[Chaos-l] Report from upstate NY

[Mark South]

Hi,
Looks like you've gotten off to a great start!   Continue to let us know more of what you observe.
When you get out to a dark sky location, be sure to check out the Trifid, Lagoon, and the Swan!   Even though these objects are best with an OIII filter, a dark sky should provide some nice contrast.  Also, remember the M24 starfield?  that's incredible also to sweep the scope around and get lost in the density of stars there in the milky way.  

Mark

Mark South
500 Market Street Ste. 204
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
http://web.mac.com/md_south

 
On Tuesday, July 03, 2007, at 01:31AM, "Michael Hrivnak" <mhrivnak at hrivnak.org> wrote:
>I arrived in upstate NY today, just in time for a fairly clear evening.  I 
>found a small gravel culdesac at the end of a small road, on the east bank of 
>the Hudson River.  It's a sizeable clearing with relatively few obstructions 
>from trees.  The only downside is that I was about 20 feet from a set of 
>train tracks, and 4 trains passed by in the 3 hours I was there.
>
>Anyway, the viewing was great.  The area is very dark, although I look forward 
>to venturing into the Catskills soon which should be even better.  My viewing 
>spot was quite a bit darker than the Farrington Point boat ramps.  The skies 
>didn't really settle until nearly 11pm at which time I was viewing the Wild 
>Ducks.  The detail on that object was astounding to me, and the most 
>impressive I've seen yet with my scope (8" Orion Dob).
>
>So, I'm off to a great start with my new hobby.  This was about my fourth time 
>out since getting the scope fully operational.  I'm learning my way around 
>the sky and having lots of fun doing it.  Thanks for everyone's input to help 
>get me started, and I look forward to meeting more of you in the fall.
>
>Michael
>
>P.S.  I decided to use my wiki to keep track of what objects I've viewed.  
>http://hrivnak.org/wiki/index.php/Extraterrestrial_Object_Observation
>_______________________________________________
>Chaos-l mailing list
>Chaos-l at rtpnet.org
>http://rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/chaos-l
>
>