{"id":3663,"date":"2025-09-26T13:19:45","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T17:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2025-10-07T12:33:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T16:33:25","slug":"octnovdec2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/2025\/09\/26\/octnovdec2025\/","title":{"rendered":"OctNovDec2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

Connecticut Star Party 35<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Ed Strang Scout Reservation, Goshen CT<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

September 19-21, 2025<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Donna Pursley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing that can be said about CSP is that it didn\u2019t rain and the winds were calm. The nights were clear! There were a few high clouds, but overall, we had very good conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike and I did a little solar observing with the SeeStar that he won during the last CSP. At night he imaged M1, M13, M31 and NGC 6543. With the telescopes we decided to go for the nebulas instead of the usual Messier objects. I would locate the object in my 6\u201d scope and then look for it in the larger scope. He was able to find the Veil, Lagoon, Trifid and Omega nebulas among others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We decided to spend a lot of the time visiting with others. It was good to talk to other people that we don\u2019t usually see except at CSP. We saw many new faces this year and everyone was very friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warming tent was much closer and we visited for some snacks. I think this location works better being available to more people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were in need of some setup help this year and a few new members showed up and saved the day.
This was a well-attended CSP and we had lots of good conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CSP35 continued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(CSP35 photos by Al Washburn, Susan Delaney, Greg Barker, Jim Mazur)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Upcoming Observing Events<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Members with telescopes are needed for these outreach events. If the weather looks questionable for an observing event, check the ASNH website<\/a> after 4:00 pm. There will be a scrolling message on the home page if an event has been cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday, October 5, 7:00 pm<\/strong> (rain date: Sunday, November 2)
Madison Moonlight Walk, Madison Surf Club
87 Surf Club Road, Madison CT (map<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday, October 17, 7:00 pm<\/strong>
Silver Sands State Park
Milford CT (map<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, October 18, 7:00 pm<\/strong>
Young\u2019s Park
60 Blackstone Ave, Branford CT (map<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday, October 24, 7:00 pm<\/strong> (rain date, Saturday, November 1)
Hammonasset Beach State Park
Meigs Point Nature Center, 1288 Boston Post Rd, Madison CT (map<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday, November 7, 7:00 pm<\/strong>
Silver Sands State Park
Milford CT (map<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, November 8, 7:00 pm<\/strong>
Young\u2019s Park
60 Blackstone Ave, Branford CT (map<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, November 15, 7:00 pm<\/strong>
Massaro Farm
41 Ford Road, Woodbridge CT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming Monthly Meetings on Zoom<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, October 28, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, November 25, 7:00 pm

We will continue to use this format for monthly meetings for now. A week or two before each meeting, members will receive an email announcement with a link that will allow them to connect to the online meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just click the link or copy and paste in your browser and that will connect you to the meeting. You can do this on any device that has an internet connection and a browser.  You can do this on a smart phone. You can display yourself if you like with your selfie camera on your device. If you don’t that’s okay, don’t feel you have to.

You can also dial in to the meeting. The number and password will be given in the announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Recent Public Events<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Meteorites and Solar and Lunar Observing in Harwinton, Connecticut<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Al Washburn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, July 19, 2025, the ASNH presented its meteorite collection in the Harwinton Public Library, in Harwinton Connecticut. All began at 10 am, where 37 people, mostly children, were introduced to meteorites and then a meteor drop box experience. This was followed by all attendees being able to handle and test the meteorite samples with magnets and ask questions. The indoors event ended with a PowerPoint on basic meteorite types. All were then invited to go outside, where three telescopes were waiting with one looking at the Sun (Greg Barker) and two more were looking at a crescent Moon (Cheryl Barker and Laurie Averill). The event ended around 11:45 am.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Hammonasset Family Astronomy Night, August 15<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Donna Pursley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event at Hammonasset is always a favorite. The crowd started to build before it was dark. We were all looking for the first star to show itself. Of course, it was Vega.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were members of 3 astronomy groups out with their scopes; ASNH, Thames Amateur Astronomical Society and the Shoreline Astronomy Society. They set up a total of 21 telescopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the sky grew darker, we moved on to other objects. It wasn\u2019t a particularly dark sky, but there were plenty of things to find. People were very excited to see the Milky Way. There was a noticeable number of children in attendance. They were very eager to look through the scopes. There were about 200 people in attendance. It wasn\u2019t the largest crowd that we have had at Hammonasset, but we were all busy until around 10pm. The clouds started to move in anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big shout out to Ranger Russ Miller, who does a great job preparing the site for us. There are red lights set up to make it safe and the windows are blocked to keep the light from escaping. He had a small crew helping out with keeping everything moving smoothly all night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Milky Way from Hammonasset, August 15, 2025. Photo by Neal Lewis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Observing Reports<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Michael Amato<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the evening of June 29 at my friend Rose’s house, six of us enjoyed the close encounter between the waxing crescent Moon and Mars. During a period of forty minutes, Mars moved from the Moon’s upper right to the Moon’s upper left. With binoculars, the view was spectacular! Good food and astronomy in one night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday morning, August 12, my brother Anthony and I got up at our own locations to observe the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus before dawn. His image with his digital camera is below. While he was viewing from his location I took out my 5.1″ Short Tube Newtonian reflector to see if I could fit both planets in the same field of view. Seeing both planets in the same field of view was a special treat for me and I viewed it for about ten minutes through my telescope. I also used a ruler as a primitive quadrant, and at 5:15 a.m. the conjunction was about 27.5 degrees above the horizon. Unfortunately, this wasn’t high enough for my friend Rose to see it from her location although she tried her best to see it. But all was not lost. She did see a nice Perseid meteor go across her sky. It turned out to be another great moment in astronomy for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On August 14, a big thunderstorm passed by east of me. I took this image with my phone. Anthony and I watched it as it went over Long Island Sound. Very Impressive. <\/p>\n\n\n

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On Saturday evening, August 23, I observed M73 in Aquarius. At one time, M73 was considered to be an open cluster but now it is considered to be only an asterism. As I looked at it with my 5.1″ reflector, it still looked like an open cluster to me. This doesn’t mean I disagree with the astronomical community. I’m sure they’re right about it being an asterism but it really does look like an open cluster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two mornings before dawn, I decided to take out my 5.1″ reflector because the skies looked so pristine. On Tuesday September 2, I first looked at Jupiter and the surrounding area at 4:45 a.m.  I viewed Jupiter and only one of its moons which was odd considering the pristine sky I was looking at. I then checked out the area between and around Castor and Pollux. I noticed there was a faint sprinkling of stars near the two stars which I know wasn’t any kind of open cluster, but it was still very interesting to look at. Finally, I had to switch over to my 10×50 binoculars to view the Hyades which were almost directly over my head. They looked so great in this pristine sky. I don’t think I ever saw them this beautiful except from a dark sky site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday morning, September 3, I arose at about 3:20 a.m. and was immediately greeted by M45, The Pleaides. They were also almost over my head, so I viewed them through my binoculars and they too were great to see. I decided to try to view them in my richfield scope and after struggling mightily, I was able to acquire them in my eyepiece. Now I was seeing M45 at its best. Before going back to bed, I used the doubler to enjoy the nebulosity around the Pleaides and it was very prominent. The sky between 3:00 a.m. and dawn is much better for viewing when living in light polluted skies. Finally, a few hours later, I observed the Sun with my Sunspotter Solar Telescope. There were three big sunspots on the Sun’s face with two of them getting ready to rotate off the Sun’s face and the third one looking like it would be earth-directed soon. This is what astronomy is all about!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, September 8, there was a total eclipse that was seen on the other side of the world. Because of this, I watched the eclipse online and it gave me a nice show. The eclipse itself was a very dark one showing a very deep red color. This contrasted wirh the numerous images of the eclipse that showed it to be bright red. I rated it on the Danjon Scale as 1.5. I always said if you can’t see a lunar or solar eclipse live and in person, then just fire up your computer and look at it online. It’s the second best way to observe an eclipse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Observing Reports<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Chris Predom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

June 29, Moon and Mars<\/strong>. These images were taken by holding an iPhone to my Orion giant view 25×100 binoculars. The Moon is in the center of a triangle made by Mars, Rho Leo and 49 Leo.   I watched the Moon glide past Mars that Sunday from 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm. Notice how far the Moon has moved past Rho Leo from the first to the last image. Also 49 Leo is visible in the last two images.<\/p>\n\n\n

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I then spent time scanning the Milky Way with the binoculars. The Coathanger cluster just fit into the binocular view. Albireo was easily seen. I saw the Ring Nebula (M57) and M24. I could not see M4 by Antares. The sky glow from New Haven washed it out. All in all it was not a good night, but it was nice watching the Moon glide by Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stellafane.<\/strong> Thursday was okay, and we had a slight wind.  Not the best night, but I managed to see 15 of the 20 binocular observing Olympic targets to get my pin.  Friday was about the same as Thursday.  I set up my Celestron 102az at my campsite.  I just couldn\u2019t make the two trips back and forth to the observing hill.  I had a good window to see Scorpius and Ophiuchus.  I looked at Messier objects in them plus just scanned the area looking at star patterns.  I didn\u2019t wait for Sagittarius to move into my viewing window, and called it a night at 11:30. Saturday was hazy, and the night was washed out.  While I could see Scorpius, it was all washed out so didn\u2019t really observe that night.   Below is a picture I took Thursday night. The brightness and contrast were enhanced to show the Milky Way better.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Pre-dawn conjunction of Venus and Jupiter.<\/strong> Photos taken on August 12 and 13.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Astronomy Links<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

From Ray Kaville<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eruption on Io:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UnversalSci\/posts\/pfbid02gYFuWVH7RkutfZczGffCfLaXoTN5k7jXfY3dumaAx5h2NmD926t4PKhS34mSLEq2l<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Einstein Ring:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/13771881169\/user\/100076910380566<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A huge stellar jet:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/webb\/nasas-webb-observes-immense-stellar-jet-on-outskirts-of-our-milky-way\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Features<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

If you have not looked at the newsletter before, check out some of the regular features. There are four useful links in the menu at the top of this page:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calendar<\/strong> This is a monthly calendar that includes all the scheduled events of ASNH, other regional events of interest, plus the dates and times of noteworthy events in the night sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SkyMap<\/strong> This page has a chart of the sky as it appears over the New Haven area at the present date and time. It is constantly updated, so you can go to this page on any clear night to see what is overhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Space Place<\/strong> Read the monthly article from Space Place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directions <\/strong>This page gives directions to all the locations where regular activities of ASNH take place, including the monthly meeting, public observing sessions, and the annual Connecticut Star Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other regular features can be found within these pages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming Public Events <\/strong>Many ASNH events are free and open to the public. These include the monthly meetings and public observing sessions at Young’s Pond Park in Branford and Silver Sands State Park in Milford. This section gives the dates, times, and descriptions of these events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Night Sky Highlights <\/strong>This section lists some objects to observe in the sky during the next few months, whether you are using just your eyes, a pair of binoculars, or a telescope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallery<\/strong> This section features photographs of celestial targets taken by ASNH members and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Night Sky Highlights for October-December 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Mazur<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solar System<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mercury<\/strong>
Mercury will be visible low in the west after sunset at the end of October and beginning of November. Then it will appear in the east before dawn in early December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venus<\/strong>
Venus will be in the eastern sky before dawn in October and November, but it will be gradually getting closer to the Sun. By December it will be too close to the Sun to see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mars<\/strong>
Mars will be low in the west after sunset in October, and it will pass within 2 degrees of Mercury on October 21 and 22. Both may be difficult to see in the bright twilight. After mid-November, Mars will be too close to the Sun to be seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jupiter<\/strong>
The giant planet will be rise in the east around midnight in October. With the switch to standard time, it will rise around 9 pm in November and around 7 pm in December, making it a good target for mid- to late-evening viewing.

Saturn<\/strong>
Saturn, moving from Pisces in Aquarius, will be well placed for evening observation throughout the fall. It’s rings will be close to edge-on during this time, and that means that most of its moons will stretch out in a line on either side of the planet. Using a telescope, how many moons can you see? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uranus<\/strong>
Uranus will be a few degrees south of Messier 45, the Pleiades, through the rest of 2025. Its small green disk can be seen with even small telescopes if you know where to look. A finder chart can be found at: https:\/\/theskylive.com\/uranus-info<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neptune<\/strong>
Throughout 2025, Neptune will be close to Saturn, making it possible to locate this gas giant by using Saturn as a starting point. A finder chart for Neptune is available here: https:\/\/theskylive.com\/neptune-info<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep Sky Objects<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few favorites of the autumn sky, several of which can be seen at least dimly with the naked eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messier 31, 32, and 110<\/strong>, Andromeda<\/strong>
The Andromeda Galaxy and two companion galaxies.  Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Messier 45, Pleiades, Taurus
<\/strong>How many stars can you spot with the unaided eye? Some people can see more than 7 under good conditions. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melotte 25 (Caldwell 41),<\/strong> Hyades, Taurus
<\/strong>An easy naked-eye cluster, beautiful in binoculars. Star-<\/a>h<\/a>op chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melotte 20,<\/strong> Alpha Persei Association<\/strong>
Another naked-eye cluster that is great for binoculars. S<\/a>tar-<\/a>h<\/a>op chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGC 253 (Caldwell 65), Silver Coin Galaxy, Sculptor<\/strong>
A nearby spiral galaxy, large and very elongated.  Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGC 457 (Caldwell 13), Owl Cluster, Cassiopeia<\/strong>
Also called the ET Cluster, with two bright stars as eyes. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGC 869 and 884 (Caldwell 14), Double Cluster, Perseus<\/strong>
A hazy spot to the naked eye, a wonderful view through a low power eyepiece. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGC 7663 (Caldwell 22), Blue Snowball, Andromeda<\/strong>
A bright round planetary nebula, magnitude 8.3. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NGC 6819, Foxhead Cluster, Cygnus
<\/strong>A nice cluster that does resemble the head of an animal with pointy ears.  Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mu Cephei, Hershel’s Garnet Star<\/strong>
This is a red supergiant, visible to the naked eye at magnitude 4.0. Star-hop chart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Gallery<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Martha Asarisi took these pictures of the Trifid Nebula and the Owl Nebula from her yard in Bethany on July 18. Both pictures were taken with a Unistellar Odyssey Pro.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Al Johnson took this photo of the Elephant Trunk Nebula, IC1396A with an FS102 refractor and a SX 814 camera with a 12nm Ha filter. The Moon was 80% and exposures were 600 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mike Zarick used his Seestar S50 to capture a lot of sunspots (August 12), the crescent Moon (August 29) and Messier 17, the Swan Nebula (August 30).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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John Natale sent in these images of some old favorites that he took over the past summer. All were processed with Deep Sky Stacker and PixInsight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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M13 (Great Globular Cluster in Hercules), 6\/23\/25, taken with Celestron C11 Edge with 0.7x reducer and ZWO ASI 2600MC camera. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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M16 (Eagle Nebula), 7\/21\/25, taken with Skywatcher Esprit100 ED and ZWO ASI 2600MC camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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M16 (Eagle Nebula – Pillars of Creation), 7\/30\/25, taken with Celestron C11 Edge with 0.7x reducer and ZWO ASI 2600MC camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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M20 (Trifid Nebula), 7\/18\/25, live-stacked image taken with Skywatcher Esprit100 ED and ZWO ASI 2600MC camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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M8 (Lagoon Nebula), 8-15-25, live-stacked image taken with Skywatcher Esprit100 ED and ZWO ASI 2600MC camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connecticut Star Party 35 Ed Strang Scout Reservation, Goshen CT September 19-21, 2025 By Donna Pursley The first thing that can be said about CSP is that it didn\u2019t rain and the winds were calm. The nights were clear! There … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-23"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3663"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3808,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions\/3808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}