Post by dewayne on Nov 13, 2004 9:14:54 GMT -6
I went out to the dark site observatory last nite. It is located in Jubilee State Park, about a half-hours drive outside Peoria, Illinois.
Headed out about 6:45 p.m.
I got a good laugh at myself before I arrived.
A co-worker, earlier this week, hit a deer on I-80 near Chicago. She was going 70 MPH when she hit it. It made a real mess out of her van.
Well, that was on my mind as I drove to the observatory. There are a lot of deer around the observatory. I was going about 40 MPH when I saw one.
I slowed considerably.
Soon I turned off onto the road the observatory is on.
This rural road has lots of hills, and corn fields on both sides.
So it is prime deer crossing territory.
As I neared the crest of one of the hills I saw something on the road. I slammed on the brakes. Luckily no one was behind me.
It turned out what I saw was the double yellow lines on the two lane blacktop.
I was just a bit paranoid.
***
I finally got to the observatory. I was the first to arrive.
Got out of the car and I knew a treat was in store. The Milky Way was spread out above me. It was like a pale white film. The star clouds were beckoning me and my Orion XT8 "Big Enis."
But, before I played in the Milky Way I had a Messier to find.
Hercules was still high enough, I thought, to offer the chance to see M92. I had been looking for it at home without luck.
I'd been advised I might have to wait until Spring to get a peek at it.
I decided to give it a shot.
I knew where to look.
FOUND IT.
It was big and bright. I found it using my 2" 35MM EP. It stood out easily. Switching to my 1.25" 25MM EP I got a good look.
It was about 7:35 p.m.
That's 51 Messiers found now.
The seeing was not so great. Even at the higher magnbification I was not able to see pinpoint stars., But that's not the requirement to count it. So, I was happy. I'll have to re-visit it next Spring and see if I can get a better look.
I was happy with the find.
It's a good thing too because ...
I had a heck of a time all nite finding things. The usual sign posts were not all so evident. There were so many stars it was hard to get my bearings.
I thought, "No problem," my planisphere and star maps will help.
Well I forgot to put them in the car.
Another observer was willing to share, but then I find out my (red) flashlight batteries were dead.
"Not to worry," I thought.
I'll just cruise the sky.
Had a great time for the next 3.5 hours with my 2" 35MM EP and 1.25" 40MM EP scanning those star clouds. I never get tired of that.
I visitied M15, M2 (both of which I found earlier this week for the first time at home, but wanted to see under truly dark skies), M31, M45, M42.
I got to see the Saturn Nebula through our club president's 10" Discovery Dob.
Another club member let me borrow his 2" 50MM and 42MM lenses. That 42 was fine.
The 50MM worked but I had to have it practically falling out of my focuser to get it to focus. That Orion Deepview 42MM was so sharp. I have a 2" Orion Deepview 35MM lens. I wouldn't have thought 7MM would make that big a difference, but it did.
Man I had some fun with that EP.
I have a 40MM 1.25 EP, but I'm going add that 2" 42MM EP to my collection. And, I was told that Hardin has a 26MM 2" EP for under $100. I think if I add those two to my collection. I'll have a nice 2" collection then.
But, I'm getting off topic.
The only drawback of the nite was a stiff and persistent 10-15 MPH wind out of the west.
It never let up.
Dew was never an issue.
What did become an issue was the tears in my eyes from the wind.
It got to the point that every bright star had a tail on it from the moistrure in my eyes.
I went in the warm up room to let my eyes dry out.
But, about 10 minutes outside would bring back the tears.
I kept wiping my eyes, but in the end my eyes won the battle.
It was time to give up.
All in all, it was a great nite. Four of us braved the cold to do some viewing.
We had some fun, some good conversation and some really good raspberry flavored hot chocolate.
Headed out about 6:45 p.m.
I got a good laugh at myself before I arrived.
A co-worker, earlier this week, hit a deer on I-80 near Chicago. She was going 70 MPH when she hit it. It made a real mess out of her van.
Well, that was on my mind as I drove to the observatory. There are a lot of deer around the observatory. I was going about 40 MPH when I saw one.
I slowed considerably.
Soon I turned off onto the road the observatory is on.
This rural road has lots of hills, and corn fields on both sides.
So it is prime deer crossing territory.
As I neared the crest of one of the hills I saw something on the road. I slammed on the brakes. Luckily no one was behind me.
It turned out what I saw was the double yellow lines on the two lane blacktop.
I was just a bit paranoid.
***
I finally got to the observatory. I was the first to arrive.
Got out of the car and I knew a treat was in store. The Milky Way was spread out above me. It was like a pale white film. The star clouds were beckoning me and my Orion XT8 "Big Enis."
But, before I played in the Milky Way I had a Messier to find.
Hercules was still high enough, I thought, to offer the chance to see M92. I had been looking for it at home without luck.
I'd been advised I might have to wait until Spring to get a peek at it.
I decided to give it a shot.
I knew where to look.
FOUND IT.
It was big and bright. I found it using my 2" 35MM EP. It stood out easily. Switching to my 1.25" 25MM EP I got a good look.
It was about 7:35 p.m.
That's 51 Messiers found now.
The seeing was not so great. Even at the higher magnbification I was not able to see pinpoint stars., But that's not the requirement to count it. So, I was happy. I'll have to re-visit it next Spring and see if I can get a better look.
I was happy with the find.
It's a good thing too because ...
I had a heck of a time all nite finding things. The usual sign posts were not all so evident. There were so many stars it was hard to get my bearings.
I thought, "No problem," my planisphere and star maps will help.
Well I forgot to put them in the car.
Another observer was willing to share, but then I find out my (red) flashlight batteries were dead.
"Not to worry," I thought.
I'll just cruise the sky.
Had a great time for the next 3.5 hours with my 2" 35MM EP and 1.25" 40MM EP scanning those star clouds. I never get tired of that.
I visitied M15, M2 (both of which I found earlier this week for the first time at home, but wanted to see under truly dark skies), M31, M45, M42.
I got to see the Saturn Nebula through our club president's 10" Discovery Dob.
Another club member let me borrow his 2" 50MM and 42MM lenses. That 42 was fine.
The 50MM worked but I had to have it practically falling out of my focuser to get it to focus. That Orion Deepview 42MM was so sharp. I have a 2" Orion Deepview 35MM lens. I wouldn't have thought 7MM would make that big a difference, but it did.
Man I had some fun with that EP.
I have a 40MM 1.25 EP, but I'm going add that 2" 42MM EP to my collection. And, I was told that Hardin has a 26MM 2" EP for under $100. I think if I add those two to my collection. I'll have a nice 2" collection then.
But, I'm getting off topic.
The only drawback of the nite was a stiff and persistent 10-15 MPH wind out of the west.
It never let up.
Dew was never an issue.
What did become an issue was the tears in my eyes from the wind.
It got to the point that every bright star had a tail on it from the moistrure in my eyes.
I went in the warm up room to let my eyes dry out.
But, about 10 minutes outside would bring back the tears.
I kept wiping my eyes, but in the end my eyes won the battle.
It was time to give up.
All in all, it was a great nite. Four of us braved the cold to do some viewing.
We had some fun, some good conversation and some really good raspberry flavored hot chocolate.
