until
sunrise, but saw no trace of the comet. We're convinced we were looking in the
right area, so we can only conclude that it's still not bright enough to be
seen with our 10" Newtonian. Admittedly our front yard is not the best of
sites, so perhaps we'll have to wait until later in the month, or early
September. While we were looking, we did spot a magnificent meteor that
went streaking through Ursa Major and exploded in a flash bright enough to
cast a shadow of the finderscope on the tube of the main telescope - clearly
much brighter than Venus.
* *
David Bryant
AT&T Bell Laboratories
* Columbus, OH 43213
* (614) 860-4516
* .
: djb@cbosgd.UUCP
cbosgd!djb@Berkeley.ARPA
* *
ps: There have been many reports of sound associated with meteors. Most
observers report a "whooshing" or "sizzling" sound, which matches
closely the observations of psuvax1!santoro.jr@bbncc5.UUCP (John Robinson) (08/21/85)
[] This past weekend, attendees of Stellafane at Springfield, VT, were treated to two sightings of Halley's Comet, believed to be the fifth and sixth thus far. (in this apparition :-) This was achieved with large telescopes, in the 24" range, under pretty good conditions. The estimated magnitude now is about 14, so it would probably be a few more weeks before 8-12" telescopes will find it. But now may be the time to start trying. /jr
freeman@spar.UUCP (Jay Freeman) (08/22/85)
In article <1428@cbosgd.UUCP> djb@cbosgd.UUCP (David J. Bryant) writes: >I've heard stories about reliable observers back in the 1700's who reported >seeing as many as 14 stars in the Pleiades. ... I only see six, as do most >people I've talked to. ... I've never viewed the nebulosity naked eye, nor >have I heard anyone claim to. I can maybe see eight stars naked-eye under excellent conditions. I also believe I can see nebulosity filling the cluster under similar conditions, though there are a couple of necessary caveats: (1) Bright stars seem to "spread out" on the retina in any case, so that one must always suspect self-deception. My conclusions are based in part on differential observations of closely-spaced stars where there is no nebulosity (in some cases rich-field telescopic views of clusters, for there is certainly no northern-hemisphere cluster as bright and compact as the Pleiades); in part on comparing the difference in appearance of the Pleiades on the best of nights and on occasions when it isn't quite so dark. To my eyes the cluster looks distinctly nebulous on good nights. The appearance resembles what I see through 7X50 or 11X80 binoculars under similar conditions -- the whole cluster immersed in a blob of nebulosity whose diameter is perhaps twice the width of the group of six naked-eye stars. (2) A trace of fog or high cloud will make bright stars appear nebulous. Again the test is differential observations. (3) It is easy to "see" something when you know it is there. (4) I suspect that the brightest part of the Pleiades nebulosity -- the Merope Nebula -- is too close to Merope to show well for the naked eye. Thus it does not surprise me that what I see is a whole cluster full of nebulosity, not just patches near the bright stars. -- Jay Reynolds Freeman (Schlumberger Palo Alto Research)(canonical disclaimer)
anita@utastro.UUCP (Anita Cochran) (08/22/85)
> [] > > This past weekend, attendees of Stellafane at Springfield, VT, were > treated to two sightings of Halley's Comet, believed to be the fifth > and sixth thus far. (in this apparition :-) This was achieved with > large telescopes, in the 24" range, under pretty good conditions. The > estimated magnitude now is about 14, so it would probably be a few > more weeks before 8-12" telescopes will find it. But now may be the > time to start trying. > > /jr We observed comet Halley last week but with a much larger telescope -- the 2.7 m (107 inch) at McDonald Observatory. When the comet came out of the sun in August, it was "recovered" by J. Gibson (Palomar), R. West (European Southern Observatory) and T. Seki (Geisei). Their measured magnitudes were from 16.5 on July 19 to 16 on August 4. Together, they made 10 observations. When we observed Halley last week, it was probably 15.5 to 16 mag and diffuse (very weak central condensation). This magnitude is well out of the range of a 12 inch telescope and is 2 magnitudes FAINTER than the predictions. (Note that Stellafane observers do not have the fifth and sixth sightings this apparition but for such small telescopes, their sightings are commendable. We hope they are contributing to the International Halley Watch Amateur net.) The faint magnitude does not bode well for this being a spectacular trip for Halley. -- Anita Cochran uucp: {noao, ut-sally, ut-ngp}!utastro!anita or seismo!ut-sally!utastro!anita arpa: anita%utastro@UTEXAS.ARPA snail: Astronomy Department The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712 at&t: (512) 471-4461
michaelm@3comvax.UUCP (Michael McNeil) (09/05/85)
> I've heard stories about reliable observers back in the 1700's who reported > seeing as many as 14 stars in the Pleiades. Obviously these were people with > extraordinarily acute vision, plus they lived in an era before light > pollution. I only see six, as do most people I've talked to. The best > response I've heard to the question "If there are seven sisters, why do I > only see six?" is "The seventh one is very young and can't stay up > this late." I've never viewed the nebulosity naked eye, nor have I heard > anyone claim to. > David Bryant There's an ancient myth associated with the ``Seven Sisters.'' As I recall, the ``seventh sister'' left the Pleiades and become the star Sirius. There is, however, no evidence that such a transformation of Sirius actually took place during ancient times. ---------------- Michael McNeil 3Com Corporation (415) 960-9367 ..!ucbvax!hplabs!oliveb!3comvax!michaelm