Jupiter Return of the Three Peaks
Yesterday I returned to the Three Peaks,
where I had been in September 2008 . That time I found a lot of mist and a bit 'light pollution from Misurina.
Yesterday, initially, the Three Peaks was not planned, but the weather forecast indicated some risk on both Casera Razzo, both Peralba (addiritttura where a storm was expected around 23). Now were going to come out. Faith and Wide, Verona and Trento were parties to do the route via Bolzano, Val Pusteria, Dobbiaco, measuring spoon, Auronzo, and then on to Peralba or Casera Razzo. When I heard that they would move to Misurina I checked the weather forecast for the area, which were the best. So
was that I'm back there. There were several reasons to return: first the horizon, that the Three Peaks is the best: only a few degrees above the geometrical one, as you can see the panoramic photo (taken in early July when I had been there for other reasons). Secondly, the study of light pollution
Peralba of Casera Razzo
, and
Casera Sivell , has convinced me that compared to maps of Cinzano,
screens count a lot of mountains, and that three sites are shown above Friuli (first two) or they are too close to population centers (the third). The three peaks are much more secure than the plain. For example, South is the massive Marmarole, 3000 meters high, which does not obstruct the horizon just because the observing site is at 2400 meters high. Cortina is also well screen. Stay True, the "defect" Misurina, in line of sight, and Auronzo (in line of sight but far from the refuge). However, in the first visit to the Three Peaks was a lot of moisture, and so I thought it best condiziuoni in these two "flaws" may be negligible compared, for example, those of the other sites mentioned. In other words, it seemed appropriate to visit the site again to see what was in the best weather conditions.
Unfortunately the weather was not "better." There were clouds and cloudiness, but fortunately we were at the highest level of the clouds and much of the sky was visible. In short, the situation was similar to last time. The veils and clouds over Misurina were lit. During the night I moved on the side of Auronzo and there was a "sea" of veiling below, illuminated from below by Auronzo. Of course, if they were thicker clouds, lights and Auronzo Misurina were hidden, but they were so thin and milky.
We did, however, the consideration that, after all, had gone well, because we were mostly above the clouds and we could observe the sky, even if the appointment was postponed with ideal conditions. There "under" was to be worse, and safe "down there" was both the site of Peralba is the site of Casera Razzo.
Another thing we noticed was that the seeing was good. In a sense we were on the most wicked atmosphere, with clouds and turbulence more below us. Casera Razzo, however, is often in the wake of the upstream Tudaio and rarely seeing is good.
So we have seen (also) Jupiter. It could easily push the magnification and, despite this, the image was full of details. We thus had the opportunity to compare three different telescopes on the planet (it seems crazy to do high-res on a site for deep sky, but in reality, if seeing is too deep there buoon earns e non poco). Per fare la storia breve ne è venuta fuori l'ennesima smentita della leggenda che vuole che i piccoli rifrattori siano più adatti dei grandi riflettori per fare planetario visuale. C'era un NP101, che ha potuto lavorare a 270x! Il mio 40 cm avrebbe potuto usare ingrandimenti maggiori, ma sono stato a 260x. Il 30 cm riflettore di Andrea è stato su ingrandimenti analoghi.
L'immagine era indubitabilmente più ricca di particolari nei due riflettori, nonostante il seeing, che secondo le leggende astrofilo-rifrattoristiche dovrebbe impedire a strumenti oltre 10-15 cm di esprimersi e dovrebbe vedere vincente il piccolo rifrattore. Non è stato così: nel rifrattore c'erano anche meno colori. I dettagli eran meno evidenti e meno contrastati. In qualche caso era ancora possibile, avendo visto qualche cosa nel grande, ritrovarlo con più difficoltà nel 10 cm. C'era un piccolo ovale bianco su cui ci siamo fissati, che era ben visibile nel 40 cm ma invisibile nel 10 cm. Il 30 cm di Andrea, con specchio sottile, era ben acclimatato. Nel mio caso ho usato il sistema di aspirazione dello strato limite che descriverò a breve.
Una cosa che ho notato è che Fede, abituato al rifrattore, guardando l'immagine luminosa nel 40 cm ha detto che era troppo luminosa. Per me il contrario: l'immagine nel 10 cm era troppo scura. Evidentemente ci si deve abituare. Mettendo il diaframma eccentrico di 10 cm sul mio, l'immagine era del tutto simile a quella del rifrattore (confermando fatti teorici ovvi - per chi li conosce).
Ho anche fatto lo star test allo Skywatcher 30 cm. Che dire: nessuna aberrazione sferica, un'ottima correzione del bordo e solo qualche segno di forzatura (un lembo "schiacciatlo") che però non comprometteva il risultato. Sono sicuro che Andrea allenterà i fermi dello specchio... Ah dimenticavo: i "fringe violetti"! Sfuocavao avanti e indietro per stanarli ma niente da fare. E' proprio uno specchio apocromatico!
Ritornando allla valutazione del sito, se l'orizzonte è buono, se la quota è tale che spesso si sta sopra la turbolenza, se spesso si sta pure fuori delle nuvole (e si salva la serata) la cosa che manca è vedere che cosa succede con il meteo giusto. Return.
The quality of the dark was good. The Swan we measured the zenith (the Milky Way) between 21.60 and 21:50 (21:55 on average). Later, with the Swan a bit 'move, the readings ranged from 21.60 to 21.72. It 'possible that this site without humidity and clouds is even better? Probably.
The transparency was not great, because obviously there was some haze. Some clouds coming from the north appeared dark against the sky background (just above the clouds and Misurina Auronzo were cloudy). Light pollution in Cortina seemed a small thing, even in comparison with that for example, St. Stephen's seen Sivell. Since there were no clouds, however, I did the usual panoramic photos.
I saw the star of Hercules in 6.73, while in Pegasus I saw the HD 219310 (mv 6.34) almost directly and, at times, the HD 219487 (mv 6.57) and HD 219418 (mv 6.80). Towards the south the sky darkened and / or fade according to prevail from time to time the clouds of luminescent Misurina or that they were covered by clouds darker. M31 was visible to the naked eye with its structure (you could see the core and the halo). M33 was "awkward." Since it was dark there was probailmente extinction above the norm.
car parks, this season, are used by hikers who sleep the night before the climb. There were several cars with people sleeping. When we arrived a inglese stava montando un piccola tenda. "Montando" si fa per dire, perchè era del tipo che si sviluppa da sola buttandola per terra. Dopo un po' si è avvicinato dicendoci che "non potevamo stare là" perchè lui (essendo in vacanza) doveva dormire per fare la scalata il giorno dopo. Qualcuno di noi (credo Wide) gli ha risposto che noi (essendo in vacanza) dovevamo guardare il cielo per dormire felici il girono dopo. Pretendeva che smontassimo gli strumenti e ce ne andassimo, ma alla fine ha preso la tenda e ha cambiato posto. Più tardi è arrivato un camper: altri scalatori. Hanno manovrato per qualche minuto (evidentemente c'era troppo spazio e non riuscivano a decidere in che punto fermarsi, in più avranno pensato di aiutarci with the headlights to see in all this darkness that was). Throughout the huge open relativcamente have decided to get close to us! They then turned on several lights and went out a long time to turn over the equipment. They finally turned off and put himself to sleep. When it was our time to leave we have repaid the kindness by turning various lights so they do not feel alone in the dark and we drove out evil spirits with the Eastern Rite.
Seriously, living with this kind of "users" of the mountain seems to me problematic. Fortunately, that ended the August issue no longer arises in these terms. Ah ... There were two sleeping bag in the PEL under the stars without a tent on the ground beside the car!
Ho provato gli Ethos! Per la maggior parte del tempo ho usato l'ethos 10, a 183x. Ho avuto qualche problema a mandare a fuoco quelli più corti (il 6 non c'era verso). Ho usato anche il 17 a 107x e quasi un grado di campo. Begli oculari, ma ripensandoci non sono molto adatti a un Newton F4,5 che non ha un bordo corretto (è un po' uno spreco).
Fede ha usato l'NP 101 per la maggior parte del tempo a bassi ingrandimenti (tipo Pan 24 mm a 22.5x, o Ethos 10 a 54x) facendo gandi carrelalte della Via Lattea e degli oggetti immersi nel loro habitat. La correzione al bordo in questo caso paga e ha senso stare su oculari a grande campo. Ricordo la Swan nebula con la sua forma a cigno capovolto nel mezzo della Via Lattea, e il Velo tutto intero, including the triangle of Pickering. We observed several objects
classics. Among these 17 M31 ethos showed dark bands than ever before. M13 was resolved in NP 101, in the sense that, although very weak, Garn of the M13 stars that give the tentacles were visible. Here Faith pushed magnification.
M22 in 40 cm, with Ethos 10. We also saw different densities of stars in the background of the Milky Way globular cluster to the left and right (azimuth). Observed the Seyfert's Sextet, which we saw a couple of galassiette. The planetary NGC6742 of 15 mv in Dragon seemed like a good diskette. I've also seen Neptune as a blue dot and the satellite Oberon. Marco also observed Uranus. An M27 with filters of various type in which it seemed for the first time to see different grades and some structure in both the stem are in the ears (perhaps seeing?). I tried to convince others that the ears appear red and the green seems to stem (the colors are just the opposite but who describes it describes in colorful colr reversed) but there was nothing to do. Andrea said it was all green.
The list is longer but of course these are the things that impressed me most.
Come back we stopped to photograph this shining example of light pollution. From this building just more disturbed that the whole Misurina. With the new regional law must think about light pollution turn off those lights. I think that will signal the situation.