LtE
in CMO #240
From
Myron E WASIUTA
@. .
. . . . I am happy you took the time to write and explain how I might change my
form to better conform to the ones used by observers of the CMO. I will make
the changes that you requested starting immediately. I also reviewed your
sketches of Utopia and its mists observed in May 1999 and noted the 40 minute
interval between sketches. I will try to incorporate this into my observations
as well.
Does the observatory
at Fukui City have trouble operating with 1 meter of snow on the ground! Here in Virginia, we have
had a cold, but relatively snow-free winter so far.
I
am enclosing a picture of my new homemade 31 cm f6.8 reflector I will be
using for some of the Mars observations this season. I built the telescope, but
used a fine mirror made by another amateur named
Frank Love. I never knew him,
but know of him because he signed his name on the edge of the mirror. The only
problem I have is on very cold mornings, the heat from my body wafts across the
light path, distorting the image somewhat. I am in the process of making a
shroud to cover the tube with. This improvement will solve that problem.
Well,
I better sign off for now. I am planning on rising early to observe Mars.
Hopefully the clouds outside now will clear by morning!
Take
Care,
(27 January 2001 email)
@.
. . . . . The weather here has been dismal as well. February has seen some of
the worst seeing I can remember. Very few useful observations have been
obtained this month so far. I am hoping for better soon!
I
will be sending two observations made at the end of January (on 24 and 28
January 2001).
Thank
you for sending CMO #239. It did arrive safely, and has already proven useful
to this observer!
My
best wishes to you and your colleagues in Japan.
(18 February 2001 email)
@.
. . . . . My bad luck in weather finally broke this morning! I got a pretty
good look at Mars using the 155 mm refractor at 362X. I observed from 9:30 to 10:50
UT (LCM 306-326) on 18 Feb 2001. Seeing was about 6. Mars' diameter is 7.1". Syrtis Major was
near p limb, with Hellas bright, but not brilliant. At times, I
thought I could glimpse a small bright patch near the N limb-probably the NPC.
By the end of the session, Mare Acidalium could be seen rotating into view. I
looked for cloud activity in Chryse, which should have been along the morning
limb, but could not make out any bright area there (despite using W30, 80A
filters). I will send these observations at the appropriate time, and wish you
better weather as well!
(18 February 2001 email)
Myron E WASIUTA (VA, USA)
wasiuta4@att.net
Back to the LtE Home Page
Jump to the LtE Archives