I was there last year, Rodger, and what you guys are planning on makes me envious. I split my time between Maui and the Big Island where I took a tour to the top of Mauna Loa with a professional star gazing tour group that had packed a couple of 12" Meade telescopes. After witnessing sunset amongst the Keck and Gemini telescopes, the group was led back down to about the 2/3's point on Mauna Loa so that we wouldn't all pass out from the thin atmosphere while observing the night sky. Did get a look at Omega Centauri as well as some Deep Sky objects further south. Wouldn't mind being there again with ya' all. --- On Mon, 5/18/09, Rodger C. Fry <rcfry@comcast.net> wrote: From: Rodger C. Fry <rcfry@comcast.net> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Tropical Telescopic Tour To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Monday, May 18, 2009, 12:02 PM Well it is Monday Morning at 8:00 AM. I think that most of the group is not moving yet. I have been up since 5:00 AM (9:00 AM MDT) because I just couldn't sleep any longer. I awoke to Jupiter glairing in the condo window. Since that time I have gone on a nice walk and been going through the star charts to find the best objects for targets tomorrow night on the Faulks telescope. After a review of the star charts my number one target is the Eta Carinae Nebula. It will transit at 20:16 but will only be 10 degrees above the horizon. I am hoping that at the 10, 000' + elevation and the dark skies we will be able to see detail. It is a magnitude of 5.0 so it might be good. I am sure that we will look at Omega Centauri and the Bug Nebula (C-69) there are also some fairly bright galaxies that are too far south to see from Utah and perhaps we can see those as well. The Southern Cross will transit at 22:00 and Acrux will be 5 degrees above the horizon. Any suggestions the group think would be worth looking at will be welcome. The group plans to stay on top to see the sun rise from Haleakela which is reported to be spectacular. Thank You, Rodger C. Fry Consulting Geologist _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com