| Time: | 11:00 - 14:00 EDT |  |
| Location: | Binbrook Conservation Area | |
| Telescope: | Meade 8-inch LX2 SCT | |
| Activity: | Annular Solar Eclipse |
Drove to Binbrook Conservation Area, about 50 km south
of Hamilton, Ontario, to get closer to the centre-line of
the eclipse. Was quite busy photographing the event with
two cameras - one with slide film, one with print film.
Click here
for my photos of the eclipse.
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- 11:00 - Arrived on site. A mix of sun & cloud, except there were some really dark clouds forming to the north-east.
- 11:35- Mostly cloudy, but the sun was still shining through a hole in the clouds.
- 11:42 - First contact - awesome! Quite windy, the telescope was shaking. Clouds were moving in!
- 13:00 - enjoying the eclipse, while just to the north-east there were heavy dark clouds and I could hear thunder!!
- 13:24 - Maximum eclipse! Amazing sight, even though it's only annular and not total. The ambient lighting was noticeably darker, however it was still completely daytime. The two pictures (above) show before and during mid-eclipse (using the exact same exposure to make the comparison meaningful).
- 13:50 - Quit. The eclipse was now in
"reverse". Time to get back on the road
and beat rush hour traffic back into Toronto!
Starfest '94
| Time: | 23:30 - 02:00 EDT |
| Location: | Mount Forest, Ontario |
| Telescope: | Meade 8-inch LX2 SCT |
| Activity: | Deep Sky Observing |
| Arrived on Friday afternoon at
about 17:00. On Friday, Aug. 5, I only did some
casual observing from 23:00 to 01:00. On Saturday, Aug. 6, I observed 3 new deep sky objects: NGC 6503, NGC 6654, NGC 6643, all galaxies in Draco. I also observed Comet Nashimura-Nishimura-Macholtz. It was large, with a stubby fan-shaped tail. Here I am, posing with my fiancee (at that time) Elsie, at Starfest '94. |
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| Time: | 22:00 - 05:00 EDT |
| Location: | The Farm |
| Telescope: | Meade 8-inch LX2 SCT |
| Activity: | Deep Sky Observing |
Farmfest '94. Present were Walter
MacDonald, Kathy Hall,
and Doug Clapp.
During this very long observing session (7 hours!) I spotted 19 "new" deep sky
objects:
NGC 7492, NGC 7721, NGC 7377, IC 5271, NGC 253, NGC 288,
NGC 7793, NGC 24, NGC 613, NGC 210, NGC 1700, NGC 1535,
NGC 1300, NGC 1297, NGC 1400, NGC 1407, NGC 1440, NGC
1452, NGC 1359.
At 22:10 I also observed Comet
Nashimura-Nishimura-Macholtz. The coma was quite
large at about 1/3 of a degree in diameter, although it
was low surface brightness. The nucleus was a bit
brighter. Nice sight!
| No. of observing sessions | 4 |
| Approx. telescope time | 14.5 hours |
| "New" deep sky objects found | 22 |
| No. of comets seen | 1 |
| No. of auroral displays seen | 0 |
| Total deep sky objects observed by end of '94 | 555 |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |