I arrived out at the Pit around 5:00p.m. yesterday. It was very cloudy and wind gusting to 10mph to 12mph. To the north skies were clearing and I've found that though not perfect, Skippy Sky Astronomy at http://www.skippysky.com.au/NorthAmerica/ gives a pretty realistic forecast if you combine it with local NWS satellite images and their forecast. By 7:00p.m. the sky was mostly clear and the wind was dying down. By 8:00p.m. skies as Skippy had shown were totally clear and the wind was gone. Jorge, my friend Shahid and I were observing and Mat was going to arrive around 9:00p.m. I got a wonderful view and sketch of the new supernova in M95. That one at 13.1 right now should easily brighten to low 12 to upper 11, maybe even going down. It showed easily in my 14 inch dob. Split Sirius last night also in the twilight. Skies were average transparency but it was good seeing and as the night progress, the sky above 35 degrees settled down nicely. I got a few reflection nebula in Orion I needed and then spent my time with galaxies in Leo and Virgo. Dew wasn't a problem until around 1:00a.m. and then the dew heaters were working. We closed up around 2:30a.m. and left at 3:00a.m. On a side note at that time Mat was coming out there was a lot of police and emergency cars/trucks up near 5 Mile Pass. I thought for sure they were doing a speed trap and nailed Mat with a ticket. Nope. Jorge got out his binoculars and saw a variety of police, fire and ambulances up there so now we were concerned that Mat was in an accident. I'll let Mat discuss what he saw and tried to do (he was going to call and say they were in an accident etc., to which my reply would have been is the 16 inch mirror okay?). I guess an ATVer crashed driving around at night up there and was hurt. The emergency crews were up there for well over an hour and a half. I'll have to watch the wind today but if it dies down I'll probably go back out this evening as I have plenty of galaxies in Virgo and Como Bernices to hunt down. Might go to Vernon, we'll see on conditions. I'll only be staying out until 12:30a.m. or so. Oh, if you ever want to know conditions just give me a call on the cell, its listed in SLAS or email me off list and I'll give it to you. Jay
Keeping my fingers crossed that things will clear up for tomorrow night, but so far, I'm not too confident... On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 12:57 PM, Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> wrote:
I arrived out at the Pit around 5:00p.m. yesterday. It was very cloudy and wind gusting to 10mph to 12mph. To the north skies were clearing and I've found that though not perfect, Skippy Sky Astronomy at http://www.skippysky.com.au/NorthAmerica/ gives a pretty realistic forecast if you combine it with local NWS satellite images and their forecast. By 7:00p.m. the sky was mostly clear and the wind was dying down. By 8:00p.m. skies as Skippy had shown were totally clear and the wind was gone. Jorge, my friend Shahid and I were observing and Mat was going to arrive around 9:00p.m. I got a wonderful view and sketch of the new supernova in M95. That one at 13.1 right now should easily brighten to low 12 to upper 11, maybe even going down. It showed easily in my 14 inch dob. Split Sirius last night also in the twilight. Skies were average transparency but it was good seeing and as the night progress, the sky above 35 degrees settled down nicely. I got a few reflection nebula in Orion I needed and then spent my time with galaxies in Leo and Virgo. Dew wasn't a problem until around 1:00a.m. and then the dew heaters were working. We closed up around 2:30a.m. and left at 3:00a.m.
On a side note at that time Mat was coming out there was a lot of police and emergency cars/trucks up near 5 Mile Pass. I thought for sure they were doing a speed trap and nailed Mat with a ticket. Nope. Jorge got out his binoculars and saw a variety of police, fire and ambulances up there so now we were concerned that Mat was in an accident. I'll let Mat discuss what he saw and tried to do (he was going to call and say they were in an accident etc., to which my reply would have been is the 16 inch mirror okay?). I guess an ATVer crashed driving around at night up there and was hurt. The emergency crews were up there for well over an hour and a half.
I'll have to watch the wind today but if it dies down I'll probably go back out this evening as I have plenty of galaxies in Virgo and Como Bernices to hunt down. Might go to Vernon, we'll see on conditions. I'll only be staying out until 12:30a.m. or so. Oh, if you ever want to know conditions just give me a call on the cell, its listed in SLAS or email me off list and I'll give it to you.
Jay
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-- Chrismo I fix things, all kinds of things... Club Allure Sandy, UT (801) 897-9075
The folks who went out mid-week made the right call. On Mar 24, 2012 12:34 PM, "Chrismo" <djchrismo@gmail.com> wrote:
Keeping my fingers crossed that things will clear up for tomorrow night, but so far, I'm not too confident...
On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 12:57 PM, Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> wrote:
I arrived out at the Pit around 5:00p.m. yesterday. It was very cloudy and wind gusting to 10mph to 12mph. To the north skies were clearing and I've found that though not perfect, Skippy Sky Astronomy at http://www.skippysky.com.au/NorthAmerica/ gives a pretty realistic forecast if you combine it with local NWS satellite images and their forecast. By 7:00p.m. the sky was mostly clear and the wind was dying down. By 8:00p.m. skies as Skippy had shown were totally clear and the wind was gone. Jorge, my friend Shahid and I were observing and Mat was going to arrive around 9:00p.m. I got a wonderful view and sketch of the new supernova in M95. That one at 13.1 right now should easily brighten to low 12 to upper 11, maybe even going down. It showed easily in my 14 inch dob. Split Sirius last night also in the twilight. Skies were average transparency but it was good seeing and as the night progress, the sky above 35 degrees settled down nicely. I got a few reflection nebula in Orion I needed and then spent my time with galaxies in Leo and Virgo. Dew wasn't a problem until around 1:00a.m. and then the dew heaters were working. We closed up around 2:30a.m. and left at 3:00a.m.
On a side note at that time Mat was coming out there was a lot of police and emergency cars/trucks up near 5 Mile Pass. I thought for sure they were doing a speed trap and nailed Mat with a ticket. Nope. Jorge got out his binoculars and saw a variety of police, fire and ambulances up there so now we were concerned that Mat was in an accident. I'll let Mat discuss what he saw and tried to do (he was going to call and say they were in an accident etc., to which my reply would have been is the 16 inch mirror okay?). I guess an ATVer crashed driving around at night up there and was hurt. The emergency crews were up there for well over an hour and a half.
I'll have to watch the wind today but if it dies down I'll probably go back out this evening as I have plenty of galaxies in Virgo and Como Bernices to hunt down. Might go to Vernon, we'll see on conditions. I'll only be staying out until 12:30a.m. or so. Oh, if you ever want to know conditions just give me a call on the cell, its listed in SLAS or email me off list and I'll give it to you.
Jay
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-- Chrismo I fix things, all kinds of things...
Club Allure Sandy, UT
(801) 897-9075 _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
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Sorry for all the quoted text in some of my replies. Still learning how to use this smartphone.
Could not believe it, but the weather actually cooperated for a mid-week observing session at Pit-N-Pole. As Jay mentioned, I wanted to have a little fun after driving through all the police/fire/ambulance action at 5-Mile Pass. I knew that Jay, Jorge and Shahid could see all the lights from the Pit, so I tried to call them and tell them that the lights were for me and my son as we had crashed and destroyed my telescope and I was in an ambulance, but I could not reach them. So my prank was thwarted... I guess all the commotion was due to an ATV accident, but have not seen any reports on it. Anyway, as for the stargazing goes, it was a good night, even though we got a late start. Skies were clear with good seeing and okay transparency. The real revelation for me was that I finally got around to fully shielding the area across from the focuser on my dob and the contrast gain was dramatic. I thought that I might see a little improvement, but one look at old friends M81 and M82 actually took my breath away. With that boost of contrast I thought I might as well try for the Medusa nebula (Abell 21). It was easy! I could not believe my eyes. Moral of the story is to make sure your scope is fully baffled and shielded from any outside light. I hit a total of 18 objects of which 11 were new for me. We all had a great time out in the desert enjoying the wonderful winter sky together. It did get a little frosty around 1:00 but my homemade dew heater worked fine and kept my eyepieces dew free. We packed it up around 2:30 and headed home. Hope to see more of you out there next time! Mat -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jay Eads Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 2:58 PM To: Utah-Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Messier Marathon? I arrived out at the Pit around 5:00p.m. yesterday. It was very cloudy and wind gusting to 10mph to 12mph. To the north skies were clearing and I've found that though not perfect, Skippy Sky Astronomy at http://www.skippysky.com.au/NorthAmerica/ gives a pretty realistic forecast if you combine it with local NWS satellite images and their forecast. By 7:00p.m. the sky was mostly clear and the wind was dying down. By 8:00p.m. skies as Skippy had shown were totally clear and the wind was gone. Jorge, my friend Shahid and I were observing and Mat was going to arrive around 9:00p.m. I got a wonderful view and sketch of the new supernova in M95. That one at 13.1 right now should easily brighten to low 12 to upper 11, maybe even going down. It showed easily in my 14 inch dob. Split Sirius last night also in the twilight. Skies were average transparency but it was good seeing and as the night progress, the sky above 35 degrees settled down nicely. I got a few reflection neb ula in Orion I needed and then spent my time with galaxies in Leo and Virgo. Dew wasn't a problem until around 1:00a.m. and then the dew heaters were working. We closed up around 2:30a.m. and left at 3:00a.m. On a side note at that time Mat was coming out there was a lot of police and emergency cars/trucks up near 5 Mile Pass. I thought for sure they were doing a speed trap and nailed Mat with a ticket. Nope. Jorge got out his binoculars and saw a variety of police, fire and ambulances up there so now we were concerned that Mat was in an accident. I'll let Mat discuss what he saw and tried to do (he was going to call and say they were in an accident etc., to which my reply would have been is the 16 inch mirror okay?). I guess an ATVer crashed driving around at night up there and was hurt. The emergency crews were up there for well over an hour and a half. I'll have to watch the wind today but if it dies down I'll probably go back out this evening as I have plenty of galaxies in Virgo and Como Bernices to hunt down. Might go to Vernon, we'll see on conditions. I'll only be staying out until 12:30a.m. or so. Oh, if you ever want to know conditions just give me a call on the cell, its listed in SLAS or email me off list and I'll give it to you. Jay
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I read Jay's blog about the adventure! Good stuff. Good to know the "next generation" is at the eyepiece, seeing all those wonders again. Also glad to know no astronomers were involved with all the emergency vehicles!
Sounds like a blast, so sorry I missed it! I had high hopes for Sunday, but that fizzled out too, I was even will to drive down to Bryce... next year On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 5:37 PM, Chuck Hards <chuck.hards@gmail.com> wrote:
I read Jay's blog about the adventure!
Good stuff. Good to know the "next generation" is at the eyepiece, seeing all those wonders again.
Also glad to know no astronomers were involved with all the emergency vehicles! _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
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Great reports, Jay and Mat! Sorry another three-letter guy -- Joe -- wasn't along. Well, there's April. Best wishes, Joe ________________________________ From: "Hutchings, Mat (H USA)" <mat.hutchings@siemens.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2012 5:26 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Messier Marathon? Could not believe it, but the weather actually cooperated for a mid-week observing session at Pit-N-Pole. As Jay mentioned, I wanted to have a little fun after driving through all the police/fire/ambulance action at 5-Mile Pass. I knew that Jay, Jorge and Shahid could see all the lights from the Pit, so I tried to call them and tell them that the lights were for me and my son as we had crashed and destroyed my telescope and I was in an ambulance, but I could not reach them. So my prank was thwarted... I guess all the commotion was due to an ATV accident, but have not seen any reports on it. Anyway, as for the stargazing goes, it was a good night, even though we got a late start. Skies were clear with good seeing and okay transparency. The real revelation for me was that I finally got around to fully shielding the area across from the focuser on my dob and the contrast gain was dramatic. I thought that I might see a little improvement, but one look at old friends M81 and M82 actually took my breath away. With that boost of contrast I thought I might as well try for the Medusa nebula (Abell 21). It was easy! I could not believe my eyes. Moral of the story is to make sure your scope is fully baffled and shielded from any outside light. I hit a total of 18 objects of which 11 were new for me. We all had a great time out in the desert enjoying the wonderful winter sky together. It did get a little frosty around 1:00 but my homemade dew heater worked fine and kept my eyepieces dew free. We packed it up around 2:30 and headed home. Hope to see more of you out there next time! Mat -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jay Eads Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 2:58 PM To: Utah-Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Messier Marathon? I arrived out at the Pit around 5:00p.m. yesterday. It was very cloudy and wind gusting to 10mph to 12mph. To the north skies were clearing and I've found that though not perfect, Skippy Sky Astronomy at http://www.skippysky.com.au/NorthAmerica/ gives a pretty realistic forecast if you combine it with local NWS satellite images and their forecast. By 7:00p.m. the sky was mostly clear and the wind was dying down. By 8:00p.m. skies as Skippy had shown were totally clear and the wind was gone. Jorge, my friend Shahid and I were observing and Mat was going to arrive around 9:00p.m. I got a wonderful view and sketch of the new supernova in M95. That one at 13.1 right now should easily brighten to low 12 to upper 11, maybe even going down. It showed easily in my 14 inch dob. Split Sirius last night also in the twilight. Skies were average transparency but it was good seeing and as the night progress, the sky above 35 degrees settled down nicely. I got a few reflection neb ula in Orion I needed and then spent my time with galaxies in Leo and Virgo. Dew wasn't a problem until around 1:00a.m. and then the dew heaters were working. We closed up around 2:30a.m. and left at 3:00a.m. On a side note at that time Mat was coming out there was a lot of police and emergency cars/trucks up near 5 Mile Pass. I thought for sure they were doing a speed trap and nailed Mat with a ticket. Nope. Jorge got out his binoculars and saw a variety of police, fire and ambulances up there so now we were concerned that Mat was in an accident. I'll let Mat discuss what he saw and tried to do (he was going to call and say they were in an accident etc., to which my reply would have been is the 16 inch mirror okay?). I guess an ATVer crashed driving around at night up there and was hurt. The emergency crews were up there for well over an hour and a half. I'll have to watch the wind today but if it dies down I'll probably go back out this evening as I have plenty of galaxies in Virgo and Como Bernices to hunt down. Might go to Vernon, we'll see on conditions. I'll only be staying out until 12:30a.m. or so. Oh, if you ever want to know conditions just give me a call on the cell, its listed in SLAS or email me off list and I'll give it to you. Jay
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options". _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".
participants (5)
-
Chrismo -
Chuck Hards -
Hutchings, Mat (H USA) -
Jay Eads -
Joe Bauman