[Chaos-l] Pettigrew last night

[Allen Davis]

I had a a very good night.  It was beautiful when the sun set ...and the
moon was really neat.  I invited folks from the campground.  There was all
one family about two truckfuls of them.  And they stayed with me...........

 

Doug Lequire came over and visited while they were there.  He said he is
looking to have a power outlet installed at the light so we can have power.
He was really very friendly and talkative.

 

Got a glimpse of Saturn as it hung quite low out over the water.  It looked
surprisingly good.

 

The moon was nice a sharp and crisp.  Did you notice that arc of mountains
that was so obvious just in from the terminator below the midpoint?  I
thought about Neil Armstrong and what those Apollo missions meant to me.
They are truly what started me on an interest in space and what is out
there.  You can't put a price tag on something like that...that's what I
think when people complain about us exploring the heavens.  One guy last
night made such comments that he thought if "God wanted us up there he would
have put us up there>"  I think God may want us to get there by our use of
science, and ingenuity, with His help along the way.

 

We looked at M13, M27, UrANUS, and a couple of obvious things..then the
family went back and promised to return later to look at Saturn...I said
200am should be good.

 

Well, I got in the truck...to wait a while for the moon to go down. And to
allow some passing clouds to do just that.  There was a storm way off to the
east, and some lightning, but it never got closer.  And it never showed up
on any radar.

 

Low and behold I was sitting in the lounge chair when I saw lights and two
truck...they returned about 1250am.......and stayed with me until after
300am/  We had it really clear up for a while and the Milky Way, as you
know, at Pettigrew, can be astounding.  The Veil rocked.  Also looked at the
Crescent..M15....M31....Caroline's Rose.....and a few other targets.  Didn't
really get into some obscure stuff...funny some think a couple of those
might be obscure....because of the crowd...about 15 of them.  

 

Of course Jupiter had to clear those trees near the light...and did so
around 230am, but about that time we had some clouds move over, and we
really struggled to get a good view of it.  But they ended up seeing it and
were very appreciative.  After They left I took down and got in the car
around 400am and slept till about 600am and got home at 800am.  It is
actually quicker for me to get there and closer than Stuanton River which
surprised me.

 

The mirror performed flawlessly as far as I could tell. The Veil was really
almost 3d and the globs were resolved into tiny points.

 

 

E. Allen Davis

starstorm151 at embarqmail.com

 

"M'Illumino              "I am enlightened

D'Immenso"              by the immensity."

 

   -Ungaretti               -Ungaretti

 

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