[Lvas] Observing The Virgo Diamond

Sat Apr 4 08:19:48 PDT 2009

Rob,

I wish that you and Doug could have been with me last night in my backyard with your mallincam. Yes, I would have loved to have been able to see an "enhanced" electronic view of this object. 

Please Fred, don't get mad at me...only this one object. 

I sincerely wished that all of you guys could have been with me last night.  

After 16 years. Seeing this object again gave me "cold chills". I now have a new sketch and more detailed notes. I had so much adrenalin flowing that I could hardly sleep last night and up again by 4:30.

Have already completed a hard 32 mile "very hilly" bicycle training ride with a guy that was trying to kill me. I survived and actually "hammered" him on all the hills. 

This guy is also my medical doctor (internal medicine)...now what kind of doctor is that of which would try to kill you? 

He is only a youngster of 43 years of age. In the discipline of cycling I am the master and he is the grasshopper. He has been riding four years. I have been riding for 28 years...with over 100,000 miles.   

Roger

    I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.      Abraham Lincoln

> Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 21:51:50 -0700
> From: scopegeek at gmail.com
> To: lvas at lvlug.org
> Subject: Re: [Lvas] Observing The Virgo Diamond
> 
> 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
> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
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