From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 5:32 PM
Subject: Wednesday night report
My fellow Astronomers,
Had some new visitors out Skyview way last night. Leticia, the daughter of the late José Ramírez, and her friend Pete met me at the Diamond Shamrock at Clovis & Frankford, caravanning out to start off the viewing. It was great to see Leticia, a friend from WAY back when she ran José's Restaurant on I-27 & East 50th. Hadn't seen her in some time. We arrived about 9:00 to an empty field. I was somewhat surprised, given the balmy nature of the conditions when we got there. Started off without my coat, just the wool sweater. There was no wind. The sky was a bit hazy, though, and the Milky Way was only alluded to, so that may explain folks' reluctance.
I popped out my 6" dob from the Tribute and we got down to business straightaway, looking at the Double Cluster off Cassiopeia and M1, the Crab Nebula. Leti let me know that the Chinese had seen the supernova that formed it in 1054. She also informed me the Maya had also observed it. Pete even chimed in that the Mayan Calendar ends in 2012. This is interesting, since I know the Maya were particularly fond of Venus and that Venus will occult the Sun again (like last June) then as well. Guess the Mayan world will be coming to an end. Wait! That already happened, even before Spanish Colonial was the rage!
I was just using the GSO SuperView 30mm 2" since my mirror hadn't had time to cool off too much yet. So all this early observing was done at a mere 30 power, but a nice wide, walking through space effect.
From there, we headed over to M42, the Great Orion Nebula. Leti and Pete were ooh-ing and aahh-ing for some time. Such a site! Flowering in bloom through the darkness. They were fascinated by the dust lanes and all the bright shining gasses amongst the stars. M42 merits an entire night's study, and it sure is nice to show new folks how spectacular God's universe really is. On to M81/M82. The galaxy pair stared back at us over the phenomenal distance. I couldn't resist a peek at the nearby satellite elliptical NGC 3077.
Then we were near the zenith with M37, M36, M38/NGC1907 and M35/NGC2158. Around this time, Jerry Hatfield showed up and we had an 8" dob in our arsenal. Of course, his mirror hadn't cooled yet, but mine was just getting to equilibrium. So I put mine on Saturn, plopped in the 9mm UO Orthoscopic for 100 power, and yee haw! I've gone a lot higher on better nights, but the sky wasn't clear enough to push it way high last night. Just the same, I thought Pete would fall off the stool when he looked at Saturn. Again, Leti and Pete were ooh-ing and aah-ing. The Cassini division, equatorial banding, polar darkening, Titan and a bunch of fellow moons do indeed provide an amazing site. One could also devote a night just to Saturn, the spectacular ringed jewel.
Jerry put M51 in the eyepiece and we were off. He split Iota Cancri for a nice, colorful pairing. I repeated my triple star break of Beta Monoceros Scott had egged me onto at LLL our last outing. We meandered about amongst several clusters in the Canis Major - Monoceros area (M41, M50, M46/47, M93). That's also about when I put on my heavy overcoat. The wind would occasionally pick up, and it was just plain getting colder all by itself as the night went on and Ursa Major began to replace Orion as most prominent spectacular constellation.
We made several feeble attempts at Jupiter, and, although we got some banding and three of the Galilean moons, Jove remained too close to the horizon to stop shimmering in the eyepiece.
Finally, we wound up in Virgo and Coma Berenices for some far out galaxies. Jerry & I found a bunch of NGC galactic fun. Don't even know the numbers, nor exactly which ones we found. It'll take another trip out to Skyview (or some other dark sky site), careful study of my DeepMap 600 guide, and time to get a handle on these new, upcoming Springtime treasures. But it was getting too late and too cold, so at 11:45, I started packing it up. At midnight I drove off from Skyview. A great night to be repeated.
See you under the stars!
CDS

-----Original Message-----
From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 11:03 AM
Subject: Stars ahoy!
Maties,
Ar ye ready fer sum star gazin', aye! Tonight, 'round eight o'clock, gonna takes me telescope up Narth, to the Gott Observatory, aye! Ther, I'z gonna set sail on the four corners o' the heavens, searchin' fer jewels o' the night sky. So, meet ther if ye gots a hankerin' fer heavenly treasures. No landlubbers, nay! Only thoz who wants to cast their lots on far away shores (n gasses, dust clouds, and the like) Might find a heavenly body or two to inspect in close detail, if ya knows what I mean? Aye!
Call me if 'n'z ya need mor information. See ya tonight, by Jove (and Saturn, too)
CDS