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The Moon's not right this weekend, but is anyone going out to observer Saturday night? I have a boat in Wabasha where I spend weekends at the marina. I'm thinking of heading down that way with the scope and trying to find a location to observe near Dumfries. But if other's are planning for elsewhere, I'd love to tag along. I'm afraid most of the year has been too hectic to get out, but I always get the bug near Fall. This will be the first time out with a bunch of new equipment (wedge, guide scope/camera, home built dew heaters, home built power station, etc.) I'll probably spend half the night just setting up.
I've been seriously thinking about getting an enclosed trailer to house it all and make it easier to work with.Steve and I plan on getting out tonight. Since he's been battling that tumor, we need to stay close to Spring Grove, so it'll be the Flatin Farm for us.
I know it's a long way to go, but all are welcome. We'll stay out till Moonrise and a bit.
The outreach at Keller was fun, despite my fumbling with alignment for an hour. It was only my second time with a wedge and polar alignment. There was quite a turnout and I think everyone had a great and educational time. Maybe we picked up a couple new members! Unexpected clouds moved in about 10:30 and most folks packed it in. I stuck it out for the moonrise which was quickly obscured in clouds. I was all alone by about 11:15, just me and the coyotes. I was determined to try my hacked webcam on the moon and was rewarded with a half hour of moon viewing at 11:30. I shot a 10 minute video through very thick and wavering atmosphere. The field of view is only 7'x4' which is like using a 9mm eyepiece in combination with a 3x Barlow. Just a tad too much magnification. ;D Anyway, great fun with a great bunch of folks as always.
If the weather report holds for this evening, I plan to be at Keller. I want to take a stab at photographing the Iris nebula (NGC 7023).
Steve and I got out, well, I got out for four and a half hours. Stup made 2 and a half. He found M107 in Ophiuchus all by his lonesome. Well done with that one, but had a tough time with M69 and M70 in eastern Sagittarius. They are much smaller.
I had fun comparing the Celestron 4.5" Newtonian and the 4.5" Meade Newtonian that Steve bought from "Lucky" Volkenant who runs the local laundromat. He got it for $35, but of course it has a crappy finderscope and those stupid .936 Sirius eyepieces. Both the finderscope and the eyepieces could have come out of a box of cereal. I jury rigged a way to put a proper inch and a quarter eyepiece in there and it is a very fine telescope w/pinpoint stars. I am going to figure out how to get an inch and a quarter adapter for the scope and a proper FINDERSCOPE, not a RED DOT FINDER! Then it would be the envy of the RAC.
I stuck it out till Moonrise at 10:54. It had been a long time since I have had a night like that at the Flatin Farm.
Stup is doing good, he's got a hard fight ahead of him. He started chemo and radiation today. Pray for him. Semper Fi.
I got out last night to my "secret" place near Wykoff (a friend's hunting property) at about 6:30. I saw many deer, which will make my friend happy. I set up my rig and took some t-shirt flats and sighted in my finder. Talk about dew! Everything was soaked by the time I left at midnight. My homemade dew heater worked well. My attempt to get the guide scope & camera working was a waste of time though. I should have spent more prep time with it. I think I got some good pictures of the Iris nebula, the Hercules cluster, Andromeda, the Ring nebula, etc. with 21 second exposures. Post processing will tell me if I got anything worth saving.
Talked with Eagle Bluff. Looks like this weekend is a no go there. They have a large group in all weekend, at least through noon on Sunday, and will have to leave the lights on. So nothing for Eagle Bluff this weekend. Local observing. It looks like it will be cloudy tomorrow, but perhaps Saturday. I'll probably be leaning toward going to Keller that night.
For good news, next weekend, Sept 26-27, looks good for Eagle Bluff. So, plan for Eagle Bluff for that weekend, those of you that aren't down at Okie-Tex.
I wish all of you from the RAC to have ANGFA next weekend at Eagle Bluff.
Please extend an invite to Steve Remick. He got his driver's liscense back once he starte therapy. He's a happy camper.
We'll be thinking of all of you when we are at Okie-Tex. I pray that the weather gods will treat us well.
Good luck at Okie-Tex! I hope you get a lot of nice weather down there. I think 'Odile' will have passed through there by then.
Does Steve monitor the forum? Of course Steve is invited. I don't have any other contact for him, so I hope he can check the forum next week.
Looks really nice right now, but they are talking about clouds and scattered storms this evening. Not sure if I'll go any where or not. If I head to Keller, I will post here. If anyone else heads out to Keller, let us know.
Should be a clear night. We're going to head out to Keller for a little while, probably only til 10 or so. Head on out if you want. See you there.
Didn't stay out too long. We left a little after 9:30, on the road by 9:45. Fighting dew on the finder for most of the night. It was a pretty nice night. Gerarda came along as she hasn't been along too many times lately. She loves globs, so we saw quite a few of those. Vega was visible straight overhead a little after we got there at around 7:35. Looked at Saturn and Mars at the beginning while waiting for other things to show up. Also, got Albireo in before 8:00. It was after 8:00 before we could see much of anything. After that, quite busy. What I remember we looked at: M4, M80, M5, M11, M13, M92, M22, M28, M8, M27, M71, M57, M31, M32, M110, M3, M81, M82, M51, M15, Almach, Perseus Double Cluster, Alcor, Mizar — 10 globs in that bunch.
So not too bad for the, wow, last night of summer! Wow, last night of summer. Another AGNFA!
if its clear Friday night i plan on going to Keller. Saturday if its cloudy at
all on Friday. hope the gang is getting some clear skies in okie-tex!
jimRight now, looks to be a go for Friday night at Eagle Bluff. Looks like it will be clear and they are expecting us. Looks like some quilters will be in residence, but that should be ok.
So Jim, head on out to Eagle Bluff instead of Keller and join us.
Who's all thinking of heading out on Friday to Eagle Bluff? Let us know.
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