Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Blog of pollen

 I live in Central North Carolina on the east coast of the USA at 35°N latitude.  In my portion of this world there's lots of trees!  LOTS of 🌳🌲🌲them!  Every year since I got my scope in 2006 and I've noticed it, but it wasn't until 2009-2014 (I can't find the original photo seen below) that I noticed how much collects on the tube and optics for even a few hours long session.  It's kept me indoor for 6+ weeks around this time of year.


Basically one year around the time I got my CGE in the background, I had the Orange C8 out for a while and it wasn't until the next day did I realize it was ALL over the tube and sadly the corrector plate as well!!!!  I was horrified and I'm so gun shy about it happening again!



Here's a good discussion about this topic on my FB from years later - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208538664082341&set=pb.1180477400.-2207520000..&type=3 

Also I had a bit of fun this year!

 

via - https://www.instagram.com/p/CNTFMOHJN4i/

 

So how to beat it?  I keep track of forecasts and keep my own tables. 

 Here's some other resources I found interesting and useful:

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article250526719.html

When is pollen the worst?

 

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality measures pollen at the Nature Research Center in Downtown Raleigh. Typically, the highest counts are recorded between the last week of March and the second week of April, Zaynab Nasif, a DEQ spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

 

Predictions

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/raleigh/27601/allergies-weather/329823?name=tree-pollen

3-5 showing in VISIBLY worst portions!

https://www.pollen.com/forecast/current/pollen/27604

 

 

I've also been keeping a chart that's mostly ambiguous but some form of a guide to go back out when it's safe again!

 

Year

Light Start

Heavy Start

Heavy End

Light End

2021

20210303

20210325

 

 

2020

20200302

20200309-16

 

 

2019

20190316

20190330

 

 

2018

20180329

 

 

20190519

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you have clear and steady skies!


Mike

Sunday, March 28, 2021

NGC4449 the Magellanic cloud I didn't know I could see!

 Via the Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_4449 - "NGC 4449, also known as Caldwell 21, is an irregular Magellanic type galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici, being located about 12 million light-years away. It is part of the M94 Group or Canes Venatici I Group that is relatively close to the Local Group hosting our Milky Way galaxy.[3][4]


Magellanic!  My jaw dropped when I saw it.  I admit, I don't always research my targets, I often just shoot what is in the gap of the trees around the house.  I thought this was just another galaxy, but I admit it looked pretty odd and unique but at the time I just wanted to see how well the guiding and SGP automation were behaving. 


 It's awesome to see something related to the Southern Hemisphere SMC and LMC!  I thought I'd never see a related object without having to travel south of the equator!  I was thrilled to get to know such an object and I challenge you to do the same!  It's Mag 10 and likely visible in a decent sized telescope perhaps with the eyepiece as well?! :P


Thanks for reading!

Sunday, March 21, 2021

Apophis - the 'killer' asteroid!

 I struggle to keep up with all the current events in Astronomy, from Near Earth Objects (NEO) or new satellite launches or space missions.  This Potentially Hazardarous Asteroid nearly slipped past me but my daily scan of Space and Telescope found this article - https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/apophis-pays-a-visit-this-week/  What really jumped out to me was this line, "Six months after its discovery in June 2004, dynamicists calculated that it had a scary 1-in-20 chance of striking Earth in 2029." 

Having my own MPC code and observed upwards of 40+ asteroids, NEO's, and comets (https://astromaphilli14.blogspot.com/p/all-michael-phillips-observed-asteroids.html needs updating!) over the years, I knew I could hit this target.  Espeically since it was closest merely a couple days before.  I had been working on my exposures and speed rankings and this was well slower at 3"/min compared to a few failures of recent so I felt confident!

Here's 1 of 2 nights where my son helped me setup!



Night 2 of 2 was a solo effort, but easy to repeat the routine I've been working on.

And the close up animation!



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