Last night was the last night before Hurricane Isaias.
Landfall for Hurricane Isaias is predicted for tomorrow afternoon somewhere on the Gulf Coast between Alabama and the Florida panhandle. Although that’s 250 miles from us here in Birminham, the clouds will begin coming in later tonight. So much for observing for the next several days.
But last night, Wednesday, October 7th, was perfect from the back deck!
A front moved through last week and the skies have been incredible in the Southeast. Severe clear, temps in the upper 60s, steady seeing, and crystal clear transparency. The air has been dry – for us – with dew points in the 50s and I’ve only needed a dew shield to keep the optics clear. And for some reason: no mosquitoes!
We’re located in a Bortle 5 zone about 15 miles south of downtown Birmingham and there is a light dome to the north that makes anything lower than 45 in altitude almost disappear. And when there’s a high dew point along with dust or smoke – your sky goes from a mag 4.5 to a mag 2.5. Last night was a mag 4.5 – about as good as it gets from this location.
Our beloved Blue Heeler Barbie woke me up around 3AM so she could go outside and chase the deer that usually bed down behind the tree line at the back of the yard. If the deer don’t run then she doesn’t chase… they did not run and she joined me on the back deck. Like I said above, it was a gorgeous night and I sat back and began looking for early Draconids. I had seen one a couple of nights before. It was bright and traveled North to South for about 20 between Auriga and Gemini. No such luck last night.
By then I was wide awake. I stepped inside and brought out my grab and go scope: an AstroTech AT72ED (first version) mounted on a DesertSky DSV-Mb alt/az mount sitting on top of an old Televue Telepod.
It’s perfect for a quick peek. With a 19mm Panoptic I get almost 3 field of view at 23X. If I want to go higher I have a 3-6Nagler zoom that will get me to 144X, about as high as the little 72ED will go.
At 3AM Saturn had already drifted into the trees to our SW M42 was high enough to get a good view. M35 in Virgo, and M37, M36, and M38 could be seen clearly – they are difficult if it’s hazy. The Double Cluster between Perseus and Cassiopeia was really nice in the clear air. Bug eyed NGC 457 was tiny but there. M31 was barely above the trees to the NW and M33 was a faint, but there, glow just NE of Triangulum. I finished up with the 3-6N viewing Almach, one of the prettiest doubles in the sky.
All of this took about an hour. Not a bad night.
Please keep the folks on the coast and along the hurricane’s path in your prayers.
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