"The Lure of the Milky Way" or "Summer Nights are Way Too Short" Dates: July 14 and 15, 2001 Location: Spruce Knob (highest point in West Virginia) Gatewood camping area Scopes: TV101 on GM8 (some photography and some visual) and AP130EDT on AP 600E (photography only) Observers: Jeff Ball (Sunday night was joined by John Kagey with his 11" f8 scope) Conditions: Saturday the 14th - cold with temps in the 40's with moderate dew. Transparency 9, seeing - 5 Sunday the 15th - temps were more comfortable in the lower 50's. Mild dew. transparency 9 (later some high clouds around 3:00 a.m.) seeing 7. I did not take a limiting visual magnitude - the Miky Way destroyed my night visionJ Wildlife: Many deer heard munching in the field next to my scope. The summer nights are just way too short. On Sunday night July 15 I began viewing M4 and the Milky Way to the south. I watched the Milky Way arch high overhead and wondered at our home galaxy as it stretched from below Sagittarius to below Perseus. I ended the night viewing the double cluster. A lot of great stuff in a very short dark window. Best views: 3. Comet Linear A2 2001. Viewed with binoculars, 11 f8, and TV101. Great through all scopes. Nice tail evident on Sunday night the 15th. I thought I saw a hint of separation in the tail. Could have been my imagination. I just viewed a film shot by John Mirtle of A2 and it does look like the tail is split. See Comet 2. Milky Way. I just can_t get enough of the MW from a dark sky. Cruising with the 7x50 Fuji_s was awesome. I don_t know that I have ever noticed the subtle texture from the dark areas to the bright dust areas in the MW. The MW was alive and in 3D. Dark nebulae were conspicuous. I have to build me a comfortable bino-observing chair for extended MW observing sessions! 1. Double Cluster _ really! I never thought I would list the double cluster as the best view on a July night, but the TV101 and the 22mm Nagler just made this baby come alive. The arc of stars extending from the cluster as well as the full extent of the cluster itself was sparkling against the inky black sky. The stars were highly resolved. I was glued to the eyepiece. Earlier in the day I had read the article by Sue French on the Clusters of Taurus Poniatovii (page 101 of Sky and Tel August 2001 issue). As I was taking in the Milky Way I could not help but notice the constellation Taurus Poniatovii conspicuously present without even looking. It does look like Taurus a bit. Check out the article and check out the constellation. It was new to me. The Gatewood site is certainly nice. The trees provide great protection from the winds. On Saturday, I could hear the winds in the treetops, but felt little on the ground. You can_t appreciate the dust until you get out of your car at the top. One tip, keep your windows up as your drive up the mountain. I actually came from the west and drove in on what is referred to as Gandy creek road. It looked like the best route from Elkins. Total drive time from Huntington, WV is 5 hours. It is fairly inconvenient to lug your equipment the less than 100 yards from the parking lot to the meadow. You are at the mercy of the other campers in the area. On these nights, we had some party-all-nighters camping and boy did they love Coleman lanterns. On Sunday, they did dim their lights as per John_s request. I had requested that they turn down the lights on Saturday during the day, but I think they forgot the request in their drunkenness. I think I am going to go to Pinehill campground during the August new Moon for a comparison. Spruce is probably darker, but Pinehill has great skies and is very convenient. There is a prison being constructed just 5 miles away and that will need to be monitored. Do you think we have some interest in a Dark Sky organization for West Virginia? Here is a link to a review of Pinehill, location of the Laurel Highlands starcruise The star party review I shot M4/Antares, M20, M24, and Veil nebula on the two nights. You don_t get too many one hour exposures in during the summer. I also did some piggyback on the TV101. One thing I learned, it is very difficult to get two astrophotography setups going at once. So I have decided to make my TV101 a visual setup while I photograph with the 130EDT. I will post a sketch of Linear A2 at a later date as well as the deep sky pictures. Hope to see you at a dark sky site in West Virginia in the future. Jeff Ball