The Great Conjunction at Norman Bird Sanctuary
by Jim Hendrickson
After checking several forecasts almost hourly through the weekend and into Monday morning, we had convinced Sara that Tuesday would be the better night, as it looked like Monday was over 80% cloud cover between 1600-1700, when viewing was to begin at Norman Bird Sanctuary in Middletown. I think she was convinced as well, until she contacted NBS only to learn that the star party was part of another program that couldn't be moved to Tuesday. This, coupled with what looked like an overly optimistic sliver of clear-ish sky only shown in the Chart Sky Chart forecast had us packing up and heading to Middletown just after 15:00.
Leaving North Providence and Lincoln, a large clearing occurred over the east, then south, but further south looked clouded out. Going over the Iway bridge everything to the south looked to be covered by thick fog, but by the time we got to Aquidneck Island, the sky to the west started to open again, giving view to a bright, golden sunset just as we arrived after 16:00.
Just before arriving we saw about 400 Canada geese flying overhead. The parking lot, still covered with snow, slush, and mud from last week's storm, was already full, and we were directed to the second driveway near the farmhouse to set up in the field just to the south.
Sara had an 8" Dobsonian, and we met Jon who had a C8 set up. As twilight settled in we began to set up our scopes. Francine's telescope mount is out of commission as I need to get some replacement hardware for it, so I brought the ES Twilight altaz mount I won at AstroAssembly two years ago to mount her 102mm refractor. I also brought my 80mm refractor, but as it happened I left part of my equatorial mount in my car, so we were down to one scope. I had already carried the altaz mount and my 80mm scope out into the field already so we set up that one. I could have swapped in the C90 but I didn't bring the visual back and accessories for it, as I had pre-configured it for my camera. It worked out that this setup was ideal, as Francine could operate the refractor and I could use the camera screen to show live view as well as photos.
Sky conditions continued to improve as it got darker, and the first quarter Moon began to show through breaks in the clouds, and another large flock of geese flew towards the southeast, right in front of the Moon, just after another, smaller flock passed below Jupiter. I usually have difficulty finding planets through bright twilight but lucked out when I pointed the scope at a point in the sky and picked up Jupiter and Saturn right away. With a 25mm eyepiece, the view of the tiny planets immediately reminded me of looking at Mizar and Alcor through a low power, even though the planets were only about half the separation of the Mizar/Alcor pair.
Francine took over operation of the refractor and as it got darker I was able to begin getting photos of the pair when the first group of observers arrived. They had separated the visitors into two groups, one observed while the other went on a nature hike around the preserve. The observers wore masks and simple goggles to keep from contacting the eyepieces of the scopes. This was a plus in using the camera as there is no contact to view the images.
I used the same tripod and swivel mount that I took out to the eclipse, but as this was meant to carry a 400-600mm lens, operating the 1300mm C90 on it was a bit sensitive to vibration, and the azimuth axis can't be locked. Without the 8x40mm finder on the C90 and a cable release on the camera capturing the planets would have been difficult to impossible.
As the sky darkened, the planets began to sparkle. I've seen conjunctions of Moon & Venus, Moon & Mars, Moon & Jupiter, Venus & Jupiter, and even the rare Uranus & Neptune, but this is the first time I've seen Jupiter & Saturn in the same telescopic view.
The temperature was around freezing and the air felt quite damp. About an hour into the session, some banks of haze began to temporarily obscure the sky to the west, but Jupiter and Saturn remained visible long enough for the second group of observers to see them, though they had grown considerably dimmer and yellow-tinted. When Jupiter and Saturn became too dim to image, I moved to the Moon. Haze and fog soon covered the Moon, softening its glow over the field. It is a bit of an unusual view to see the clouds illuminated from above, rather than below, as there isn't much light pollution near the NBS.
By about 18:15 the planets were no longer visible and we were packing it up, considering ourselves fortunate to have seen an event I'm sure we'll be talking about for years to come.
Many astronomical events that get a lot of press are often not really spectacular (Super Moons, meteor showers, closest planetary opposition in generations, etc), but the spectacle of this great conjunction was immediately obvious to all who experienced it. Everyone in attendance was thrilled to have been a part of it, and we were very fortunate to have had an inaccurate weather forecast work in our favor.
Sara expressed an interest in participating in future events with Skyscrapers and may even become a member. Thanks go out to Sara for organizing this event with the Norman Bird Sanctuary.
On the way out, we had to push Francine's car out of the snowy driveway, and by the time we returned home, the sky was covered with thick haze that permitted the Moon to shine through, but nothing else.
