[Chaos-l] Update from Pettigrew

[Michael Hrivnak]

Monday nights was unbelievable.  I observed every last second I could until 
the sun made me stop.  I also slept last night from 5:30pm to 6:30am!  I'll 
write up a full report tonight, but here are a couple of appetizers:

The swan nebula was ridiculous.  I saw as much detail in my 8x50 finder as I 
sometimes see in my scope.  I am not exaggerating!  Then I put an OIII filter 
on it (the scope, not the finder), and it was mind-blowing.

The Trifid nebula seriously looked about 90% as good as this:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000328.html

I couldn't see the tiny veins of darkness, but that is how large it was!

Michael

On Wednesday 01 April 2009 08:30:11 Robert Nielsen wrote:
> Mark,
>
> On Monday night, one of the most amazing things I saw was Saturn at 275
> X.   Absolutely bright, clear, and so much detail on the planet.  There
> was also the "notch" in between the rings that are almost edge-on but
> not quite!    I'm glad Michael and Walter tried the ridiculous powers
> that night at Farrington and showed me it could be done.
>
> I'll be writing an observing report soon ... but I do want Michael to
> put something on his blog and read what he has to say.   I hooked up the
> coffee maker on Monday night, and after a couple of cups of coffee
> Michael had NO problems observing the ENTIRE night!    He (and I) were
> definitely seeing stuff we had not seen before, like in the Swan
> Nebula.  Not sure if we were going bleary-eyed or had too much caffeine
> in our bloodstreams ...
>
> Robert
>
> Mark South wrote:
> > This place is amazing.
> > I also saw m51 from there once in the 15 inch and I said to myself.
> > "this is why I drove 3 hours in 20 degree weather" it looked like a photo
> >
> > There is more than apeture fever... It's dark sky fever!
> >
> > I'll be at farrington tonight and wish I were out there... But hey at
> > least I'm out observing!
> > mark
> >
> > Sent from my cell
> >
> > On Mar 30, 2009, at 4:17 PM, Michael Hrivnak <mhrivnak at hrivnak.org>
> >
> > wrote:
> >> Robert and I had some great observing last night. We initially fought
> >> the wind and had to move away from the lake, but once we got setup
> >> again, the observing was incredible.
> >>
> >> Whirlpool was unbelievable. No averted vision needed. The arms were
> >> clear as day.
> >>
> >> I observed over 100 galaxies, and I think Robert probably did the same.
> >>
> >> We also looked at omega centauri through binoculars. It's huge!!!
> >>
> >> Tonight should be another great session. More to come later.
> >>
> >> Michael_______________________________________________
> >> Chaos-l mailing list
> >> Chaos-l at rtpnet.org
> >> http://rtpnet.org/mailman/listinfo/chaos-l
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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