[sac-forum] Re: [AZ-Observing] Re: July 28 from Cave Creek

Wayne, thanks for the report, but it isn't Steve having the problems finding M2, it is the undersigned. For many-a-year I used the superannuated method of star hopping and with Tiron's Sky Atlas no less. Try searching down 12th and 13th mag galaxies in Eridanus with an 8" scope. Unfortunately I succumed to the electronic craze - like many others. Yet I marvel at those that continue to star hop. 

AJ Crayon
Phoenix, AZ
----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)" <mrgalaxy@xxxxxxxx> 
To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 11:04 AM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: [sac-forum] July 28 from Cave Creek


15480 Empire Rd.
Benson, AZ 85602
hm ph: 520-586-2244
From mid-June to about mid-Aug, as the locals know, is monsoon (rainy) season in Arizona. It seems like the skies never truly clear during that time and when it does you hope that you can take advantage of it.
Last night was one of those rare, clear, fairly dry nights when I could actually go outside from about 10pm until about midnight looking at objects through my telescope. It was a pleasant, almost cool, night. It was good to use the telescope again. I was certainly feeling photon-deprived!
I just set up my 13-inch Dob in my black back yard and simply scanned around the sky for whatever happened to enter the eyepiece. The Milky Way was brilliant, but as usual, I shied away from it in search of external galaxies, though I did check out the Sagittarius star cloud around the spout of the teapot for quite awhile. I checked out old friends M51 and M101 (no, I did not see either one naked eye!) and their local environs and actually saw some good details in their spiral arms while there I examined several of the small galaxies in their vicinity. Later I scanned around the NGC7331 and Stephan's Quintet area and saw M31 for the first time this summer. I checked Albireo with a pair of hand-held 8x50 binoculars and easily split the star, black space between the components.
Anyway a pleasant summer night to relax after the hectic activities of the day! 

Clear skies,
Wayne (aka Mr. Galaxy)
p.s. And no, Steve, no problems finding M2. I use the ancient method of star-hopping! 



-- Jeff Hopkins <phxjeff@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Morning of 29 July from West Side of Phoenix

While I went to bed early on Monday, I was up at 3:30 AM today
observing. The sky was the best I have seen it in a long time. The
waning Moon was low to the East with lots of Earth shine. The
temperature in the observatory was a very comfortable 82. Observing
went well.

It is a real joy to observe early morning like that. No planes or
other actively. The world is asleep. One gets the feeling of being
alone and one with the universe. Great time!

Jeff


At 00:38 -0700 07/29/2008, Richard Harshaw wrote:
Tonight (July 28) was awesome from Cave Creek.  Although not as good
as Cherry Road or the Antennas (of course!), the Milky Way and Great
Rift were easy to trace, and I was observing 13mag galaxies from 9:30
pm to 12:30 am.  Hope some of y'all got out and enjoyed this great
sky.  Supposed to be this good Tuesday night too.

Richard Harshaw

Cave Creek, AZ

--
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.
(623)849-5889
(623) 247-1190 (Fax)
www.hposoft.com
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