The 2002 Laurel Highlands Star Cruise

This is one of the favorite star parties of the OVAS club members. Currently it is our favorite summer event. This years event was no exception. This is a nice site, about 4-4.5 hours away with nice sky (MAG 5.5(+)), only 5.7 miles from the highway (I-68 near WV/MD border). It is very family friendly, so the trip makes a nice get away for the whole family. Lets hear what the attendies had to say.

Jeff Ball's Report

Turn to the Dark side (of the sky): Jeff's report with pictures of OVAS attendees

Rodgers Observing Notes

Rodger's Report comes later on down the page.

Larry Oyster's Report

Laurel Highlands Star Cruise 2002
Pinehill Campground, WV
This is a combination observing/event report. Sorry for the length.

Chris and I met Jeff at the McDonalds on 29th Street, and headed up the road around 10:00 a.m. on Thursday. Jeff had a presentation later that evening, and we wanted to arrive in plenty of time to set up. It rained nearly the entire trip. We stopped in Morgantown for lunch, and debated on whether to attend Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, or travel on over to the star field. The weather was definitely not going to cooperate with us on this day.

A quick call to Don, who had arrived on-site Wednesday, and we decided to go to the field. We also made a very wise decision to sleep in a cabin rather than set up the tents. Jeff's presentation was excellent (no surprise there), and we hung around watching the first hour or so of Star Trek Episode IV. We were asleep by 11:30 with hopes of a good Friday.

Friday morning was partly sunny with a light breeze. It looked very much like this could be a great night. Chris and I set up our tent beside Don, and Jeff set up across the road for a little larger space and a more stable base.

Jeff put the Coronado H-alpha filter on the TV-85. The views were spectacular. A very large prominence on the surface made it clear the school has to get one of these. Tried imaging with the Coolpix 995, "Digi-T" and the eyepiece purchased for the adapter, but the Digi-T holds the eyepiece too far from the camera lens, and the lens itself isn't the best, so the intensity of the sun was difficult to photograph. I thought this was my problem, but it seems that this is related to equipment limitations, rather than Larry limitations. By nightfall, the entire OVAS contingent had arrived: Jeff, Rodger, Don, and me, as well as kids and Marla. Thanks for coming Marla, a standard has been set!

Friday night was gorgeous. I wanted to find the dwarf galaxy NGC 6822 in Sagittarius, but since it wasn't up yet, thought I would look in Leo. In the mane of the Lion is a triplet of NGC galaxies 3185, 3190 and 3193 (from the Sky Atlas). I used the TV 55mm with its three degree fov to center the area. There were no dim fuzzies visible. I used the 9mm T1 eyepiece for a little closer view (98x). There were some dim fuzzies in there, but could not get verification from Don that he saw what I saw. I sketched what I saw to identify them later. I did get NGC 3190 and NGC 3193, but the third dim fuzzy was NGC 3187, (not 3185). NGC 3190 is a Type SA(s), and is the largest visually of the three. Visual magnitude of 11.2, it isn't real bright in the ep. There is a 13th magnitude star that is off-center of this galaxy which showed up in my sketch. Also in the fov was NGC 3193 which appeared brighter than 3190. Visual magnitude is 10.9. It is an E2 galaxy. The third object is NGC 3187. At magnitude 13.4, it wasn't much more than a REALLY dim smudge. (I used The Night Sky Observer's Guide Vol. 2, and TheSky to help verify what was in the eyepiece.)

I actually spent quite a bit of time here, and then tried for some old faithful Messier objects. M64, The Black Eye galaxy in Coma Berenices was next on the list. I double checked my notes from my Messier list and found I had some pretty poor notes on it, so wanted to double check that I had it. It was easily visible using the 55mm (16x), looked better in the 14mm Pentax,(63x) but the 9mm gave just a hint of detail. For some reason, I didn't try the 6mm. Spent a lot of time visiting Don's scope. He was searching the Virgo galaxy cluster so I got to see a lot of those. Mike's LX200 GoTo scope was beside Don. M5 through that Meade was a beautiful view. Also viewed through Rodger's 20", as well as just walking around looking at stuff. Viewed M51 (Whirlpool) and M104 (Sombrero) galaxies through other scopes and then through my light cup.

Saturday was a good visiting day. Watching Rodger and Justin with the rockets was a real treat. Chris was launched rocket chaser, and there is a picture of Evan and Dave standing together that is etched on my mind.

Rodger also had his Coronado NearStar set up for solar observing. This is the easiest observing tool I've seen. It is really idiot proof and gives beautiful views of the sun in hydrogen-alpha. I think Marla liked this scope, too.

We walked around the camping area and looked at all the scopes. There were some real beauties: The 10" refractor (1 week old), the 30" dob, "Alice" like scopes (from the maker of the original Alice), an off-axis hyper-parabolic design Gary had "next door." He observed an asteroid occultation Saturday night. Lots and lots of new GPS scopes of all sizes. I was well behaved at the vendor's table, purchasing a set of The Night Sky Observers Guide books. No new eyepieces or any other equipment! Chris and Rodger participated in Who Wants to be an Astronomer. Chris didn't place, but got 4 questions correct, and Rodger took 3rd place!

Jeff won a set of The Night Sky books, Dave won a planisphere, and Chris won an eyepiece case during the door prizes. OVAS did quite well! We didn't win any of the big prizes this year, though. Maybe Evan can win the telescope next year.

But it was the night that was the best. I really didn't start observing until after 10 p.m. but what great skies! The Sombrero galaxy looked best in my TV 9mm T1, as did NGC 4361, a magnitude 10.9 planetary nebula in Corvus.

Dave, Rodger, Jeff and I (and Don occasionally) walked around and looked through whatever seemed interesting. First up, a pair of HUGE Fujinon binoculars used to sweep the sky by a comet hunter. I regret to report I've forgotten his name, but Jeff's report will have it. Comet Ikeya-Zhang was very bright through the twin 6" scopes, and it really did provide excellent views of the MW. It was much easier to view with two eyes than with one. I found the comet in my 102 later on, but the tail was not quite so obvious.

Went to High Point Scientific to see what they were on with their 24" Dob. Dave and Larry were working their way through the Hercules Galaxy Cluster. Talk about cool views. It is really nice to look at objects through these large scopes that I will not see in my 4". And they made it so easy to follow through with it all. They used an observer's guide on a table to show us what we would see, then up to the eyepiece to work our way through ourselves. It was excellent. But the cool thing here was seeing Barnard's E in Aquila. Using the photographic images in the guide, we were able to follow the dark nebula from top to bottom. It was my first views of a dark nebula (on purpose).

To further my respect for these guys, I mentioned I would be disappointed looking through my 102 at these objects, and he immediately told me what I would see in the area from a scope in that class. And he was right! I did view this dark nebula region (LDN 142 and 143) using the 55mm and was able to see the whole E in the eyepiece. I also looked at LDN 684 and 673 in Aquila. The dark nebula became conspicuous after I learned from High Point what to look for!

From High Point, we moved to the 10" refractor for a look, which was cool. The folks had just found a globular cluster in the Sag region. I would have liked to see something else that would show off the instrument's power, but the view was still awesome. I had also viewed the sun through the 10" earlier in the day using a white filter and a minus violet filter. It was an excellent view.

The view through the 30" dob were underwhelming. The stars looked like knives. Unfortunately, the owner of the scope wasn't there at the time, and the fellow who showed it to us was understandably more interested in his own scope. Could have been the eyepiece. Looked through a few other scopes, including Gary's off-axis design (stunning nebulosity views) and a look through an Alice design 10" dob. Crystalline views. Back in camp I spent a lot of time looking through Rodger's and Don's scopes, as well as the 102. Viewed CR 399 Brocchi's Cluster in Vulpecula. Best view was through the Pentax 14mm. It is an open cluster.

Didn't want to do it, but went to bed around 3:15. This is one night I could have spent the entire night at the eyepiece. Walking around helped, and having good friends view with me made for an excellent time. I'll be back next year. Then I really will look for NGC 6822.

Editor's notes

Larry omits many memborable monents. Like coffee on Saturday. As we tried to wake up, a need for coffe was present but the vendors were not to arrive for another hour. What to do? Larry had a camp stove. I had propane and a lighter. Larry had instant coffee. Marla had milk and sugar. I had a small pot Marla had water. After a true OVAS team effort we were able to produce coffee. Good work team.

Or the time during the rocket launch when Justin's rocket went off the pad and turned straight into the crowd of spectators. Or the exciting expolsion 4' above the pad. Or the many rockets that came to the ground in pieces (you see the rockets were constructed from 9-11 and the launches began at 11. and not all the glue had dried ...)

Or the time spent lounging under Don's or Dave's and Jeff's shelters just talking and laughing. We discussed the nights observing, the days events and reviewed many Sci-Fi movies. Or Don and his traveling chair. And lets not forget the SMORES. In the end camping is all about the SMORES ... and roasted marsh mellows. Good times.

There were talks and presentations. Discussions with vendors. Visits to others camps to see their equipment setups. Friendly folks.

Rodger's ramblings

Back from the LHSC. What an event! A nice site. Surrounded by trees. No local light. 75% sky area is mag 5.5(+), light domes to the north. Excellent Southern Sky (for the summer objects ... and it is summer). Vendor tent, Food tent, $4K of door prizes, lectures, astronomy game show, rocket launch, many scopes, much equipment, nice hosts. An excellent event. We'll be back. Larry & Chris oyster, Don Kemper, Jeff Ball, Marla & David & Evan Tolley, Justin and Rodger Blake attended for OVAS. Thats 5 members, 1 spouse and 3 kids. This is a family friendly event. The kids enjoyed biking and the rocket launches (we - OVAS/Justin - ran launch pad #6). We even landed one rocket in a tree. Dave Tolley amazed us later that evening by finding in a tree top. We all enjoyed binocular views of this new object.

Friday and Saturday were clear all night long. I observed until 4AM both nights. Don and Jeff a little later. Justin made it to 10 Friday and 12:15 Saturday. The weather was dewy on Friday but much warmer and drier on Saturday night.

I arrived Friday. It had rained for the past 2 days.The field was damp and the roads muddy. I arrived there just as darkeness fell. I had to rush to set up the tent and the scope. Justin pitched in. He was helping me collimate and I noticed something unusual. No weight on the screw. The mirror had fallen out of its sling. This allowed me to practice telescope repair by star light. But with Justin's help if was fixed and the first night of viewing began. With late arrival, camp set up, telescope repair and all I did not get into the swing of things until late.

The contrast improvements that I'd made to the 20" helped and i was rewarded with nice views of M51 and M101 early on. I then took a stroll, visiting 4 NGC galaxies near m101. later on at Jeff's request we tracked down the Ink Blot, this is a dark nebula in Sagittarius. A great object. It is pictured on Page 108 of the July 2002 S&T. This dark nebula is also known as Barnard 86. It lives above the spout of the teapot. This and the adjcent cluster NGC 6520 were observed with the 20" and the 10". I don't know if Larry had it in the 4". This was a biggie for me as it was the first dark nebula that I feel that I ever "saw" in the telescope.

Satuday night I hunted galaxies in Virgo and elsewhere. Then, after my son went to bed on Saturday, the 5 of us (Don, Jeff, Dave, Larry, and I) went on a camp tour (beginning about 12;20- 12:30 AM. Highlights: ? and the 6" Fujinon binos - we looked at the Milky way, MW messiers, comet Ikea-Zang, and Einsteins "E" in Aquila - a dark nebula. Dave of Highpoint Scientific's 24" dob - Einstein's E in Aquilla, the Herculies galaxy cluster (dim, dim, dim). A 30" dob - M51. A giant 10" refractor - M22. A off axis single mirror scope - M51. Saw some NGC galaxies on a PC screen from raw CCD exposures via a 10" Meade SCT. I finished the night looking at dark Nebula and Planetary Nebula in Aquilla. Once again I never looked at the observing lists that I'd made.

Wow. Great company, great sky, good food, great weather, great views. A well run event. For me the observing was good too. I logged at least 3-4 dark nebula after never having seen any. I had good views of M51 and M101 in the 20". It is always fun to see new and different objects.

The number of objects seen in my scope was limited only by the desire to run arround and look through someone else's scope.

Jeff who imaged the whole time wins the "non-observer award". All kidding aside, he saw more in the Hercules galaxy cluster the the rest of us.

Justin and I watched a guy with a Meade 8" SCT put a Stellacam EX through its paces. He imaged M13, the Sombrero Galaxy (M104), and M57. It is very impressive.

We did some H-alpha with the NearStar on Saturday. Marla Tolley spent a lot of time at its eyepiece. Dave, I really think that you should buy her one. I hate to see her H-alpha deprived. Larry and Jeff had white light (Baader filter) views of the sun with the 10" refractor that was on the other side of camp.

Downers: long walk to the shower.

We took 3rd in the "who want's to be an Astronomer game". It was a 4 way tie! Jeff and Don depeleted the vendors supplies. Justin and I depleted their food stocks.

All in all a great event. I can't wait for next year.