[sac-forum] RTMC 2008 activities and weather report

I was in Big Bear Lake, California for the SAS meeting Tuesday through Thursday, and at Camp Oakes for RTMC the whole Memorial Day weekend (the 40th annual RTMC conference). We had rain and then snow in Big Bear Lake on Wednesday and Thursday -- big fluffy flakes at the Northwoods Resort on Thursday. It didn't stick or pile up, and evaporated quickly. It was chilly all week. Jeff Hopkins drove home down the mountain from the SAS conference during the snowstorm on Friday...
On Friday afternoon at Camp Oakes, we had a snowstorm... Soft, icy pellets ("grappen"), which piled up on the vendor tents and then ran off and melted. Some vendors closed early in the afternoon, and there were mutterings of despair. It was partly cloudy all Saturday and Sunday, and continued cold, although the Sun peeked out from time to time. The snow had completely evaporated, but the extra moisture helped keep down the inevitable dust in camp. I wore my down parka and gloves all day. The crowd was smaller than usual, likely due to a combination of the poor economy, high gas prices, Full Moon, and evident rainy, overcast weather down in the valley.... But it cleared each night in the evening at Camp Oakes, and the transparency was very good. My friend Jim Vail (former SAC member, now in Maryland) measured "21.67" on his new Unihedron Sky Brightness Meter, just outside in back of the Main Hall. Jack Eastman from Denver noted temperatures of 18 and 10 degrees in his tent Sat. and Sunday mornings...
We did not see any of the predicted ISS passages or Iridium flares, or the Minuteman III missile launch from Vandenberg AFB (Thursday am), as they all occurred ca. 3 am.
On Sunday, many of the vendors packed up early. I managed to buy only a few goodies, not breaking the bank, but I did snag three more pairs of binoculars (nos. 26 - 28 in my collection), some optical glass, and some other items, from Bill of Telescope Warehouse and Russ from Russell Optics, neighbors over in Meadeview, AZ. Al Nagler, Prez.of Teleview showed off his new f.l. Ethos eyepiece, but I did not get a look through it. Lance Frederick of AZ Sky Shack in Mesa showed off his printing services, including custom color "wraps" for telescope tubes and other things. He also does star tours for hire.
I looked over the Explora-Dome setup with much interest. PolyDome owner Dan and his wife brought >nine< 8-foot domes on their new "no scuff-em", stacking E-D Dome Delivery Trailer. Frank Alvarez of StellarVision in Tucson is the AZ distributor, and helped out setting up and answering questions. The 8-ft dome they set up on a 10-ft diameter aluminum panelled lower wall shed off the snow nicely -- NO drips or leaks inside!
There was not much re: telescope making at RTMC this year. There were only a couple of talks of interest (IMHO), including Roger Ceragioli from the Steward Mirror Lab speaking on Bernhard Schmidt and his optics (the Goff Memorial lecture). Chris Butler (Griffith Observatory) gave an excellent, amusing and off-center look at Astronomy for the Sat. evening talk. Only 25 scopes were entered in the merit awards (probably an all-time low), and only two Merit Awards were given. (No Warren Estes Award this year.)
Very few scopes were set up for observing, and none of the vendors had much set up outside their tents. Jim Stevens camped as usual with his smaller 10 inch Dob. Wayne Thomas of EVAC did snag a few more objects on his DS list -- some edge-on galaxies. (He was camped in the RV area.) I hung out and shivered with my old friends Earl Wilson (from Lone Pine, CA) and Jim Vail (Maryland). Dennis Young from Sedona was selling off portions of his binocular collection (and brought his binocular observing chair) and supermagnets. Steven Overholt was giving away copies of his latest book (with pix of Jim Stevens)....
Sunday afternoon, Ernie Williams (the RTMC A-V guru) had a satellite dish set up and we enjoyed viewing the live NASA-TV broadcasts of the Phoenix Mars Lander (which interrupted the RTMC program) through the rest of the evening.
I talked with many old friends as usual, and had a pretty good (but chilly!) time. 

Gene Lucas
(17250)

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