[AZ-Observing] Observing report from the 2012 All Arizona Messier Marathon
- From: L Knauth <Knauth@xxxxxxx>
- To: "az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, EVAC <evac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:13:28 -0700
The former Salome emergency airstrip is a great place for the AAMM and for big
groups to observe. Two miles to I-10 leaves passing traffic in plain view, but
it turns out not to affect night vision very much. We also get the full blast
of the Phoenix sky dome low in the east, but anytime you can see the Zodiacal
Band crossing the whole sky things are pretty good. Saturday morning at about
3 am the SQM reading was an excellent 21.68. Watching that endless two-way
river of distant 18 wheelers going 24/7 between LA and Phoenix while being
under such a star-filled sky makes you feel temporarily aloof from the hubbub
and madness of the civilized world. Perfect.
As several have already noted, Saturday night was not so good, but
Thursday and Friday nights got steadily better as the night progressed. It was
fun sharing views through the 25” Obsession with all the people who walked over.
On Thursday I worked down a long list of mostly 13th-15th magnitude
interacting galaxies with the 25” Obsession and really got to experience
gravity in a profound way. Not just the pull while climbing endlessly up the
ladder but via the sight of so many twisted, contorted, and just plain crazy
looking pairs and groups of glowing wisps. Many of them are figured in the Arp
Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies which is a great guide to views in the 25”. While
you usually can’t see the fainter arms and such, the shapes you see in the
atlas are pretty much the shapes you see in the eyepiece. The distortions and
odd shapes are caused by gravitational tugging, so you can really feel the
dramatic shredding and warping that goes on during these surprisingly numerous
encounters. Some are thin slivers with one side badly twisted. Some have
bright nuclei offset from the center. Some have lumps and clumps and some are
just plain chaotic-looking. The climax Thursday night was the famous Antennae
pair with its knotty star clouds plainly visible as in the images. Star
formation being triggered on a grand scale. Gravity on a cosmic scale and in
plain sight.
After midnight Friday, the sky of our dreams began to magically appear.
By 3 am it was not only transparent and dark, but the turbulence settled down
and stars became hard points even at higher powers. I was blown off the
observing ladder by the sight of the stunning globular cluster M5. For the
first time I saw the gray background haze between the brighter stars resolved
completely into a population of distinctly fainter pinpoints with dark space
between them. No haze anywhere, everything uncountable stars. The globular
was resolved totally, utterly, to and actually through the core. Not just the
easily resolvable bright stars we all see, but this fainter population that
generates the luminous haze. It was such a striking and unexpected sight that
I just had to get someone else to look. I walked over to neighbors Tom and
Jennifer Polakis, but determined Tom was deeply engaged in a “globular cluster
marathon” with his 18” that I did not want to disturb. Indefatigable Jennifer
had just gone to bed but quickly climbed out of her sleeping bag and came over
to confirm this amazing sight. It was great to know I wasn’t imagining. We
both marveled at the view for some time. Later, I looked at M13 and the gray
haze in that one was also utterly resolved into a fainter population of little
mathematical points barely separated by black space. In the subsequent
daylight, Tom suggested that these are the fainter horizontal branch stars on
the HR diagram. Makes sense. Well, now I have a new test for good seeing and
look forward to truly “resolving” other globulars. It’s when you can look right
through them!
Terrestrial gravity caught up with my ladder-climbing bones about 4 am,
and I took a final naked eye view of the spectacle before going to bed.
Scorpius stood vertically on the southern horizon with the curving tail tangent
to the distant, dark, desert mountains. The billowing star clouds of the
rising Milky Way formed a spectacular horizon-to-horizon arch right over the
Phoenix light dome. Here the blazing light of countless stars generated by
thermonuclear reactions was framing that big glow created by our artificial and
frantic release of stored-up sunlight in fossil fuels and light eased out of
old supernova-generated uranium atoms at the nearby Palo Verde Nuclear
facility. This juxtaposition together with that relentless scurrying of I-10
traffic provoked disturbing thoughts as I climbed into bed. This frantic,
unstoppable, supernatural release of geologically stored energy that makes
civilization possible…. and allows me to escape it…. cannot be bad. Can not be
good.
Woke up at 11 am to overcast skies. Packed up, exchanged some stories
with neighbors, and headed back to luxury, rest, and civilization. All is
vanity, but we get to rise above it for a time. Three days past, and I haven’t
really re-entered yet. Thank you AJ and the others who organized this event!
Videmus Stellae,
Paul Knauth
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