Early Morning Treasures

 Waking up at 2 in the morning is something usually done out of necessity rather than desire. As you get older, the truth in this statement becomes more and more obvious.

    On this morning, when the alarm sounded I was out of bed in a flash. I put on my glasses and without turning any lights on, went out to the front porch. It was bright outside, the cloud cover was reflecting the lights of the neighborhood and the near-by businesses back to the ground. This was disappointing in more ways than one!

    Going back inside, I turned on the computer and checked a couple weather sites and looked at some satellite views. I then made the decision to get dressed and take a drive up to the Wagman Observatory. I’d take a chance!

    There were two things that prompted me. One was to watch the dual passes of the two space stations orbiting the earth and the other was to view through the telescope, the planet Saturn.

    The first, the passes of the space stations; they are normally seen nightly crossing our skies and rarely at the same time. On this morning, they would appear, from my location, to head towards each other and cross paths only seconds apart!

    The second, Saturn has been hiding behind the sun and only recently reappeared in the morning sky. The Brashear refractor is placed in the observatory in a way that doesn’t allow a low eastern view and so to observe the planet, it has to rise high enough to clear the building. This means either wait a month or two longer, or come up early in the morning and catch it as it nears the meridian.

    Arriving at the hilltop at 3:15, the clouds were still thick but there were a couple dark spots in them. I pulled a chair from inside the building and sat down and relaxed. The sounds of the crickets were the loudest things I could hear. There were no cars going by at this time of the morning. It was extremely pleasant. The howl or cry of a coyote broke in occasionally. I watched the clouds drift by, sometimes lifting my binoculars to check out what looked like a hole. As the clock neared 4 I finally saw some stars, then it was as if the sky just gave up. Looking towards the northwest, I saw clear skies!

    I opened up the roof and prepared the Brashear 11” scope for some observing. My target was in sight, the brightest object in the southern sky, Saturn. It was just past the meridian, the imaginary north-south line that divides the sky. A perfect spot for observing!

    I used a 17mm eyepiece, a favorite of mine. It provides a 243 power view. As always, the view was spectacular. The planet often has a three-dimensional look to it. There were cloud bands visible on the surface of the planet and in the rings; a couple bands could be seen. There was shading on the edge which added to the three-dimensional aspect. On one side of the rings, the shadow of the planet cut through them, showing where the sun sat in relation to the planet. I pulled over a chair and just sat and looked.

    When observing by eye, the longer you look the more you will see. There are times when the view increases in sharpness, times when the air above settles and allows an extremely crisp view. It is these times that make the wait worthwhile. It was quiet… peaceful… and fulfilling.

    A little before 5, I went outside and set up my camera and tripod. According to Heavens-Above.com, the space station passes were due to appear at 5:08. Their paths would intersect around 5:12. The sky was beautiful! The winter constellations were sitting above the eastern horizon. Orion was lying on its side towards the south, Auriga and Gemini were a bit further north. The Pleiades looked wonderful further up in the sky. A couple shots were taken with the camera to determine speed and focus and then I put my hat over the camera to protect the lens from getting any dew on the optics.

    Tiangong was seen first coming out of the west at 5:09, heading almost directly overhead. Looking to the south, I saw the ISS moving towards Orion. Both were bright and easily seen. I went back and forth between them, watching their paths, watching as they neared each other. Looking at the ISS I saw a meteor flash near-by. The pair moved to a point where both were equal distances from the Pleiades. Tiangong entered Auriga and the ISS passed over top of Bellatrix, the shoulder of Orion, getting closer. 

    At 5:12, the ISS passed underneath the approaching Tiangong, the pair missing each other, from my viewpoint, by only a couple seconds. As I watched the pair starting to fade away, another meteor shot through the sky, almost like an exclamation point to what I had just seen!

    It was a great show! I couldn’t help but wonder if the crews on either spacecraft could see the other and exactly, how far apart were they?

    I put the camera gear away and went back into the observatory. I had put a doubler on the scope earlier which brought the power up to 486. I was able to see a couple more moons but there was a loss of sharpness with the increase of power. I removed the doubler and once again, just sat and looked. I find it hard to tire of looking at this planet. I attempted to draw a couple sketches of what I was seeing but my artistic abilities are severely lacking.

    I decided that I should take a look at the Orion Nebula before I left. It has been quite a while since I had looked at that. I loosened the locks on the scope and went to spin it around and I realized that it was useless, the sky had brightened enough that Orion had disappeared! The morning sun was nearing.

    I put things away, docked the scope and then closed the building. By 6, I was on my way back home. It was nice driving home from the observatory in the daylight as compared to the darkness of middle night. It was a great morning session, I felt invigorated and refreshed and ready for the day. What a wonderful way to start a day!