[Chaos-l] Observing Report - 6/17 at Farrington Pt

[Mark South]

Hi,
I happened to meet Allen on thursday night at F. Point and saw his  
Deep sky pro.  He's really good at using it and has convinced me  
maybe I can even do some astrophotography and purchase one.    we  
took a look at the Jupiter (blue filter) &  m51 with the DSI.  I  
mentioned that he should join CHAOS and join us for observing  
sessions at our darksky site.
With my 8" LX6, I observed M86 & 84 in the same field of view, M80,  
M13, & M57.  The seeing and transparency was very good.   I was  
excited to use a new finderscope that is a RACI.  (right angle- 
correct image).   I was now able to star-hop with relative ease with  
my starmap because the star patterns matched my map exactly.  Having  
a finderscope that is the correct image is extremely useful according  
to "Astronomy Hacks."   I agree.    If you don't have go-to, this is  
a great way to go and learn the sky.  It takes a little longer, but  
the next time I'll remember the star patterns the next year.

   Sorry I couldn't make it this weekend 'cause I was in the  
mountains-- did get a chance to view M51, M92, M13, M11 (wildduck  
cluster) while there with my portable scope.
mark
On Jun 18, 2006, at 3:50 PM, Robert Nielsen wrote:

> Everyone,
>
> Amidst about 50 boats being put in or pulled out of Jordan Lake,
> Robert Nielsen, Klaus Hoog, Terry Crook, and Vaughn Jett met at the
> Farrington Point boat ramp to view the conjunction of Saturn and
> Mars.   Farrington Point has quite a lot of trees around the
> periphery, and Robert showed up early with his divining rod to figure
> out the best place to set up.   We set up on the other side of the
> road from normal ... on a small knoll and as far away as we could get
> from the trees in the west ... but still in a position where we could
> see Jupiter.
>
> We did get to see the two planets together in the west, and they
> weren't quite as close as I'd thought they'd be (about a third of a
> degree, forming a nice line with the star Asellus Australis in
> Cancer), and they were visible until about 10 PM.   Mars was very
> small, basically a small orange dot, but Saturn was magnificent as
> always.   Before finding those two planets, we all observed Jupiter,
> which showed quite a lot of detail (being close to
> opposition).   Jupiter was easy to find in the southern sky.   Saturn
> and Mars were more difficult in the west (because of the light from
> the sunset).  Once a couple of stars were up, I used the go-to
> abilities of my scope to point in the direction of the conjunction
> ... we then all found it easily.   It was nice comparing the view in
> all the scopes.
>
> We also looked at the objects Bryan and Jayme mentioned at the
> Tuesday meeting.   The air was very humid, and light from headlights
> caused quite a bit of background light, but again I used the go-to of
> my scope to find Y Canum Venaticorum (or La Superba, the carbon star
> in Canes Ventatici) M13 (which actually looked quite good), and NGC
> 4565 (which unfortunately was washed out).     Klaus' scope covered
> over with dew ... but Vaughn kept trying with different (and wider
> view) eyepieces.
>
> In another part of the parking lot, someone pulled in without a boat
> or trailer ... and seemed to be setting up something with electronic
> lights.   It looked like an astronomer to all of us, so we went over
> and introduced ourselves to Alan and Denise, who had their Meade
> LX200  8" scope and were practicing polar-aligning their scope.   We
> invited them to come to our next meeting or join us at the dark sky
> sight next weekend, and after everyone else had left, I went over to
> see the pictures he was taking with his DSI.   He seems to have quite
> a bit of talent using the DSI ... I hope he joins the club and helps
> me learn how to use it better.
>
> So the sky wasn't the best ... but good for observing planets and
> that was the point of the evening.   So "tourist traps" (as Jon would
> call them) were an added bonus.   For some better skies (assuming the
> weather cooperates), join us next weekend at the dark sky site.
>
> Until then, clear skies!
> Robert Nielsen
>
>
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