FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] AZ Weekend observing

[Jeff Hopkins <phxjeff@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

While some folks headed for dark sky country I stayed in Phoenix. 
Despite the bright skies I got some excellent photometry data over 
the weekend. And as others noted it was a fantastic weekend with 
clear skies and great temperatures.

On Sunday afternoon I hosted the annual HPO Astronomy get together 
and chicken BBQ. We had around a half dozen folks show up. After 
chowing down we went out back to the 12" LX200 GPS. This was around 
5:30, right around sunset. As soon as we spotted Vega (Stan 
Gorodenski spotted it first and set the scope on it) I calibrated the 
system. I  had my modified DSI Pro CCD camera on the scope with BVRI 
and a nebula filter in the ATIK filter wheel. I used the nebula 
filter for the evenings imaging.

What was most interesting was we did a goto to M57 and lo and behold 
the Ring Nebula showed very nicely on the laptop screen. This is 
still with a very bright sky. Later Gene Lucas took over the LX200 
and CCD controls and zapped some other objects like M31, M33.

The AutoStar software has a high precision mode that finds a bright 
star close to the object of interest. Once that star is centered 
going to the object of interest is very accurate.

Gene quickly discovered why I have a pen light next to the computer. 
You cannot see the keyboard in the dark well enough to type 
accurately. I downloaded some previous BVRI images of EE Cephei for 
Gene to take home and practice some photometry with.

Leon and Janis Schoenfeld kept Gene busy with lots of questions. I 
think I created an interest for Niki Martens in epsilon Aurigae. All 
in all the food was great and a perfect evening for observing.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
Counting Photons
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
7812 West Clayton Drive
Phoenix, Arizona 85033-2439 U.S.A.
www.hposoft.com
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