Brain, 8 foot! No way! Well, maybe I had one to many Emmets. :-)
Hey I forgot about the supernova! That was a very bright one, it look almost
like a foreground star in the 30"er.
Hope to see you soon...
Rashad
----- Original Message -----
From: "brian zehring" <brianz@No-Spam>
To: "The Astronomy Connection" <sf-bay-tac@No-Spam>
Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: [TAC] Pleasure at Plettestone
> Rashad says it's a 12 foot ladder, Jim says it is a 10 foot ladder. For
the
> record, it is an 8 foot ladder.
>
> I really enjoyed the trip to Plettstone. Very relaxing. I wasn't feeling
> well due to the wind chill factor from arctic storm J.A.N.E centered over
> Blue Canyon the night before, so I don't have much to report.
>
> The highlight for me, besides objects mentioned by Jim, Rashad and Mark,
was
> seeing the supernova in NGC 3169 and nearby galaxies 3166, 3165. I also
> looked for Abell 28 in Ursa Major, but with no luck. Most definately user
> error, as I was ready for bed at that point. I have been simultaneously
> looking at ARP's, Abell's and Hicksons depending on the condition that
> evening. I also looked at several of the RASC's best NGC objects, the
> antennae in Corvus being one of my favorite. Sorry for the short report, I
> went to bed around 11:00, right when things got good, planning to get up
> around 2:00. But slept all the way through to 7:00.
>
>
> Brian
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Ster" <sterjf@No-Spam>
> To: "'The Astronomy Connection'" <sf-bay-tac@No-Spam>
> Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 1:09 PM
> Subject: [TAC] Pleasure at Plettestone
>
>
> > After getting skunked at RWBC the night before, Jane, Brian and I made
> > the trek down to Michelle Stone's beautiful Plettestone estate located
> > in the foothills east of Merced last Saturday afternoon. I arrived
> > around 5:00pm and found 9 other serious astronomers in various stages of
> > setup. The skies were not very clear at the time, but those that had
> > been there before said that this was normal for the site and would
> > probably clear up considerably later on.
> >
> > Due to the surprisingly large group of people who had shown up, it took
> > a few minutes for Brian and me to figure out the logistics of the area
> > so he could set up his 30" and my newly acquired 22" Starmasters. Brian
> > settled for a spot in the middle of the flat gravel driveway and I found
> > a nice spot located just west of the permanent observatory structure in
> > the grass. Jane had arrived a few hours earlier and was well into the
> > final steps of the setup of her new 18" Starmaster, just to the north of
> > my setup.
> >
> > Jane and Brian were both very generous in providing me with the much
> > needed assistance with setting up the 22" for the first time. After a
> > little difficulty with batteries, Brian and I finally got the goto
> > system running properly and successfully aligned it. From that point,
> > the scope NEVER needed to be realigned. It stayed in perfect alignment
> > the entire evening.
> >
> > As this was my trial run with the 22", I decided not to make any
> > specific plans for observing and simply based where I looked on what the
> > sky looked like at that particular moment (or whatever lit my candle).
> > As was predicted by the Plettestone Veterans, the thin high clouds
> > started dissipating just before sundown.
> >
> > My first object was M42 with a 31mm Nagler (74x). While the view of
> > this object was certainly better a few months ago while it was higher in
> > the sky, the transparency was pretty darn good and I was able to make
> > out six stars in the trapezium along with a lot of beautiful colors.
> > The variable seeing conditions at the time just wouldn't allow for any
> > steady views, but when they popped in, they were fantastic. So I was
> > off to a great start. I then used a 17mm Nagler (135 x) and confirmed
> > that I was indeed seeing only six stars, but the thing that amazed me
> > was that I was able to see a lot of the little stars dispersed
> > throughout the nebula that I had first seen only weeks ago through
> > Brian's 30". This 22" has an excellent mirror.:) I decided to push the
> > power a little with a 9mm Nagler (255x), but the seeing just wouldn't
> > support it.
> >
> > I then took a peek at the Leo Triplet (M64, M65 and PGC34657) which was
> > absolutely awesome. I could actually get all three in the field of view
> > in my 22 Nagler (104x) and while the sky still wouldn't support higher
> > powers, these low power views were really wonderful and gave me quite a
> > bit of satisfaction.
> >
> > As I was strictly into having fun this evening, I tried Jupiter for a
> > moment while it was near zenith. After seeing a few moons, many colored
> > bands and blowing away my night vision, I abandoned that obnoxiously
> > bright object for much more subtle ones.
> >
> > Mark and Rashad then stopped by for a moment and we decided to go over
> > and see how Brian was doing with the 30". It was still early and the
> > seeing wasn't up to snuff, but the transparency was definitely allowing
> > for lots of things to be seen, although not with much detail. We
> > figured this would be a chance for the 30" to show its stuff. We
> > weren't disappointed. Brian swung the scope on over to M51 which was
> > almost near zenith. It was rather incredible to watch the huge silent
> > monster slewing quietly but quickly around from the Orion area of the
> > sky to the Ursa Major area. I don't remember what eyepiece Brian was
> > using at the time, but the view of M51 was spectacular. Even with the
> > lousy seeing, you could clearly make out fantastic amounts of detail in
> > the dust lanes, which seemed to wrap around several times. What really
> > blew my socks off was how awesome its companion NGC5195 looked. The
> > core was fairly well resolved and you could clearly see the dust lanes
> > across the front of it. I can't wait to see this again when the
> > conditions are better.
> >
> > Brian then took a shot at the Double Quasar. With the seeing off a bit
> > we didn't hold a lot of hope for this rare beauty, but low and behold,
> > with a bit of patience at the eyepiece, it would pop in and out of view
> > with remarkable amounts of separation. Chalk another one up for
> > aperture. After staring at it for a few moments, it suddenly dawned on
> > me that I was standing near the top of Brian's 10 ft ladder and when I
> > looked around it was a long way down! I instinctively grabbed a little
> > tighter on the ladder rung I was holding onto. Talk about nose bleed
> > seats!
> >
> > Back at the 22" I noticed that M57 was slowly climbing in the east and
> > was hoping to get a glimpse of the central star. As it was still a bit
> > too low, I took a swing over to the M97 the Owl Nebula. Wow. This is
> > one of those objects that always seem to catch me by surprise with its
> > detail. Those ghostly eyes were staring right at me. Beautiful.
> >
> > It was also apparent about this time that the seeing was becoming much
> > better. In the past hour or so, certain areas of the sky had become
> > absolutely pitch black and the moisture seemed to move down towards the
> > southern horizon (which actually caused the light dome from Fresno to be
> > accentuated more than it normally should have been). That turned out to
> > be the biggest disappointment of the evening because I was hoping to get
> > some views of a few Messier's in Scorpius and possibly Sagittarius if I
> > could last long enough.
> >
> > Then it was off to one of my all time favorites, M81 & M82. NO
> > disappointment here. M81 was incredibly bright and the disturbed area
> > of M82 looked like it had been sideswiped by a semi truck. Incredible
> > amounts of structural detail could be seen in both.
> >
> > Brian came over and we swung over to NGC4039 & 4038, the Antenna
> > galaxies. These two objects arraigned in a "V" shape looked very
> > feathery in appearance. Quite easily the best view I've had of them to
> > date. Jane came over and noted similar details in the structures.
> > Shortly after that, Brian wasn't feeling too good due to allergies and
> > whatnot, and decided to take a short nap to see if that would help.
> > Unfortunately for him, this period between 11:00pm and 1:00am turned out
> > to be the best time for observing this evening.
> >
> > Since the seeing had settled down a bit, I decided to revisit M51 again
> > to see how the view compared to what I'd seen in the 30" earlier.
> > Again, no disappointment here. The seeing was now up to 7 out of 10 and
> > I was getting very similar results to what the 30 was getting earlier
> > on. Vast amounts of detail and maybe even a little more than I saw
> > earlier. This is what I'd been dreaming of with my 12" SCT for years.
> > The Whirlpool looking just like the pictures I'd seen of it. The spiral
> > arms seemed to wind endlessly around the core and the details in NGC5195
> > were riveting.
> >
> > Energized by the improved seeing (and the Rock Star energy drink I just
> > slammed down), I headed immediately to Hercules for a shot of M13. I
> > wanted my first view of it through the 22" to be a memorable one and I
> > was not disappointed. Thousands of pinpoints of light and resolution
> > like I've never seen before. Rather than a mush of white, the core had
> > a grainy appearance which looked like a pile of sugar in the sky.
> > Sa-weet. This object holds a dear place in my heart as it was the
> > object that I used for first light in my 12" LX-200 a few years back.
> > This is definitely one that I'll have to show Mags the next time we go
> > out. Aperture rules!
> >
> > M57 was still fairly low in the east, but I figured I should check it
> > out while the conditions seemed good. While it looked good, I
> > unfortunately could not resolve the central star and after 10 minutes of
> > staring at it using averted vision, I gave up on it for the night.
> >
> > Jane was working hard on nailing down Hickson 50, but the seeing just
> > wouldn't cooperate for her. We even tried to find it in the 22", but to
> > no avail. The good seeing was short lived and was definitely heading
> > downhill again. It was just after 1:00am and I decided to take a break
> > while Jane surfed around in search of her Hickson in the 22". The
> > evening had gone much better than I had imagined it would and I was
> > sitting there mesmerized by all of the fun I was having this evening.
> > There's nothing like a new scope to pump you up.
> >
> > After Jane gave up on Hickson 50, I headed over to the Scorpius area to
> > see what the conditions were like. I attempted to split Antares, but
> > other than a green flare off to one side once in a while, I could not
> > get close to doing it. I then disengaged the drives on the scope and
> > did some surfing, but the seeing was going away real fast. The south
> > seemed to have the most problem and you could actually see a band of
> > moisture which hung over the Fresno area and caused a lot of light to be
> > scattered around. I then went back to M57 for one last try for a
> > central star, but it was hopeless.
> >
> > It was now around 2:30am and it was about this same time that Jane and I
> > noticed that everyone else was crashed. As soon as I realized how late
> > it was, this feeling of great satisfaction came over me and I knew I had
> > another great night in the books to look back on.
> >
> > I'd like to say a big thanks to Michelle Stone for her generous
> > hospitality and I highly recommend a trip to Plettestone to anyone who
> > enjoys good company and skies. Plettestone is definitely a very good
> > winter observing site, probably slightly better skies than Fiddletown on
> > average, IMHO. I'll definitely be back.
> >
> > Clear Skies,
> > Jim
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>