Some observations over the summer

It has been a couple of months since I last added anything to this blog. The summer season of twlight filled nights is coming to an end now and I am looking forward to more dark observing sessions in the coming months.

There have been a couple of things to note. On the night of the 12th/13th August I spent half an hour or so looking out for Perseid meteors. It was three days after full moon and so this made the sky pretty bright. However, I did spot five meteors, two of which were significant and left long trails.

Two weeks ago, on the 25th August, I dug out my 10x50 binoculars and did a couple of variable star observations.  This was the last time we had the moon out of the way and on this night it was two days after new moon. Astronomical twilight ended at 21.20 UT. The skies were clear and we had good sky transparency. Using BAA chart 217.02 I made observations of Z and RY UMa:-

Z UMa, 21:37 UT, chart 217.02, D(3)V(2)E, mag. 8.2 

RY UMa, 21:45 UT, chart 217.02, =4,  mag. 7.7

 

Z is beginning to fade rapidly since its peak in May.

 

Finally, on Sunday, the 7th September, there was a total eclipse of the moon. This was always going to be a difficult eclipse to see as the moon wouldn't rise until 18.31 UT and by then a lot of the full eclipse had already happened. As it turned out there was a bank of cloud from our observing location however we did see part of the umbra covering the moon as it rose through a gap in our hedges! This was somewhere between 18:52 and 19:56 UT (19:52 and 20:56 BST). I did try to take a photograph but by the time I got a scope set up, the umbral part of the eclipse was over.

 

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2025