Mike MATTEI #224

Letters to the Editor


from Mike MATTEI in CMO #224

Saturn @ . . . . On Oct 2 Saturday we had some nice weather for the first time in a long time, most of the year. The seeing was good, the sky clear. I decided to take out the scope and just as I got everything set up it started to cloud up, but not in the normal way. It became hazy, high cirrus, I almost decided to put the scope away. I waited awhile to see how bad it would get, but it did not get as cloudy as I had first expected, so, I kept going. Well, good thing I did, I got some nice images of Jupiter, and Saturn. Two images are attached. Jup3 and Sat4. Jupiter 3 is with agreen filter, and 5 seconds exposure at f/45. Sat4 is a 2.7 sec with a red filter. The filters are of the RGB type. These images are taken with my 6" Schupmann medial telescope.

  Yesterday Wednesday the 13th when I went to work the colors were just beautiful, red, orange, yellow, mixed with green. Then in the afternoon the winds came and blew away the leaves, now there are bare trees mixed with the colors. Today it rained and more heavy winds, more leaves are gone. The beautiful colors thie year are the brightest I have ever seen, must be because of the long drought and very hot weather.
  If you have never been to New England in the Fall, it is a sight to see, it is worth coming from anywhere in the world to see. Our area is in peak color now, but in the next week or two it will all be gone. To bad the color do not last two months instead of just three weeks.
  I hope all is well with you. Thank you for 223.
(14 Oct 1999 email)

Mike MATTEI (NY, USA) :  mmattei@ma.ultranet.com