[AZ-Observing] Re: WAS Re: Tonight, NOW Saturday Eve. Sentinel Experiences....
- From: "Thad Robosson" <starstarcracker@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2003 07:01:37 -0700
> Even though the last time I was able to go to a dark site was June 1, I
> don't think I'll drive
> all the way to Sentinel to see clouds...again.
>
> Joe
>
> Joe Goss wrote:
> >
> >After looking at the water vapor maps for tonight, I have decided to =
> >wait for a better night..............Joe
Hey All,
Having had to fight my way home from work Saturday after 3 pm, I was
determined to make up for the fight by going out and relaxing at Sentinel.
Having spoken with Chuck Akers earlier in the day gave me the courage to
battle the clouds, and not trust the maps and satellite images. Saturday
nite ended up nearly a duplicate experience as Friday I was told. There was
one catch, and it did work to my advantage. The sky was largely patchy with
thin clouds after sunset, and after only a couple of observations, the sky
was hazed over enough to make some faint deep sky stuff unapproachable.
That is when I decided to hit the sack around 10pm for a couple of hours to
see if the haze would go away. It paid off. I awoke a little after
midnight with a much clearer sky. I pounded my feet a bit and visitied with
others to give my eyeballs time to refocus. I finally hit the scope again
about 1am, and was rewarded for my efforts. I was able to get 12 "official"
observations, complete with notes and sketches that night. Around 4am as my
body was asking for more sleep, Jack Jones, Jenn the Pest, and myself
witnessed the rising of Venus in all it's rainbow glory. That thing was
changing colors faster than a Freshman being chased by wedgie-hungry
Seniors. I now can see why so many times it's been called in as a UFO!
The highlights, (other than being able to observe at all...) were....
NGC 1501, very obvious, quite round with a mottled inner-annular structure.
Central star was easy to hold directly.
NGC 1502, nice, loose cluster with a few doubles in it. More of an asterism
at 190x, but some unresolved haze under the pair of 7th mag stars on the SE
edge of it.
NGC 2403, WOW! Very large, nice dark lanes and decent hints of spiral
structure. One hazy segment to the S appears detached until I put on the
Monk's Hood (aka, the Towel) and used averted. Very, very nice...
NGC 2683, another WOW! Very elongated, and obvious dark lanes giving a
spiral structure. Tilted slightly towards us, but resembling the Sombrero
in some respects, namely the appearence of the bulging core.
The night was never perfect, but at it's best, I give it a transparency of
6/10, not quite a 7/10, and seeing of 7/10. Certainly can't argue given my
other choice was to stay home and get upset at 2am when I realized it was
clear out.... :-) I also had the pleasure of meeting Bill Ferris for the
first time, to whom I give credit to in the form of inspiring me to keep
practicing my sketches. Good to meet you. Anyway, the storal of the mory
(thanks to AJ for that one.) is that it's possible to get some good
observing in the morning hours instead of the evening. I may use this to
advantage in the future for first quarter moon weekends....
Thad
Thad Robosson
Double star enthusiast
Member Saguaro Astronomy Club
ATM group chairman
Owner/operator Twin Points Observatory
33 27 N, 112 19 W
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
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