FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Deep Impact Star Party

["Frank Martin" <fmartin@xxxxxxxxx>]

Stan, I have to add my kadoo's to you for hosting the star party!!  I had a
great time as I am sure a lot of others did also.    It was good meeting you
and seeing some old friends.

Thanks again,
Frank Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Stanley A.
Gorodenski
Sent: Monday, July 04, 2005 4:04 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Deep Impact Star Party


Yes, it really was a perfect night. One of the best I have seen in a
long time. Cool, no wind, and the skies seemed darker than usual. It was
really beautiful.

My observations are the same as everyone else's. The nucleus became more
easily seen 30 minutes after the impact as a faint star. Also, It
appeared there was some brightness flickerings between 52 minutes and 53
minutes. This was undoubtedly caused by some physiological eye effects
(possibly caused by photons from a faint nucleus randomly stimulating a
sensitive rod)  since on one else saw this, and since it may have been
impossible to see the immediate effects of the impact as Brian points out.
Stan

Jeff Hopkins wrote:

>What a grand evening at the Blue Hills Observatory Deep Impact Star
>Party.  A perfect night!
>
>When we got past twilight people started looking for the comet. It
>was not easy. Stan and I tried imaging it with my Deep Sky Imager Pro
>and his 12.5" Cassegrain. We never go any useable images. Part of the
>problems seems to be trouble with the focusing and tracking.
>
>As 10:52 PM MST approached we gave up and switched to visual
>observing. While the comet was indeed visible, my eyes must be
>getting old as it was right on the border for me. Even with my 13.1"
>DOB, it was extremely faint. At 10:52 nothing seem to change. I
>continued to watch for another 10 minutes without seeing any change.
>I wandered around and talked to others who also failed to see any
>change. Several of the observers seemed to have disappeared. I later
>found them in Stan's house watching the NASA Sat TV channel. It seems
>the project was a great success from NASA's point.
>
>

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