A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Others » Astro Pictures
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

ASTRO: me, the moon, and venus - Cherry Springs Star Party



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old May 20th 07, 11:49 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
George Normandin[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,022
Default 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




Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	mo-ven-gpn.jpg
Views:	215
Size:	204.9 KB
ID:	879  
  #2  
Old May 21st 07, 05:26 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
Stefan Lilge
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,269
Default 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



  #3  
Old May 21st 07, 09:14 PM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
Starlord
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,908
Default 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  
Old May 22nd 07, 01:25 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
George Normandin[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,022
Default 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  
Old May 22nd 07, 01:25 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
George Normandin[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,022
Default 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


  #6  
Old May 22nd 07, 03:30 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
Starlord
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,908
Default 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  
Old May 22nd 07, 04:53 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
George Normandin[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,022
Default 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  
Old May 22nd 07, 05:15 AM posted to alt.binaries.pictures.astro
Starlord
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,908
Default 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



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Cherry Springs Star Party George Normandin[_1_] Amateur Astronomy 9 May 14th 07 07:54 PM
Cherry Springs Star Party - One Week to Go! Dave Mitsky Amateur Astronomy 2 June 21st 06 02:22 PM
Cherry Springs Star Party - Registration Extension Dave Mitsky Amateur Astronomy 1 June 2nd 06 09:44 PM
Last Call for Cherry Springs Star Party! Ted Nichols II Amateur Astronomy 0 April 29th 05 05:02 PM
Cherry Springs Star Party - June 2005! Ted A. Nichols II Amateur Astronomy 1 November 29th 04 08:12 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:19 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.