Introduction
On April 20, 2016, we went to Baker Observatory and observed the Moon and the Algol binary star system. Though the Moon was very close to being full and therefore very bright, we were still able to pick out some features of the night sky.
Procedures
In order to take as detailed notes and drawings as possible of our chosen features, we used a fairly simple tracking telescope (but did not use the tracking feature), and the StarChart app to help find the features. Pictured below is Ryonell in the process of sketching the Moon and its marvelous details.
Results and Discussion
The Moon
The first celestial body undergoing telescopic examination that evening for my peer and I was the Moon; which was not difficult considering that the evening of stargazing brought my peers and I a full Moon, my peer and I first noticed that intensity of brightness from the Moon was nearly unbearable. As the closest and brightest thing in the sky that evening, the Moon definitely did not disappoint revealing all of its Earth-facing maria and crater formations for easy viewing and identification. When viewing the Moon my peer and I came to the agreement that the 25mm eyepiece granted for the greatest amount of detail when looking at the Moon directly, but the 40mm eyepiece was the most convenient when attempting to center the Moon for viewing.
The Algol Binary Star System
The Second celestial body my peer and I viewed that evening was the very distant Algol binary star system. Compared to the Moon, this binary star system was far more difficult to find and center for viewing at the time; so, my peer and I decided to stick with the 40mm eyepiece when viewing the body to more carefully ensure that we did not have too much difficulty with viewing it. Regardless of these facts, the Algol binary system is a personal favorite in terms of its known history shared sustenance; however, viewing Algol from the magnification available proved to be far less exciting considering that the two stars were not remotely distinguishable in the slightest. In fact, the Algol binary would have been even more of a struggle to spot had the StarChart app not been available at the time, since the binary only really looked like a single star from Earth’s distance at the available level of magnification.
Conclusion
As our final lab-intensive visit to the Baker Observatory, having free range to view whatever celestial body we wished was a wonderful way to give the students the creative freedom to experience the sky as individually desired. This was a great time as a student to demonstrate management capabilities with the telescope hardware as well as an efficiency in aligning celestial bodies with the assistance of the StarChart app. This lab was probably by far the most freeing one the class has done.
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