Carolina was feeling bad because her friend, Theta (pronounced "thee-ta" not "tha-ta" like the Greek letter θ) died a couple of days ago. I met Theta a few times and talked on the phone briefly many times. She was a wonderful woman and was always leaving pleasant and encouraging messages for Carolina.
Well, as I started to say, Carolina was feeling bad and wanted to get out of the house. She decided to go to Universal Studios for which she has an annual pass. She called me and told me she could pick me up from work. This was a good thing, because I was a bit short on hours and it gave me time to make them up. I normally leave work at 5:40 to catch the last bus. Carolina picked me up at 7:30. We had dinner and drove home. We got home around 9:45.
I was a bit tired and it was a bit late, but I wanted to go out to look at stars. I wanted a shot at finding Neptune and a chance to see Uranus in my telescope. Saturday is our date night and I didn't think Carolina would want to spend another date looking at stars. (We just did that last week plus we're planning to be out at the Aerospace walk and Carolina can only handle so much outdoors before her allergies kick in.) If I wait till next week the moon will be up and make viewing harder, so I was motivated. Carolina was interested too, so we went.
We decided to go to church. It's fairly dark there -- I had been there Thursday night and noticed better viewing conditions than I expected. We got there around 10:30 and set up behind the back classroom. This got us away from the security lighting. There's still a little light, like anywhere in around here, but it's pretty good. There are obstructions -- building, tree, power lines but we had a mostly clear sight toward Capricornus (where Neptune is) and Aquarius (where Uranus is). The power lines were kind of in the way, but we could get around them and I actually used them to help point my telescope.
I found Capricornus and Aquarius pretty easily with my naked eye. Much better than near my home where I needed the binoculars to see them. I easily found Uranus in the binoculars -- so much easier after you've done it once and when you can actually see the guide stars. Here is the Wikipedia Capricornus chart.
Right now Neptune is next to γ Cap as this Sky and Telescope picture shows.
I found δ Cap and γ Cap easily with my eyes. In the binoculars I thought I might have seen Neptune. It's possible, they say, with good binoculars. Mine are pretty good, but usually when "they say" it's possible, I can't do it because of imperfect conditions and my old eyes.
I pointed my telescope at δ Cap with the help of the power line and found γ Cap by moving to the right and down slightly. With my lowest power 25mm lens δ and γ are just wider than my field of view. (I can see both in about half my binocular field). I then slide up and right to what I thought was Neptune. I tried my higher power 9mm lens. Less light but I was able to see it. Then I tried my doubler with the 9mm. Not enough light to see much.
I wanted to double check that it was Neptune. I couldn't really tell that it was much different than a star, which bothered me. I tried to look up but a power line (the one that helped me guide the scope to δ) was in the way. It slowly moved the scope forward so I could look up more. Move a little, readjust, move a little. It worked. I found nothing further up and to the right, but it was hard to be comprehensive. I went back to what I originally thought was Neptune.
I looked again in the binoculars. I'm pretty sure I saw what I thought was Neptune in the telescope. With the binocular wider field I could compare the γ to Neptune distance with the γ to δ distance. The looked about equal to me.
I would have liked to point my scope at Uranus, but Carolina was ready to go home. I knew finding Uranus in the telescope would take some time. However, Carolina volunteered to put our folding chair away. While she did that I pointed my scoped at Albireo. I've wanted to do that since Carolina gave the scope to me this summer. Albireo is a blue and gold double star. I saw it a long time ago in a friend's 12in reflector. I've tried a few times but never succeeded. Last night I got it on my second try. I focused and saw the double -- the first I've found on my own! I almost missed it because (duh!) it wasn't nearly as brilliant as in my friend's scope. But I could still see a bright gold star and a dimmer blue star. Neato!!
We went home and I doubled checked Neptune on Google Sky. I discovered I could copy the Google Sky image. I made this picture.
The big blue ball is a Google Sky icon, not how Neptune really looks in proportion. δ Cap is on the left at the same height as Neptune. γ Cap is to the right slightly below δ. OK, here's my dilemma. γ Cap to Neptune is not exactly the same distance as γ Cap to δ. Did I remember wrong? Was I just rounding off? Or did I pick up some other faint star? There is a star that is near the "δ-equal-distance" point. It's hard to see in the blog's compressed version of the picture so I circled it in red. It also is on the Sky and Telescope chart above. Is that my Neptune? Maybe I sometimes saw Neptune and sometimes this star? Or is it so dim I shouldn't worry about it? If I was looking at the star, I didn't find Neptune when I went up and right. Did I just miss it? On the other hand, if I was looking at Neptune I never saw this star go by.
The Google Sky picture and even this compressed view give me more data for how to look. The three stars above δ Cap give context (I think I saw them last night). A star below Neptune and one to the right also should help. I need to get back out there, maybe Sunday night. Maybe the top of the Tehachapi Willow Springs road would be a good place to go. Is there a way to increase my telescope field of view so it is like the binoculars. Say with a 50mm lens or greater? Should I try using the computer on the scope and see where it points?
It got to be very late and am tired today. Perhaps I'll need a nap. It was worth it but I cannot keep losing sleep without bad things happening.
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