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LVAS all,<BR>
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Time of writing: 12:30 AM eastern time <BR>
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I had great difficulty locating and seeing the "diamond" with my 10-inch tonight. Please study the "Sloan" image that was originally sent by Tom English before you begin your search. <BR>
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You will first see only two stars, the N and W. They are by far the brightest. I was using <STRONG>190x</STRONG> when I first noticed these two stars. I did not think that this was the "diamond" until I used averted vision and saw the S star "wink". I then increased my magnification to <STRONG>266x</STRONG> and with averted vision I could see all four stars, but could not hold the E star constantly.<BR>
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I took me over an hour to realize that I was seeing the "diamond". Why? I could only see the two stars as described above. <BR>
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I was so excited as it has been almost 16 years since I looked at this very challenging asterism. I don't remember it being so dim. The half moon at approximately 50° degrees to the west reduced my contrast considerably.<BR>
<BR>
I had mentioned on a previous e-mail that I had performed some excellent double star work with an 80% moon. It should be noted that with faint stars of this magnitude they become very difficult to see with the moon.<BR>
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I am very hopeful that Jim will be able to image this faint asterism this night.<BR>
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I will be anxious to here a report.<BR>
<BR>
Roger <BR>
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<BR> <BR>> Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 01:02:27 -0400<BR>> From: trenglish@gtcc.edu<BR>> To: drivester@hotmail.com<BR>> Subject: Re: FW: [Lvas] FW: Virgo Diamond<BR>> <BR>> Roger,<BR>> I looked up the Virgo Diamond on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Wikisky tonight. An SDSS image is attached. This is a very neat little group.<BR>> Go to Wikisky (http://www.wikisky.org/), zoom out from M31 (the default view), drag the view around until you find Virgo, then zoom in on the appropriate coordinate. If you move your mouse over an object it will give you information. <BR>> <BR>> The diamond is clearly seen in these interactive surveys, and the westernmost star is a double, giving 5 stars. <BR>> Looking for this 5th star is certainly a greater challenge than looking for extra stars in the Trapezium (but don't tell BoB!)<BR>> <BR>> The northernmost star is TYC 4948-53-1 (12h33m18.96s, -0d38'32.3", m=10.892)<BR>> The westernmost star (the double) is USNOA2 0825-07771246 (12h33m17.88s, -0d38'59.1", m= 12.1)<BR>> The southernmost star is USNOA2 0825-07771362 (12h33m19.61s, -0d39'15.7", m=13.7)<BR>> The easternmost star is USNOA2 0825-07771459 (12h33m20.79s, -0d38'50.5", m=13.45)<BR>> <BR>> The TYC star was measured by the Hipparcos mission, thus explining its precise magnitude measurement. I looked it up at the Hipparcos web site, and found that its parallax had been measured to be 64.8 milliarcseconds, putting it at around 50 light years from us. Here's the Simbad page for the star: http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-basic?Ident=TYC+4948-53-1<BR>> -t.e<BR>> <BR>> E-mail correspondence to and from this sender may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records law and may be disclosed to third parties. <BR>> <BR>> <BR><BR><BR><BR>
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