[AZ-Observing] Re: Report: Friday night at the Antennas site...
- From: pulind@xxxxx
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2011 12:50:07 -0400 (EDT)
Paul,
That "Levitating, shrieking" thing must be really something to watch!
- paul
----- Original Message -----
From: "L Knauth" <Knauth@xxxxxxx>
To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, August 6, 2011 10:28:17 PM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Report: Friday night at the Antennas site...
Chris,
I didn’t think you guys were crazy at all. I did one-nighters with my 12.5
inch a few miles north of there at Hovatter Norte several times in the dead of
summer. The trick is to get out of there before 9:30 am the next morning. It
was actually very pleasant. I would usually try to assess whether the western
boundary of the monsoon air mass was somewhere between here and there before
going out. I was always concerned about stepping on a lime-green Crotalus
Scutulatus because they are out at night in the summer and that is one venomous
critter. Fortunately, like all snakes, they head for the hills if they sense
you stomping their way. It is nevertheless wise to shine a bright red light on
where you are going to step because they could be cornered. They do rattle
like a machine gun if frightened, so you will get a warning that invokes an
instantaneous primordial reaction (levitating, shrieking, and backstepping
mightily all in one action). I did fieldwork out in that co
untry for years and only ever saw about 3, so an encounter is unlikely.
However, someone once did fortuitously back over the HEAD of a big rattler at a
SAC Buckeye Hills star party while pulling out of the row of telescopes. We
all heard a pop, the driver got out, and we all went to see what that was.
Amazing. So, I always illuminate where I am going to step when moving away
from the immediate observing area, even in spring and fall.
I no longer do intentional one-nighters because of the hour it takes me to set
up and tear down the big 25” I use now. Your experience reminds me that I
should come out with the 12.5” again instead of missing the summer Milky Way.
I only did one intentional one-nighter with the 25” right after I first got it
assembled. I couldn’t find anything because I hadn’t studied the GoTo
instructions carefully enough. After 3 frustrating hours, I put in a 40 mm
eyepiece, pointed it in the general direction of M 81/82, and started sweeping
determined to see a galaxy though that big sucker. M 81 finally floated into
view and my first thought was that the optics had a defect and were throwing up
a big halo reflection around this (now) incredibly bright object. Then I
realized that this was the outer arms in all their splendor that I had never
seen before! When I recovered in shock and amazement, I moved over to M82 and
fully realized that the adventure of a lifetime was ahead. I le
arned the GoTo procedure before the next outing.
Damn the monsoon, snakes, details in GoTo instructions, and all that stands in
the way of looking at the Universe! Let's go observing.
Videmus Stellae!
Paul Knauth
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