May High Park COS (Toronto)

William beat me to High Park.

I had left my house early at approx. 7:55. As I backed into the second last parking spot and got out of the car, I saw William Stanley checking his compass. It was 8:05. He was curious where to set up. I was wondering where the thin Moon would appear. The place was packed!

Both baseball diamonds where going full tilt. There seemed to be 6 or 7 different games (or practice sessions) going on in the 2 soccer (er, football) pitches. It looked like we'd have to use the sidelines only if we wanted to set up early. But as I finished my 3rd (or 4th) unloading trip, the nearest field coincidentally vacated. This allowed us flatter ground and helped us get from behind the net of a men's casual game.

Instrument: Celestron 8-inch SCT
Mount: Vixen Super Polaris
Method: star hopping; Vixen tracking

William set up his blue 80mm W.O. refractor atop his new iOptron Cube Pro mount. I began the assembly of my old trusty Celeston 8" SCT and Vixen Super Polaris. I borrowed William's compass and dialled in the magnetic declination. I overheard William chatting up people departing the fields. One man he spoke with (who we thought quite fit for his age) revealed that he made the top 400 cut in the recent CSA astronaut selection process!

Peter Hiscocks showed up shortly afterwards and immediately expressed his dismay at the lights over the 2 baseball diamonds. We wondered about the sight lines in the playground to the north. After I convinced him that my worn tripod was not used by surveyors, he went to work setting up his 90mm Mak-Cas.

John Bohdanowicz appeared with a white 8" Dobsonian. He was ready to go in 30 seconds.

Mark Steele arrived and had his shiny new Celestron 8" SCT GOTO up and running in minutes. I envy his spotless corrector plate.

I think I finally finished my setup around then.

Dave Oakden, a member, sans 'scope, dropped by. He said his telescope was up at the cottage. I think he might bring it back next time...

As the men's skins game concluded, about 8 players headed our way. They were very curious what we were doing.

It was around then that John spotted the thin crescent in his binoculars. I stood behind him to get the sight line. It was just over a notch in the trees. It was tricky to see in the bright sky, through the thin clouds. If you looked away and then back, you'd lose the 1.5 day old Moon. It was around 8:30. John put the Dobsonian on it and everyone enjoyed the view at about 75x.

Mark let his computer find Saturn. Again, I stood behind his 'scope to get the general direction. Ah ha, there it is! I ran over to my gear and bull's eyed the ringed planet. I showed views at 56x, 77x, and 111x. We were able to coax out Titan on one side and Tethys and Rhea on the opposite. Purportedly Dione was very close to the rings. I think I was just able to catch it, during moments of steady seeing and averted vision. I was going to install the Celestron barlow to see if that would help but got distracted.

My palmtop alarm went off 5 minutes before the Iridium flare. Sadly, we did not see it. Perhaps it was below the tree line. (The group up at Bayview Village Park saw it.)

A visitor, Ron, asked if he could bolt up his digital SLR to my 'scope. Sure! I dismounted the 2" visual back, dug out my original 1-1/4, and he started bracketing.



At some point, one of the diamond's lights were extinguished. This sent up a round of applause from the group. We did not record the exact time.

We observed the ISS flyover at 10:04. It started in the same notch that John had found the Moon in. I was the first to spot it and helped others by shining the super green laser on the trees below. We saw it gradually brighten through Leo. And still it intensified. While it Virgo, it flew over some clouds, and we could see the light scatter. But incredibly it brightened even more, far brighter than Arcturus! What a great show!

When the second diamond shut down, at 10:10, a big cheer was heard.

Someone asked about Messier objects. I suggested M13, even though it was pretty low still, and we'd be looking over the downtown core. Still, we tried. I asked John to confirm the bright star in the north east was Vega. I then reminded him that Hercules bordered Lyra. At first, I couldn't see the Keystone but I was just looking too far south. When I spotted it, and threw the green laser at the general area of M13, John took up the pursuit, and in short order tagged it in the Dob. It took me another 5 minutes to star hop to it. It was pretty pale; but still satisfying. It was 10:30.

I caught a very long meteor trail, moving parallel to the horizon, starting right of Lyra, and heading below Polaris.

A friend of High Park, Jane, was really enjoying the astronomical sights. I asked if she had viewed any double stars. Nope. So we headed to Mizar and Alcor, almost straight up. She could see Alcor naked eye. Then I targeted Algieba in Leo. Fantastic contrast to the triple in Ursa Major. Hot blue-white stars vs. slow burning amber furnaces.

I wanted to try to split Porrima but it was getting late.

The clouds were moving in, people were getting chilled, the guests had departed. William and Peter hung around as I disassembled. Peter helped me lug gear back to the parking lot.

Unfortunately, we did not see the High Park Community Advisory Council nor the High Park Naturalists at our event.

By our reckoning, we had 17 to 20 walkthroughs and visitors. We handed out several Star Finders and hockey cards.

Overall, a good night in High Park: a cool planet, an old globular cluster, a big, bright space station, some colourful double stars, and a bunch of impressed people, both members and park visitors.