“Snow in Meteor Crater for an ice effect as the sun was starting to set.”  James Yeager 

Observing with a purpose for me, is having an objective or agenda for observing. This might be to observe the Messier catalog, the Herschel-400 list or even some personal lists of objects. If you can’t decide what to observe: The Astronomical League has plenty to consider.

Some of my observing notes, pencil sketches and deep-sky articles as following:

     When I purchased my first serious telescope in March 1977, one of first observing reference books was “The Finest Deep-Sky Objects” by James Mullaney and Wallace McCall.  This book featured observing notes for double stars, galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and a few prominent red stars.

“1,000+ The Amateur Astronomer’s Field Guide to Deep-Sky Observing” by Tom Lorenzin:

      In the early 90’s I began using “1000+” almost exclusively. I really liked how Tom documented his observations, which were relatively brief, but saying so much.  

Visual observing for me is attempting to see the faintest of detail in deep-sky objects, then recording in words, and for some objects, making a pencil sketch.  

Roger Ivester

An few examples as following of my pencil sketches and observing notes:

• Date of observation:  August 13th 2015
• Transparency:  Poor – Very high humidity  
• Seeing:  Excellent
• Telescope:  10-Inch f/4.5 Reflector

I located and recognized immediately using a 32mm eyepiece @ 36x with a 1.8º FOV.  The first star I noticed was double star h1470, with the primary being a ruddy or rust color.  

When increasing the magnification, using a 20 mm eyepiece @ 57x with a 1º FOV, at least eight or more pairs of double stars, making a circle could be seen and separated.  This beautiful ring of doubles are framed very nicely within the 1º field.  A fabulous and most interesting asterism. Dimensions: 40 x 40 arc minutes.    

A pencil sketch by the writer using a blank 5 x 8 notecard with the colors inverted using a scanner.

Now for the complete story of Chaple’s Arc, and how the Cygnus Fairy Ring came to being…

The following is an excerpt from an article by Glenn Chaple and posted by “Skyscrapers, Inc.” 

“Forgive me for the apparent ego trip, but this month I’m going to introduce you to an amazing little asterism called “Chaple’s Arc.” I stumbled upon the Arc in the mid-1970s while looking for the double star h1470. Instead of one double, I found four arranged in an arc 1/2° across. So smitten was I by its extraordinary appearance that I eventually wrote about it in the September 1980 issue of Deep Sky Monthly. New York amateur astronomer John Pazmino viewed the group and dubbed it “Chaple’s Arc.”

A quarter century later, I decided to introduce the Arc to a much larger audience by featuring it in my “Observing Basics” column in Astronomy. To my amazement, I saw the same group described in the British magazine Sky at Night. The writer called it the “Fairy Ring.” Uh-oh! Had I missed something?

After a little detective work and an assist from Sky and Telescope’s Sue French, I learned that the Arc had been seen by Utah amateur astronomer Kim Hyatt in the early 1990s. Like me, he found it during a search for h1470. Because he was using a larger telescope than I had, he was able to view some faint pairs that, along with my four, formed a ring of double stars. Not knowing about Chaple’s Arc, he and a friend christened it the Fairy Ring.”   Glenn Chaple/Skyscrapers, Inc. 

 

Phillip Ivester has had excellent success in drag racing, winning “an amazing” 164 events.  He has also built many race engines and helped others into the world of drag racing.  It’s been more than five years now when he began working with Dr. James Caserio, MD from Hendersonville.

Dr C. as he’s known by had been racing for years earlier, and now no one can drive his 1350 horsepower Hellcat Challenger as well as he can. His fastest time has been 6.00 seconds at 120 miles per hour in only 1/8 mile, or 660 feet. The car with driver and fuel weighs in at a very heavy, 4650 pounds! With this amount of horsepower and weight, breakage of critical parts have and are bound to happen on occasion.

It should be noted that Dr. Caserio has “most likely” saved the lives of at least two Pro Motorcyclist, at Shady Side Drag Strip. This drag strip is located only a few miles south of Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

Back to the motorcyclists crashes:

Dr. C. knew exactly how to best treat the traumatic injuries sustained by the crashes at well over 100 MPH. His many years as a doctor and emergency room physician, served him well for these two horrific and critical injuries. And this was on site at the drag strip, providing life saving treatment on the ground…not in an emergency room!

Following photo: This is not just a Hellcat, but a (Demonized Hellcat) which indicates the car has received  performance modifications, and now has well over 1,140 horsepower (at the rear wheels). The engine has 1,350 HP!    

Below photo:  Whipple Supercharger….not your standard supercharger!   

Thursday night, March 31st 2022 at Shady Side Dragway in Boiling Springs, North Carolina:

Dr. C. ran his fastest E.T. (elapsed time) and miles per hour with at an incredible 6.00 flat, at 120 in 1/8 mile or only 660 feet. Again, keep in mind, this car weights over 4,600 pounds with driver and fuel.

Dr. C and Phillip work together to insure that the Hellcat is always ready to race…  

Phillip Ivester

Below: Dr. C in his life as a doctor of internal medicine, or his day job and sometimes night job.

Dr. C and his Hellcat with Phillip and both of his race cars.

Heating up the rear tires for better traction…

September 2023:

My west coast granddaughter, Zoe with her 76mm Orion Telescope.  

 

My son, Chad, daughter-in-law, Tina, and grandkids.  Zoe is below, visiting a beauty Salon. 

Zoe and her Dad in California after a bit of face painting. 

East Coast grandkids:  L-R:  Anna-Grace, John-Winston, Isaac, and Elisha…

My wife Debbie, with a 1997 Orion/Vixen 102mm refractor, which allowed me to  see Sirius B 

This is one of my favorite pictures from 2011.  Zoe and I were at the Red Rock Canyon visitors center, just outside of Las Vegas. 

“A moment in time” when I was able to have all of my grandkids together in South Carolina.  The vintage 60mm refractor telescope shown was a gift to the kids by a good friend.  

My two sons, Roger Chadwick (L) and Bradley Jason.  I’m really fortunate to have sons like these guys.  It’s difficult for them to get together as Chad lives on the East Coast and Brad on the West Coast.  A very special photo to me…

Hey…this is me, working on an astronomy article at the coffee shop on a cold day with light snow.     

Anna-Grace…aggravating one of her brothers, John-Winston.

Our Dachshund, Nova Sophia.

The telescope to the right is my first serious telescope which I purchased in March of 1977, an Edmund Scientific 4.25-inch f/10 reflector.  

Realizing the need for more aperture, I purchased a 6-inch Criterion RV-6 a year or so later.  My oldest son standing beside both telescopes, in 1978 and 1979 respectively…  

Granddaughter in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

A memorable meeting with John Dobson: 

 

 

 

Over the past…almost thirty years, I’ve always enjoyed attempting to estimate the magnitude of any supernova within reach of a moderate backyard telescope.

The following are my estimates of the most recent M82 SN: 

• Date:  January 22nd 2014:  Telescope:  10-inch f/4.5 reflector  =  11.6 M
• Date:  January 24th 2014:  Telescope:     3-inch f/4.0 reflector  =  11.0 M
• Date:  January 29th 2014:  Telescope:     3-inch f/4.0 reflector  =  10.6 M
• Date:  January 30th 2014:  Telescope:    10-inch f/4.5 reflector =  10.3 M

It was not the best of conditions, but I was able to easily observe the latest SN in galaxy, M82, in Ursa Major.  Telescopes used:  A vintage Meade 10-inch (model DS-10a) and an Orion 102mm Orion/Vixen f/9.8 refractor.   

The SN could easily be seen in the small refractor (102mm) even at low magnification, however, the best view came at 166x.  

I made the following pencil sketch, using the 10-inch reflector at 190x.  Both seeing and transparency were a bit lacking, however, I was very surprised to see so much mottling in galaxy, M82.  

The following pencil sketch was made using a 10-inch reflector, on a blank 5 x 8 note card, with the colors inverted using a scanner.  

Date:  January 22nd 2014

 

A good reason to document your observations:

I wanted to share an article concerning an observation I made on April 20, 1993.  It’s a testament that documenting and taking good notes is indeed a good thing!    

Forward to February 1994: 

While reviewing my logbook, I discovered that I’d not followed up on an object viewed on 20 April 1993.  The primary object was NGC 3893, an 11th magnitude galaxy in Ursa Major.  While making my sketch of this galaxy, I had noticed a smaller much fainter object SE of NGC  3893.  

I noted this in my logbook to check later, however, it would be ten months later (February 1994) before going back.  So, while browsing through my logbook, I saw my notes that said:  follow up on this observation. 

I checked Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Tom Lorenzen’s 1000+, and the Tirion Sky Atlas 2000.0 only to find that none of these sources listed a companion galaxy.  I then went to the NGC-2000.0 Catalog by Roger Sinnott, and found the companion listed as NGC 3896, a very faint and small 14th magnitude galaxy.  

So, If I had not sketched NGC 3893, most likely I would have missed NGC 3896.  And, if I had not logged the companion, I probably would never have checked any reference material.  

This might be a good story for documenting, taking good nights of your observations, and periodically review that logbook.  You never know what you may find? 

The following sketches:  

The first being my most recent sketch of the galaxy pair, which was made in April 2014, and the second is my original from April 1993.  It was on this night that I questioned if I was actually seeing another galaxy, ESE of NGC 3893.  

Roger Ivester