2014 Astro Events

 

Jan 2 - 1% sunlit Venus and the moon, occulting Beta Capricorn at Sunset. Results. Got some nice Nikon pix looking down from East Cliff over the main beach. Pix page.

Jan 10 Fri eve 11:40pm - Occultation of 11.0 star by Myrrha from Bay Area. 83% odds at Mt. Vision. High rank. Aptos on Southern limit. Results: A miss, from Cabrillo by star trail method. Pix and story

Jan 11 Sat eve 11:00pm - Occultation of 10.1 star by asteroid Peter, from Pt. Reyes but poor rank; 16% odds at Mt. Vision. Results: stayed at Cabrillo Observatory, and got a possible ~0.65sec occultation, but it might also be noise. Pix and story here.

Jan 14 Tue eve 6:00pm - Occultation of 11.4 star by Thetis, from offshore of Santa Cruz. Aptos inside 1-sig limit. I will definitely be trying it at Cabrillo Observatory using the star trail drift method. Results: A miss, gotten under clear skies. Here's the picture page.

Jan 16 Thur eve 5:37pm - Occultation of 10.1 star by Hypatia, from LA. Santa Cruz on 1-sig limit. I plan to try this from Cabrillo Observatory via star trail method. Target very close to 29 Ceti so should be easy to lock onto during late twilight. Later that night, another event, low rank Tombaugh occults a 9.8 star at 12:18am high overhead, but 27 deg from 98% moon. Results: got to the ohservatory and tried setting up, but it was hopelessly too bright to orient the scope, let along try for the 7% odds event. Skipped Tombaugh.

Jan 17 Fri eve 11pm - Occultation of 11.5 star by Judith, from Pt. Reyes and SF Bay, Cabrillo on Southern Limit. Medium rank. But only 13 deg from a 96% moon! Tough! Results: looks like I got a hit. The drift scan image of the occultation is here.

Mar 7 Fri eve 8:07pm - Astro 28R: Field Astronomy at Carrizo Plain National Monument, built around a graze of 6.0 star 10n 46+ moon through Carrizo Plain at the Goodwin Center, and 9:20pm a 7.0 graze a bit further north, on 7 mile Rd . Graze page. Results: Good grazes, and good timings from students and myself. Pix page at some point.

Apr 5 Sat eve 11:46pm - Graze of 6.6 star 8n of 39+ moon, alt=19, from Pt Reyes. Getaway running + kayaking weekend? Planning and Results page is here. Results: Too busy to get to Pt Reyes, instead joined Ted Swift and his daughter at the graze in Pleasanton. I got 8 events, he got 2, all successfully video'd.

Apr 13 8:20pm Sun eve - Occultation of 11.8 star by Washingtonia, centered on Santa Cruz, but in twilight. Results: I and Chris Angelos were at Cabrillo for it. I may have gotten a star trail successful occultation; more reduction needed to be sure. Pix and story.

Apr 14/15 Mon/Tue midnight - Total eclipse of the moon. 8.1 mag graze 79U through Aptos during deep partial phase. Here's my planning page with maps, profile, etc. Results: clouds threatened, and the graze was abandoned in favor of watching and photographing at Karls. Pix to follow. Here's Kirk's eclipse photos

May 23/24 Fri eve/Sat morn - Meteor shower 100-1000+ per hour. Max roughly at midnight. Results: Becky, Kirk, Ann, Gene and I spent the night at Fremont Peak - but meteors were a bust. Story and pictures to follow.

June 17 Wed morn 1:18am - Occn of 13.0 star by 13.8 Carlova, centered on Santa Cruz. Rank 65. Results: A bust; no observation, but got a lot done this over-nighter anyway. See story.

July 5 Sat afternoon 5:15pm - Mars passes ~2 arcmin from the moon. Results: Watched and photo'd from Karls. Pix here.

July 7 Mon eve - TechTrek at Stanford. Results: Becky and I poked through the clouds with the SJAA and other telescope people, for the students. Story here.

July 12 Sat - Mars and Spica conjunction

Sep 14/15 Sun eve spend night at the Observatory tweeking scope, then Mon morning 6am - Occultation of 9.7 star by Prymno from Santa Cruz, rank 77. Derek's map. Sun -13 . Odds at Cabrillo are 30%, but at Bonny Doon are 43%. Results: spent the night and got some work done, but just before occultation, fog came in.

Oct 4 Sat 5:40am - Occultation of 11.0 by Terpsicore from Santa Cruz - 'sure thing' it looks like. Less than 1 degree from M37. Results: Probable miss, from Cabrillo Observatory here .

Oct 4 Sat 11:17pm - Occultation of 11.4 star by Euterpe, from Santa Cruz - another "sure thing" high rank. Results: "Nasoned" out (low cirrus just along that horizon. Probable north shift too, and so not clear there was an event from here anyway.

Oct 8 Wed morn 3am - Total Eclipse of the Moon. Totality lasts 59 minutes. mag 10.5 graze from near Half Moon Bay just after totality ends. Results: A beautiful eclipse, seen after a midnight climb of North Chalone Peak with the Sierra Club. Pix and story.

Oct 11 11am-1pm - STEM Expo for STEM programs, see email 9/3

Oct 14 Tue eve 9:14pm - Occultation of 10.1 star by Elinor, from Santa Cruz, during Astro 8A , 33 deg altitude in dark sky. Odds 9% from here. Results: Clouded out, Astro 8A stayed indoors.

Oct 17-19 - Astro 27/Geo 27 at Pinnacles National Park, Results: Clear skies, JP and Kirk w/ scopes. Went well.

Oct 20 - Mon eve 9:22pm - Occultation of 11.3 star by Henrietta, from Santa Cruz, high rank, but only 22 minutes after Astro 7. Results: Got a successful occultation by the star-trail method. Images and narrative here

Oct 23 - Afternoon partial eclipse of the sun, 48% of solar diameter covered at maximum. Results: A nice eclipse, with lots of students joining the fun, pix page here.

Oct 28 Tue eve 6:30pm - Occultation of 11.0 (combined) drop to 11.7, Lampetia, from the Sierras, must observe from Cabrillo due to class. Small odds, but perhaps instructive. Results: Tried, but twilight too bright, never found the target. Observed path missed here anyway.

Oct 31 Fri morn 5am - Occultation of 11.1 star by Patricia; Aptos in southern uncertainty zone. Results: rained out.

Nov 2 Sun eve 11:40pm - Occultation of 9.4 star by Auricula, from Monterey, 6% odds in Aptos, the max odds anywhere is only 16%. Results: a miss. Here's the photos and story

Nov 4 6:15-7:15pm - Extra Credit star party at Cabrillo Observatory. Results: clear skies, and about 20 students turned out - nice! A good show/tell on operation of the Dome scope, and also Austin showed off the moon and Ring Nebula in the 10" dob.