[AZ-Observing] Observving Report GCSP 2011 Day 5 - Over the Hump
- From: Skylook123@xxxxxxx
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:37:08 -0400 (EDT)
Grand Canyon Star Party - DAY FIVE - Over The Hump
Location: Grand Canyon Visitor Center, South Rim of Grand Canyon, AZ,
about 340 miles north of home in Tucson, about 7000 ft elevation
Weather: Low 80s at Noon, 80s at sunset, Low 40s when we quit at Midnight.
Clear skies for afternoon and evening, virtually dead calm after sunset.
Seeing and Transparency: Variable across the sky; soft above 250X in the
West, tight and crisp in the east and especially the south, in Sagittarius.
Equipment:
18â?? f/5 2286mm Teeter Telescope newtonian truss dob, Sky Commander DSCs
10" Meade SCT on Atlas EQ-G mount
60mm Lunt LS60THa/B600 on Atlas EQ-G Mount
The temperatures were interesting today. The sun really beat down on us
midday; hottest it's been this trip. At sunset, though, it dropped like a
stone. The lingering moisture must have cleared out. By 9:30 I needed a
jacket, and most of the astronomers and visitors are bundled up.
Today was mostly muddling (if that's a word) around. I finished my report
before going over to Canyon Cafe to mail it off.
A great group of outreach pros arrived around 3 PM and I met with good
friend Jim Palmer, their group leader, and let him know where our Ranger
coordinator Marker Marshall wanted them to set up. This is a really fun group
to
be around. They work 24/7/365 around the state doing public outreach, and
they do it SO well. About a dozen of them came tonight, their first night,
with about 10 scopes. Their instruments are all adorned with red lights, so,
not surprisingly, they are called the Red Light District when they set up.
I have learned a lot from them; when I started setting up in the main area
at Yavapai six years ago, it just worked out that I was on the fringe of
their plot and I would listen to them while I used my own equipment. And
before and after the crowd, it was a really enjoyable way to spend time with
Jim and his wife Vicki, and Jerry Fennema and his wife, and Steve Dermer,
and Kevin LeGore, John Meschberger and family, and all the rest. What a great
group. We really miss Sarah Meschberger, who has been setting up her dob
and dazzling the public for the six years I've known the group, but now
she's well into her college career and other duties call. Over the years we've
gotten a number of emails from tour groups, one of them a German
enterprise, specifically thanking us for the quality of her interaction with
them.
Also, when visitors come walking back from Mather Point after sunset, the
main scope farm is invisible; having RLD where Marker wants them guides
them to us. I talked a lot with Jim and the rest of RLD about why we wanted
the setup this way, and they noted that by being over in that area, where all
the astronomers park after unloading, they had space to set up the canopy
they use for their nightly pot luck dinner for their group. Logistically,
and operationally for us, it's a great idea.
Marker was the speaker tonight, and she hit another home run. Her talk,
Starry Starry Nights, The Universe Seen From The Grand Canyon, is a perfect
mix of why and how to control misuse of light, and what the skies have to
offer. The main body is a concise, extremely entertaining and informative
Astronomy 101. All the concepts from relative distances of what they see, the
asterisms that act as signposts in the sky, and even some key Native
American lore (I love the Navajo concept of family unit represented in the
Revolving Female (Casseopeia), the Revolving Male (The Big Dipper), and the
Central Fire (Polaris) as the focus of the family life) This is such a
complete
and perfect package for the group she teaches. Ending with Monty Python is
an awesome touch to send the audience off to the scopes. It is always a
learning experience to watch an interpretive professional put a package
together and use it so well.
After packing up and heading out to the scopes, it was apparent that
having RLD in the upper lot was working. Much easier to navigate to the main
scope farm now with the distant red lights as an initial heading. We certainly
need to improve the lighting for next year, but for now this seems to
work. Unfortunately, they are not screened from the rest room building by
small
trees as we are below them, so there is some annoyance as doors open about
300 feet away. Looks like some rubylith is in order for next year.
Karina was set up with the 18" on Polaris, and Jessica was set up on
Albireo with the 10" when I got back up to the scopes. I checked collimation
on
the 18", and karina had it dead on! And earlier, setting the Atlas up for
the solar afternoon, Jessica had NAILED polar alignment on setup; no solar
drift at high power in two hours before sunset. I have a big regret with
needing to introduce and close the night talks; neither scope is stellar
aligned, and, as good as they are at what they do, the girls are adept at
finding Polaris, Albireo, Saturn, and The Ring, but with only a few days
experience they are not ready to starhop the entire NGC catalog quite yet, and
I
haven't had the chance to train them on the nuances for star selection. By the
time I get there, each has a line of ten or fifteen people so I don't want
to break the flow. However, about a half hour after I got there, a break
in the visitor flow happened. Karina was feeling the late late nights and
hectic week and, bravely as she soldiered on, she was dog tired so Susan and
she went back to the lodge and for the first time this week, I got to play
with my scope!! Woo Hoo. Then, Jessica took a walk over to RLD to see their
operation. No crowd, alignment time!
Three alignment busts later, I checked the reticle eyepiece. The inner
field stop and the cross hair plate had both come loose, so it was like
terminal cone error in the line of sight. And with the severe temperature
drop,
the internal piece parts were hard to manipulate. So, as I fussed and fussed
with it, I did collateral sky tours as clusters of two or three visitors
would come up. I felt like I was tap dancing in a shooting gallery, but the
crowd got a chuckle over one of us "experts" having issues. I finally got
the pieces aligned and had victory on the alignment of the 18", and gave a
few stragglers the eye candy tour of Sagittarius. Never did get the SCT to
point to anything. The problem is that my high power eyepiece is a 9mm
Nagler, and the FOV (even defocusing a star) is too big to get a precise
centering and my eyeball judgement is pretty poor. Jessica again broke the site
down while I stowed the 18", then she got the permanent setup barrier pylons
and ropes in place with all the great help from some of the remaining
astronomers. I was surprised that we actually had visitors until after 11 PM,
and
we didn't get out of there until close to 1 AM. We are having such a good
time yakking among ourselves and with the stragglers that we kind of stay a
bit later than we should, but it is just so much fun.
Periodically, all day, wherever we are, we get comments on how well the
girls are working out with the outreach. The combination of their enthusiasm
and understanding is attracting a lot of praise and attention. I haven't
missed the eyepiece time that they have cornered. Good thing it is dark and
the visitors can't see the huge grin permanently plastered on my face
listening to them each night.
It strikes me this morning, as I review the week so far, what an
incredible gift I received three years ago from Dean. The effort we put into
the
service we perform is so beneficial, and it is so enjoyable with volunteers
such as we have. I never remember to praise Dean for establishing, and
Melinda for doing so much to continue, this great adventure; my bad. It is
SUCH a
high every night when we recall what we've done, and will do the next
night.
Jim O'Connor
South Rim Coordinator
Grand Canyon Star Party
Grand Canyon Cell Phone: 520-405-6551
gcsp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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