Bad Luck?

 It was Friday night; it was dark and windy outside. It was also the thirteenth day of the month, Friday the 13^th!

    I was listening to a talk during the astronomy club’s monthly meeting. While the speaker was talking I was copying some things into a Word document. I could hear the wind blowing through the trees outside, at times, loud enough to cause a little apprehension. During the day the yard had been covered with broken branches and papers from the neighbor’s trash. The branches I’d have to pick up later but the papers would long be gone by morning.

    Suddenly, the lights flickered and then went dark. The speaker on my screen froze in place. I looked out the window and all I could see were the lights of a couple cars in the valley below. All the buildings and parking lots were dark. Even the traffic lights had gone out.

    I saved my document and shut off the computer. Then I went outside.

    The sky was clear, which certainly goes against Pittsburgh weather norms. Any time that an astronomical event happens, chances are that there will be clouds in the sky! Our sky is almost always cloudy.

    I grabbed my coat and went out for a walk around the block. I saw someone’s flashlight playing across their house and then it went out. I didn’t see anyone else. No one else had bothered to step outside and look around. Most of the houses were dark. A couple houses had solar lights on their sidewalks and porches, but they were unobtrusive. No flickering lights from candles or beams from flashlights could be seen.

    Coming around a bend I came to a house that seemed to be glowing. They had a noisy generator running beside the house and a couple lights lit inside. That house was the only bright spot in the neighborhood. The rest of the neighborhood was dark, and I walked with my head tilted up.

    Orion was spectacular; I definitely could see more stars than usual from my normally light polluted neighborhood. To the left of Orion was Sirius with Jupiter near Castor and Pollux higher above it. Off to the right were Aldebaran and the Pleiades. I watched a satellite pass through Auriga, easily seen and followed even with my poor eyesight.

    A car sitting a couple houses away started up, turning its headlights on. The reflection off of the chrome bumper of the truck it was facing caught me directly in the eye. Hoping that it would soon leave, I went behind my car, in the shadows to wait.

    I decided to take another walk around the block. The beautiful views of the sky kept me company until I got to the house with the noisy generator. He now had a couple spotlights on, shining onto his driveway, his neighbor’s houses and into my dark-adapted eyes.

    (“Thank heavens he had those lights on, he was protecting our neighborhood from bands of roaming vandals, muggers and rapists!” He was “protecting” us from seeing the stars above. I have to admit it…I did call him a few choice names!)

    Once I was past the noisy, glaring house and back into the quiet darkness, I started thinking about how this resembled the neighborhood of days gone by, before we became the frightened society that we are now. People’s porch lights would go out a short while after dark. If they did stay on they were only normal light bulbs, no flood lights or LED bulbs. The cities weren’t as brightly lit and we could see SO many more stars than now. The stars are slowly disappearing, and it is because we are afraid of the dark. What a shame!

    I passed a man in his car listening to the radio, his interior lights were on, I could see him but he had no idea that I had passed him. A bit further on, the car that had flashed me before was still sitting with its lights on. A woman sat inside, the interior lights on also, checking her phone for who knows what. I covered my eyes to avoid getting blinded and passed her by. She didn’t see me pass by either. Their lights hid me from them!

    I sat for awhile in a lawn chair in the front yard with my binoculars. Orion had moved behind a tree, a bit closer to the western horizon. Behind me, the Big Dipper was standing on its handle. Occasional blasts of wind whipped by. For the most part, it was nice and quiet. I was starting to get cold so I zipped up my jacket and returned to the inside.

    I lit a couple candles so that I could write a few notes and then went to bed and snuggled under my covers for a good night’s sleep. I originally thought that it was bad luck that my power had gone off, right in the middle of a meeting no less. Instead it was just the opposite. My Friday the 13^th ended up giving me a couple hours of quiet and dark sky. Who says Friday the 13ths are bad luck? Not me!

Watching for The Space Stations

    It was the morning of the 4^th, a little after 6 oclock, the light of dawn hadn’t arrived yet. For the most part, the neighborhood was dark and quiet. My neighbor’s porch light did intrude a bit but I could work around it. There was no moon in the sky making it appear even darker.

    I had gotten up early to watch two space stations pass over my house. Who would have imagined doing this 50 or 60 years ago? Science fiction HAS come true!

(No comment needed!)

    Finding a spot that was shielded from the obtrusive porch light next door, I familiarized myself with the stars above. The camera was set up with hopes of getting a couple shots as the stations passed bright stars. Then, all that needed to be done was to wait and enjoy the silence.

Tiangong passing towards the left (East) under Arctures

    The first to appear was the Chinese space station Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace”. It came over the trees right at the scheduled time. Presently there are three astronauts on board this structure. Watching as it got higher in the sky, I was startled by a woman walking her dog. I pointed to the satellite and told her what it was, she simply said “cool” and continued her walk. I'm guessing she wasn't impressed.

    Nearing the end of its passage across the sky, off in a different direction the International Space Station (ISS) had appeared behind some other trees. For a brief while I could see both space stations in the sky at the same time! While it might not excite others, I found this fascinating!

    I swiveled my camera around to catch the ISS and when I looked up, I saw a bright object beside Polaris. (The North Star) As I watched, it proceeded to get brighter. I pushed the shutter on the camera and when I looked back up, the object had disappeared. 

The ISS passing over Polaris, heading towards the right (East)

    Once the ISS had completed its pass, I went inside (into the warmth!) to see if I had caught the flare. The pictures came out nicely, the ISS appearing much brighter than Tiangong since it is a bigger structure. (There are seven crewmen from different countries on the ISS presently.) Someday I'll get a picture with both of them in the same shot!

    As far as the flare goes, I can only guess to what it was. It reminded me of an Iridium Flare. Years ago, there was a fleet of satellites that were shaped in a way that caused bright flares to appear as the sunlight shined on them. If you happened to be in the proper spot at the proper time, you could see them. They were fun to point out to people at star parties.

    There had also been a meteor shower that peaked the day before. It could’ve been one of them. I failed to notice which direction it was coming from, it appeared to be coming straight towards me.  There was also a report of a possible meteor exploding over the Western Pennsylvania area on New Year’s Day…could it have been something related to that?

    Whatever it was, it made for an exciting morning! I always find it rewarding to see things in the sky, or elsewhere, that I wasn’t expecting.

    I had planned on going back inside and slipping back under the covers but this changed everything. I had to see how the pictures came out and to check a few web sites to see if any other bright satellites were in the sky at that time. I found nothing on-line, so I’m leaning towards a flare from a random satellite. There are thousands of objects floating around up there…who knows?

ISS to the left in the trees, the flare and Polaris, all in line

(6:30:42AM EST)

    A couple of satellites, a flare, a good cup of coffee and a bit of research, yup, this day was off to a great start!

Hangin' out in Orion

                It was a Saturday night and the sky was clear! The weather has been rather cloudy lately, the last time it was clear enough to take the telescope out was on the first of the year and then, I had to dodge clouds. I had looked at the moon, it was nearly full and its brightness had hidden most everything else. Still, I had gone out for awhile on the first day of the year.

                ANYWAY, it was 9 days later and the sky was looking good. After the dry spells we experience here in Pittsburgh, all most anything looks good! The moon wasn’t due to rise until nearly dawn and I could see stars, lots of them!  Those were the good things, a couple bad things hung over my head before I went outside though.

1.       The neighbors had their porch light lit. I think they recently increased the wattage of it, looking over at their house, it was bright!

2.    It was cold out there. I’m sure the wind chill was in the single digits. It was definitely     glove weather!

These two things were rather easy to remedy. Of course you know how I feel about light pollution and light trespass. I had talked with the neighbors before about their light and they are usually very accommodating.  Last night the lights in the house were off and I didn’t want to bother them so I went over and put a big cardboard box over their light. Other than ruining my night vision as I did it, it worked like a charm! Fifteen minutes later, after my irises opened up again, I was ready to start observing.

The second problem was even easier to take care of; I dug out my gloves and put them on. I limited my note taking to a minimum and only removed them when I changed eyepieces.  Still it was cold so the session only lasted about an hour and a half.

I saw a beautiful bright meteor streaking through Cassiopeia shortly after I went outside. It went at least 20 or 25 degrees towards the west before it burnt out.  I haven’t seen one like that in quite awhile!

I spent a lot of time gazing at The Orion Nebula, M42 ( a number given it by Charles Messier back in the 1700’s) The Orion Nebula is one of the nicest things you can look at in this section of sky. There is nebulosity, hundreds of stars visible in small scopes and so many other variances in brightness and textures you can spend hours if you so desire and still find new things you hadn’t noticed before. The seeing was fairly good and I was using a good eyepiece so I was able to see lots of stars that night.  The nebula is located in the sword below Orion’s belt. You can see it by naked eye but it really reveals its wonders when you turn a scope towards it!

The Constellation of Orion was high in the sky when I went out and that helped my seeing also. When planets, stars or deep sky objects are near the horizon, the seeing is usually poor. The images shimmer and are blurry.  The higher in the sky that the object you are observing is, the better!

Another idea to keep in mind is to take your time while observing. I try to remind people of that when sharing views through my scope, take your time, there is no hurry. The biggest problem is when the object moves out of the field of view! (My scope has no motor on it so I have to keep bumping it over to keep the object in view) The longer you look at something the more you see. There is also the chance that the seeing might improve for a few seconds. I’ve seen faint stars that “just weren’t there” by keeping watching!  It is a great feeling when you spot something that is known to be difficult to see. I sat and watched for quite awhile.

I also visited our neighboring galaxy Andromeda, a mere 2 ½ million light years away. I drifted through the twins in Gemini, the Seven Sisters (The Pleiades) and a few other bright objects before the cold shut me down. I took the scope inside and wrote some notes in my log book and then went over to the neighbors house to retrieve my cardboard box. 

5 Seconds of ISS pass, 1.9.21   6:08 AM

It was nice and relaxing going outside into the dark night. All in all, it was a good day for astronomy! I started the day out by watching the space station drift overhead and ended it by visiting the stars beyond…yup, a good day!

 

The Unpredictability of Pittsburgh Astronomy

 

Monday evening, the Winter Solstice, was when the two giant planets, Saturn and Jupiter were to appear as close as they have been in centuries. The last time they were this close was in 1623. Both of the planets would be visible through a telescope at the same time! This event which would be visible across the country was anxiously anticipated by amateur astronomers for months if not more. Naturally here in Pittsburgh, the skies were thick with clouds, a little rain and even a bit of snow. It was to be expected! (Don’t worry though; they will be this close again on March 15^th, 2080. Mark your calendars!)

Leaving work on Tuesday night I saw some stars from the parking lot. Once I arrived home they had disappeared once again. (It was just a little tease!) I took my binoculars with me to work on Wednesday, just in case, but by 3PM, the clouds had returned and once again, any possible viewing of the conjunction was thwarted.

Pittsburgh weather has played havoc on astronomy for ages. For that matter, Pittsburgh in general hasn’t been kind to astronomers.  In the last century or two, the large steel mills and their related industries filled the sky with smoke, soot and smog. The facilities were covered with lights which further hid the stars from the residents. But this was man-made and most of them have disappeared. The smog and pollution has cleared up but sadly the light pollution has increased. But that isn’t what I am concerned with right now, I’m thinking about the effects that Mother Nature has on my hobby.

I have experienced this strange phenomenon so many times I’ve come to expect it as a normal rather than happenstance. In the Astronomy Club we often joke about, even going to the extreme of apologizing for getting a new telescope or eyepiece. We know that once we get them, clouds will be following close behind.

When a special event is predicted we can’t help but get excited, looking forward to and planning how we will observe it. Depending on the time of the year, the chances are about 50-50 that we will be able to see it. It rains in Pittsburgh approximately 140 days a year. The National Weather Service says that the city averages 203 cloudy days a year.  Definitely more than half!

One of the most disappointing events I missed was in 2002. The Leonid Meteor Shower occurs in mid-November each year. Every 33 years there is a “storm” as our planet passes through a thick portion of the stream of dust left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle.  Being only 10, I had missed the last storm and now, fully engrossed in the hobby I was anxiously awaiting the date.  Clouds filled the sky as night approached but I still held out hope that I’d see something. I woke up around midnight and went outside to a thick foggy morning.  Getting in the car I headed south hoping to drive out of the clouds. No such luck. I had a Ham radio in the car and talked to other amateurs as they told about how many meteors they were seeing. I finally gave it up around 4 and returned to bed, defeated. Later I found that if I had headed north instead of south, my chances would have improved but…the event was over. I missed it.

There have been numerous lunar occultations I have gone to see only to be clouded out. An occultation is when one heavenly body crosses in front of another. Most commonly seen occultations are when the moon passes in front of a star. During a lunar graze, if you’re lucky, you can see a star disappear behind a mountain peak on the moon and then re-appear only to disappear once again. I was lucky enough to see an event where this happen four times. To observe an event such as this, you have to be in a specific spot to be lined up properly. I’d drive for hours to get to one of these spots only to have the clouds following close behind me.  It was often a long shot but definitely one worth taking!

Cloudy Moon/Venus Rise 20.06.19

Space Station passes overhead are often obscured by Pittsburgh weather. The recent Geminid meteor shower was hampered by spotty clouds. A recent Moonrise with the planet Venus sitting right beside it…yup, you guessed it. Clouds.

There will be a total solar eclipse in April of 2024 which will cover a portion of northwestern PA. Anyone want to put any bets on what the weather will be like on that day?

We just live in a spot that isn’t really suited for astronomy.  Google explains it as a combination of lakes and upward moving air which causes lots of clouds. Air that is warmer than its environment is unstable. The unstable air moves upwards in order to stabilize. As it rises it also cools and then forms stratocumulus clouds, the long grey clouds that often cover our skies.

Pittsburgh is a really nice place to live, I have been here my whole life. Sadly it isn’t the best place for astronomy, between the light pollution and the clouds it can be pretty discouraging. Still, every so often there are clear skies and every once in awhile we are blessed with optimal conditions for those rare astronomical events that we all look forward to. The seeing might not be great here but when we are lucky enough to do some good observing; it makes it seem that much better! Keep watching, keep hoping, the clear skies will appear…eventually.

Comet Neowise 20.07.18

As Ann Marie and I were talking about this, she said that it was a good thing that Christ wasn’t born in Pittsburgh; the Wise Men would’ve never found Him, they wouldn’t have been able to see the star!

Speaking of Christmas, I’m sure a lot of people will be getting telescopes and accessories for the holiday and that means… more clouds to come!

Keep searching, the stars and planets are up there…we will see them…eventually!

Merry Christmas!