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Primary equipment used: Televue 102, Losmandy GM-8 mount, Pentax 40 mm eyepiece, Televue Big Barlow. Arrived on site Thursday afternoon. Jeff had camped out the night before, so it was easy to find a location. The weather looked promising, so I wanted to get set up as quickly as possible. With help from Jeff Ball and Jim from Maryland, the tent was up in no time. The next step was more fun. I set the TV-102 up next to the tent and was more than a little excited to get to use it in a deep sky setting. We also got the C-14 put together and the Fuji binoculars on their mount. Now all we had to do was wait until dark. I had identified a list of about 20 Messier objects I wanted to observe over the weekend. My first task was to use field drift to determine the field of view for the 40 mm Pentax eyepiece. I just needed something close, so didn't do it all exactly right. The fov is about 10 minutes of arc. Once I knew what would be in the eyepiece, I began looking for objects that have eluded me in the C-8. First went to M-63 in Canes Venatici, also known as the Sunflower galaxy. It just seemed to pop out of the eyepiece. Clearly a beautiful site. This was going to be fun, hunting these dim fuzzies. Followed with M-94, an open cluster in the same constellation. Just for fun, I wanted to see what M-51 looked like in the refractor. The galaxy was clear, and the companion was obvious. With averted vision, I think I saw dim dust lanes within the galaxy. I really don't think I was imagining this. Now I started to look a little more quickly, trying to hit what I could. Went to M-106 then put the 2x big Barlow in for a view at 44x. I like this scope! Found M-56 in Lyra, then a review of M-57, the ring nebula. In the 102 at 22x, the ring is unimpressive at best. However, it was distinct and obvious. I really didn't push the power. I was more intent on finishing the messier list. But the ring nebula really needs a larger scope. Went to M-71 next in Sagitta. It is a small globular, but still looked good. Followed this with M-11 globular in Scutum. Then the globulars M-9, M-10, M-12, M-14, and M-107 in Ophiuchus. Break time, and May's Munchables pork BBQ was talking to me (and would continue to talk to me later). On the way back, we stopped next door and looked through Matt's 24" dob. We saw the North American nebula and the Veil nebula. Matt showed me where to find the Veil off 52-Cygni. Back at our camp, I put the O-III filter on and swept the area around 52-Cygni. At first, the Veil was difficult to see because I wasn't sure what it would look like in my scope. Once I recognized it though, it was an easy find. And pretty cool looking. The filter really makes a big difference. Spent quite a bit of time in this region of the sky. Then back to the hunt. Went to the Sagittarius region and easily located the open cluster M-21, the Trifid nebula M-20, and M-8, the Lagoon nebula. These three are all pretty close together. Found M- 22. There is a nice star pattern near this globular. The sky is starting to get lighter at 3:08 and I just fool around scanning the sky visually. The moon came up at 3:25ish and I closed up shop. After this night I added to my "want list": a camera adapter and extension tube. 6/15/01 Friday The threat of thunderstorms and 40 mph wind gusts caused me to take scope off mount and put all the stuff I could in the car. I was expecting a pretty good test of the new tent rather than the new telescope. Luckily, the major storm did not happen. We saw a Star Trek movie (The Insurrection"?) It was pretty good. When we came out the sky was as dark and clear as I think I have ever seen. But half the sky was covered with some ominous clouds. I did not observe, although some folks did and got some wonderful views. 6/16/01 Saturday This was to be the night. A high pressure system was coming through early in the day and would clear the sky. Oops, this didn't happen either. It rained much of the day, but quit shortly after noon. But the clouds never cleared causing a dense ground fog for the evening and some pretty thick dew covering everything. Did not observe. On a good note, Elizabeth Auvil, John's daughter, won the ETX 90 EC. The total value was over $1000. Unfortunately, it just wasn't a very good night to view. 6/17/01 Sunday Jeff had pretty much decided to stay Sunday night, but Don and I took a more wait and see approach. Well, we waited and saw some pretty good things, so we decided to stay. We uncovered the scopes to let them dry. The wind was blowing steadily from the northwest, drying everything out. Around 2:30 p.m., using Jeff's camera adapter and 2" extender I made my first attempt at solar photography with the TV-102. The first orientation was the scope/Big Barlow/Camera adapter/T-ring/35 mm camera. Used Astrophotography for the Amateur by Michael Covington to determine an exposure time of 1/250 sec. I was unable to get anything with this arrangement, so I removed the Barlow and shot prime focus. All images were overexposed. I shot at 1/125, 1/250, and 1/500 sec. I then tried a different arrangement: the scope/3" extender/Barlow/adapter/T-ring/camera. (Initially the Barlow and extender were reversed, but I could not achieve focus, so had to reverse them.) The full disk of the sun is not quite in the fov of the camera. I need a focal length of about 2000mm to get that. These images are very good, although the wind was not kind. This scope and the Baader solar filter are just unbelievable. Took more shots at 5:30, and finished the roll at 7:15. The shots are okay, but again, the wind makes a big difference. I ordered a camera adapter when I got home. The rest of the afternoon was spent organizing my messier objects. I planned to hit the Leo and Virgo galaxies. Although these were pretty far west it would be a good test of the scope's optics, and the night sky. I came up with a list of 34 objects to hit that I had not yet seen. My goal was not to spend much time with any of them, just observe, identify, and move on. These are the Messier objects I observed Sunday night: 95, 96, 105, 58, 59, 60, 61, 84, 86, 87, 89, 90 (galaxies in Leo and Virgo), in Ursa Major: 40, 97, 101, 108, 109. The Messier Catalog list from Sky and Telescope identifies M-102 as a duplicate of M-101, so I marked it off as well. Then went to M-3, the globular in Canes Venatici, and 19, the globular in Ophiuchus. Moving to Sagittarius, I found 24, the open cluster, then the globulars 28, 55, and 69. The Omega nebula (aka the Swan) was a sight to behold. Even though it was not on my target list since I had observed it, the view was so fantastic I spent at least 30 minutes taking in the view through this telescope and Don's Cave. I was unable to locate 75, but was getting very tired by now. Identified the two open clusters 11 and 26 in Scutum, then just observed using the binoculars and naked eye. Twenty five new objects. These weren't just any twenty five. I have tried to find most of these objects with the C-8. I will assume it is a combination of better optics and darker night sky that permitted such easy viewing. This was an excellent night! It was perhaps the most dry night I have ever had in West Virginia. There were no dew heaters on the binoculars, yet we were able to use them all night. But the highlight for me occurred at 3:15 a.m. Jeff was talking to me, and mentioned a sky glow to the north. He identified it as the Aurora and since none of us had seen it before it was more than a little exciting. I pulled up a chair and just sat and watched it. It had no color to it, appearing gray. It appeared first near Ursa Major, then moved toward the east a little more than 20 degrees and brightened. It was also about 20 degrees above the horizon. At its maximum, it was about 40 degrees wide. It blended perfectly with the intense Milky Way, and remained visible for about 15 minutes. Sunday was just one of the most incredible nights I have spent as an observer. I will admit I almost missed the aurora (and in fact did miss a second, more intense, colorful round-see Jeff's report) because I was so tired. I don't know what to say about the northern lights. Seeing it for the first time was a real treat. I hope to see it again. Overall, I almost finished my goal. Had I known I was as close as I was to finishing, I may have found a second (or third or fourth) wind. I am confident in 100 objects located. Two are questionable, and 8 have not been viewed yet. I am hoping to finish the list this summer. I enjoyed the LHSC. Chris was excellent, as usual. And having Jeff's and John's kids there made it more enjoyable for all. All of the kids were polite and very well behaved. They played very well together and I hope we can all do it again next year. For a more technical evaluation of seeing conditions, etc, see Jeff's report. Larry
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