Recent Observations

ALCOVE Database ®

Recent Observations of Gamze & Haldun I. Menali

In order to keep our database updated and to satisfy the astronomy enthusiasts who visit our site, we have included this page which contains the most recent results of our observations. We still keep our previous observations on the page "Our Observations of the Recent Past". Below please find these given under several headings grouped according to different types of celestial objects we observed. Please keep coming back to see the very latest. Thank you for visiting us!

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE OF OCTOBER 27, 2004

Another successful observing session; coming up soon!

THE TRANSIT OF VENUS OF JUNE 8, 2004

Please read our Report on the Transit of Venus on June 8, 2004 that we observed from Bakirkoy, Istanbul, Turkey.

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE OF NOVEMBER 8, 2003

Finally we were able to observe an interesting event from New England this year! No clouds, no rain, no haze, no disappointment, no nothing! You can read our report on the Total Lunar Eclipse of November 8th and see our pictures of the orange-colored Moon.

STELLAFANE 2003

Did you say Stellafane? Oh yes, the grandfather of all the star parties and astronomy conventions held on Breezy Hill, near Springfield, Vermont. As openly expressed in the Convention Bulletin: "Stellafane convention began in 1926 as a meeting of amateur telescope makers. There has always been observing but it does not have the emphasis that it does at other similar gatherings". What a perfectly true statement! The 68th Convention of Amateur Telescope Makers (our fifth to attend) took place as a "meeting of about 2000 ATMs and observers" this year on August 1st and 2nd. Yes, as a meeting and meeting alone. Because, the nice (:o) New England climate had a sweet surprise for us all. Starting from late night Thursday, showers and thunderstorms did not stop until Saturday morning! We had to clean the mudd off from our sneakers after having a walk in the campgrounds every single time. Although we were able to see some sunshine during the day Saturday, after David Levy's Shadowgram at sunset, rain clouds covered the sky from horizon to horizon, and even lightnings were seen when we tried to have a glimpse of the new moon through a 16" newtonian, amidst the haze and clouds! As a result, we did not make any observing at all this year. Instead, apart from attending to tent talks and buying lots of stuff at the swap tables, we made day trips in and around Springfield, the neighboring towns (especially Bellows Falls) and tree-covered hills. We can conclude that this year's convention was truly an ATM (and not an observer) meeting at its heart and soul! Our observing expectations are still alive for next year.

VARIABLE STARS - NOVA OPHIUCHI 2003 (V2573 OPH)

On the night of July 17th, when I checked my email account for the variable star alerts I receive regularly, a nice surprise was waiting for me. Two messages regarding VSNET Alert #7808 mentioned a possible nova in the constellation of Ophiuchus. Mike Linnolt (an AAVSO member/observer from Honolulu, Hawai'i) had already observed it and confirmed the nova. Since there wasn't any charts showing the variable's location or comparison stars yet, I decided to check the Digitized Sky Survey and prepare my own chart. So, from the DSS website I downloaded an image of 60'x60' centered on the suspected coordinates of the nova (RA 17h 19m 14s.2; Dec -27d 22' 34"), printed it and marked the stars (down to visual magnitude 9.5) plotted on the Uranometria star atlas (Vol II). Then, after picking up our 4.25" Astroscan reflector, the 10x50 binoculars, star charts, atlases and other related stuff, I rushed to the oceanfront next to our home (my usual observing spot). In a few minutes I was looking at 36 Oph, the brightest star close to the location of the suspected nova. A couple of star hops later, I was at the right place. I compared what I was seeing through the scope to the DSS image I downloaded and tried to have my eyes dark adapted for a while. Then, suddenly the intruder popped into view ... and popped out into nothingness. The target's being rather low in the south-eastern sky (30 or so degrees above the horizon), the summer haze and Boston's heavy light pollution proved that glimpsing the star even at times did need quite some feat! However, I finally managed to estimate its brightness by comparing it to several surrounding stars. Nevertheless the job wasn't finished yet. Since I did not have the magnitudes of the comparison stars (I still haven't installed the Desktop Universe planetarium software I got at this year's NEAF), my estimated magnitude of the nova in my initial message sent to the AAVSO was something like this: "at least one magnitude fainter than star A, and a half magnitude fainter than stars marked I, J and K on the DSS image" (Below I post that image so that you'll see what I mean).

The DSS image I downloaded and used at my observation of the nova on the night of July 17, 2003.
The circle represents my estimated location of the "new" star.

Luckily, Sebastian Otero of Argentina (click here for his website on variable stars) had posted his customized charts for this nova the next morning. As soon as I had the right magnitudes for the comparison stars, my estimate was final. This is what I sent to the AAVSO eventually the morning of July 18th:

1713-27 N OPH 03 JUL 18.0937 2452838.5937 11.1: MHI Uranometria & Otero

The same afternoon, the AAVSO announced the nova on their News Flash # 1200 where my confirmation estimate was also listed among a few other observers from around the world. That was my second nova confirmation, after confirming V1494 Aql with my wife Gamze on December 1, 1999. Going once, going twice, what will be the next one? Maybe a nova that I will be the one to see first? Only time will tell ...

AAVSO's page for Nova Ophiuchi 2003
VSNET's page for Nova Ophiuchi 2003 (out of business since fall 2003)

TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE OF MAY 15, 2003

Nope, nothing to report about this eclipse since almost all the Atlantic seabord of the United States was clouded out. Yes, again! Just a week after missing the transit of Mercury, I missed the opportunity to observe this beautiful eclipse. Sigh ... sigh again ..., waiting and hoping for clear skies for the next one in November 2003.

TRANSIT OF MERCURY ON MAY 7, 2003

I have been eagerly awaiting this event, since last time I could not observe the almost grazing transit on November 15, 1999, due to cloud cover. Because of some personal and professional reasons, I had postponed my trip to Turkey, mainly planned to see this year's transit. This time, the weather was quite nice just two days prior to this rare event. However, we had rain and drizzle the previous Tuesday. So, when I went to bed Tuesday night, I was just hoping and praying that the cloud cover would be dissipated the next day. Wednesday morning, I woke up at 4:55 AM EDT. Since I had decided to go down to the ocean-front park in our apartment complex, I had readied everything the previous night: our NexStar 8" - a.k.a. Mary Ann; May issue of Sky and Telescope; printout of the e-mail version of the BAA circular; the transit track printout from Fred Espenak's NASA site; eyepieces; glass solar filter; dew cap; power pack for the NexStar; my Nikon FG camera; the T-ring for the camera; meaning almost everything necessary for the observing session.

I quickly checked the sky from our front window and saw that there were some thin clouds and thought that they might dissipate when the sun came up. So, I packed everything into our car and drove the 1/10 mile road to the ocean front (I could not carry the above equipment on foot!). There, I unpacked everything, set up Mary Ann, crossed my fingers and started waiting for the sky to clear up. I was ready at 5:30 AM EDT, just before the local sunrise (believe me, for the people who know me good enough, this is a VERY early time in the morning for me!).

Due to my utmost dismay, the clouds remained as they were and I could not see even the slightest trace of the Sun, let alone the transiting Mercury! As a result, instead of the Mercury's black dot moving slowly but surely on the solar surface, I took some pictures of the surroundings, the ocean, the clouds and my setup. I will post them here when I have them developed soon. The really sad thing (which made me really mad) was that the sky completely cleared up around 9 AM, after all the spectacle ended! Oh please, come on, can you believe that now?

This last disappointment (I don't want to count how many, anymore) was the last drop for my patience: if I want to see similar kind of events rare in nature, I HAVE TO TRAVEL OUT OF NEW ENGLAND and that's that !!!!! The north-eastern states of the US is a very nice place to live, full of kind people and everything else if you are interested in US history, fine museums, nature trails, to make up good friends, to be involved in desktop astronomy, so on and so forth. But, if you want to enjoy observational astronomy and to make astronomical observations most of the year, you HAVE TO GO to southern parts of either California, New Mexico, Arizona, or, yes why not, Turkey !!!!! Whenever I check the weather forecast in these places, it is almost always clear!!! I can assure you that, when we retire, you will see our mailing address to be changed to one of these places above. That said, I have firmly decided to travel to see such an event next time, my other responsibilities permitting. Unfortunately, I will miss the annular solar eclipse this May, since it exactly coincides with another scheduled event related to my work responsibilities (I can do nothing about it). So, the next such event is the transit of Venus on June 8, 2004. Where I will be then? DEFINITELY SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE OF NEW ENGLAND... in some place enjoying almost 365-day of sunshine !!!!!

Waiting for Godot ... or the rising Sun to see the transiting Mercury on its surface.
The Celestron NexStar 8" SCT setup in Dorchester, MA between 5:30 AM and 7:00 AM EDT on May 7, 2003.

Below please find some links containing fine images of this transit from people who were lucky enough to live in a place washed with eternal sunshine! Congratulations to those who have seen it all.

ESO Planet Transit Information Page
ESO's Central Display and Webcam
BAA Newsbrief
Images by the Swedish Solar Telescope
Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) Satellite Images
Pictures by Murat Ozhamam, Ankara, Turkey, image of the Sun projected through binoculars.
Mercury Transit Observations made at the Turkish National Astronomical Observatory.
Mercury Transit Observations made at the Istanbul University Observatory.
Tunc Tezel's Astronomical Events in May 2003 page, including reference to Mercury's transit (in Turkish).
Please also check the Solar Eclipse Mailing List (SEML) for discussions on this transit in particular and solar eclipses in general.

OCCULTATION OF ZC 593 BY ASTEROID 431 NEPHELE

The night of November 3/4, 2002, I was out in South Boston with my wife Gamze to visually observe the occultation. She used a pair of 12x80 binoculars, I was at the eyepiece of our 4.25" Astroscan reflector. We observed from 8:30PM to 9:00PM EST. No occultation was visible at this period. We easily located and observed the star HP 18735 (visual magnitude 5.9), despite high-altitude clouds which were dissipated toward 9:00PM starting from the east. However, we could not detect any brightness change. A later email from David Dunham (president of IOTA) revealed that the occultation path showed a substantial north shift. The occultation was timed by our friend Mike Mattei in Littleton, MA (duration about 6 seconds); another AAVSO observer, Phil Dombrowski of Glastonbury, CT had no occultation. According to IOTA's reports, more than nine observers followed this occultation from MA, NH, MD, VT and CT.

FLYBY OF ASTEROID 2002 NY40

I observed the close flyby of this recently discovered asteroid from my usual observing spot at the perimeter road of UMass Boston on the night of August 17/18, 2002. I learned its discovery and the possibility of glimpsing its flyby from Sky and Telescope's News Briefs. I printed the finder charts S&T prepared and posted on their website. When the night came, I packed our 4.25" Astroscan reflector, together with my charts, eyepieces and other accessories and drove to UMass which is just five minutes away. As it is become a custom now, the skies were covered with thick haze and clouds which were moving forward from the west. That meant I had a 50/50 change of seeing this object. After setting up the scope over the trunk of our car, I parked it on a "Y" shaped star grouping and started to get acquainted with the stars in the field. This method was advised by S&T and as you will read below, it worked perfectly well.

Just around that time, a passerby approached me (it was dark and past 9:30 PM, but there were still people having picnic on the seashore park, since it was a Saturday night) and asked me if he could have a look through that "thing", pointing to my telescope. I welcomed him and let him have a quick look through the Astroscan. In the meantime, he told to me that he heard something in the news that night, about something getting close to earth. I explained him about the asteroid and told that it should pop up into view in a couple of minutes. He thanked me and left to join his family. When he left and as soon as I put my eye to the eyepiece, I immediately realized that there was an intruder in the field! First I thought I caught a satellite that was going through the field, as I am used to see more than a couple every night I observe. Then, I noticed that, unlike a satellite's seemingly artificial movement, that object had something else that I could not put into words. I might have screamed that moment, I do not really remember. I checked my watch, marked the position of the asteroid on the chart and noted the time on my observation notebook: 9:57 PM.

Then, I went on to follow this intruder in the scope. I started viewing it with my 20mm Erfle (22x), then I changed to 15mm TeleVue Wide Field (29x) and 12.4mm Meade Super Plossl (36x). It was moving at an incredible speed, however you could easily follow its track among the stars. I estimated its brightness between 9.5 and 10th magnitude. At one moment I called over the cell phone my wife Gamze who stayed home and shared that experience with her. I could follow 2002 NY40 for almost half an hour until 10:20 PM when the clouds gained ground and obscured my view. I picked my new 15x70 binoculars and made two quick variable star estimates before it was too late. Later, although I tried my best, the clouds just got thicker and prevented any further observation of the asteroid.

When I was packing my stuff, I was really delighted to be able to catch that very rare, if not once-in-a-lifetime, event. Below I post the map where I draw the asteroid's path with "x"s marking the time of my observations.

Timing (EDT) of the "x" marks are as follows (from left to right, ie. east to west):
21:57, 22:08, 22:10, 22:14, 22:19 and 22:20. The red line and arrow depict the apparent path and the direction of movement
of the asteroid. Map is drawn based on Millennium Star Atlas by Sky Publishing Corp.

You can read accounts of other observers around the world on Sky and Telescope's page.
Observations made at the Turkish National Astronomical Observatory
Asteroids Gallery
Astronomy Magazine
CatchAll Catalog of Minor Objects
Dave Dockery
Planetary Society
Science @ NASA
Sky Projects, University of Chicago Yerkes Observatory
Spaceweather.com

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