Clouds 1, Occultation 0, 2005/01/09 UT

Fellow ASH member Tony Donnangelo and I joined occultation specialist
Dr. David Dunham to observe the grazing occultation of SAO 109408 (see
http://iota.jhuapl.edu/exped117.htm for further information) on
Saturday night. The graze line was a few miles to the west of
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and was quite close to where ASH Vice
President Rick Goodman lives. As it turned out, Dr. Dunham had stopped
at the house of a relatively new ASH member purely by coincidence and
was given permission to set up an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain and video
equipment in the front yard. Tony and I positioned ourselves near the
driveway entrance. Dr. Dunham attached a videocamera and videorecorder
to Tony's 102mm f/8 Takahashi FS-102 apochromat and drove off to set up
some remote telescopes.

It was still reasonably clear when Tony and I first arrived and we were
able to observe Comet Machholz Q2 with a 10x50 Celestron Ultima
binocular and a 6" f/8 Orion XT6 Dob at 38 and 51x but in the south
clouds had begun to gather around the Moon. By the time the occultation
started, which was 9:31 pm EST (02:31 UT), the situation had grown much
worse. We were unable to see or record anything useful. The 37%
illuminated Moon was visible, albeit rather dimly at times, through the
6" but not the 7.9 magnitude star.

After the event transpired, I observed M42 and Saturn briefly with the
Dob and did a little more binocular observing. We then began to pack
our gear into Tony's vehicle. Before leaving we viewed some of the
videotape from the SCT's camcorder. (It revealed only fleeting glimpses
of the occulted star.) As we did so we watched in consternation as a
large sucker hole opened up and the Moon sprang fully into view once
again.

Dave Mitsky

Dave Mitsky:
The graze line was a few miles to the west of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania...

...Tony and I positioned ourselves near the
driveway entrance. Dr. Dunham attached a videocamera and videorecorder
to Tony's 102mm f/8 Takahashi FS-102 apochromat and drove off to set up
some remote telescopes.

It was still reasonably clear...
...but in the south clouds had begun to gather around the Moon.
By the time the occultation started... the situation had grown much
worse. We were unable to see or record anything useful.
...we watched in consternation as a large sucker hole opened up and
the Moon sprang fully into view once again.

Serves you right for trying to observe so close to Maryland. Stay away
from our borders -- preferably about 1800 miles away -- and you'll be a
happier observer.

Davoud -- Gambrills, Maryland

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