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ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party
Well, it is certainly dark at Cherry Springs PA. Here's me and my
Obsession 20 waiting for full darkness at the Cherry Springs Star Party. You can see the conjunction of the Moon & Venus that happened on the evening of May 19, 2007. As it got dark the two moved ever closer until their centers were less than a degree apart. Image by my friend Art C. Long time imager Alan Chen was set up about 50 feet away with his new 12.5-inch astro-camera doing a long shot of M-101, and bugging me to show it to him in my Dob. About 300 amateur astronomers (many doing CCD'ing) amused themselves observing this beautiful conjunction while waiting for a night of dark-sky observing (cut short by clouds after mid-night). At CSSP 2007 the weather was partly cooperative with one night of sucker holes, one totally clear night, and the 19th that was good until the clouds moved in shortly after mid-night. Alan told me that there was white-out snow on Wednesday, and it was well below freezing on the night of 18/19, and nearly so the rest of the nights. I'll post more CSSP pictures over the next few days. George N |
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ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party
George,
I would have liked to be there. Venus and the moon looked nice here in Berlin too, actually it was even more beautiful a day before when the moon was even "thinner". Do you have any details on Alan's new scope? I think he wanted to build himself a larger version of his 10" Newt? Or is this a completely different beast? Stefan "George Normandin" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news Well, it is certainly dark at Cherry Springs PA. Here's me and my Obsession 20 waiting for full darkness at the Cherry Springs Star Party. You can see the conjunction of the Moon & Venus that happened on the evening of May 19, 2007. As it got dark the two moved ever closer until their centers were less than a degree apart. Image by my friend Art C. Long time imager Alan Chen was set up about 50 feet away with his new 12.5-inch astro-camera doing a long shot of M-101, and bugging me to show it to him in my Dob. About 300 amateur astronomers (many doing CCD'ing) amused themselves observing this beautiful conjunction while waiting for a night of dark-sky observing (cut short by clouds after mid-night). At CSSP 2007 the weather was partly cooperative with one night of sucker holes, one totally clear night, and the 19th that was good until the clouds moved in shortly after mid-night. Alan told me that there was white-out snow on Wednesday, and it was well below freezing on the night of 18/19, and nearly so the rest of the nights. I'll post more CSSP pictures over the next few days. George N |
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ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party
What? No Sidewalk Astronomer out with their scopes?
-- The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Sidewalk Astronomy www.sidewalkastronomy.info AD World http://www.adworld.netfirms.com/ "Stefan Lilge" wrote in message ... George, I would have liked to be there. Venus and the moon looked nice here in Berlin too, |
#4
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ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party
"Stefan Lilge" wrote
I would have liked to be there...... Stefan, I'm sure you would have enjoyed being at CSSP and we would have been glad to have you! Venus and the moon looked nice here in Berlin too, actually it was even more beautiful a day before when the moon was even "thinner". I saw that too! The entire moon just fits in the field of a 26mm Nagler in my 20-inch F/5 Dob. The seeing was good early that evening also, and the temp was still above freezing. There was lots of banding detail on Saturn at about 350x, and the 20 shows lots of detail in the rings when the seeing is good. Do you have any details on Alan's new scope? I think he wanted to build himself a larger version of his 10" Newt? Or is this a completely different beast? I've some pictures I'll post over the next few days, including Alan's rig. It is not really a 'telescope', because it can only be used for imaging. It's basically a bigger aluminum version of his 10-inch astro-camera with a FeatherTouch focuser where the secondary should be. There's only the primary between the sky and the camera. From the raw images of M-101 that I saw him taking, it's a very good instrument. Alan's 1-hour presentation on one-shot color CCD'ing was very informative and not biased at all. BTW, Alan is not posting here in a.b.p.a because his current ISP (in PA) does not carry News Groups. When he's home in Florida he checks in, and will be returning to this group in about a year. Clear skies, George Normandin |
#5
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ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party
"Starlord" wrote ...
What? No Sidewalk Astronomer out with their scopes? You'd love Cherry Springs State Park, except it's very remote - there's not much in north central PA except bears, elk, etc. There's not a sidewalk within 50 miles or more! Pennsylvania has made Cherry Springs State Park an official 'Dark Sky' location, and it's first "Astronomy Park". They have a paid Ranger who gives astronomy programs on Saturday evenings, open to the public for free. The visitors are allowed to walk onto the observing field, but are told they can only look thru people's scopes if invited. I'm sure that everyone would agree to that. They also have two domes and a roll-off roof observatory that can be rented by the night - no scopes - just observatories and AC power. In the fall they will be adding flush toilets and later on a class-room and planetarium (on the other side of the road from the main park). I'm very encouraged with what PA is doing here. Unfortunately it's all in danger from a proposed wind farm with lighted towers. Clear skies, George Normandin |
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ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party
Wind Frams with "Linghted" towers??? Seems odd, as Rosamond is within 17
miles of a wind farm that has over 200 POWER GENS up making power by the mountain winds and there's not a lighted up tower amount them all. Get a calif. map and look up Mojave and look to it's northwest to the Tachipie(Mis-spelled) mountians which have the Biggest wind farms (I hope we're talking the same here) in the USA. -- The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Sidewalk Astronomy www.sidewalkastronomy.info AD World http://www.adworld.netfirms.com/ "George Normandin" wrote in message ... "Starlord" wrote ... What? No Sidewalk Astronomer out with their scopes? You'd love Cherry Springs State Park, except it's very remote - there's not much in north central PA except bears, elk, etc. NO SIDEWALKS??? where that cement mixer when needed ;} |
#7
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ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party
"Starlord" wrote ... Wind Frams with "Linghted" towers??? Seems odd, as Rosamond is within 17 miles of a wind farm that has over 200 POWER GENS up making power by the mountain winds and there's not a lighted up tower amount them all. Get a calif. map and look up Mojave and look to it's northwest to the Tachipie(Mis-spelled) mountians which have the Biggest wind farms (I hope we're talking the same here) in the USA. They're talking about 150+ towers each over 400 feet high. At that hight they would need red lights for air warnings. How high are your towers? Do they produce any noticable light pollution? Remember we're talking Bortle scale 2 dark sky at Cherry Springs, something rare in the mid-atlantic states, so even a little extra light would be a "big deal". George N |
#8
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ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party
The towers are maybe 100ft tall, about as big as the cell tower across the
freeway from me, but it has to have a light because it's in the approch pathway to Palmdale airport, FoxField airport, Mojave Spaceport, and Edwards AFB, the wind mills are ALL on the southside of that mountain range but they cover an area that's at lest 5miles wide by 20 miles long and there's plans going to be submitted to Kern county that add another 100 mills in 10 years to what's already up there, if it get's oked, they have to buy the land first. and NOT ONE has a light on them! Mojave is a major LPer of that area itself. -- The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond Telescope Buyers FAQ http://home.inreach.com/starlord Sidewalk Astronomy www.sidewalkastronomy.info AD World http://www.adworld.netfirms.com/ "George Normandin" wrote in message ... They're talking about 150+ towers each over 400 feet high. At that hight they would need red lights for air warnings. How high are your towers? Do they produce any noticable light pollution? Remember we're talking Bortle scale 2 dark sky at Cherry Springs, something rare in the mid-atlantic states, so even a little extra light would be a "big deal". George N |
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