Hodgson Observatory

A majority of observations at our Main and Wide-Sky Observatories are informal and educational, and not formally recorded or published. These include most New Moon gatherings, and the South Dakota Star Party. The more formal sessions are carefully logged and documented with field notes as Scientific Observations.In 2009 there were 53 scientific observations distributed as follows:Main Observatory, 11 (20.8% of total)Wide-Sky Observatory, 38 (71.7%, of which 30 were solar, 1 lunar daytime, 7 nocturnal)Elsewhere on Hodgson Observatory grounds, 4 (7.5%, binocular / naked eye events)The most exciting observation of the year was the unexpected sight of “the umbral ring shadow, jet black, narrow, but striking, on the ball of the planet” [Saturn] as the 2008 May 6 log records.Let’s hope 2009 provides even more exciting observations!

A few “Intrepid Observers” gathered on Halloween to carry on their night sky explorations at Hodgson Observatory. John Johnson (“JJ”) had a fine night imaging the Great Galaxy in Andromeda (M31), the Pinwheel Galaxy (M33) in Triangulum, and the Great Nebula in Orion (M42) among others. See his images in the Gallery on this website. He used an Orion 120mm aperture f/8.3 refractor, showing what can be accomplished with modest equipment. Bravo, JJ! Both of Dick Hodgson’s observatories were busy during the 7 hour plus session, offering impressive views of globular clusters M2 and M15 among other targets. Joe Brown, James Hoefelmeyer, and Nancy Hodgson rounded out the group. 

October 2008 has been busy at Hodgson Observatory. Eight of the 12 scientifically-oriented observing sessions examined the Sun’s disk for sunspots with our 203mm (8-inch) reflector in the Wide-Sky facility. Time after time the disk, viewed usually at 77x, has been featureless. Finally on October 13 one small, lone sunspot was found, the first we have seen here since late January. (Since then 5 more sessions showed none.)  We should be starting a new sunspot cycle to last 7 to 12 years, but there has been very little solar activity reported by other observatories this past year. Is something wrong?  It has not been like this since at least 1954, and it makes you think back to the long Maunder Minimum that lasted from 1645 to 1715, a period when there were very few sunspots, no aurorae, and cooler Earth temperatures, at least in the northern hemisphere. We shiver to think of that happening in our times!We also have been enjoying some impressive deep sky objects with the 635mm (25-inch) reflector, including globular clusters M30, M2, and M15. and galaxies like M31 in Andromeda and M33 in Triangulum. One the delights of this October has been a visit of three classes of fourth grade students from Beresford, who walked through our “Solar System-on-a-Fence” exhibit. They also viewed the Sun’s disk — unfortunately blank. Another delight was the New Moon Gathering on October 25, although the arrival of clouds that night was regretted.