(SNES) Friday, Nov. 21 2003

[Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>]

Friday, Nov. 21 2003 - 61 visitors

This was the night that made all the cloudy nights, telescope problems and
other frustrations worth it.

A day that began as grey and damp turned into a spectacular night!  I was
running late thanks to a last minute task at work and traffic jams coming
out of Providence, and was worried that I'd arrive to a large, miffed
crowd waiting for me to open the observatory.

When I finally arrived at 7:20, I found that Les -  Les! - had opened the
dome, got the telescope up and was in the midst of one of his trademark
starhops, leading a sizable throng from star to star.  He left shortly
after my arrival, and I am not sure if I fully conveyed my gratitude for
his presence last night.

Back in the dome, I found Art at the scope, giving person after person a
look at Mars.  It's hard to believe that only 3 months ago this planet
was twice as large in diameter as it is now, evidence of the speed with
which it's pulling away from us.

>From Mars, we went to M2, so clear and crisp, looking like a pile of
tiny diamonds on black velvet.  Then it was off to the west to catch
M57, the Ring Nebula, looking like a smoke ring perfectly puffed, then
M27, the Dumbbell Nebula to compare the 2 different nebulae.  After
that, Albireo came into the eyepiece, the blue and yellow stars showing
even more contrast in their colors than I remember.

Over to the west, I realized my favorite open cluster was well-positioned,
so it as off to M37 in Auriga.  I love this because it's a dense collection
of stars almost globular in appearance, with the happy coincidence of a
slightly brighter, orange foreground star dead center in the cluster from
our point of view.  This star is not part of the actual cluster; it is closer
to the Earth than the starts in the cluster and it is simply coincidence
that we have this gorgeous jewel in the center providing contrast to the
white stars in the cluster.

We then went to Saturn, and even though it was low on the horizon, it was
still clear, if shaky, and always makes people gasp when they see it
for the first time through a telescope.

The pointing accuracy of the scope was not very good at this time, with
objects generally not coming into the eyepiece after a GOTO, due to our
reliance on the scope holding its alignment after it's been parked.
It was at this time that I decided to do a quick 2 star alignment on the
scope using Capella and Betelgeuse.  These stars do not have a great deal
of angular distance between them, and it's recommended to use stars that are
further apart, but they were both accessible with a minumum of moving of
the scope and dome.  It didn't seem to matter that they were not very far
apart - after the alignment, the pointing of the scope was _perfect_ and
remained that way all night long.

After the alignment, I tried the accuracy by going to M1, the Crab Nebula.
This is an object that many people have heard of and have seen in pictures,
and is invariably disappointing in the eyepiece for people familiar with
these photographs.  Faint and fuzzy, it nonetheness made me smile when the
scope put it dead center in the eyepiece.

By now Orion was high enough to go to M42, the Great Orion Nebula.  Compared
to our washed out views in the last 2 weeks, tonight it took my breath away
once again.  We'd be back here throughout the night as it rose to show it
off to new visitors.

We then tried for a few of the fainter objects to the south to try and take
advantage of the dark night.  The planetary nebula NGC1407 was faint, and
near-invisible to people not used to looking for faint fuzzies.  NGC1370
was next, even fainter than 1407, this tiny galaxy almost invisible to
the inexperienced viewer.  I went looking for the Fornax Galaxy cluster,
but ended up at the obscure little galaxy NGC1297 instead.

With 3 little tiny fuzzies in a row, it was time to go to something a little
brighter, so it was a swing to the north for M81 and M82.  These were 
wonderful, looking so clear and lovely in the eyepiece.  New visitors brought
us back to the east for M42 and Saturn, so we stayed a little longer to get 
a view of the Eskimo Nebula.

By now, Andromeda had relinquished her position directly overhead, and was
low enough to clear the top of the dome, so it was over to M31, the 
Andromeda Galaxy.  Even though it is so large we cannot get more than half
of it in the eyepiece at any one time, it was still spectacular!  We then
went to its companions, M32 and M110.  We were able to get the core of M31
and M32 in the eyepiece at the same time, showing the contrast between these
2 galaxies.  M110 was a positive letdown after these spectacular views.

M33 was next, but due to the ever-dampening atmosphere, was rather washed out.
We finished up with NGC7662, the Blue Snowball Nebula.  This lived up to
its name, showing a definite blue hue.

By now the dampness had caused the people who had set up in the parking lot
to be on their way home.  Once again the dome had kept us dry and almost
carefree, though we noticed drips from the dome throughout the night as the
dew fell.  When I was shutting down the scope, I noticed a few drops of w
ater clinging to the bottom dew shield, and a look down the tube showed
some trails of water running down the bottom of the shield, but the front
corrector lens of the scope remained bone-dry.

By 12:30 we were packed up and on our way home, with the best night in 
months and months finally just a memory.  Let's hope we've finally broken
the chain, and that we have many more clear Friday nights soon. 


-- 
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       Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh@brainiac.com
Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa
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