[AZ-Observing] Observing_Report_GCSP_2011_Day_4_Warm_Again
- From: Skylook123@xxxxxxx
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:32:45 -0400 (EDT)
Grand Canyon Star Party - DAY FOUR - Warm Again
Location: Grand Canyon Visitor Center, South Rim of Grand Canyon, AZ,
about 340 miles north of home in Tucson, about 7000 ft elevation
Weather: 80s at Noon, 70s at sunset, Upper 50s when we quit at 11 PM.
Clear skies for afternoon and evening, virtually dead calm after sunset.
Seeing and Transparency: On my scale, 8/10 both.
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
Another great night. Many of us stayed in short sleeve shirts until pack
up.
Today I spent quite a bit of time in the Canyon Cafe, using the wireless.
Well, not really using it; sitting there and visiting with other passing
volunteers. Sort of like Rick's Cafe Americain in Casablanca.
At the site we move the set up for the Atlas a bit to improve the flow of
the foot traffic. Unfortunately, oldest granddaughter Jessica and I did
not get the true north nailed down quite as well as the previous three days.
So far, in four nights, we have yet to stellar align the mount. It is
about 30 minutes prior to sunset when Susan, our granddaughter Karina, and I
head down to the theater to set up the night talk and hand out sky maps.
Jessica sets the GOTO of the Atlas on Saturn, and waits for dark.
Despite a way to wordy lead in on my part, Marilyn Unruh did her usual
aids-free talk tonight, adding a new wrinkle. Fruit. Yes, along with her
Telescopes as Time Machine, and Using Five Senses for Astronomy, now a piece
of fruit is on stage. Tonight was an apple, representing the earth. She
has added an introduction about the visualization of the Earth's shadow. She
starts talking about the sun casting a shadow, and having the audience
declare the key fact; the shadow is in the opposite direction from the light
source, the Sun. Then she gets the kids to identify an eclipse as where you
can see the Earth's shadow, and then she slides into the twilight and dawn
wedge and the moving shadow of the earth. A great way to ease into how
night doesn't fall, it rises from the horizon opposite the sun. Very visual
description. Tonight, with a borrowed apple.
We had to shut the doors at 8:05 tonight; just too many people for safety.
So, about 200 extra people surged down to the scopes still in dusk.
Quite a flea market.
Heading back to the scope farm after the talk, it was packed with people
and inky dark, except for Marilyn's curtain of the night's shadow having
moved across the sky from the anti-solar point to almost at the setting
horizon. I got to our two scopes, and Jessica and Karina were really rockin',
Jessica on Albireo with the 10" and Karina on The Ring with the 18". I can go
take a nap!! They are so good with the crowd, who are stunned at two
teenage girls are having so much fun with the "big iron" and connecting so
well
with the visitors. No, all astronomers are not crotchety old guys with
pocket protectors. We really miss Sara Meschberger this year; other
commitments got in the way of her being here. Jessica and Karina are
following
along.
Karina took a break, so I grabbed my chance at some "me" time. I went
over to Saturn and got a less-than-perfect view of Saturn, so I tweaked the
collimation and it was awesome. Titan a bit off to the side, and three more
moons right on the planet limb or in contact with the ring plane. Cassini
actually flickered for me, and the ring plane shadow was like a black
pencil line on the disk. So cool.
After Karina got back, I showed her how to align the DSCs. Here it was,
Tuesday, and we hadn't even started the Sky Commander this week. We went to
The Sombrero for a few minutes, then stayed on The Whirlpool and its
supernova for the rest of the visitors. A good example to use with Marilyn's
telescope as a time machine. The Oh Wow effect in the 18" on The Whirlpool
near zenith at 7000 feet, with an exploded star sharing the stage, is every
bit as enthusiastic as first looks at Saturn.
For us at the north end, the crowd abruptly quit around 10:15. Karina and
Susan packed up some of the ancillary stuff (unneeded jackets, chairs, hot
chocolate thermoses) and headed back to the lodge, Jessica handled the take
down of the Atlas, I finally got some eye candy time. We, and Craig from
Kingman with his 20" Obsession, played dueling nebulae. We are both at
f/5, so we can use the thin, dark skies for lots of power. Then Craig throws
the unbeatable challenge in the ring. He sticks an Explore Scientific
giving around 130X, along with a narrowband filter, in the focuser and hit The
Swan. Game freakin' over. The Swan is regally cruising the sky,
shedding feathers across the view as she teases us with her striking presence.
I
do almost as well on The Veil, but it was really game over when Craig went
there as well. Then I heard him talking about having tuned up his
collimation a bit, and I was appalled. No Fair. Aperture rules. But we each
had
about ten objects in 20 minutes to drool over. My goodness, what the
visitors missed as they headed over to the bar at Maswick. I was thinking of
upping the bidding with my slightly wider FOV with the smaller mirror, and
going over to Markarian's Chain, but then Craig could counter with that !#$%$
Explore Scientific and I lose the power AND context with field battles.
Do I sound disgruntled? Heck yes. But it is really a smile generator as
Craig guides his visitors all night around the wonders we have to offer.
With his 20" sitting there, maybe I'll just watch condors daytime, and let
Karina share her own enthusiasm with her visitors, aperture independent.
Regular readers of my GCSP reports will notice I haven't brought up the
public interaction vignettes as I have done in the past. Truth is, my team
of scope operators are having all the interaction, while I am grinning like
heck in the dark. But, tonight, I had a great one. Karina had a line
about 15 deep as she was showing The Ring. So I started talking near the end
of the line about what they would see. There were several small children,
so I toned down the planetary nebula talk to only saying that the star used
up its fuel, started making new elements as it reached its end, and
scattered what it was around the universe. And then it becomes the Earth, and
even us. We are star stuff! I actually heard a quiet wow from one of the
young folks. Then I stole one of Marilyn's analogies had had a quiet, subdued
young man, of about 4 years of age, reach up to the sky and grab. See?
Now you are holding a piece of an old star. He brought his fist down and
stared at it for several minutes, clenched and unclenched it, then I saw him
open his fist up and give a gentle toss, like releasing a butterfly.
There! Got my story.
Jessica and I (really Jessica; all I did was put the 40 pound OTA in the
box and bring the truck around) finished the pack out and went back to the
rooms. Except for lifting the OTA (she has a badly sprained ankle, and the
bulky torque would be too much risk), she is now doing the complete setup
and configuration now, as is Karina with the 18" (although the 18" stays set
up under the weather shroud. Both young ladies do seem a bit too enamored
of laser pointers. Kids.
We only had 32 telescopes tonight, and we really could have used another
10. Tonight, a dozen scopes from the Red Light District will appear for the
rest of the week, which should ease the crush at the south end.
Maybe I should shop for Explore Scientific toys. Anybody want to buy a
used Panoptic?
Jim O'Connor
South Rim Coordinator
Grand Canyon Star Party
_gcsp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:gcsp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Jim O'Connor
South Rim Coordinator
Grand Canyon Star Party
Grand Canyon Cell Phone: 520-405-6551
gcsp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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