From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@cox.net]
Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006 8:01 PM
Subject: Observation Report, Emma Cemetery Friday the 13th

It was Friday the 13th, but Tom English and I drove up to the Emma Cemetery about 10:30 anyway. We arrived much later than I'd anticipated. We'd had delays: stop by Wal-Mart and buy an observing stool; stop by Krispy Kreme to get Tom's dinner. But the Krispy Kremes helped to smooth over our late arrival by the two astronomers there to greet us, Tom Heisey and Per Andersen.
Per was there by happenstance, having gone out without reading any email announcement, just to try out his new toy, the Orion 120ST. And the past-Last-Quarter dark skies of Emma would be a nice place to try out this scope on all the beautiful celestial delights in the sky that night. Per got there early enough to enjoy the Sagittarian Star Cloud, long gone by the time I showed up with my 6” dobsonian.
Tom Heisey had brought the giant 6” lens Fujinon binoculars. They’re an impressive piece of gear and great for wide angle views of nebula, clusters, etc. Tom showed me Steph1, a cluster about Delta Lyrae I was unfamiliar with. Obviously, the Pleiades were GREAT through the bino’s. Even the Hyades, normally too large to be seen with any optical aid, displayed nicely in the Fujinons.
Being Dr. Sky, I immediately set upon looking up Uranus. And right there near Lambda Aquarii, Uranus was easily put into the eyepiece. Per and Tom followed suit, cause it really is easy to find Uranus with such a nearby marker star.
Naturally, when I’m looking at Uranus, I’m gonna want to use high power to crawl right up there. Anyone who’s ever had a controlling, micromanaging boss can understand this. Sure is better to give than get it! Dropped the BO/TMB 5mm into the focuser, tightened it up, and I was right there with Uranus at 182 power. The skies had a humid quality to them such that the view was actually better with the BO/TMB 9mm at 101 times than the 5mm.
Tom English noted how dark the sky was, and that was true. In fact, the light dome from Lubbock in the west was only slightly larger than the one from Crosbyton in the east. That was a first, but the cost was a soupy sky. At least we didn't hear any gun shots like our last Summer expedition there. Mosquitoes, though present, weren't overly bothersome, either.
Being Friday the 13th and with humid, sea-like skies, we decided to pursue the god of the Sea, Neptune. I had had very little luck at the end of September finding Neptune at SkyViews but blamed it on the small 80mm aperture scope, bright southerly Lubbock light polluted skies, and the First Quarter Moon. However, the murky skies at Emma didn’t convincingly surrender Neptune even in my 6” Again, bright star Iota Capricorni served as our guidepost, and even though I think we saw it, a very small blue-ish disk, it was all very confusing. Was it a planet or just another star? Hmmm. Neptune is a LOT tougher than Uranus. So Neptune is below Uranus when it comes to resolution. This was quite disappointing, but maybe under clearer skies, Neptune will be quickly and easily resolved (Eldorado Star Party, here I come!)
I aimed the dob to a now highly placed Andromeda galaxy. M31/32/110 came through nicely in the 2” 30mm SuperView. Per’s new 120ST framed the Galaxy and attendants in a grandiose style -- a very nice DSO scope.
After that, Per said good night, having been there since sunset. We shook hands and were lucky to have gotten views on the maiden launch of the new scope, a fine performer. I went toward the zenith for M57 and the Ring Nebula with the 9mm BO/TMB, a pleasant site to behold.
Using my Celestron O-III filter, we enjoyed good vistas of the Veil and North American Nebulae in Cygnus. For some reason, I’d forgotten about M30 in Capricornus, so my next stop picked up the globular. Wasn’t as nice as I’d remembered, but the humidity was increasing and began to affect our views.
After this, we went to the other side of the sky, Auriga, for great open cluster trio the King-with-attendants M37, the spidery M36, and M38 with its ghostly companion NGC 1907. These were all nice old friends. Good to see them again since early last Spring.
I turned my attention toward Cassiopeia for a nice framing of the Double Cluster (NGC 869 & 884). Cassiopeia proper is a maze of stars, the constellation lying right smack dab in the Milky Way. I enjoyed M103 and, well, a bunch of other stuff. Clearly I’m going to have to return to this area of the sky with Trusock’s Small Wonders article in hand to get a good grasp of it all. There’s simply too much cool stuff here to take in with a brief viewing.
Tom was tearing down the binoculars so Tom English and I helped. The dob tore down in no time flat, but Heisey and I noted we’d have to leave our eyepiece case open with all the dew and humidity encountered. Interestingly, Tom English and I finished off the evening with a delicious Guinness at O'Reily's just before they closed. By the time we walked out (about 25 minutes later), the sky was completely overcast and has stayed that way through the weekend. Good thing we got in the star gazing in we could when we did.
CDS

 -----Original Message-----
From: Collin Smith [mailto:collinofalabama@cox.net]
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 4:55 PM
Subject: Dark sky Emma tonight
Folks,
Tom Heisey and I are heading out to the Emma Cemetery to look at the stars tonight. Clouds are supposed to start moving in around 1 AM and won't leave before Monday.
Thanks to Tom, excellent directions can be found here ... http://www.southplainsastronomyclub.org/EmmaMap.pdf
Please come on out if you can. We'll probably get there around 9:00 PM. Call me if you need any information. Hope to see you there,
CDS