[AZ-Observing] Re: Poor weather, but good friends, at TSP

AJ, Andrew, Yada Yada Yada,

In addition to myself David & Andrew, we were joined by Matt Luttinen, Al
Stiewing Ken Sykes & his son (Kyle, I Think) and Dwight Bogan. The seeing
was soft, 6 being generous and I had forgotten to charge the batteries (Both
of 'em) that power my EQ platform. Al lent me and extension cord long enough
to run off my car, but I just couldn't get the platform to track well at
all. Got a bit frustrating.

I did manage to view both comets of note, Machholz being the better of the
two. Noted it as being slight fan shaped with a distinct, but small Coma at
60x. Bumping up to 133x the coma was bit more defined but the seeing really
wasn't up to higher power last night. 

Tempel was more of a diffuse glow than anything else, didn't eve try for
higher power on this.

The highlight of my Deep sky observing was NGC 3962 in Crater. This is the
only Herschel 400 object in CRT and to date the only object I've observed in
this constellation. Framed by two 11th mag. stars on either side to the N &
S, it was almost circular and the pretty even in brightness throughout. I
did suspect with averted vision what seemed to be a dark notch one side
extending to just short of the center.  Gave the galaxy a slight horseshoe
shape. Try as I might I couldn't seem to hold this dark area, so I'm not
sure if the seeing was playing games or my eyes need examining :).

Given the mechanical troubles with Gert's mount, I decided my time would be
better spent taking pictures. I finally got to give my new EQ-1 mount I
bought as a camera mount a good workout.  First picture I took was of Corona
Borealis, Timed it to coincide with a mag. -3 Iridium flare that would pass
just above the crown. Don't you know just as the flare is brightening a car
goes past the site. Hopefully it won't totally ruin the shot, It was the
first time I actually got a flare on film. I also took shots of Ursa Major,
hopefully 10 minutes will bring the comet out. Also shot were Corvus &
Crater, Hercules, Lyra, & MEL 111, the Coma Star Cluster. Still have about
12 shots to go on this roll of film, hopefully finish it off at 5 Mile
Meadow. 

Finally everyone started to pack up around midnight, By 0030, we were on the
way home. While it may not have been a great night out, it WAS a night out
and considering the luck we've had lately, I'll take without complaint. 

BTW, my batteries are on charge as we speak!

Clear Skies
Rick Tejera
Editor SACnews
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
saguaroastro@xxxxxxx
www.saguaroastro.org

-----Original Message-----
From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of AJ Crayon
Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2005 8:02 PM
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Poor weather, but good friends, at TSP

Steve, sorry about your accident - if that is what you call it.  Also 
about the weather.  I didn't make Cherry Rd because of a pulled legiment 
or tenden or somthing like that and didn't want to cause any more hard 
wanting it to heald ASAP.

AFAICT there were several observers there including, but not limited to, 
David Fredericksen, Andrew Goodwin and Rick Tejera.  Hopefully one of 
them will post something.  From Tucson Andrew Cooper posted a great 
report from the Desert Sunset Star Party and I'd expect the report from 
CR to be similar.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Glad you are back and wish you had better observing luck,
aj

Steve Coe wrote:

>Howdy;
> 
>
>I was certainly happy to hear from Andrew that they had some good observing
>in Tucson, I hope the folks at Cherry Road did well also.
>
> 
>
>The Texas Star Party was not so lucky.  
> 
>
>I do have a safety tip-watch out for dear. 
>
>Ya cain't always get what you want;
>
>Steve
>
>  
>


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