PM Sun. May 29 - AM Mon. May 30 Summary

  I was able to get out with the telescope from about 12:30 AM to 3:00 AM Monday morning, May 30th. At sunset Sunday evening skies were clear but the transparency was pretty bad, and there was enough improvement after midnight to prompt some observing time. The limiting naked eye zenith magnitude was about 4.3 but worse toward the horizons. The north and west horizons were very lit-up; probably due to the murky sky and city lights (though I also kept a look-out for Northern Lights after being alerted to increased solar activity via email from my friend Allen Burt). It was a muggy and very summer-like night. The temperature during that time dropped only from 76 to 74 degrees F, the dew point stayed at 66 degrees F, and the humidity rose from 71% to 76%. There was a noticeable south breeze at midnight but this had calmed by 3 AM. I had some problems with dew forming on the optics, especially the eyepieces, and I had to slap on a ton of mosquito spray! Besides this it was a very quiet night. No aircraft seen, a few neighborhood dogs barking now and then, a few Mallards sounding off from Feather Run, and one big June Bug hit to the face when I was trying to make a star estimate at the eyepiece.

  There were a few hits and misses tonight, so here are the highlights and low-lights:

  At 1:04 AM (5:04 UT May 30) I estimated T Bootis as <12.5 magnitude. I didn't see T Bootis, as expected, in spite of a lot of careful looks. Unfortunately there was enough haze in the sky so that the 12.5 magnitude comparison star was the faintest one I could see tonight, so I reported this negative estimate to the AAVSO. Still no sign of Nova Bootis 1860!

  At 1:20 AM (5:20 UT May 30) I estimated UZ Bootis as <13.2 magnitude. I just added this star to my personal program a few weeks ago and this was my first attempt at looking for it. It's a UGWZ star, which means a cataclysmic variable that flares up from way too faint for me to see to fairly obvious through the 10" scope, but only once in a long while. The last recorded outburst of this star was in December 2003. I didn't see it tonight as expected, but I hope to catch it on its next flare-up in brightness. The faintest star in the field I could see here was the 13.2 magnitude comparison star.

  I made an estimate for T Coronae Borealis at 1:35 AM, but realized the next day that I'd mis-recorded the comparison stars I used, to I had to throw it out and not report it. The best I can say is that it's nowhere near going through any historic flare-up.

  Murky skies prevented me from making an estimate of R Coronae Borealis right after this. I got it and the comparison stars into the eyepiece but they were all so faint, with the sky conditions, that I couldn't make an accurate brightness estimate. I had to abandon this and move on to the next target.

  At 1:54 AM (5:54 UT May 30) I estimated RU Herculis as 9.8 magnitude. I haven't looked at this one for a couple of years. This is a long-period Mira type star that takes about 16 months to wax and wane in brightness. At peak it can be bright enough to be seen in most binoculars, and at it's faintest, it's usually too faint for me to see through the 10" telescope. The last peak brightness was predicted for last April 13th, so it looks like it's starting to get slowly dimmer now. The next peak should be mid-August 2012.

  It was clear enough by this time so that I finally had a chance to look at a couple of YSO stars I've been meaning to estimate in the Serpens / Scutum area of the sky! I've been meaning to start systematically observing these for over two months but they haven't been rising until way after 2:00 AM and sky conditions haven't been very cooperative. This turned out to be one "hit" and one "miss."

  At 2:31 AM (6:31 UT May 30) I estimated "Skiff's 2009 Star" as 11.2 magnitude. (This is my own name for it since the real designation for this star is VSX J182726.0-043447 and I get tired of typing that out.) This star is a YSO (Young Stellar Object) that undergoes periodic dimming, according to what I researched online. It was discovered during a search of automatic sky survey data in June, 2009 by Brian Skiff, so this is why I shorten the name to the year and discoverer. Interestingly, even though this isn't a really faint star, no one in the AAVSO seems to have done any follow-up observations. This is why I want to start doing just that for the rest of the summer until this area of the sky is out of reach at sunset.

  The other YSO star in this area was VV Serpentis. I was able to get this star into the eyepiece, but I had to abandon making an estimate for it, since it was obviously brighter than the brightest comparison star on the chart, 11.8 magnitude. Unfortunately, before I try to observe this one again, I'd better look around to see if there are any stars I can use for comparison that are brighter.

  At 3:00 AM (7:00 UT May 30) I estimated WW Vulpeculae as 10.8 magnitude. This is another YSO star that stays at a fairly steady brightness, for years at times, and then has unpredictable dimming events. I have watched it for the last couple of summers on every clear night I could, but I haven't caught it doing a "disappearing act" yet. Maybe this is the year.

  I was a little disappointed at getting only five good data-points for five variable stars, and not being able to get to the other three for one reason or another. But at the same time, I was able to start hunting down and observing some new targets tonight. The forecast for clear nights is pretty positive for the rest of the week.