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I haven't been able to get into the Night Sky Network this afternoon. I wonder if the folks at JPL in Pasadena and those at the Astronomy Society of the Pacific have had to evacuate because of the wildfires. I hope and pray everyone there is safe, and that JPL is safe. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org

I'll be leaving for Kempsville Rec Center shortly for "Astronomy 101". George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org

Well it was a bit chilly last night, but at least the wind died down enough to get some imaging in. Here's a look at NGC2174 - sometimes called the Monkey Head Nebula. Cheers Ian NGC2174

Garden Stars for tonight 1/7/2025 is CANCELLED by NBG due to the cold weather and wind. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org

Big event. Mars gets occulted by the moon around 2115 on January 13. one week from today! Should be a great show.

Upon arrival, Ranger Zach told me Outreach had not been posted [advertised] on the YRSP Website. As such, neither of us expected anyone to show up (and I was the only amateur astronomer in attendance). As such, I didn't set-up and I waited to see if we'd have any public attendees. Six adults & two children showed up just after sunset so I hastily set-up my CPC1100. Near the end of Outreach, Ben - a new local amateur - arrived to 'shake down' a recent purchase (Celestron Ultima 2000 8" SCT). After approximately 90-minutes of testing components, optics and a few of my eyepieces, he accomplished his goals & secured his gear. I decided to depart with Ben & image from my home. We departed the park just before 9 P.M. It was a short but productive night. Other than cold hands, the mid-20s temperature was quite bearable. The next YRSP outreach & obs night will be Saturday, 1 February.

Good morning, I'm making an early 'Go" call for tonight. It will be breezy today - more so Southside & Coast than up here at YRSP - but it should lessen later this AFTN. Obviously, it will be cold so dress accordingly. I live nearby so I'm willing to go as late as people are comfortable ... (I know there is concern by some re: the temperature forecast - near freezing at sunset & dropping with 'feels like' temps. generally starting in the mid-20s and dropping). If no one shows up I'll pack-up, drive the 5-miles home & set-up in my driveway ? Cheers, Troy

The good news: Transparency looks good & Seeing looks decent for wintertime. The bad news: the Sunset temperature forecast is 30F, the 11PM temperature forecast is 18F. Brrrr ... You know the drill ... if you need specific event details, please check-out last week's post re: our back-to-back December-January Saturday Nights. If the weather holds, I'll post an early 'Go' on Saturday. Layer-up folks, I doubt anyone can over-dress based on the forecast. Cheers, Troy

I got in a few hours of observing before my Losmandy mount gave up the ghost with power failure indication. It truly does not like the cold weather. The battery had been sitting for a few weeks so I figured the battery was a bit low. I run the mount off 18 volts usually. This has happened before. Runs fine for two hours then just quits due to voltage drop. But anyways I did accomplish what I wanted to do tonight. Everyone has shown someone the Pleiades but there is more to the story. I looked for hard doubles within the cluster and there are quite a few that are challenging. All look like singles but are not. This is a fun challenge. I used the 5 inch tonight and had to run fairly high power for all but one or two. Here are the ID numbers: Otto Struve 64 SAO 76249 SAO 76236 SAO 76126 SAO 76189 Struve 450A The G and H components of Alcyone Oh Jupiter had a very fine transit tonight. As Io transited off the face ahead of it's shadow another moon came around from the back of the planet. At the same time as Io was leaving, Ganymede came from in back of the planet on the opposite limb. Pretty good. Two moons right on the limb of Jupiter and one moon shadow.

Seeing was pretty rough as expected with a cold front coming in. It was not impossible to do any work on Mars but only the most rudimentary stuff. In short, the usual. I toggled between 239x and 197x. Takahashi TOE 3.3mm and Zeiss ZAO I 4mm respectively. As always, the polar cap and Mare Boreum were fairly obvious. Mare Boreum is the thin band of darker albedo surrounding the polar cap. Being spring, the cap is not particularly large. Seeing prevented seeing the darker areas at the bottom of the disc opposite the pole very clearly. It was there but that's all I could say about it. 30A magenta filter gave the most natural coloring. I did use an 82A Light blue to see if any clouds could be seen but none were visible to me. The 82A does light up the cap though. Syrtis Major has not been on the disc most of this observing year. Selecting the right power is always a bit of a judgment call. At 197 the disc was sharper but seeing still presented a problem. At 239, seeing wasn't that much worse and the disc is larger so maybe you can wait for a moment of clarity. At least you have a larger disc to work with should the miracle occur. It did not BTW. Good news this go around: Mars rides pretty high in the sky so less air to have to go through. Bad news this go around: Mars is not as large as the last two apparitions. Still fun and cold but nothing to get up granny about.

Magnitude 1.8 Looked back on the Monday pass schedule and time.

Last night was a perfect night for imaging. Cool temps, good transparency and seeing. Here is a few hours on a less well known nebula - Sh2-261 Lowers Nebula. I haven't photographed this in quite a few years. Cheers Ian Lowers Nebula

Since TCC is closed for the holidays, our BBAA meeting this Thursday, January 2, 2025 will be held at the Kempsville Recreation Center on Monmouth Drive in Virginia Beach, 7:30 - 9:00 pm. I don't know if it will be possible to record this meeting or have it on ZOOM, so you may want to plan to be present at the rec center. George George Reynolds "Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA) http://www.backbayastro.org

Tonight is a No-go ... but [don't forget] there's always next Saturday Night for our January Obs night. Happy New Year, Troy

Our monthly scheduled observing session at York River State Park is this Saturday Night, 28 December – and in fact we’ll have our January observing session on the following Saturday – 04 January so please keep both dates in mind. Also, please ensure you read the “New Note” (5 paragraphs below this one). Calendar Note: if there is another event on the VPAS or Back Bay calendars, this is an additional event and it does not supersede nor replace any other event. Address: 9801 York River Park Rd, Williamsburg, VA 23188 Park Phone: 757-566-3036 Lat: 37.414639 Long: -76.713562 GPS Coordinates: 37° 24' 52.7004'' N 76° 42' 48.8232'' W The public is invited & this event is posted on the YRSP Website calendar. We ask that members of the public who are attending to please park in designated visitor parking & walk to the site so there is enough space for the amateur astronomers to transport & park next to their gear on the observing field. After outreach, the amateur astronomers take over and we have YRSP to ourselves as long as we wish to observe. Using my SQM-L, the sky at YRSP is as dark as it can get in this area. New Note – please read: This month will bring a couple of small changes to the normal protocol. The first obvious change is that I’ve been told a Ranger will be on-hand during every outreach period. Another change is I will no longer ‘hold’ the padlock … the gate will be dummy-locked by the departing duty Ranger so if anyone leaves early, you’ll have to open the gate, (re)close it and (re)dummy-lock it (just please do not lock the rest of us in). Observing Site: After entering the park (the entrance fee is waived for amateur astronomers), the participating amateur astronomers should drive to & enter the ‘right’ parking lot. At the back/riverside corner of the lot, take the “No Admittance” gravel road/path (we are allowed to drive on it) to the observing site where you may park & unload. If you notice public outreach attendees driving to the observing site, please help me police the area by re-directing them to the visitor parking lots. Due to the proximity of the river, be prepared to battle dew. Consider bringing a lightweight tarp to cover your eyepieces and other accessories on your observing table. Those who have scopes susceptible to dew, you will likely need a dew heater. We’ll observe until we get tired. We’ll start at sunset – click here for YRSP sunset/sunrise times. Forecast Links: Astrospheric CSC NWS A Go/No Go will be posted on the VPAS & Back Bay Groups on Saturday AFTN NLT (no later than) 3:00 PM. Cheers. Troy

Hind's crimson star is definitely not so crimson this year. This is the most faded I have seen in a couple of decades. Just an uninspiring yellow.