[Lvas] Observing The Virgo Diamond

Sat Apr 4 08:32:28 PDT 2009

Rob,

I'd love to see how a Mallincam image would look. Unfortunately, for me, I am going to have to star hop to it, as I have no GOTO or setting circles. However, I have an excellent chart program, Megastar, and though when I zoomed in on the coordinates Roger gave me, I just saw random stars on the program, I can zoom out and figure the approximate position in Virgo and give it a try. That new laser finder works pretty well.

We'll see.

I was just out at the dog park this morning behind Sam's Town and the dogs weren't the only thing howling! Good thing I had on longjohns and a ski cap!

Fred

From: drivester at hotmail.com
To: lvas at lvlug.org
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 10:38:05 +0000
Subject: Re: [Lvas] Observing The Virgo Diamond

Rob,

I am very sorry to hear that your wife is in the hospital. Please give her my best. My thoughs and prayers will be with the both of you.

I am hopeful that you can attemp this most "illusive" object...for sure an observers challenge. With the passing of 16 years my memory of this object seems to have been lost. 

This object is a "jewel" only in an image...not visually. But for a "visual" challenge it is fabulous. I would consider it to be excellent.

The night for us was beautiful, and fairly calm. The seeing and stability was superb. If  you noticed on the previous  e-mail, I used 266X...it was necessary. If not for the half moon...killing my contrast, I may have had an easier time. HIgh magnification is an essential for seeing this object.  

I would be happy to send a mallingcam image to S&T for their Monday morning meeting. I really want them to allow me to write an article...but who knows. I want "us" to have a thorough report using all instruments, and images with both "conventional camera" and a "mallincam". 

If it were not for my large 6-inch "manual"  "Parks Optical" setting circles I would not have been able to find this object. Star hopping is going to be extremely difficult on this object. I love to star hop...but some objects can be just too difficult.  

Rob, I am really hopeful that you can and Jim can obtain an image. You guys would be the first...nothing would make me happier.

Time of my writing 6:30 AM Saturday ... eastern time.

Best regards, Roger

> 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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