Star:
Theta (77+78) Tauri
Date & Time:
November 5, 2001
Seeing: -- <1-10
Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparancy: 8 <1-10
Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Location of site:
Annen, The Netherlands
53N, 6E
Site classification:
Village backyard
Sky darkness: ~ 4
<Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: Unaided
eye, Leica Trinovid 10x42
Magnification: 1x,
10x
Harshaw Scale: 3
<1-5; 1 best>
Star: Theta (77+78)
Tauri
Date & Time:
November 09, 2001
Seeing: 3 <1-10
Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparancy: 5 <1-10
Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Location of site:
Annen, The Netherlands
53N, 6E
Site classification:
Village backyard
Sky darkness: ~ 4.5
<Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: Unaided
eye
Magnification: 1x
Harshaw Scale: 2
<1-5; 1 best>
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With a very bright Moon
still in the eastern part of Taurus the sky around the Hyades was washed
out. But the clearings between the racing clouds were really clear and
the many bright stars of this cluster stood out very well against the sky-background.
Observing through the glass
of the doors of our gardenroom I could hear the calls of flocks of Bean
goose (Anser fabalis) flying by. This time of year there is always a lot
of goose-business going on in our sky. Flocks on their way to winterquarters
and flocks flying to and fro their sleepingquarters and their feedinggrounds,
of different species of geese can be seen (and heard!).
The Hyades fit into the field
of view of my bino nicely, it's V-shape representing the invisible flocks
of geese. The bright and wide pair 77 -78 Tau stands out beautifully. The
pair is surrounded by the somewhat circle-like group of fainter stars,
among which are 70, 71, 75, 80, 81 and 85 Tau. Thus it forms the most "crowded"
and most beautiful part
of this large and loose
cluster.
77 (Theta-1) shows a nice
yellow color while 78 (Theta-2) is blue-white. After having observed with
the bino I noticed how easy this double was visible without the aid of
an optical instrument (except for a pair of glasses). The pair was split
easily and concentrating on it they showed up bright and clear, despite
of the washed out sky and the thermopane in between.
During the observing session
in the evening I was unable to reproduce the observation of a few nights
ago, the pair was difficult to see with unaided eye en could absolutely
not be split. Later in the night however, I was awake again for a short
time (around 05.00) and again I could very easily see and split Theta from
behind the glass of our kitchendoor. The change in sky-condition was obvious,
instead of a cloudless but hazy sky there were thick clouds with very "clear"
clearings. The stars in the clearings looked twice as bright as they had
looked earlier that night.
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