Observing Reports
By Michael Amato
I took this image on Tuesday evening, August 11, of what looked like a tornado but actually was not. This was what is called a Scud Cloud that formed itself to look like a tornado. In fact, it is sometimes nicknamed a Scudnado. It does look ominous though.
Rose and I went to Long Wharf Park in New Haven on August 12 to observe the partial solar eclipse. Even though less than 13% of the sun was covered we still enjoyed looking at it with my Sun Spotter Solar Scope and our eclipse glasses. Meanwhile, my brother Anthony took out our Seestar 30 telescope in his backyard and the image below is what he turned out. All three of us enjoyed observing this eclipse.
Anthony imaged the Vela Nebula and edited the image using a process that can be used by our Seestar 30 scope. Other members of our Seestar Facebook group already started using this. The process is called “Over Editing” and this image is the result. I love our Seestar scope!
On Friday evening August 21, I attended an outdoor play with my friends Heidi, Vicki, Tracey and Rose. As the play was going along, a bright Perseid meteor flew over the outdoor stage in front of 500 people. After the play ended, I asked Rose if she saw the meteor. Right away, she excitedly said yes and knew it was a meteor. Rose and I then explained to the other members of our group what they saw was a Perseid meteor. This is the second time in the last three years we saw a Perseid meteor flash over the stage. We all agreed it was a great play and great meteor. It was great luck the clouds broke up in time for us to see the meteor.
The image below by Anthony is a panoramic view of the Coathanger taken with our Seestar 30 scope on September 4. I also viewed the entire Coathanger with my 5.1″ Short Tube Newtonian Reflector. My brother and I are lucky we have two scopes that can fit the entire Coathanger. Looking at the Coathanger is great in our binoculars also.
On September 15, Anthony imaged M31, M32 and M110 with our Seestar 30 scope while we were enjoying our scope. All three objects fit neatly into one frame with this telescope.
