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I'm planning to goto Pinhey's. I'm not sure if I'll have time for
dinner though. But I'd be happy to dinnerize if its going to be cloudy.
(If its clear, I'll probably be futzing with my scope in preparation.)
-ad

Hello All,

Looks like it will be clear tonight and the winds should drop(I hope)
so I'll plan on heading out to FLO tonight. I just got home (7:20)
so I'll eat and I should be there by about 8:30.

See ya'll there,

Matt

I'm about to head out to FLO too. I should be there about 20:30. See you
there!

Bruce McGlashan

I know the forecast's not looking too great right now, but if the
weather is clear on Saturday, Roland & I are planning to bring our
scope to Pinhey's Point for the public starparty. Just wondering if
anyone else is planning to go. If so, are you interested in grabbing
a bite to eat on Saturday before Pinhey's?? (e.g. west end Kelsey's
around 5:15 - alternative suggestions welcome, so long as windpants
and polar fleece vests constitute suitable dining attire!)

Good Food! Clear Skies!
Janice

Further to my last note, things seem to be freeing up for me,
and the weather is looking too good to ignore, so I plan to head
to FLO.

Probably arrive a bit after 8 pm.

Cheers - Al

r.prevost@... wrote:

I'd consider going to FLO if I knew a keyholder was going.

Sorry, I for one would really love to go but am not free this evening.

But if I understand things correctly, anyone who is an RASC member can
request the combination from Al Seaman and use the site, but without
using the "clubhouse" or "observatory". I believe I have used it in
this way in the past (two years ago). Anyway, perhaps Al could
correct me if I am wrong. Good observing, if you guys go out!

I am not quite sure yet about being able to go to FLO tonight myself.

In any case, as Rolland says, the FLO grounds are available to any
RASC member to set up their own equipment at any time. Any member wanting
the gate combination can get in touch with me.

Cheers - Al

I'd consider going to FLO if I knew a keyholder was going.

Sorry, I for one would really love to go but am not free this evening.

But if I understand things correctly, anyone who is an RASC member can
request the combination from Al Seaman and use the site, but without
using the "clubhouse" or "observatory". I believe I have used it in
this way in the past (two years ago). Anyway, perhaps Al could
correct me if I am wrong. Good observing, if you guys go out!

The busy Photon

Rol

--- In OAFs@y..., "Bruce McGlashan" <mcglashanb2@h...> wrote:

I was considering it. Are you thinking about FLO?

Bruce McGlashan

I'd consider going to FLO if I knew a keyholder was going.

Are the other west-end alternatives?

-ad

I was considering it. Are you thinking about FLO?

Bruce McGlashan

According to:



Its going to be clear tonight. Transparency may only be ok.

Anyone observing?

-ad

All my friends at the OAFs are welcome to join me and my family for
my Dad's funeral service to be held at 2:00 pm. in Almonte at:

The Reformed Presbyterian Church
273 Almonte Street
Almonte

No flowers....just you should you wish and be able to come. Munchies
will be served after the service.

Richard.....still looking up!!

I forgot to mention that the funeral is Friday at 2:00 pm.
Richard

I am saddened by the news that Richard Harding's father passed away
earlier today. I'm sure everyone joins Janice and me in extending
our sympathies to Richard and his family during this time of loss.

We're thinking of you, Richard...


Janice & Roland

Hi all!

Matt you mentioned an interest in some good deepsky observing sites well here are a few of the best that I use a lot:
This one is the best I think, it also has a section on the double quasar
This site has cool new objects to view every month as well as the newest comets
The most comprehensive planetary nebula site on the web
Another good new planetary site
A great searchable database of 1000's of amateur observations of deep sky objects

Again since there were so many enthusiastic reports of the night at my observatory I can't think of much else to add except that for me its always great fun to share the sky with good freinds but when conditions are as special as they were that night it gets catapulted to a sublime magical realm, may we get many more like it this summer!! Thank you all for making it very memorable!!

Since we are always on the lookout for great dark-sky observing sites like Foymount that arent too far to get to, I'd like to report that today a buddy of mine that works in Perth at a real estate appraisal co. took a trip up to the Madawaska highland area to check out some lots (I told him about Cardys mtn retreat and he said he'd check it out). He called me this evening and told me that he will be setting a meeting up with me and a man that knows everyone in the area and could act as a go-between to let us use some land at an observing site. This area is almost as high as Foymount but has almost no local light pollution, the horizons there are fantastic as it is on a high plateau. I'll let everyone know on the developments, this has great potential for some of the darkest skies short of going to Manitoulin or the American SW.

---clear skies all!

Mike W

For those of you who did not have a chance to see an image of "the
face" made up of galaxies we saw at Mike Wirths place a few nights
ago:



Robert Young has been doing some online CCD imaging, gathering data
for a while. This is a much smaller version of his original files,
which he's eMailed us in rough format, as it was "exactly on topic"
for what many of us had just observed this last week. Those who don't
have the Backyard Astronomer book can now see what "face" we're
talking about.

Thanks for the upload Robert,

Rol

--- In OAFs@y..., "Bruce McGlashan" <mcglashanb2@h...> wrote:

So that means I cannot see Polaris in the EP if I aim at the pole -
I have to do a proper job of setting the RA. I didn't know the RA >
of Polaris last night, and arbitrarily flopped the scope over on
the east side of north, which turned out to be opposite to the true
RA of Polaris. It seems to me that I was lucky to see anything at >
all of Polaris.Does this make sense? Did I just describe the > >
typical newbie experience trying to aim at Polaris for the first >
time?

As for me, Bruce, yes that makes sense. I had much more of a problem
with Polaris when I had an equatorial mount, with a 4.5" scope. Now
that I think of it, it's probably because of what you describe.

Last night felt to me like the typical murk at Armstrong Rd.! Well,
maybe a bit worse.

I think Armstrong road is pretty good, considering it's distance. I
really enjoyed the many sessions I've had there. Since next
weekend is coming fast, I'd like to add that OAOG's Foymount site is
an excellent dark site where I've experienced some of my best
observing.

This weekend, some of you might be going to Pinhey's point, and others
might be going to Foymount. Whichever you feel like doing, if the
weather "co-operates", it's sure to be great fun...

No wonder you sounded so surprised when I found M3, M13 and M92 so
quickly.

The first time I found M92, it took me two tries on different nights
and 1/2 hour on the actual night I found it. Janice took two
different nights as well. So, when you found it in about one minute,
I have to say, I was a bit pleasantly surprised, Bruce.

I think you'll do real well at starhopping! ;-)

Photons Rule!

Roland

--- In OAFs@y..., r.prevost@h... wrote:

Sess.#291 8:15-11:30 lm=5.3(at best) s=7/10 Very Hazy!

... [snip] ...

Polaris - nice double to split. One bright and one much fainter star.
It can be a challenge sometimes to get your scope to point to polaris,
depending on your polar alignment accurary. Still, one of my
favourite doubles.

I had been wondering about looking at Polaris, and you probably heard me
muttering to myself as I tried to get Polaris into the FOV. I'm pretty sure
I was polar-aligned properly, but I think there's more to it than that. Let
me explain, and please tell me if I'm off-base.

I could just see a bit of the off-focus diffraction disk of Polaris when I
looked in the scope with the 10mm EP installed. Now, Polaris is roughly
3/4 from the pole, and according to your Eyepiece Calculator, my 10mm EP
has a FOV of about 1/4. So that means I cannot see Polaris in the EP if I
aim at the pole - I have to do a proper job of setting the RA. I didn't
know the RA of Polaris last night, and arbitrarily flopped the scope over on
the east side of north, which turned out to be opposite to the true RA of
Polaris. It seems to me that I was lucky to see anything at all of Polaris.
Does this make sense? Did I just describe the typical newbie experience
trying to aim at Polaris for the first time?

... [snip] ...

If you can find targets on a night like this, then you'll find it easy to

do

in a clear night where the target actually shows up in your viewfinder.

Ah, that explains it. Last night felt to me like the typical murk at
Armstrong Rd.! Well, maybe a bit worse. That's why I found it so easy at
Mike's - I already had a bit of that experience. No wonder you sounded so
surprised when I found M3, M13 and M92 so quickly.

What I actually enjoyed most was the company...

Ditto. Your enthusiasm is infectious.

Bruce McGlashan

Sess.#291 8:15-11:30 lm=5.3(at best) s=7/10 Very Hazy!

Got fooled this time by all of the weather reports that kept saying
"clear" on every TV and Web soucre I could find. I should'a trusted
my eyes when I saw the sun dogs in the sky from Orleans.

Still Richard, Bruce and myself tried to make the best of the poor
situation. The evening began with no better than 4.3 mag. overhead.

M3 - A repeated target this evening. Once acquired, one could just
barely make out individual stars popping in and out of vision.

Eskimo Nebula - Looked fairly good in spite of conditions. The colour
wasn't nearly as pronounced as usual, but it was very visible, with
the central star, nonetheless.

Jupiter - Getting low in the skies now. Two of the moons were closer
together on one side of the planet.

Saturn - It shows how bad conditions were that we could not see Saturn
to the naked eye, and had to sweep the general area to find a ghostly
version of it. Cassinni's division was difficult to see at all.

M64 - Took this on as a challenge object. I managed to find the
location fairly quickly, but it was very hard to confirm a sighting.
It was much like looking at a 13.9 mag galaxy in the 8" on a clear
night. Everything turns into an instant challenge objects, in haze
like this.

Castor - split though churning a bit. (sep = 3.9")

Gamma Virginis - split though requiring 400x (sep = 1.5") Note that
this one split in both Bruce's and my scope. A little touch more
collimation correction is probably required on his scope, I think.

Polaris - nice double to split. One bright and one much fainter star.
It can be a challenge sometimes to get your scope to point to polaris,
depending on your polar alignment accurary. Still, one of my
favourite doubles.

Beginner's Corner:
On nights like this, you take advantage of what's there, and adjust
your sights accordingly. The seeing was not too bad at 7/10, so you
could focus on splitting some closer double stars. Globulars and
bright planetaries would show well. Galaxies are a bad idea.

Also, aim overhead where there's less of a layer of haze. If you can
find targets on a night like this, then you'll find it easy to do in a
clear night where the target actually shows up in your viewfinder.

What I actually enjoyed most was the company...

Roland Prevost

PS- Great report Bruce. I just love reading observing reports. I
didn't really need to write mine, this time. I put it in, as a place
holder, only because I'm counting down to 300 sessions.

PPS- Ricardo! Does your back say: "Next time, don't forget to bring
your chair?"

Morning everyone!

Sorry for the late post, access to the internet from home was down
all weekend.

Saturday morning: absolutely perfect, clear weather...
Saturday afternoon: clouds moving in rather quickly....after some
debate, we decided to call it a GO.
About half the expected cadets decided the weather just wasn't good
enough and didn't show, but the 5 cadets and 3 adults who did make
the trip, were treated to some really spectacular views through
Mike's 2 wonderful big scopes( 18" and 25") and my rather limited
little 8".(that's it, I want a BIG scope with great optics and a real
focuser...!!!)The skies were so-so at the start of the evening, but
they cleared up remarkably over the course of a few hours.

Mike showed us some wonderful views of Jupiter ( and 3 of it's
moons), Saturn and then off to some really nice clusters and nebulae
( M3, M51 and a bunch of others...sorry, I couldn't keep track!)

The cadets were absolutely thrilled with this very generous
opportunity from Mike, and the adults ( myself included)were just as
excited.

I want to give a great big thank you to Mike for allowing us to come
out to his observatory and sharing his knowledge and wonder of the
sky with us. I am looking forward to many more enjoyable evenings
with Mike and the rest of you over the course of the summer.

Thanks again, and clear skies!

Jean