[Lvas] Observing The Virgo Diamond

[Rob]

Roger,

Too windy in Vegas to try to capture a Mallincam image tonight.  If wife 
is released from hospital tomorrow and the wind dies down, I will 
attempt to capture the Virgo Diamond tomorrow night.

Rob

roger ivester wrote:
> LVAS all,
>  
> Time of writing: 12:30 AM eastern time  
>  
> I had great difficulty locating and seeing the "diamond" with my 
> 10-inch tonight. Please study the "Sloan" image that was originally 
> sent by Tom English before you begin your search. 
>  
> You will first see only two stars, the N and W. They are by far the 
> brightest. I was using *190x* when I first noticed these two stars. I 
> did not think that this was the "diamond" until I used averted vision 
> and saw the S star "wink". I then increased my magnification to *266x* 
> and with averted vision I could see all four stars, but could not hold 
> the E star constantly.
>  
> I took me over an hour to realize that I was seeing the "diamond". 
> Why? I could only see the two stars as described above.
>  
> I was so excited as it has been almost 16 years since I looked at this 
> very challenging asterism. I don't remember it being so dim. The half 
> moon at approximately 50° degrees to the west reduced my contrast 
> considerably.
>  
> I had mentioned on a previous e-mail that I had performed some 
> excellent double star work with an 80% moon. It should be noted that 
> with faint stars of this magnitude they become very difficult to see 
> with the moon.
>  
> I am very hopeful that Jim will be able to image this faint asterism 
> this night.
>  
> I will be anxious to here a report.
>  
> Roger 
>  
>
>  
> > Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 01:02:27 -0400
> > From: trenglish at gtcc.edu
> > To: drivester at hotmail.com
> > Subject: Re: FW: [Lvas] FW: Virgo Diamond
> >
> > Roger,
> > I looked up the Virgo Diamond on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and 
> Wikisky tonight. An SDSS image is attached. This is a very neat little 
> group.
> > Go to Wikisky (http://www.wikisky.org/), zoom out from M31 (the 
> default view), drag the view around until you find Virgo, then zoom in 
> on the appropriate coordinate. If you move your mouse over an object 
> it will give you information.
> >
> > The diamond is clearly seen in these interactive surveys, and the 
> westernmost star is a double, giving 5 stars.
> > Looking for this 5th star is certainly a greater challenge than 
> looking for extra stars in the Trapezium (but don't tell BoB!)
> >
> > The northernmost star is TYC 4948-53-1 (12h33m18.96s, -0d38'32.3", 
> m=10.892)
> > The westernmost star (the double) is USNOA2 0825-07771246 
> (12h33m17.88s, -0d38'59.1", m= 12.1)
> > The southernmost star is USNOA2 0825-07771362 (12h33m19.61s, 
> -0d39'15.7", m=13.7)
> > The easternmost star is USNOA2 0825-07771459 (12h33m20.79s, 
> -0d38'50.5", m=13.45)
> >
> > The TYC star was measured by the Hipparcos mission, thus explining 
> its precise magnitude measurement. I looked it up at the Hipparcos web 
> site, and found that its parallax had been measured to be 64.8 
> milliarcseconds, putting it at around 50 light years from us. Here's 
> the Simbad page for the star: 
> http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=TYC+4948-53-1
> > -t.e
> >
> > E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the 
> North Carolina Public Records law and may be disclosed to third parties.
> >
> >
>
>
>
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