2017 27th Annual Grand Canyon Star Party - South Rim
DAY EIGHT - Final Night and the Clouds Take Over
Location: Grand Canyon Visitor Center, South Rim of Grand Canyon, AZ, about
340 miles north of home in Tucson, about 7000 ft. elevation
Weather: Typical partly cloudy during the day, clearing out started after
sunset but reversed to eventual total coverage. Upper-90s daytime, still
warm trapped by clouds we quit at 1:30 AM.
Seeing and Transparency: A few sucker holes, totally obscure on the western
meridian except an occasional Jupiter sighting, more open in the east
Equipment: 90mm Orion ShortTube refractor on a Celestron AVX mount.
Mallincam Xterminator video system on the 10", 19" QFX LCD monitor.
We had our last day pot luck at Mather Campground and it was very nice to
review the week and just have a great social event. The sky was a
combination of cloud types, a typical afternoon for this time of year in the
area and
we expected the usual evacuation at or just after sunset. We were wrong.
Once again, our terrific week unveiling our home universe to thousands of
visitors is coming to an end. Over 100 volunteer astronomers have come from
around the world to accomplish this task. The dedication of the Ranger
staff and support from all the GCNP personnel, from the Superintendent on down
through our coordinator, Ranger Rader Lane, on down to the Ranger Aids,
makes this all possible.
Our speaker was Kevin Schindler, historian at Lowell Observatory with the
topic Fly Me to the Moon Through Northern Arizona, an overview of the
training of the Apollo astronauts in geology and lunar operations in the area
between the Grand Canyon, through Sunset Crater and Lowell Observatory and
extending to Meteor Crater.
It was a great overview of the initial political motivation translated into
the engineering and educational processes to make it happen. Full of
anecdotal references and personal stories and actions of the astronauts and
launch teams, it was quite a journey in time with an exposition of the
realities of the era. We raffled off our final Celestron First Scope donation,
and
got to watch the birth of another astronomer.
I had to scramble out at the scope because of time constraints limiting my
getting the monitor, camera, and power configuration accomplished. I needed
to do the 10 PM Constelation Tour, and the sky was awful and getting
worse. The eastern horizon was fairly open, but the western horizon was mostly
obscured except for Jupiter and occasionally The Big Dipper. I wanted to get
onto Albireo for my wife, Susan, to do her teaching while I did the walk
around the sky, but the migrating cloud and wildfire assembly just wouldn't
let it happen. I shut off the monitor and went to start the tour, which was
surprisingly successful. The big blotches would move around almost on cue,
exposing talking points and then covering them back up. I was able to get
in a complete ecliptic/zodiac exposition, the Milky Way was wide open on
cue, and a full multi-cultural discussion was possible, but the writing was
in the sky. Less and less availability. By the time I got back to the scope
and final adjustments, only the area from Sagittarius through upper
Scorpius was open. I went over to M22, the globular cluster on the Sagittarius
teapot, but while a star field near the core of the Milky Way was visible, the
cluster itself was washed out. Thinking I might have an alignment problem,
I did GOTOs to Antares, and to M4, but they both popped in dead center.
The M4 globular stuck around for a while, but by about 11:45 the sky totally
slammed shut. I foolishly waited with grandson Andrew until after 1 AM, but
nothing was clearing out. We shut things down, got ready for pack up the
next morning, and ended the night.
I have left out a half dozen wonderful encounters with visitors who had
questions about almost everything astronomical, from the practical
possibilities of space travel to the cultural significance of many pieces of
the sky
that would come and go. The evolution and life cycle of stars of various
sizes, and the colors of the stars were great ways to patiently spend the time
with the visitors, hoping along with the astronomers for more wonders of
our home universe to come into view, but we were limited to Saturn and
Jupiter for any moderate length of time. I was able to relay a concept among
some Native American cultures that the spirits of ancestors reside in the
clouds, and so it is not polite to complain about the clouds; they are a sign
that ancestors are coming to help with some problem, real or imagined.
Still, there are times when indoor model railroading might be a worthy
alternative pastime to consider!
Having grandsons Stephen and Andrew around has been a joy. Their
willingness to learn, and their jumping in at a moment's notice to help the
Rangers
with many tasks in the background of making this remarkable event happen
has been invaluable. A priceless asset!
The few great hours I've had this year under the stars have been
astounding. Having to switch scopes from the 10" to the 90mm through the
incredible
capability of the Xterminator once again brings the context of a view
alive. It's been nice to once again visit the stage where the parading beauties
of the night sky are displayed, a great complement to the close up images of
the objects themselves.
Jim O'Connor
South Rim Coordinator
Grand Canyon Star Party
_gcsp@tucsonastronomy.org_ (mailto:gcsp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please
send personal replies to the author, not the list.
