Interesting that Mark Johnston and I were set up
a few meters from each other and had fairly
different experiences. I got to crabbing over the
conditions. NELM was 5.0 at best overhead, seeing
was on the mediocre end of 3/5. Miraculously we
had wind and dew both. It was nice and cold too,
with temps right around 0°C. With 3% cloud cover
forecast, we had lots more than that. Hmph.
Andy Pierce, Johnston, Hans Schulze and I were on
the pads. Ron Dammann had asked for help with a
5th grade class from Virginia Rocca Barton School
in Salinas (nice school, I've visited there).
Really nice, polite bunch of kids with quiet,
reserved parents. As mentioned, Ranger Row was
loaded with imagers who were from Santa Cruz.
Denis Lefebvre was over in the SW lot, said he
was joined by a guy named Mark with an 18"
Plettstone.
In my scope, Saturn was indistinct at all
magnifications, on repeated visits. It took some
looking to see which way the rings were pitched.
There were 5 stars in the Trapezium with work,
less than half the time. What I did mostly was
sit back and watch Leo Minor wheel overhead. Has
lots of stars. Also watched clouds keep passing
over Canis Major, where that Wolf-Rayet shell is
that I wanna catch up with. Grumble.
Andy at one point was showing off a really good
view of ngc 2903, major galaxy in Leo. Mark was
exploring in the Bowl of the Dipper, a place I've
spent a lot of time. He had a pretty view of 3613
and 3619, the brightest of that gang. In my 11
I've seen 24 galaxies in the Bowl. Yes I went
back and counted. Real fun project, with that
crowd of little galaxies.
Hans was playing with his imaging rig and apparently having a bunch of fun.
In all, company was good. I was glad to pitch in
at the Observatory. Sky was better than in town
on the face of it. Every time I thought, OK, how
about some starhopping, fella, the charts were
soggy and optics getting moist. I know, I know,
you want cheese with that whine?
This will all get better. Winter observing has
plenty of advantages, including keeping our
hardcore street cred.
Thanks to Greg, Carter, Matthew, Albert for
posting their good results this week.
DDK
--
Jamie Dillon <mavericks@No-Spam> <*>
"The food was impossible for me... so I took two suitcases with me.
One with clothes and one with Heinz beans," said Starr.
Ringo Starr on visiting the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
--
GSSP Web Page updated 2/25: http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org
Who's observing where? - http://observers.org/OI-calendar/
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Received on Wed Mar 05 22:17:41 2008