From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@cox.net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 11:17 PM
To: Collin Smith
Subject: SkyView Monday night
People,
I was anxious to get to Skyview. I had told everyone I'd meet them at sunset,
around 8:45, and I was just leaving my house then. Still, I drove north with
great anticipation. The sky was crystal clear and the wind was, well, it
wasn't. After days of clouds, followed by the clear but blustery Sunday, there I
was, driving north into a pristine West Texan dusk. I was a little worried; my
needle was teetering toward Empty and I had over 345 miles on the odometer for
this tank, still, my little yellow "fill up now" light wasn't on and I was
determined to make a bee line to the Gott Observatory. As I drove along Loop
289, I noticed a BRIGHT thing in the northwestern sky, a weather balloon,
perhaps? Venus shown directly below the slender, waxing, one-day old Crescent. I
called Don who was equally surprised by the bright object. Calling Curt, he was
still getting his gear out and didn't have his binoculars handy. I told him Don
was just ahead of me. At least a trinity would make it. North I raced up
Frankford, as the blue blackened and night gained dominion over day. Just after
crossing the Clovis Hwy, the pesky yellow "fill up now" light came on - after
I'd passed the final gas station at the intersection. Too late now. The Die was
cast. Damn the torpedoes, yada yada yada.
Curt had his Orion ED80, CG5-GT, and super deluxe CCD imager. Don brought his
Stellarvue 102DN. I had my Russian mirrored 6" F/6 dob (Starmaster Oak Classic
junior clone). With Curt's scope dedicated for imaging (and most of Curt's time,
too) Don and I set out to grab the beautiful crescent moon. Don had his 2"
TeleVue 32mm widefield, 7 & 5mm Naglers, and his GSO 4mm Plossl. I had my 30mm
GSO, 20mm Highlight Plossl, 11mm TeleVue Plossl, 9 & 7mm UO Orthoscopics.
When Don and I arrived, the sun had already set on the balloon, so we got off a
couple of pictures before our eyes got too dark adapted and set out to snag the
beautiful crescent moon. I used my 30mm GSO first, and it was a beautiful
sight. Don attacked with much higher power. After grabbing the moon, Don and I
talked with Curt about his recent TSP trip from the previous week. Curt had
extended his vacation for Monday and Tuesday because we were having better
weather here in Lubbock than they got the whole week down at Fort Davis. I
wondered why they'd have the TSP the FIRST week of May, given how April-like the
first week of May often is in west Texas, but Curt said they had lots of
commitments at the Prude Ranch and, for 2005 at least, the first week was
best. We listened as Curt described his Wednesday night travails. With water
coming into his tent due to a merciless downpour, scrambling to keep his laptop,
electronics, and papers out of the water, he caught his sleeping bag on fire
after inadvertently throwing it onto a propane heater in all the confusion! Man,
do we love astronomy or what? At least Curt got to meet Al Nagler in the flesh.
I tried after M35/NGC 2158, but only came up with a washed out M35. The sun was
down, but a jet of light rose from out of the west. Don said he'd heard
something about the effect from the sun bouncing off super upper atmospheric
debris, like future Aurora-type material. Oh well, the view of things along this
glow-line was obviously crappy (my astute scientific nomenclature, mind you). I
pointlessly tried for M42 (VERY low), and it was just as weak-looking.
About this time, Nancy Elle called and, sure enough, she would make us four! It
was her first time out, but I guided her safely to the Gott Observatory. Nancy
teaches Science to 5th & 6th graders at All Saints, and was very knowledgeable
about protocol, considerately turning off her white headlights as she drove up
(well, she IS an Episcopalian!) We turned back to the moon again, now quite low,
but the view in the 30mm was still outstanding as the moon lay upon our flat,
Llano Estacado horizon.
I tried M1, but it was also in the glare and such a poor candidate I didn't even
show Nancy. So we decided to attack something somewhat light insensitive -- the
Ringed Planet! Don made his first assault with the Nagler 7mm for 100x. I
thought I'd follow suit, but baboon's
brain that I have, I grabbed the 11mm TeleVue for 82x. I think my image looked a
little better, but the power had more to do with it than anything else. Of
course, we couldn't resist going a bit higher, and it was on to 129x (my 7mm
ortho) and 140x (Don's 5mm Nagler). The image held up well with Cassini VERY
sharply defined in each. Although the Stellarvue gave some color up to the
Newtonian, the image was amazingly sharp for an achromat -- the best I've ever
seen from one, honestly.
After oogling over Saturn for some time, I showed Nancy Hipparchus' own M44. Don
and I put our 2"ers in for a nice, widefield view. Here the shorter focal length
really paid off, for the best view of a big cluster for the night in the
Stellarvue. Lots of pretty color amongst the many triangles! Pythagoras would've
been proud.
Next, it was off to the South (the poorest skies due to our northerly location -
and metropolitan Lubbock's skyglow). Still, looking at ole Mexico and in honor
of the recent Cinco de Mayo, we turned to M104, and danced around the
Sombrero. ĦAh-ya!
Just testing the waters, Don then tried for Omega Centauri, such a beautiful
catch east of town at the Emma Cemetery, and also at Fort Griffin. We searched
and searched, very difficult going due to the lack of guide stars in the washed
out, light polluted skies. Eventually though, things got darker, more stars
showed up, and Don caught it. But ole NGC 5139 was no more impressive than M42
earlier. What a bummer! I didn't even bother to try and find it, Don's results
were so poor. Not wanting to disappoint Nancy with a bad globular, though, on
her first outing, Don and I turned to M13.
I first put it in the eyepiece at 30x with the 2". Don zipped it up to 100x with
the 7mm Nagler and we were in resolution city. So I put in my 9mm ortho and, oh!
Great views through both scopes. This is what astronomy is ALL about, yeah! Even
Curt walked over from his imaging and was impressed.
I had wanted to grab M92, but we managed to get distracted back toward the west
when Nancy noticed the beautiful naked eye asterism of Coma Berenices. And
Don wasted no time in this region, putting the Eskimo at 100x in the Stellarvue. Not
to be outdone, I raced over only to remind myself how difficult this object is
for me. Don't know why I always have so much trouble with it, but I do. Still, I
eventually found it and we both had nice images at 100x.
Curt had an image of M51 on his laptop in red light that he was showing Nancy,
so, heck, I was out for Bear! But stumbler that I am, I found M101 instead
(which side o' the handle, again?) A nice bazillion light year detour. But a
quick glance at my DeepSky 600 and I was re-oriented and hound dogged that
Whirlpool into the eyepiece. Very nice, indeed.
It was getting colder and later and Nancy was thinking about her Tuesday 8 AM
class. But she wanted the King. And it was plain to see he had NOT left the
building, shining intensely overhead the way he does now around 11 PM these
days. Don and I put Jupiter into the eyepiece, and the Superpower race had
begun. "I will bury you!" as I slapped the concrete pad with my tennis shoe. I
eventually took my scope up to 225x, borrowing Don's 4mm GSO Plossl. But
honestly, the better image was at 129x with the 7mm ortho. And a very nice one
indeed. Don got around the glare and chromatic aberration with a VR-1, which
turned out a VERY nice 140x image, too. Io was RIGHT next to the edge of the
King. Was he bringing the King a robe, à la James Brown?
So Nancy asked us what we did for a living. Curt explained he was a cancer
researcher by day, but on vacation. I didn't say much, but confessed I'd rather
be tired than miss out on a night like this. Don explained he was retired and
could kill all the rats in the sky he wanted. Then Nancy left. She seemed to
enjoy it a lot. Kudos to Nancy! Then, tail lights.
Geek city, we went back to the Bear for M81. BTW, my Deepsky 600 is WRONG on
this one. M81 & M82 are definitely viewable in a wide field WITH NGC 3077, which
at magnitude 10.2 is closer AND brighter than the other satellite galaxy, NGC
2976 (mag 11). If you don't believe me, check this out...
http://www.analemma.de/english/m81_82.html Ha, told ya so!
From here, Curt directed us to all the stuff past the tail of Leo, toward
Arcturus, but just below Coma Berenices. Wow! M91 (maybe), M98 & M100 and too
many others to know what the heck we were doing. Sure wish I'd had Tom Trusock's
latest Small Wonders in hand... http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1059
So we'll have to make the ultimate sacrifice and go back into the night and
discern these out. It's a tough Universe, but somebody's gotta do it. After
staring endlessly at the galaxy cluster, Don and I finally decided one more old
friend and we were casa bound.
And the beautiful M57, at 30x & 100x, didn't disappoint. We didn't see the
central star, but we did get some very nice wisps around that skillfully placed
cigarette smoke puff in the sky - the John Travolta angel's no doubt.
Don and I packed up and I made it back to the 24 hour Seven Eleven at Fourth and
Frankford and filled 'er up (for less than $2.00 a gallon, yeah!) I've been
tired all week since, but was it ever worth it! Still, Curt stayed on to image
the emerging Milky Way objects. I leave you with a full tank of gas, but Curt
sent me this and I'll let him take us out ...
Hi Collin & Don,
Monday was a beautiful, calm, clear night. In fact after you left a slight, warm
breeze from the south raised the temp probably 4-5 degrees. I ended up staying
much later! Ah, the advantages of vacation days...
I photographed the North American, Pelican and Veil nebulas for a few hours and
viewed with binoculars while waiting for the film. SkyView is not a bad sight
for northern / northeastern / northwestern skies.
Attached is a composite photograph from three film shots of NGC7000 and the
nebulosity around Sadr (central star in Northern Cross). Taken with an 85mm
Nikkor lens on Ektachrome 200 pushed one stop to ISO 400. I like this region,
particularly the incredible star density to the upper left of NGC 7000.
All the best,
Curt
O-oh, say can you see,
by the dawn's early light ...
Enjoy,
CDS
-----Original
Message-----
From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@cox.net]
Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2005 5:51 PM
To: Collin Smith
Subject: SkyView Monday night
Folks,
Looks like this Monday night will be exceptionally clear, and, it's NOT on
Mother's Day or any other holiday! So, I'm planning on getting up there at
sunset, 8:40 PM. We should be able to just catch the sliver of crescent moon
that sets forty minutes later. Should be nice.
Thank you,
CDS
