[Chaos-l] Post-paddle public production...

[Jon Stewart-Taylor]

Hi all. Jayme and i were at Farrington from about 9:30 'til just after 
midnight.  Before the paddlers came in, we spent about an hour setting 
up and looking at tourist traps.  The night was kinda mediocre, but not 
bad for mid-August: very humid, but the Milky Way was visible overhead 
and to the south.  In the early part of the evening, Jupiter was Very 
Shaky. I suspect we may have been getting heat off the parking lot.  As 
time whet on, it improved steadily.

The paddlers got off the water around 11:00, and we showed two waves of 
them quite good views of Jupiter.  One of the galliean moons started 
transiting shortly after we arrived, and was about half-way across by 
this time. Many of the paddlers managed to see the shadow. Most of the 
paddlers left after about 20 minutes, but some stayed to look at M13, 
M57, and several double stars: Alberio (beta Cyg), Ras Al Gethi (alpha 
Her), and Mizar and Alcor (Zeta Uma).  Jayme even managed to find M17 ( 
the swan/checkmark/omega nebula) without a finder or telrad: impressive 
skills.

We ended the night trying to put Kumar's (sorry for butchering your 
name) bino-viewer on our 'scopes to see what it would do.  Neither my 
10" nor Jayme's 6" had enough focuser in-travel to be usable.

Not a bad night.  Tomorrow the Perseids. Speaking of which, we saw 
several very nice sporadics, and at least a few early Perseids towards 
the end of the evening.  Whetted my appetite for More.

Tomorrows Perseid events start with a Morehead session at ECRA.  Since 
they have to close at 11:00, we're continuing at the Farrington boat 
ramp from 11:30 'til whenever.  I've already taken Monday morning off, 
but some of you may need to get in earlier.