[AZ-Observing] Re: Saturday at Flat Iron
- From: "Kimball Corson" <kcorson@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 9 Aug 2004 19:15:01 -0700
Supplemental Report
While it was hot and very humid early Saturday night at Flat Iron, as the
night wore on, it cooled off, a slight breeze came up, and the lone cloud in
the sky vanished. It was actually fun then and everyone was busy looking
through their own and other's scopes. AJ's comet views needed serious
rehabilitation in order to conform with novice expectations of a comet
should look like, with a nice bright head and a clearly discernable tail,
instead of pretending to be globular clusters to fake us newbies out.
My C-9.25 Adv Series Go To is in fact quite noisy, as AJ suggests, being
only slightly less so than an electric coffee grinder. Hopping about on
celestial objects, it can generate a rather sustained ruckus. However, noise
aside, for those who wonder whether a CG-5 mount, with Go To added on and
the new beefier tripod, is stable with a C-9.25, the answer is resounding
"yes." Celestron damping pucks under the tripod legs take dampening times to
virtually zero. Such was not true for the older CG-5 with aluminum legs and
a C-9.25.
Also, it was interesting to compare views on the same objects with Gary and
Barbara's C-11 and my C-9.25. Both scopes had XLT coatings, adding about an
inch of effective aperture based on light throughput. Image brightness was
approximately equalized on both scopes by reducing the power on the C-9.25
by eyepiece selection by a 1/3 or so; however, otherwise the brightness
difference was there and clearly discernable.
However, for Cherry Road coming up, I can leave the coffee grinder at home,
for after 21 months of waiting my Portaball 12.5 has at last arrived with
its delay-creating Zambuto mirror. The mirror is the best of the last batch
for which Carl Z will provide technical specifications (Relative Transverse
Aberration = 0.24; Peak to Valley Wave Front = 1/27.8; Wavefront RMS 1/89;
and Strehl Ratio = 0.995). In the future, Carl will only provide a
guarantee the mirror is diffraction limited. Now if the Portaball just had
Go To features or if I just better knew the night sky, I would be all set.
However, I guess I should be grateful for the scope arriving while I still
have sight, am not beset by Alzheimer's and I am still living. It was quite
a wait, and I will see whether it was worth it..
Of course, the clear implication now is that not only will Cherry Road be
clouded over this nest weekend, but fog is likely as well. The fundamental
law of Physics may well be at work: "Nature is perverse."
Kimball Corson
----- Original Message -----
From: "AJ Crayon" <acrayon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "AZ Observing" <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 6:14 PM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Saturday at Flat Iron
> The short story for Saturday night - it was hot! Almost all of us broke
> out into a sweat just setting up our telescopes. The longer story
follows.
>
> David Fredericksen and I decided to head out together. On the way to
> David's house a nice down pour was seen that looked like it was at the
> site. By the time we got out on the highway not only was the shower
> gone, but so were most of the clouds - a good sign indeed. As it turned
> out there was standing water on the road and shoulder well before
> getting to the dirt road. But the skies continued to clear!
>
> Upon arriving we were greeted by Sheryl Gambardella, Gary and Barbara
> Mellar, and Kim Corson. We talked for a while, mostly weather and the
> humidity, before starting to setting up our scopes.
>
> Before completing our setup Chuck Akers arrived and began assembling his
> 17.5" DOB and in deepening twilight Lynn Blackburn arrived.
>
> Once completing our set up there was more time for chatting, having a
> sandwich and more chatting. Eventually twilight took over and it was
> time to start observing -- finally. First on the list for David and I
> were comets 2003 (K4) LINEAR and 2001 (Q4) NEAT, with a Lumicon comet
> filter. At 140X K4 LINEAR was fan shaped, about 7th mag, 10' long and
> was framed by two stars. It had a much brighter coma about 4' in
> diameter. Averted vision worked very well as it became almost twice as
> large and appeared much brighter.
>
> Comet Q4 NEAT, also at 140X, was round about 8th mag, 10' and its halo
> formed a right triangle with two other stars.
>
> About this time I rated both the seeing and transparency a pair of 6's.
> Not all that good, but worth giving it a try.
>
> Next up was V Aquilae. Although it has been recorded as a deep red, at
> 140X in the 14.5 inch, we saw it as very orange on this night.
>
> Chuck and Lynn called me over to see the Ring Nebula's central star in
> Chucks telescope ... at something like 500X. It was right at the
> zenith, a difficult spot for a DOB, but it was easy to move the scope to
> track the Ring and, after a few minutes, there is was for a short
> fleeting moment.
>
> The next target for David and I was the Phantom Streak Nebula, NGC6741
> in Aquila. It was no where to be found, we searched for it longer than
> it took to see the Rings central star. Some one said one time, it is a
> phantom alright. Perhaps the humidity and viewing conditions were
> working against us this time.
>
> During the evening we were serenaded by Spade Toad Frogs and Kim's GOTO
> telescope. Not as sure of the frog spelling as I am of Kim's GOTO
> telescope.
>
> Around 10pm or so I decided to roam the field and socialize.
> Gary/Barbara recently arrived from Pennsylvania, fourth time setting up
> 11" GOTO SCT. Viewed M19 and NGC??? in Sheryl 8" f6, what a nice
> sentimental journey.
>
> We certainly hope the weather is more cooperative up at Cherry Rd this
> coming weekend.
>
>
> AJ Crayon
>
>
> --
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>
>
>
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