I had decided to go to the DDO Friday night (with my still-manual 8" catadioptric) versus Saturday night (as I have to get up way too early Sunday morning...). I was joined by Theresa and Brian (big Meade Light Bridge), Terry L (Dobsonian), Dave G (10" Dobsonian), Scott (APO), Mahesh (catadioptric with go-to)...
Brian and Theresa were there ahead of me. They're truly newbies. They only got their telescope(s) and gear in the last few months. And they only joined the RASC last fall. That said, they made it to the Mew Lake party. They are gadgets freaks too! They had a compact table and chair from CTC. Brian had rigged up red lights all over it—nicely done! They had a (Nexxtech) portable weather station too (learned later it was a Kestrel)!
Chatted with Terry L about Cartes du Ciel. He intimated that he had not downloaded it yet for fear that it might overload his older computer. I also chatted with him about the Yahoo!Groups: he's not online. I suggested he create an account and send a note to Ralph to get approved.
Anthony popped by later to say hi.
Venus was wonderful, a large crescent, before setting. The visitors for the early show got to see it. Many thought it was the Moon. "No," I exclaimed, pointing south, "The Moon's over there!" There was a long line up at my 'scope at one point. (Memories of Mars at York.)
I argued that with the naked eye you could tell Venus was not a point source but also not a disk. Before it got quite dark and the contrast started to wash it out, it looked stretched to me, oblong.
None of us could find Saturn, sadly. It should have been level with Venus and to the right. I estimated it was 9° to the right (mentally subtracting the azimuth numbers that Procyon was telling me). Dave G, with his binos, called out that he had found it. But when I bull's eyed his target, I saw it was a blue-white star. I suggested it might be Regulus...
Shortly after I gave up the search for Saturn when I realised that even if I had found it, it would have been disappointing.
The Moon was attractive early on. Some of my first visitors were impressed by the detail, particularly along the edge of the shadow. Soon however the Moon had dipped behind a large tree.
Jupiter was up with three moons showing. Later Io emerged from the planet's shadow and tangled with Europa. My Procyon software proved very handy for identifying the moons and simulating time shifting.
I completely forgot to go for the comet (despite bringing a print out of the path)!
I started chasing some double stars, Sissy Haas's book in hand:
- Albireo was a crowd pleaser. I returned to it several times.
- Looked briefly at Altair, a very bright star, surrounded by many small faint stars. I could not tell which star was the "violet" companion.
- Mizar A and B and Alcor were satisfying.
- I tried for 15 Aquila. It proved subject to much argument. I saw dark yellow and rusty rosy red colours; others saw blue! Crazy!
- I tried for 57 Aquila but the sky was too bright to star hop easily to it.
- Viewed Epsilon Lyra, the double-double, at 110x. I couldn't split at first, mistook it as the wrong object. But when I returned to it, and stared for a moment, realised I had it. It was particularly good when the air steadied. Each star was separate in the 18mm eyepiece. I did notice, with one of the pairs, that the stars were slightly different colours--but I did not note which pair it was. I sketched the orientation to help visitors see it.
- Polaris's dark companion was interesting.
Looked at Messier 13 (M13) and later Messier 57 (M57) through the Light Bridge. Both were magnificent.
Once again visitors asked how far away objects were. Planets I could tell them; but my Procyon palmtop software does not show distances for stars.
Broke the thin glass top on my light box after putting too much weight on it. Good thing it was covered on the top and bottom with the frosted Con-Tact film otherwise small shards of glass would have gone everywhere! The incident reminded me that I might want some centre support, clear acrylic maybe, under the deck. I continued to use my Tirion black charts to locate some of the double stars, despite the broken glass.
My light table was a big hit again. Visitors and RASC members alike were impressed with it. I briefly chatted with Dave G about it and suggested that when I'm done my prototyping I'll get him to build me a nice wooden box for it.
Brian recommended a plastics outfit up by the airport. Sounds like they have strong clear plastics that I could use for the top or cover and frosted or white plastics that might suit as a diffuser. I'll have to visit.
Tried Dave G's latest tall observing chair this evening. It works really well with my cat 'scope when I'm viewing low objects. It includes a foot rest. Sold!
We saw a number of "sputniks" through the evening. Apropos with the Russian family in attendance! Actually, it was really interesting all the different ethnic families out for the evening. Astronomy is a great leveler.
Temperature hovered around 16 or 17° all evening, well above the 10° dew point. Generally very pleasant. I was almost got chilled though. Next time I should bring a jacket.
It was windy this evening, which was good: kept the mozzies away.
It occurred to me to document the names of all the RASC members who helped out.
Started packing up around 11:45 PM.
A good evening overall. Crowds were not too zany. It was a pleasant temperature. Sky conditions were pretty good. And, I thought, we had a good showing of members from the Centre. The DDO staffer was very thankful, making the rounds, as we were packing up.
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