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Weather for Pinhey's looks bad bad bad.

However CMC's "cloud forcast for astronimical purposes"
indicates a zone of very clear and dry air approaching
that will probably arrive in perth/ottawa after 1am.

I'll put a dummy item into the OAFs calendar just so that
well have a link to the right CMC forcast. Look for it
on the main oafs page yahoo.groups.com/group/oafs

So how gonzo are people for more observing, given that most
of us were clouded out last night?

-ad

--- In OAFs@y..., attilla.danko@s... wrote:

Mike and I decided that we must abuse the rest of you
with an observing report -- especially the ones who were
planning to goto MikeW's last night but gave up because
they didnt think it was clear.

Having driven all the way to Perth, only to drive back around 7pm when
the clouds rolled in, I shall now consider myself completely,
indisputably and irrevocably abused!

Nice report you bums! ;-)

Rolled

Mike and I decided that we must abuse the rest of you
with an observing report -- especially the ones who were
planning to goto MikeW's last night but gave up because
they didnt think it was clear.

I spent considerable time puzzling cloud forcast charts
before I decide that It would cloud over around 9pm.
For some strange reason I found myself driving the hour
to perth anyway. In Carleton Place, i felt especially stupid
since it became overcast. Then I saw a tiny
patch of blue in the west, so I decide that I wanted to
deliver some CDs to Mike anyway. Oh, and I could go look
at that hilltop that was for sale (possible dark sky site)
in Lanark. And also, I just felt like driving around
in the dark. Hmm. And there was a gas station in Perth
that often had cheap gas. Was that enough excuses? Hmm.
Ah. Well. I've got too much gas in my tank? No. This is
silly. I just decided to go. I didnt have a reason.

Prescient or just dumb luck. But the time I got to equuleus
it was _clear_. Thats right it was clear last night folks
and Mike and I had a hell of a good time.

For the early part of the evening we were joined by Brian
(who had visited Mike's once before) trying out his new
4.5inch reflector. Mike also had a new pair of Zeiss eyepices
with individual focusing rings on them for his binoviewer.
(Hey people, Mike is _still_ winning.) We spent some time comparing
eyepieces on Jupiterr. Seeing was just ok. But I was delighted that
it was clear.

Then we prepared to watch ISS, Soyuz and the shuttle fly over.
It didnt happen like we expected. Soyuz was supposed to
precede ISS by 2 seconds and the shuttle was supposed to
follow by about 12 seconds. Instead we saw one bright satellite
rise and follow the path in the sky ordaned by
www.heavens-above.com. Where the h*ll are the other two? Mike lent
Brian his 19mm panoptic and Brian manged to catch the satellte in
his scope for a second. He reported it to be double!.

After the first satellite has passed into earh's shadow and we still
arguing over whether the shuttle could have already docked with ISS,
Mike pointed out a second satellite. Then I thought "Of course.
The shuttle is late. When does NASA do anything early?". THis time
mike managed to catch a glimpse of the second satellite in his
18" starmater (operated manually). The remarable thing was that
the binoviewer was still attached. Managed to get a glimse
at 200 power. He reported that he definitely saw an airplane shape
with perhaps a blue light at one end.

We concluded that the first satellite was ISS, with Soyuz still
docked, and the second was the shuttle. The shuttle was behind
schedule for its planned docking this morning at 8:36. I am now
wondering if Mike saw the shuttle do an OMS burn to catch up.
(seems unlikely to me. but its an observation worth repeating).

I was amazed that we could see so much, because I handnt expected
it to be clear.

Then we settled down to a fine night of deep sky observing. M51
showed good detail. Not neally as good a the shockingly orgasmic
night of april 13th, but plenty good enough to for a 'wow'.

Let's see. I'd like annoy you all with a list of all that we
saw: m51, m13, darklanes in m13, ncg6207, m81 with spiral arms,
m82, m94, m100, Roland's Face (the galaxy cluster around m84.)
but not the 'dimple', the galaxy cluster 2 degrees away from
Roland's Face that looks just like it but is missing the nose, mouth
and ear, m104, m57,
ic1296 (just barely detected), epsilon lyra, alberio, M3, eskimo,
ngc4565 plus its faint companion. Plus lots more that I've forgotten
(perhaps Mike can fill out the list).

But that was just the easy stuff.

We spent a fair amount of time observing Hickson 57. A very faint
cluster of 14 to 15th magnitude galaxies each only about an arcminute
across. It was _very_ difficult. After manovering the "trojan bunny"
into position so we could sit more compforatbly at the eyepiece
which was 9 feet above the floor, and concentrate on the ultra faint
details, we both managed to see all 5 members of the cluster.

I was deglighted, especially considerign that I handnt expected it
to be clear.

Mike manges to pull of a fine time every time he invites people
out to equuleus, even to the point of arrange for the weather.
Thanks Mike.

Oh, did i mention it was clear?

:)-ad

I made a reservation, under the name "danko", for 18:00
at the Little India cafe 828-2696.

Most people seem to know where it is, but WTH: Their address
is 55 Wylie ave. Their are on a small street perpendicular to
Carling opposite Coloseum 12 theaters. Their in a small,
unnatractive strip mall with a convenience store, pizzeria and
Indian convenience store. But the food is good.

If you decided you dont want dinner (say because you
think it will clear for Pinheys) please delete you vote
from the pool. At 5PM i will check the poll again and
phone the restaraunt if we need to adjust the reservation.

Good food or clear skies.

As with most Pinheys Point RASC events, the clouds have definately
rolled in. I see that one of Judith and my favourite restaurants is
a shoe-in!!! It is a very small restaurant, and with this number of
people, we would need a reservation. If this is a go, please advise
me, and I would be happy to make it.
Richard
ps. I will have my cell on just in case 233-9081

If you happen to be one of those persons who likes to see if they can
find all the Messiers, or some other astro target challenge list, the
following information, abstracted from my first year observing log,
might come in handy.

Some Messiers, especially galaxies, are 5 times easier to find in a
6.0 mag sky than is a 5.0 sky. Some of the Virgo galaxies were barely
detectable in my backyard, but were bright objects in a darker sky.

There are three four main strategies, in increasing order of
difficculty, I used in locating both Messiers and best NGCs;

a) Use the telrad and place it in the correct location with relation
to the visible ( up to mag 6.0 )stars.

b) Use a finderscope and place the intersection of the crosshairs at
the correct location with relation to the finderscope stars ( up to
mag. 9.0)

c) Use the finderscope again, but this time locating a star that is
either on the same DEC or RA line. You need to calculate the actual
field of view of your eyepiece and then move, while looking into the
eyepiece, towards your target the correct number of fields of view -
good polar alignment matters here. Often, the target in question comes
somewhere into an eyepiece with a wide field of view.

d) When all else failed, I printed out a 3 degree by 3 degree, mag
13.0 map of the stars in area, orienting them for my SCT
mirror-reverse view. Then I would match the star patterns in the
eyepiece and would star-hop in the eyepiece towards my target.
Sometimes, I could confirm the location with absolute certainty, but
could not see anything there due to sky conditions. ( You can
easily purchase these in a binder already made for Messiers and best
NGCs ). Confirming loose open clusters is a breeze with these
maps too.

Of course, you could use digital setting circles or a GOTO and save
yourself the trouble of finding these things. But like many others, I
preferred to learn the sky a bit first, and then later, will
eventually get these very useful tools.

For the faint and small planetary nebulae, note that with a wide view
eyepiece you may sometimes be incapable of dectecting these, as they
look like tiny blueish stars. However, with a mag 13 map you can find
it, or, if you have an OIII filter, you can do the flik test. Just
slip the OIII filter in front of the ep. If the P.N. is there, all
the other stars will dim cosiderably, but not the P.N. -- it sticks
out like a sore thumb! You can then centre it and magnify to see the
shape of the PN.

Finally, finding and identifying the Virgo galaxies, I remember,
looked like a daunting task on the map. But I spent a few minutes
each day planning my stategy for a few weeks. When I finally got out
there, I was able to do 15 galaxies in about 5 minutes. After
proving to myself that I could find them, I returned to each one
slowly, and enjoyed the view.

Have fun hunting!

Roland

Excuse honourable Attilla, but I believe you are wrong. So sorry!! Judith and I have a favourite restaurant. It happens to be Thai, and it happens to be in the West End!!!! It is the "Chophyra" on Carling. Fantastic Thai food. JMHO.
Richard

I'll be going out to FLO this evening - expecting to arrive about 21:30.
Hopefully the clouds will arrive sometime after that.

Be there or be square.
Rick

Square....sigh..!

Hello all,

As it is uncertain if the weather will hold tonight (my last check
seemed to show clouds moving in around midnight or 1am), I will be
heading out to FLO tonight instead of Mikes. Thanks very Much though
Mike!!

I wish you all clear skies, at whatever site you are using,

Matt (and the amazing jumping hat) Weeks

--- In OAFs@y..., "ROB ROBOTHAM" <rob.robotham@a...> wrote:

If anyone is going approximately past my place on the way out (Roland
perhaps?) and would like to take the Naglers out give me a call (it
may be necessary to pry my fingers off the case).

Hi Rob,

I'm sure Roland would have Loved to take the little Naglers out for a
spin in the country-side. . .

But he left for Almonte just after lunch. He'll be staying out in the
area for dinner and then going to Mike's. . . sigh. I had to work
today, so was not able to go with him.

Your offer was most generous -- although I know our fellow OAFs would
have been even more pleased if the Naglers were to have been enjoyed
in your company.

The way the forecast's looking for Saturday, we'll probably see you at
dinner tomorrow. If it clears up, we'll look forward to seeing the
Naglers . . . er, I mean you, at Pinhey's. ;-)

Jan

CMC's "cloud forcast for astronomical purposes" page has been
corrupted. It caused the OAFs SKY events list to
display the wrong CMC forecast image. Now it
look like this image applies for 20:00
tonight:



and this one for 23:00



The images predict that it will cloud over before 11pm.

Sites east of ottawa will have slightly more observing time.

Crap.

-ad

I'm thinking I may have to miss out tonight at Equuleus. Considering
how hard it was to get out of bed this morning I might fall asleep on
the way there (never mind coming back). If anyone is going
approximately past my place on the way out (Roland perhaps?) and would
like to take the Naglers out give me a call (it may be necessary to pry
my fingers off the case).

Rob

It pains me to say this but I will not be able to make it to your awe
inspring observatory. Sigh, have made araingments with a friend to be
at FLO tonight. Maybe next time.

MikeZ

--- In OAFs@y..., "Mike Wirths" <mwirths@s...> wrote:

Hi all!

Well I whimped out myself last night, it was still quite windy at

9:00 when I finished dinner and the transparency seemed to be bad so
I decided to rest instead. Tonight its seems like it will be clear
after all with better transparency (less high level water vapor), so
how about having a session at my place this pm? Let me know if you
can make it, I finally got my new 25mm Zeiss eps , and with any luck
my binoviewer should come in today (fingers crossed!). I'll be at
Richards Dad's funeral today (2:00) so I may see some of you there.

Rob: you certainly are welcome to try fitting my scope in your car

sometime (is this a clever ruse to get a new scope? ;>)

and as far as the Madawaska highlands goes the spot I had in mind

is about 15km west of Dacre--- which is itself about 25km N of
Calabogie.

bye for now

Mike

--- In OAFs@y..., "Mike Wirths" <mwirths@s...> wrote:

so how

about having a session at my place this pm? Let me know if you can
make it, I finally got my new 25mm Zeiss eps ,

Who hoo. I'll be there. (FLO is nice, but Equuleus has better toys
and a better sky).

I'll bring my binoviewer just in case your's doesnt appear.

I suggest we look for the dimple (ngc4042) in Roland's Face
(M84 galaxy cluster).

-ad

r.prevost@... wrote:

Just wondering Al...

If an RASC member has a visiting family friend, or, an interested
amateur astronomer who might wish to "visit" FLO, but accompanied by
that RASC member, if that considered OK?

I couldn't see any info on that, posted on the RASC site, but if
memory serves, I think that in the past, RASC members could bring a
"guest" to FLO, as long as this was not "abused". Just wondering if
you might possibly know the RASC's approach on this?

Yes, that is all correct.

None of this is spelled out in rigorous detail, and I for one would not
want to see FLO tied up in reams of written regulations.

Common sense says we do want to protect the site from unwelcome people
bent on vandalism or dumping trash. The logical limitation is thus to
restrict access to FLO to RASC-Ottawa members. Those members are always
welcome to bring guests with them as long as they keep track of the
guests and keep them out of harms way (like sticking their fingers in
the roof mechanism as it comes off), and keep them from doing something
that might damage the equipment.

So bottom line; RASC members welcome and supervised guests welcome.

Cheers - Al

r.prevost@... wrote:

--- In OAFs@y..., "Mike Wirths" <mwirths@s...> wrote:

I'll be at Richards Dad's funeral today (2:00) so I may see some of
you there.

I'll see you there Mike.

Later,
Rol

(If this email catches people who will be going before they go) Please
pass on my condolences - and I'm sure those of any other OAFs that can't
make it.

Rob

--- In OAFs@y..., "Mike Wirths" <mwirths@s...> wrote:

Tonight its seems like it will be clear after all with better
transparency (less high level water vapor), so how about having a
session at my place this pm?

I was holding back until I felt more sure about the weather for FLO,
as that meant bringing my scope as well. However, if the weather does
look like it will hold, I might come over to Equuleus "sans scope".

I'll be at Richards Dad's funeral today (2:00) so I may see some of
you there.

I'll see you there Mike.

Later,
Rol

Hi all!

Well I whimped out myself last night, it was still quite windy at 9:00 when I finished dinner and the transparency seemed to be bad so I decided to rest instead. Tonight its seems like it will be clear after all with better transparency (less high level water vapor), so how about having a session at my place this pm? Let me know if you can make it, I finally got my new 25mm Zeiss eps , and with any luck my binoviewer should come in today (fingers crossed!). I'll be at Richards Dad's funeral today (2:00) so I may see some of you there.

Rob: you certainly are welcome to try fitting my scope in your car sometime (is this a clever ruse to get a new scope? ;>)
and as far as the Madawaska highlands goes the spot I had in mind is about 15km west of Dacre--- which is itself about 25km N of Calabogie.


bye for now

Mike

At Rob's request, I have created a poll so we can pick
a restarant. At Jan's request, I have added a few west-end
Indian restaraunts. But sorry, Jan, the only _good_ Thai
places that I know of are nowhere near the west end.

The idea is to have dinner with oafs _only_ if its
cloudy saturday evening. If its clear, most people
will skip dinner and go directly to Pinhey's point.

So I suggest that people vote now, assuming it will
be cloudy Saturday. (a pretty safe bet.) Saturday
noon, I will phone the restarant with the most votes
and make a reservation for everyone who voted.

I also suggest that at 5pm, people decide if they
are going to skip dinner because they are going
directly to pinheys point (or have any other
reason to bail). If you decide to skip dinner,
please delete your vote. A little after 5pm,
I will check the votes again and advise the
restarant to adjust the reservation (to zero
if necessary). The reservation will be under
the secret code name "danko".

Oh, and if you are extra people (who didnt get
a chance to vote), email me attilla.danko@...
with the number.

Clear skies xor food with astronmy friends.

-ad