Re: [Utah-astronomy] Report on Friday nights Star Party at Wolf Creek
A 'quick' note on last night at Wolf Creek as I have been up all night a need a few zzzz's...sorry if my rambling is more discombobulated than usual....wow! my spell checker says I spelled discombobulated correctly even in my current state (Utah), what are the odds? As Jim mentioned, the clouds from the NE went to bed fairly early and left us with good dark sky for the remainder of the night. The satellite animation that I saw yesterday afternoon showed both the incoming bands of clouds from Wyoming and the smoke from the Cascade Uncontrolled Burn. In the animation, the smoke was blowing between Utah Lake & Strawberry Reservoir so I thought our chances looked good and they were. You could see the layer of smoke skirting the SW & S horizons but it never crept up to interfere with viewing. There seemed to be a fire to the East of the site but again the smoke on the eastern horizon stayed low and removed. I just checked the National Weather Service satellite site again and today's animation shows not a tenth of the smoke I saw yesterday and the forecast is for clear for the area from Salt Lake to Duchesne. The temp remained 40-45 for most of the night with occasional bouts of wind chill factor. Not nearly as cold as I had imagined it would be and was prepared for. I left my back-up heavy coat off all night. We saw a 25 hour-old moon last night through a pair of 10x70 binoculars after looking at Venus. Mars started out with Solis Lacus nicely placed (about 115 CM) for easy identification before it rotated out of view. Mare Sirenum then took over as well as Mare Cimmerium later on...look for the connection between these two Maria...it isn't shown on most Mars maps. We also tried out a Sirius Optics Mars 2003 filter with very encouraging results...more on that later. Kim found both Uranus & Neptune. I hunted (and do I mean hunted) down Comet Encke which is directly below (East) of Beta & Gamma Triangulum and which is also directly below 22nd magnitude...lol...or so it seemed. I just found out it was a little over 13th mag, quite diffuse and can attest that it was very tricky to find. This comet is predicted to reach 6th or 7th mag by the end of November or early December so keep an eye out for it. http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/article_1036_1.asp Limiting magnitude (using stars in Ursa Minor) was 7.1 and the seeing varied throughout the night. At one point near 5am I was using Jim's 12.5" f/7 at 318x & 462x to look at Saturn...the 318 held details fairly steady and at 462 I glimpsed Encke's Gap for the briefest of moments. Jupiter stayed mostly in the soup but I did get a nice high power (318) view just before sunrise. Mercury was just below Jupiter (3 or 4 degrees) and was quite easily seen for almost an hour. Through Kim Hyatt's 10" f/5 dob at 90 power I could make out its gibbous shape despite the frantic scintillation. I took quite a few photos (astro & the fall colors) and will post the better ones on my homepage after I wake up...in several weeks. G'nite, Dave Bennett P.S. Many thanks to Jim Gibson, Tom Watson, Mike Bailey, Kim Hyatt, Steve (?), Damon and Christina for letting me commandeer their great telescopes throughout the night. Amateur astronomy sure attracts some wonderful people. P.P.S. Watch out for road delays caused by sheep. Advice: bring your own sheep dog! Theirs were useless.
Hi all, My friend Cory Maylett and I camped at the Wedge Overlook Friday night, and I have to say, for the first part of the night the smoke from the distant forest fire was extremely bothersome. All the way there it was awful, graying out bluffs near U-10. Around sunset as I drove along the no-longer-exciting dirt road (rotten graders!), I could see a horrendous streak of smoke stretching all the way back to Heber or thereabouts, just this dark pall, and I was going right under it. Really makes me admire the Forest Service. The LX200 worked amazingly well. I put in the coordinates and it came up with the object quickly. I'm spoiled now. We looked at Mars (too bright for many details even with a red filter) galaxies including M31 & M32 & M110, M33; the Swan Nebula, the Ring, the Dumbbell; beautiful globulars like M13 and M92. Unfortunately, in the hours before midnight the smoke was so bad that it badly dimmed everything, except that Mars could have used a little more dimming. M33 was particularly vague. I could barely make out the Helix Nebula, also. But we were able to see dust lanes in M31, not only the big sharp lane that's so visible but a sort of mottling of less distinct dust. When I used my nebula filter on the Swan, it really popped out, a lacy appearance. I could not even see M51 because of the smoke and M81 was disappointingly faint. We hit the sack, Cory in his truck, myself on a foam mattress on the ground. A breeze sprang up, rustling the sagebrush and blowing the smoke away. With my glasses on I stared up at the firmament, watching it in time-lapse motion as I drifted into and out of sleep. I actually saw Cygnus the swan fly westward, in jerks punctuated by dozing. The stars were beautiful, hard gems. I could see the Andromeda galaxy and make out its shape without the telescope, and I noticed another galaxy-like thing almost straight up in the Milky Way -- anyone know what it was? Probably a star cloud or a globular. When Orion was high enough, I do believe I could discern the shape of the great nebula there. Also, and maybe it was only my mind playing tricks on me because I knew what it was, I thought I could glimpse Saturn's shape. I wouldn't swear to it. I dragged myself out into the fairly cold night around 2:15 and had some of my best telescopic views ever. Without the haze, M33 was a huge Christmas cookie sprinkled with candy sparkles -- those were the knots of gasses and bright spots of star clusters. Saturn was lovely but a little disappointing as it was swimming around. I don't think I saw it any better than the stacked photo I took of it the other day. (Anyone who wants a copy of the photo, let me know.) M31 was stunning, looking somewhat gritty or grainy. But the most amazing sight was the Orion Nebula, with its vast folds of drapery and the four bright stars of the Trapezium. It was spooky and swooping and grand, and it extended beyond the field of my least powerful eyepiece. Anyway, if the smoke had not interfered we would have had an even better time. But as it was, it was wonderful. -- Best wishes, Joe Joe Bauman science & military reporter Deseret News bau@desnews.com (801) 237-2169
Well written. WR -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 7:41 PM To: Visit http://www.utahastronomy.com for the photo gallery. Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Report on the Wedge Hi all, My friend Cory Maylett and I camped at the Wedge Overlook Friday night, and I have to say, for the first part of the night the smoke from the distant forest fire was extremely bothersome. All the way there it was awful, graying out bluffs near U-10. Around sunset as I drove along the no-longer-exciting dirt road (rotten graders!), I could see a horrendous streak of smoke stretching all the way back to Heber or thereabouts, just this dark pall, and I was going right under it. Really makes me admire the Forest Service. The LX200 worked amazingly well. I put in the coordinates and it came up with the object quickly. I'm spoiled now. We looked at Mars (too bright for many details even with a red filter) galaxies including M31 & M32 & M110, M33; the Swan Nebula, the Ring, the Dumbbell; beautiful globulars like M13 and M92. Unfortunately, in the hours before midnight the smoke was so bad that it badly dimmed everything, except that Mars could have used a little more dimming. M33 was particularly vague. I could barely make out the Helix Nebula, also. But we were able to see dust lanes in M31, not only the big sharp lane that's so visible but a sort of mottling of less distinct dust. When I used my nebula filter on the Swan, it really popped out, a lacy appearance. I could not even see M51 because of the smoke and M81 was disappointingly faint. We hit the sack, Cory in his truck, myself on a foam mattress on the ground. A breeze sprang up, rustling the sagebrush and blowing the smoke away. With my glasses on I stared up at the firmament, watching it in time-lapse motion as I drifted into and out of sleep. I actually saw Cygnus the swan fly westward, in jerks punctuated by dozing. The stars were beautiful, hard gems. I could see the Andromeda galaxy and make out its shape without the telescope, and I noticed another galaxy-like thing almost straight up in the Milky Way -- anyone know what it was? Probably a star cloud or a globular. When Orion was high enough, I do believe I could discern the shape of the great nebula there. Also, and maybe it was only my mind playing tricks on me because I knew what it was, I thought I could glimpse Saturn's shape. I wouldn't swear to it. I dragged myself out into the fairly cold night around 2:15 and had some of my best telescopic views ever. Without the haze, M33 was a huge Christmas cookie sprinkled with candy sparkles -- those were the knots of gasses and bright spots of star clusters. Saturn was lovely but a little disappointing as it was swimming around. I don't think I saw it any better than the stacked photo I took of it the other day. (Anyone who wants a copy of the photo, let me know.) M31 was stunning, looking somewhat gritty or grainy. But the most amazing sight was the Orion Nebula, with its vast folds of drapery and the four bright stars of the Trapezium. It was spooky and swooping and grand, and it extended beyond the field of my least powerful eyepiece. Anyway, if the smoke had not interfered we would have had an even better time. But as it was, it was wonderful. -- Best wishes, Joe Joe Bauman science & military reporter Deseret News bau@desnews.com (801) 237-2169 _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
Thanks, Wayne! Joe Bauman science & military reporter Deseret News bau@desnews.com (801) 237-2169
participants (3)
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David L Bennett -
Joe Bauman -
Wayne Reese