From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@cox.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 11:50 PM
Subject: Observational report
Folks,
On Friday night, January 6th, I took a couple of new comers out to the Gott Observatory (aka Skyview) -- Neetu Arora and Paul Watson.  Neetu is getting her PhD in Marriage and Family Studies and I've known her since the end of July.  We've talked a lot about going out and looking, and I've gotten her to Tech Terrace for a few quick looks, but I finally coaxed her out into the country.  Paul is a friend of Roy Wilson.  They're both Indians, from the north and south respectively.  Neetu and I met Paul at the Wal-Mart parking lot around 6:15 and headed north.  Arriving about 6:30, Venus was beaming brightly on the western horizon.  She went into conjunction with the Sun on Friday the 13th! Venus was pretty low to the horizon already on Friday the 6th at 18:30.  I hurriedly set up my 6" dob with the 30mm GSO SuperView and -- WOW, super view alright!  Venus was a thin, distinct crescent form, very easy to discern at 30 power.  Of course, the image was colorful and swimming a bit, so low to the horizon, but we each got a good look of scantily clad Aphrodite before her exit stage west.

    
The sky was just getting dark, and so we looked at Albireo, the handsome, colorful binary.  Looking below Albireo, Neetu 'discovered' the stars that make up the constellation Sagitta.  Both Neetu and Paul were impressed with the glowing Pleades, and we were zenith-bound to get a nice look at this 'Little Dipper' quality cluster.  The moon was at First Quarter, so I couldn't REALLY show Paul and Neetu the Milky Way in all it's glory, but as the night wore on and got darker, they did notice something of the hazy band.  With the 30mm 2" still in the focuser, it would have been criminal not to show them the Double Cluster between Perseus and Cassiopeia.  I showed them M1 and the globular M15.  Then it was on to the galactic ambrosia of M31, M32 & M110.  After this, I did my customary tour of M35/NGC 2158, M37, M36 & M38 with NGC 1907.
At this point, Neetu was getting tired and cold.  The clusters were nice, and the contrast between M38 & NGC 1907 were impressive, but the cold was becoming too much.  It was time for the optically nuclear -- M42.  When Neetu looked through the scope, she literally gasped at the site.  Visiting the stellar nursery of the Orion Nebula is an awe inspiring event for anyone, but for a first timer, it's simply majestic.  Neetu, kind soul that she is, practically grabbed Paul by his collar to see the spectacle in the eyepiece.
Good friend and fellow SPACster Don Fritz arrived about this time, and he too put his new Nighthawk hack scope on the Trapezium of M42 with his new Meade 5000 SWA 28mm 2" eyepiece.  We checked this eyepiece out in my scope, too, and the Trapezium was sharp to the edge.  I had to refocus the edge slightly, but it was sharp -- no oblongs here.  A very nice eyepiece with good edge correction.
Don was showing off a nice, small pocket guide that directed us to M79 in Lepus -- a nice globular I didn't know existed.  Don and I went back to the Pleades and Andromeda, testing the new Meade with nice results.  We snuck in M81/82 which had climbed high into the sky.  Couldn't make out NGC 3077 due to the moon, but these two old friends were very welcome back in my eyepiece (er, Don's eyepiece!)
But finally, we had to switch to higher powered 1.25" eyepieces and look at Mars.  The sky wasn't steady in the upper atmosphere, and my 7 & 9mm Orthoscopics couldn't put anything but a bright blob in the FOV, but the TeleVue 11mm Plossl was just right.  The sky steadied a moment, and I was able to slip in my SEV 5mm.  Don said it was the best image of Mars he had personally seen this latest apparition.  Except for a few brief moments before the wind and dust descended on us in November, I think Richard Gale's momentary greatness with Mars through his 5" Tak was the best for me, but the upper atmosphere moved in like an invading horde of barbarians, and cleaned out our sky, as we hurried from Tech Terrace Park, dust blowing on that November evening.  I would agree, however, that except for a few moments before Richard's scope, my little 6" with the 11mm TeleVue Plossl and 5mm Apogee Super Easy View was indeed putting on a show, delivering all the detail it could at 83 & 182 power, respectively.
Saturn turned in a very good performance, but Paul and Neetu were amazed at the moon, especially the fantastic ridges, shadows, craters and mountains at Luna's First Quarter terminator.  Chand is moon in Hindi.  This past MLK weekend we got pur nema -- full moon, and, consequently, a washed out sky.  This weekend, however, I'm hoping we can go out Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening, whichever is most clear and, more importantly, with little to no wind.  The cold was an eventual winner, as we said goodbye to the sky that Friday night the 6th, but hopefully we can make another run into the dark night this weekend.  We spent almost three hours out there.  Perhaps my shipment with two new eyepieces -- the Celestron Ultima 12.5mm and the new Meade 5000 60º 26mm Plossl -- will be here to test under God's black sky.
If you possibly can, please attend the South Plains Astronomy Club monthly meeting this Thursday evening, January 19th, at 7PM.  We meet at the YWCA at 35th & Flint.
Hope everyone is having a good new year, 2006, and hope to see folks under the heavens this weekend, weather permitting.
Ciao astro-amigos,
CDS

From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 5:33 PM
Subject: Friday night sight
Folks,
A Friday night trip to Skyview is in order.  Nearer my Gott to thee, and me, too.  The winds will be, hopefully, a bit less that evening and out of the southwest.  Although the moon will be at First Quarter, the northern & eastern skies should still be quite nice there, and the moon itself will present us with a number of mountains, ridges, valleys, craters and scars to keep one busy for some time.
Arriving early is a good idea.  According to Sky & Telescope's website, Venus, though low, is at its "most beautiful and dramatic" right now.  Also, although everyone's writing about Mars drifting off into space, it's still MUCH larger than normal, and worth a good look in early January, less than two months off opposition.  I recall a nice Martian view in the late Fall of 2003.  It's not far off an apehelic opposition size in arcseconds, actually.  Let's go for it!
The sun sets at 5:53 on Friday evening.  Head north to check out heavenly bodies.  Call me if you have any questions.
Ciao, fellow astronomers,
CDS