The War on Bugs
In preparation for my upcoming star party, I scrubbed my observatory down completely today. It was filthy, inside and out. When you arrive at twilight and leave at dawn, you don’t really notice how dirty everything gets. It is also a haven for every freaking bug in the world. Spiders, boxelder bugs, mud wasps, ants, lady bugs...they are everywhere. I literally took a scrub brush and scrubbed all the floors and the dome itself, inside and out. The ol’ Starhouse has been there for 6 years now and tonight it is cleaner than it has been since Day 1.
Tonight I am observing NGC 6811 as part of an AAVSO Observing Campaign. It is part of a program taking place on the Case-Western Schmidt Telescope (CWST) at Kitt Peak. The photo above is a raw image from tonight showing NGC 6811, which is an open cluster. Many of the stars in the image are near each other in space (in astronomical terms) and are not randomly scattered in distance like most random parts of the sky. This means, among other things, that the bright stars are really brighter and not just closer. There are many variable stars in this field and the hope is to find more, including, hopefully, transiting extra-solar planets.
Monday, September 4, 2006