My attendance at the annual FPOA ( Fremont Peak Observatory Association ) "Star B Q" this past weekend marked my first 1st anniversary as an Amateur Observational Astronomer. Simply put, I had a great two days on the mountain!

I arrived at the Peak at 1:30 Friday afternoon. I set up my tent near the ridge overlooking "Coulter Row." I was able to setup my scopes so that I had a good view of the southeastern and western sky, a moderate view of the eastern and northeastern sky due south was limited by trees, as was anything below Polaris in the north, but as I planned to spend most my time in other parts of the sky this was not a major concern.

Equipment:
8" f/7 ATM Dobs equipped with the Sky Commander DSC
Meade ETX 90mm Mak, tripod mounted
Eyepieces ranging from 7.5mm to 32mm
2x Barlow
UHC filter
7x50 Binoculars

After unpacking the rest of my gear, I retreated from the Sun finding sanctuary under a nearby tree. I kicked back and popped the top on a Heineken, took a long chug as I watched a Hawk circling in the sky in search of prey. The fresh air and scenic views are such a pleasure after a week spent in San Francisco. Astronomy really makes one appreciate the wide open spaces that are that are fast being encroached upon by developers and light pollution.

Thankful Nature provides the astronomers at the Peak a remedy for some of that stray light the emanates from some of the surrounding cities in the form of a thick Fog that blankets the valley floor. And Friday night was no exception. The fog came in early and seemed to be nice and thick. So as I drank my beer, thoughts of a great night of viewing filled my head.

As Afternoon turned to evening I was surprised at how few scopes were assembled, there were three scopes set up near where I setup my scopes and only one on Coulter Row that one owned by a gentleman I met at the Cabot Observatory when I was figuring the mirror for my Dobs. With my binoculars hung around my neck, I took a hike to the top of Fremont Peak. The view from the top was nice, I saw some interesting birds with fabulous colors, but not being a "Birder" I could not identify any spices. I did see a Rattlesnake, a first for me at the Peak, it was pretty big to me, about 2˝ to 3 feet long! And as I made my way back to camp, I saw a pair of Foxes nosing around a covered 20" Obsession belonging to a guy in a big mobile home not far from my tent, I would find myself nosing around this scope later that night for a fantastic view of the Vail Nebula through an O III filter! It was like riding on a highway in the sky! I was greeted by 10 more telescopes that had been set up in my absence, this is more like what I expected for the Friday night before the Star B Q.

As the Sun was becoming just a sliver in the West, lots of people gathered on the ridge to try to catch the elusive "Green Flash" ( No Mark, that’s a blue flash that you are thinking about. ) 8^) but as usual no flash, but at least it was time for the stars to come out, and the observing area was abuzz with people readying their equipment. After a brief collumation period my scope was set, and I sat back waiting for the show to begin.

The park was well populated with non-astronomers as I expected and my reason for spending two nights on the mountain was that on Friday I would be able to get so serious observations logged, and then on Saturday I would welcome "the great unwashed" to share in the majesty of the heavens. But as the author said, "The best laid plans……….." so as it turned out I ended up having a one man star party. Not that I was the only one sharing his scope, but it did seem, just as it was at Lassen, that the crowd of folks around my scope never lessened. This however is not a complaint, as I really enjoy turning people on to the wonders in the nighttime sky!

As soon as Polaris was visible, I setup the ETX. I took care to do a good polar alignment, so that the scope would track as accurately as possible. I decided to lock on the double star Albireo in Cygnus, this turned out to be a very good choice, for it is one of the most gorgeous sights in the evening sky. And the ETX kept it centered in the 17mm eyepiece for over 45 min. until a little kid kicked the tripod

Everyone who looked at this pair was amazed at the striking colors of blue and gold on a velvety dark background. An elderly couple took a look and the women exclaimed, "It so beautiful, it almost brings tears to my eyes." And as she stood and thanked me I could detect a welling of moisture in the corners of her eyes.

As twilight faded into dark, M8 became a naked eye object, as it would soon be behind the trees to the south So I picked this as the first target for viewing. The 16mm Konig WA eyepiece produced an excellent image, even without a filter there was a good amount of detail to be seen. All the "WOWS" attested to this fact. And when I attached the UHC filter the wows turned into "Holy Cow" and Holy something else." The filter brought out detail I had not seen before. The nebulosity had the effect of looking like cumulous clouds, I guess billowy is the word that comes to mind. Of all the people that looked through my scopes, I had the most fun with a family that just recently moved here to California to the town of Hollister from the Texas panhandle. Two brothers their spouses and three kids! They stayed near me for almost two hours!

I wowed them with all the bright objects, M22, M11, the Dumbbell and Ring Nebulae, the Double Cluster. They all got a real kick out of NGC 457 the ET Cluster, especially the kids. And as they were looking at these marvels, I explained some of the physics behind what they were looking at, But as usual, it was distance that impressed them the most. So I found M51 for them explaining that it was 15 million LY away, and that the light that they were seeing left there 15 million years ago, And believe me, the Whirlpool did not disappoint! The view of the bridge to the companion was automatic, 3 dust spirals could be seen, two of them easily. Again they were just blown away by the detail they could see in an object so far away.

At this point am thinking that there isn’t anything more that will excite these folks beyond the level they had reached. WRONG! In all the time I had been doing my show and tell thing, I had completely forgotten about the Planets! And when the 8" was trained on Jupiter with the 12mm Intes WA EP all hell broke loose.

The conditions for planetary viewing were the best I have seen at the Peak this year! Transparency was good to very good and seeing was better than fair too good. At least 9 bands were visible, and the detail revealed was almost too much for words. And this Texas family went nuts as they looked at mighty Jove. One of the wives looked down the business end of the tube, thinking I had somehow slipped a photograph inside my scope to fool them. They oohed and awed over and over again thinking that, nothing could top this. That was until I showed them Saturn! At this point screams of surprise and delight could be heard all round the mountain! Still using the 12m WA at 120x Cassini was a snap and the shadow of the disk falling on the ring was also very easy to see.

After the frenzy over Saturn died down and this family got in their van and drove home, I was left alone with my scope and the stars above. I picked out NGC 7217 in Pegasus, it appeared round with a fairly bright core and M15 was nicely resolved. I spent some time finding 11th and 12th mag. Galaxies in Pegasus until I looked around me to find that I was the last man standing, to my surprise everyone had turned in for the night.

I said to myself that tomorrow is another day and wrapped up scope for the night, and returned to my tent. I lay in my sleeping bag going over the events of the day and the wonders of the night until I drifted off to sleep. About an hour later it seemed as if someone had shaken my shoulder and I awoke. There was nobody in my tent "must have been a dream" I said to myself as I lay back down, and as I did, I looked out of my east facing tent window and there waving at me in the distance was Orion, set against real dark sky, and as I drifted back to sleep I could hear him say " Rashad, Rashad come on out and play." "Tomorrow, tomorrow" I replied as I finally surrendered to sleep.

End of part I