November 26, 2006 - L.T.P.R. work... Comments: After a nice, long drive I finally said goodbye to the grandbabies for awhile. It's been wonderful to have the for such a long visit - but now Granny is worn out. Although by all accounts I am still a fairly young woman, I'm ready for the peace and quiet I've come to treasure. When I get back, I check my long ignored e.mail and find a L.T.P.R. bulletin... We've had an event in the earthshine area just north of Copernicus! Although the skies are on the hazy side, I am certainly willing to pop in the video eyepiece, run the cable through the window and guide for awhile. I can record up to three hours in this fashion and it's no big deal to watch the big screen through the window. An hour of battery life was all the camera had. In the mean time, I had adjusted the screen shot using my own rotten techniques of contrast, fade, etc. to draw the most out of the area. Unfortunately, it was a negative observation at least from the camera standpoint. Maybe if I had been at the eyepiece and used blink I might have captured something, but video footage and a negative observation is also scientifically useful. After that, I really didn't feel like chasing sucker holes around. Although I have been known to! The last few days have been very active in terms of personal life and my astronomy, so I feel like I have indeed been blessed. Besides... I need to go file my LTPR report ASAP. ;) "And these thoughts I have? Well, I now can claim as mine."

November 25, 2006 - Sir William Meets the Bull... Comments: Another fairly clear, but not exceptional night. The early evening hours were spent with my grandchildren and the Moon. While the youngest far preferred dancing under the stars to looking at the Moon, at least she's happy! The oldest, however, was quite taken by what I was doing and after he viewed he was more excited about having a picture of the Moon than anything else. I guess being able to capture that little bit of magic is a good thing, huh? A few hours later, they had long been asleep. Although the skies didn't improve much, it was quite clear enough overhead to take on a few more Herschel 400 challenges... ************************************************* Herschel 400 Tammy Plotner 40.6 82.9 10/25/06 10-11:00 pm EST Skies: 4.5 ZLM Stability: 6/10 12.5" reflector 2"- 32mm televue NGC 1647 - Widely scattered open cluster NE of Alpha. It's large, bright and well... open. By classical standards, it's well populated considering the large area. NGC 1750 - Located inside larger association NGC 1746 and pairs with NGC 1748 to NE. NGC 1750 is an area of compression inside the larger open cluster that resolves well even under a minimum of magnification. NGC 1817 - Due east of Alpha, this is a large, bright, rich open cluster which contains many various magnitudes. Also pairs with open cluster NGC 1807 to SW. Both give the impression of a miniature "double cluster" at low power. *************************************************** While there are a few other areas of the sky I could be tapping, there's also a whole lot of clouds around the lower fringes of the sky. It's been a whole lot of fun being outside, but now? I'm ready to call it a night. "Now my water's turned to wine..."

November 24/25, 2006 - Sir William Meets the Princess, the Hero and the Winged-Horse... Comments: I'm sorry my reports haven't been more descriptive over the last few days. Catching a moment to myself has been rather hard to come by! All in all, it's been real pleasure having my grandchildren for an extended visit. Tonight my youngest - the grandaughter - crashed long before her older brother. When I peeked outside, he asked me what I was doing and I asked him if he'd like to see something really beautiful. Well, it didn't take long for him to shag into a coat and a pair of slippers, so he and I went out and I introduced him to Orion. He's quite a smart little fellow and guess who taught him a new song as we had a look, eh? "Twinkle, twinkle litte star... How I wonder what you are? A, F, G, K, M, R, O... This is how the real stars glow. Twinkle, twinkle little star... Now I know just what you are." It wasn't much longer until he went to sleep singing it and I had my chance to slip outside, enjoy a couple of cold ones and unwind... *********************************************** Herschel 400 Tammy Plotner 40.2 86.9 10/24-25/06 11:30 pm - 2:30 am EST Skies: 6.0 Stability: 9/10 12.5" reflector 25mm 12mm ultra wide NGC 7331 - North of Eta Peg. My absolute favourite of elongated spiral galaxies with the stellar nucleus. Hey, Bruce? With averted vision I can just barely see the other little companions - but they're there!!! NGC 7217 - A lot harder to find south of the optical Pi Peg pair. Elongated with a bright core and hints of structure. Very nice. NGC 7448 - Easy find NW of Alpha Peg. Fairly large, flying saucer shaped with a nice bright core. NGC 7479 - Due south of Alpha Peg. Much larger and easily noted as a barred spiral. (also a favourite). Very graceful extensions and the central bar is heavily concentrated. NGC 205 - Companion to M32 and would really be spectacular on its own. Wonderfully elongated, bright and large. Brighter core. NGC 404 - Find Beta Andromeda and you've found this one. Bright, large and slightly egg-shaped with a stronger core region. NGC 752 - South of Gamma Andromeda. Easily spotted in finder for bright central star. Loose open, mainly consists of chains. NGC 891 - East of Gamma Andromeda. Nice spiral! Large, bright and great nucleus. Shows arm structure at high power. NGC 7662 - Kappa, Iota, SW to just barely visible star. This is one smacking little planetary nebula. Very bright and holds magnification well. It has a winking central star and a ring-like structure. NGC 7686 - Open cluster N/NW of Lambda Andromeda. Easy in spotter scope. Bright, well populated and surrounds a pretty yellow central star. NGC 651 - Easily located just north of Phi Persei. The M76 is bright and easy at low power and shows wonderful structure, such as brighter and darker areas at power. NGC 869 - Low power only. The northwestern member of the "Double Cluster". Simply amazing. Easily seen with no aid and explodes in eyepiece. NGC 884 Cluster pairing. Also extremely birght and rich. NGC 1023 - NW of 16 Persei. Bright elliptical with strange structure on eastern edge. Overlapping an optical companion? NGC 1245 - Halfway between Kappa and Alpha Persei. (man, the whole alpha persei association just rocks right out tonight with no scope!) Bright, very populated open cluster. Very nice at high magnification with long streamers of stars. NGC 1342 - Very bright open cluster about halfway between Beta and Zeta Persei. Easily picked out as an open cluster, but slightly scattered. About 50 or so members. NGC 1444 - Northeast of Alpha Persei association. A small area of compression around a nice yellow/blue double star. NGC 1513 - Easily spotted south of Lambda Persei. Lovely loop of stars, very bright. Makes an "omega-like" asterism. NGC 1528 - NE of Lambda Persei. A very bright, large, fairly well compressed open cluster. NGC 1545 - E of optical double. Loose open, but bright. Some slightly yellowish stars and many faint members. ************************************************** By now, there are other constellations that are really sitting prime and I'm thinking I like this sleep late, stay out late lifestyle. The only thing I don't like is that my tape is almost gone in my pocket recorder and that means I'd have to go to a little more work. Excuse me? Work? I don't think so. Right now I think it's time to cover the scope back up, go in and watch them babies sleep and have me another beer. Life is good. "Love fades out... And love appears."

November 23, 2006 - Sir Herschel in the Queen's Court... Comments: What an awesome Thanksgiving! I assure you at one time or another I had a house full... and as many as five kids under the age of 5 at once! Needless to say, by the time everyone went home, my two little guests were totally exhausted as as the Sun dropped? So did they. I really tried to wake them up for fear the would do so on their own and be up all night. There was no way. I could have tied strings on these kids and made them marionettes they were so far gone. I hung around for awhile, but you know me... Pristine skies means I'd really like to be out for awhile, so the dob, the dog and I all headed for just off the deck to play around with Herschel and Cassiopeia... ****************************************** Herschel 400 Tammy Plotner 40.6 82.9 11/23/06 7:30-10:30 pm Skies: 6.0 Stability: 7/10 12.5" reflector 25mm NGC 129 - Halfway between Gamma and Beta with an easy finderscope star to east. Very bright, well compressed and reasonably rich. NGC 136 - Small, faint cluster. Very open and just recognizable from star fields. NGC 185 - About a degree east of Omicron. A fairly large, but low surface brightness galaxy with a slightly brighter core region and a hint of structure. NGC 255 - West/northwest of Gamma. Very bright, easily noted as an open cluster. Nice chain of stars. NGC 278 - Small spiral galaxy that is easily seen at low power. Round, brighter core with a small star on north edge. NGC 381 - Very, very nice cluster. Well compressed, many faint members that are resolved at higher power. NGC 436 - On the small side, but a rich, bright cluster with different magnitudes and many multiple stars at high power. NGC 457 - Includes Pi. Always a pleasure to visit with E.T.! Best at low power. NGC 559 - A very rich, slightly elongated open cluster. Many magnitudes range over a background cloud of stars. NGC 637 - Easy find west of Epsilon. Fairly large, rich, but not well compressed. Nice pyramid configuration of stars at core. NGC 654 - South of Epsilon, very bright, rich and compressed containing a background haze of stars on edge of resolution. NGC 663 - Further south. Hola! This is one very rich, bright open cluster. Multiple magnitudes! NGC 659 - Further south past 663, a very loose, not very well populated cluster. NGC 1027 - A large open cluster with a little compression and very well populated. NGC 7789 - My favourite. Located S/W of Beta, this very rich, compressed cluster is one of the first I could resolve in a small scope. Very, very nice with large aperture. NGC 7790 - Very faint collection of stars that are well compressed and relatively rich. Easily noted as a cluster from starfield. ************************************************* As much as I would like to continue on through Andromeda and Perseus, even I am beginning to feel a bit tired. While I contemplate doing just that, I noticed what seemed to be a cloud of smoke coming from the west. Silently cursing those who don't know how to burn wood properly, I covered things up and went to get a cup of coffee. By the time I had checked to make sure the sleepers were still sleeping and finished my warm up, there was no question about more observing... The London fog had arrived. "Change has come... And change is here."

November 22/23, 2006 - Midnight on the Water... Comments: What a day! It has been a very long time since I've had the opportunity to have my grandbabies over for a visit, so I set out on the highway full of smiles and good intentions. I knew the traffic around Columbus was going to be bad because of the holiday - but what I didn't anticipate was just how bad. It took me roughly 3 hours to get from the area around the airport to open highway! My word... I really did stay patient, though. I smiled at other drivers and was courteous. Even two very small children had a good laugh at a traffic jam not being quite so much fun as strawberry jam! Needless to say, they were toast to go with that jam within just a few hours after arriving back. They had fun with their toys, requested my "special noodle soup", munched a popsicle, feed H most of their cheese crackers, and then dropped like little stones to the bottom of a deep pond. I sat on the sofa for a long time watching them sleep. It's amazing how quickly they grow when they're that young. Both of them had a wonderful time telling me about seeing the Moon in their telescope and both were equally astonished at the stars you can see far away from a big city. H came to me inside the dark and quiet, nuzzling my hand in the light from the fire. Oddly enough, this huge black bear of a german shepherd loves kids, but he's ready to sneak outside for awhile as well. I step out on the deck with him, pleased to be breathing the pure, cold air of the countryside and looking up at the stars. As he prowls the yard, I pull the big scope around just off the end of the deck where I can watch inside. I can feel myself unwind from all the stress as I gaze over some of the bright and beautiful objects I admire so much. Who amoungst us can resist the Messiers? My notebook lay just inside the door and I quietly slide it shut as I check on them again and step back outside not more than 15 feet away. From here I can see the firelight gently illuminating the long, blonde hair of my granddaughter, and I am touched that somehow genetics have smiled enough to let me live to see my own odd genes repeated. Why do I call them odd? Because she and I are two of a kind. We go against the rules, eh? Even Mendel will tell you that blonde hair and blue eyes are rare in a predominately brown set of strings. Let's hope I can teach her to break the rest of them, huh? ;) *********************************************** Herschel 400 Tammy Plotner 40.6 82.9 10/22-23/06 11:45 pm - 12:45 am Skies: 6.0 Stability: 8/10 12.5" reflector 25mm 12mm ultra wide field NGC 1535 - A fairly easy find east/northeast of Gamma Eridanae. Quite round, bright and distinguishable at a low power sweep and most definately a soft, sky blue color. At power, the central snaps right out and so does structure. There is a strong interior ring that has a braided structure like the M57 does on a quality night. This is haloed by a softer, fainter outer ring. This is one extremely nice planetary. NGC 1407 - A bright elliptical that shows very round at low power and has NGC 1400 just off the edge of the field in the southwest position. The target galaxy, NGC 1407 has a concentrated core region and both are located in a nice field of galaxies northeast of Tau 5 Eridanae. (although these are not part of the Herchel 400 list, what can I say besides "WOW"!! drop yourself down and visit the Fornax Galaxy cluster while you're there. it's one of the most superb in the south!) NGC 1048 - Northwest of Eta Eridanae, this bright galaxy is easily picked up at low power and shows an elongated form. At high power here is some distinct mottling. ******************************************** By now, H is standing at the back door and ready to go back in by the fire. Being outside in the fresh air has also worked wonders for me, too. I turn the telescope toward Orion before I leave, though.. For this is a very stable night. Tracing out from Zeta like a faint ribbon of smoke is a nebula I know. The "Flame" glows almost as brightly as it does inside, but it is that thin thread that I smile at. There's a notch there. So many people I know buy special filters just to see this and still can't. You know why? Because the "Horsehead" is a tiny thing. It takes the right seeing conditions - not special equipment. Just like the Trapezium, here... If you can see those little red and blue companion stars, you're not going to see the further out faint one that marks the H star. And speaking of H? He's ready to go lay by the fire, too... "I'm going home..."

November 21, 2006 - Sir William Slays the Dragon... Comments: Daggone! You should see the skies tonight! Talk about ultra-transparent. It's not often I get a really good shot to the north and I don't care how hard I find the constellation of Draco... I've got Sir William to guide me. **************************************** Herschel 400 Tammy Plotner 40.6 82.9 11/21/06 9:00 - 11:50 pm EST Sky: 6.0 Stability: 5/10 12.5" reflector 25mm 12mm ultrawide NGC 6543 - Located about halfway between Delta and Zeta. The "Cat's Eye" nebula is not an easy find, but with aperture it is well worth it. Very bright and elongated at low magnification with a wink of the central Central star snaps right out and power and during moments of stability you can see swirls and an either fainter, or darker area near the center. NGC 5982 - Located just east of Iota and pairs with much fainter NGC 5985. At power it suffers. It is definately elliptical and slightly brighter towards the core. NGC 5907 - Southwest of Iota. At low power it is nicely elongated, but no structure. Add magnification and wait on stability and you have a stellar nucleus of this galaxy and a little concentration toward the middle. Definately bright - but a mother to starhop to. NGC 5866 - Continue from 5907 southwest to a finderscope star for this odd galaxy. Equally bright and fairly large, slightly elongated, it has a brighter concentration towards the center and what seems to be arm structure or something? I'm making out some type of structure. NGC 3147 - Geez, Louise... Can we slap this one any closer to Polaris and put it clean out in no-man's land? This is one very difficult galaxy to star hop to. I started at Lambda and continued to hop north through a chain of stars and galaxies until I finally nailed it near about a 6th magnitude star to the southwest. Once I located it, there was no doubt because it was far brighter than any I had stumbled across. Fairly nice sized and slightly elongated, during power and stability a glimpse of stellar nucleus can be seen. ************************************************** That's it? Yeah. That's it. I told you Draco was a difficult constellation for me and I wasn't kidding. About 3 hours is all I can stand in the cold, even though when I see stars like I'm seeing right now in Orion I don't want to go in!! Ah, well... Even Sir William Herschel got old. "Now my curtain has been drawn... And my heart must go where my heart does belong."

November 20, 2006 - Herschel Hunting With the Charioteer... Comments: Damn! What a gorgeous night... Where were these skies when the Leonids happened, huh? Giggle... Needless to say, it was a fairly decent night and New Moon means I really ought to take that big ol' dob out for a walk. My hands are going to hurt very quickly from the cold, but who cares? I ain't seen skies in what seems like weeks... *************************************** Herchel 400 Studies Tammy Plotner 40.6 82.9 11/20/06 10-11:30 pm EST Skies: 5.0 Stability: 6/10 12.5" reflector 26mm NGC 1907 - In this area of the sky, M38 is a huge attraction and you'll find NGC 1907 just to the south beside a wide finderscope double to the east. It is a small, bright and well compressed open cluster of a couple of dozen stars. NGC 1931 - Is just west of the outstanding M36. It is reasonably bright and somewhat elongated - reminding me of a much smaller Hubble Variable - but not colorful. During a moment of perfect stability you can see pinpoint stars in the center of this bright nebula. NGC 1857 - Is just south of the beautiful finderscope collection around Lambda and also has a finderscope star in its center. This is a very nice open cluster with a notably yellow central star. The members radiate out from the center in chains. Very well resolved. NGC 1664 - A bit more difficult to find west of Epsilon Aurigae. An excellent yellow star on the southeast edge will lead you to it. Although it's easy to resolve, it isn't very populated and the stars seem to lead a trail to the brighter fringe member. NGC 2126 - Located well north of Beta Aurigae. A finderscope star on the east edge will lead you to it. This is a rag-tag collection that takes on the general outline of the ace of spades. Easily resolved and the finderscope star seems to be a blue/white member. NGC 2281 - Is out in no-man's land between Beta Aurigae and Castor. Psi 7 is part of the open cluster. It is large and very scattered. With the exception of Psi 7, all the stars are quite faint and it is just barely gathered enough to be considered a cluster. ************************************************** By now my hands are screaming at me - but I'm not listening. It's been so, so long since I've been out and I don't want to go in! I can't bear to switch out eyepieces and go to my big 32mm, but who cares? The Plieades are really something if you take the time to study them. I love splitting the doubles out - just as much as I love the Merope nebula and the red stars in it. Yeah, I'm blowing the M35 to shreds at this power - but look at NGC 2158! And M1... Oh, my... And NGC 7331! And NGC 7789... And... And.... When I tell myself at last that I must go in or pay a very dear price, I find it's already a bit too late. I finished my studies well over an hour ago and I should have stopped then because I can even take the eyepiece out. Even though I'm really picky about my study grades, there's nothing I can do except about half tie a clean handkerchief around it and put the cover on. If you can't turn the set screws - you can't. And that's all there is to it... I take one long, last, loving look at the stars as I walk back to the house. Like a bit of grace, I see a meteor skip off the atmosphere and I smile wondering how many I missed while busy taking notes. How many things do we miss when our life is so busy trying to accomplish things, eh? What wonders, magic and mystery passes us by without a sound while our heads and hands are bent towards work? Too many, my friend... Too many... "Time will tell... And time will heal."

November 18, 2006 - Scouts at Malibar Farm... Radio Leonids... Comments: Although work has always prevented me from being "on time" for late year events with AFY at Malibar Farm, I was very grateful to see that both Robert and Greg stuck around. With meetings and events starting at dusk, it's impossible for me to work a Saturday and be there any earlier than around 7:00. Guess what? No more... Today was my last day as full-time. It's time to heal. About 30 minutes or so after I arrived, we got a very small Scout Troop from the Mt. Vernon area - belonging to the Salavation Army. The boys were very rambunctious and energetic, but this was their opportunity to meet someone representing JPL/NASA outreach and to learn about their requirements. We learned about "Why We Put Telescopes Into Space", women astronomers, and a whole lot about comets. In short? It was fun! After they left, Greg, Robert and I all stood around watching the clouds. It's really too bad, because reports of the Leonids have been awesome. At least we did many to see one short streak in a semi-opaque spot! It doesn't take much longer before we are all feeling the cold and it's time to head our separate ways. Although the night stayed cloudy, the Leonids were indeed very, very active. Needless to say the radio frequencies were just humming! At one point, I do believe I heard at least three different snatches of different stations on the same frequency. About 3:00 a.m., the activity began to taper off and more recognizable hisses, hums, and blips began. Can you imagine how the skies must have been lit up when all I could get was signals from dead stations?! Ah, my.... How I wish we could have seen them! "Change has been... And change will be."

November 12, 2006 - A Hole In the Clouds... Comments: Well! Good morning, Moon! Where the heck were these clearing spots at last night when I could have used them, eh? Although the skies were far from being good, I did have an opportunity to have a quick look at the lunar surface before leaving for work... ****************************************** Lunar Club II Tammy Plotner 40.6 82.9 11/12/06 - 5:00 a.m. EST Skies: mostly cloudy 6/10 stability 4.5 reflector 25 mm zoom lens Delauny - One very cool little crater that's actually a double elongated. It looks very much like a pawprint. H!! Where'd ya' go, boy?? Muller - While Muller is rather an ordinary crater, what's nearby is not.... It's a series of small craters which form a very perfect line like a multitude of impacts happened at once. Pow, pow, pow... A series of small strikes happened while the Moon was turning and left this wild impression on the surface. They are difficult to see and only happen at maximum magnification during a moment of stability, but it's definately worth viewing. *********************************************** And now? I'm off to finish what's going to be a very long - but hopefully final long week at work. The years have left me very much missing what I've left behind... And it's time. "I'm coming home...

November 11, 2006 - Scouts at the Observatory... Comments: In this weather? You betcha'. One of the Boy Scout troops that we had last year for a program will be returning again this year and despite the cold rain, Terry McQ and I set out to join them. When I arrived, Terry already had the ClubHouse open and the group was inside enjoying the dry and warm. Much to my surprise, (and a testament to the fact that i am a genuine blonde) this was the same group we had last year! I really don't know what I was thinking, other than it would be the same scout masters, but different young men. Uh uh. Same everything. And this means... I ain't prepared! When I walked in the door, one of the young men whom I remembered said he hoped I had something new. Well... Actually I came ready to do pretty much the same program, but I can darn well change at the drop of a hat. Needless to say, the hat was dropped and after a few laughs I set them to watching the Solar Max program while I covered my blushing by putting together the presentation on black holes. They were very forgiving, and it wasn't long until we were learning and exploring something new! As always, they are as sharp as can be and we parted with the promise that next year would be the exploration of spectra and even more advanced principles. They'll be around for a few more years yet... And so will I. "Now my water's turned to wine... And these thoughts I have? Well, I now can claim as mine..."

November 6, 2006 - Tammy and the Ten Second Transit... Comments: Is that what I think it is? Darn, right. It's the single most horrible shot of the 2006 Mercury transit that you will see anywhere. The day started off with heavy fog and it just didn't get any better. The weatherman promised clearing skies and, of course, I was sure hoping things were going to be good where there were breaks in the clouds about 1:30. I got home from work in plenty of time to get the scope set up and the camera good to go, but... There wasn't anything to go for. Deep, dark grey clouds totally covered the sky. What a disappointment! I stood outside and watched for perhaps 45 minutes and not even a sign of a clearing appeared. I came back inside and looked up a live broadcast, and when I glanced over at the window? Lo and behold... A big, blue hole! Racing outside, I got the scope set in the general area I thought the Sun would still be in. Wrongo. It had moved significantly since my initial set up and the bloody thing was in the trees!! Laying my camera down, I hustled the scope out further into the yard and quickly (yeah, rite... like you can aim quickly when things depend on it.) returned to the transit peeking in and out between the fast moving clouds. Snatching my camera up, I leveled on the eyepiece... And got 10 seconds of absolutely the worst video footage I've ever taken of anything at about 3:20 pm EST. No time to focus. No time to autofocus. It was over with just as quickly as I turned the camera on. Mad? Oh, heck no. Although I didn't get a good image of it, I did see it with my own left eye. And that? Is far more than I could ask for. "Love fades out... And love appears."

November 2, 2006 - Back on the Moon... Comments: I left the morning after Halloween. I didn't say much, but a few close friends knew what was going on. I had lost another relative and it was a sad journey to the great state of Kentucky to pay my last respects to my Uncle Bob and to be with my many cousins whom I so dearly love. It's not often I travel with my parents and other close family members and the experience was both sad and joyful at the same time. It felt good to be close to my Mother and Father... Just as it felt good to see so many of my family members that I have lost touch with over time. I know the mean of the word "bittersweet"... We got back home well after dark tonight. The ride was long, but I cannot rest. I take the telescope out for solace more than study. As you can see, it has taken me days upon days to even review what I had looked at. Cognizant... Aware of what I was doing... Yet far, far away. ************************************************ Lunar Club II Tammy Plotner 40.6 82.9 11/02/06 10:30 pm EST Skies: 4.0 Stability 7/10 Celestron 114 - 25mm (zoom camera lens) Milichus Pi - A lunar lava dome near crater Milichus. In the Kepler region where many such domes exist and I totally missed Hortensius and the Marius Hills. Perhaps next month? Davy Y - An odd crater that is actually larger than its named border crater Davy and smaller punctuation of Davy A. Davy Cantena (a sting of small craters) was only visible during moments of pure stability as a thin, black line. Mosting - Also accompanied by an A crater... Just another hole in the Moon. Aristarchus Plateau - A nice, raised area around brilliant crater Aristarchus. Montes Agricola - A thin, white line of a mountain range also near Aristarchus and right on the terminator. **************************************************** And so this is enough for me now... I feel the rain coming on. "Change has come... And change is here."