finished deck (Blue Mountain)

Friday
Went to the Carr Astronomical Observatory (CAO). Was hoping to get some deep sky observing in during the "work party" weekend. The weather wasn't looking good for either...

I had packed every bit of astronomy gear including laptop computer, RedShift CD-ROM, binos and big metal tripod, carpentry tools, Will's 4-foot level, solar "deck" lights (purchased enroute), fine Pilsner beer, and a bit of camping gear. In fact, I had just done the seals on the tent fly so was looking to "test drive" (little did I know I'd get so much rain).

I decided to try Hwy 400 into Barrie. Bad idea. What was I thinking?! Crappy stupid traffic, even at 2:30 pm. Never. Never again. Humans!

Arrived the CAO late in the afternoon. Unpacked slowly, set up the telescope, and set up my tent.

(The patio stones had settled! The viewing deck felt really good!)

Met Tayoob. He was camping too, in his new tent (which he got for a smokin' good deal). In fact, he seems to find insanely smokin' good deals on many things, including astronomy gear! I ordered him to tell us in the future... Later, he offered some of his dinner to me as I had (once again) not brought supplies for the Friday evening.

As darkness fell, we tried working with the sky. It was not good. Regardless, we had some fun. Tayoob, resident expert, helped us with Arabic pronunciations. That said, I still need to practice the star names of Libra. Yowza. Tye further impressed me with his extensive knowledge of star names and constellations. He was the on-site "sky scout:" we could point to anything and he would ID it.

9:40 PM. Viewed Venus as a crescent, in Leo, over the GBO.

Phil C arrived. I shuffled some stuff on the viewing deck out of the way. Later he targeted the Comet LINEAR (C/2006 VZ13) as it slid within Draco. I looked through the eyepiece but, had to admit, could not definitively say I saw it.

Increasingly, I was frustrated. I didn't know why exactly. Was it that I did not have a master plan? Vision seemed off. Booze? Essentially I abandoned my 'scope.

I decided to help Frances with constellations and some big stars. That was enjoyable. With Tye's green laser it was easy and fun. At one point, we discussed double stars. I tuned my 'scope to Albireo. So pretty.

Jupiter, in Scorpius, was pleasing. Many of us studied it. We saw it surrounded by many points of light. I thought I would assist in identifying them, with my laptop outside, RedShift CD loaded. But while we saw what appeared to be 4 moons, my old RedShift software only showed 3. It looked like the software was wrong! Ironically, I had said earlier in the evening that I had always found it to be very reliable. I didn't think to check my Procyon palmtop software...

Phil helped me in recognising the dark North Equatorial Belt (NEB) of Jupiter.

Meanwhile, Terry L (at his dob) silently sketched away...



Saturday
When it stopped raining, I helped build the 2 kilometre long model of the solar system. Later, I worked on deck and ramp beside Chas.

While we were on a long rain break I built a simple valance for the eyepiece cabinet in the main observatory. Now the bright light from red light rope doesn't shine right in you eyeballs when you're at the workstation.

During sunny periods, we did a bit of solar observing. The Baader views of the Sun were spectacular! It was a first for me, seeing the grey penumbras around the dark spots. Tremendous detail. The more I looked, the more I spots I saw, clustered together.

Later, with my RASC Toronto Centre webmaster hat on, I "interviewed" some members about the Centre's web site. I got some good feedback from Tayoob and Denis. Gary M, with a technical background, imparted a lot of commentary and suggestions. Tye actually had a lot of brilliant observations, giving me a good sense of perspectives of the average user.

In the background, I noticed Ralph getting some web coaching from Denis. It is good to see the whole team getting more familiar and comfortable with the environment. I also circulated draft copies of my editor user manual and quick reference guide to Phil, Denis, and others.

Was unsuccessful connecting my Win2K laptop to the CAO wireless network...

Chatted a bit with Terry about astronomy software, suggesting he download Cartes du Ciel.



Sunday
We finished it! We layed all the planks for the desk and ramp. Wow. We signed The Last Plank.

Very satisfying.

Now, I need to book a trip to the CAO where I don't do any work! ;-)