On 1/2/00 12:21 AM, Jamie Dillon wrote:
At 5 pm there was fog flowing over the SW lot and no sign of an astronomer. Just as I was getting off the phone from ragging Mark Wagner, up drove Jason Newquist, He Who Was Eloquent Over Montebello.Armed with an array of new layers of clothing (including plenty of socks, by god), I felt eager to attempt another observing session in what would surely be greater comfort.
The Virgo Astronomics tripod (of Canon manufacture, actually) and flexible parallelogram mount I had ordered for my Orion 8x56 Mini-Giant Binoculars still hadn't arrived, alas, but I thought I would be able to start work on visually charting out the winter constellations and some of the brighter objects of interest therein. So I packed up my copy of Nightwatch (pending arrival of Touring the Universe Through Binoculars, as well), grabbed some paper and a couple pens, and headed out.
From my dwelling's door in Santa Clara, it took me 65 minutes through light traffic to arrive in the Fremont Peak parking lot at 5:20pm. On the way up the state park road itself, things got bad. About a third of the there, the clouds hit ground and were occasionally very thick. On the peak itself, temperatures were not very cold initially, although as cloud cover waxed and waned with very moderate winds, so too did temperatures drift into the 30s.
There was a small group of New-Year-celebrators-come-lately in a car not too far away, and they fired off some small amount of fireworks, including flares, which would have been disruptive to dark adaptation. But they wandered off before too long.
He got a walking tour of the place, then as we were sauntering down from the Observatory, up in the fog came Jay Reynolds and Harvey.Thanks for the tour, Jamie! I would like to some day take a peek through the 30" scope in the Observatory. Hmm. Maybe I'd catch aperture fever if I did that; perhaps it's best to leave well enough alone?
Apparently, Jamie is one of those who folks names his instruments. I met Felix only briefly, as he remained buckled into the passenger seat. If I have it right, he's an 11" Newtonian painted a handsome shade of midnight-blue and adorned with star- and moon-shaped decals, which I thought were great. It looked reminiscent of Mikey Mouse's hat from Fantasia... somehow transmorgified from cone into elongated cylinder.
I also got to see the legendary all-white Harvey, although the weather was obviously such that he, too, did not come out to play.
As we were nattering, here came David Kingsley and his StarMaster. So we adjourned to the main lot for coffee, Norfolk punch, walnuts and chocolate-covered pfeffernusse.One of the more interesting learning experiences during the evening was a comparison of various star atlases, prompted by David wondering if Jay had brought his Millennium. Jay broke out the multi-volume hardback atlas set in question, David brought out his HB Astroatlas, and Jamie his Mag 6 Star Atlas. Interesting comparisons. It's a pity that both the HB and the Mag 6 are out of print.
Meanwhile, Jamie offered up a bottle of an English "punch" which tasted more like Worcester sauce to my provincial Generation-X Californian tastebuds; but it definitely grew more tasty as the evening progressed. Jamie also brought delicious cookies, and Jay shared some granola bars and a mean instant espresso.
At one time the zenith opened up, and we saw once again what the Peak can be like on a good night. Cassiopeia and Perseus were flat dazzling.I've been under urban skies far too long. It was almost difficult to make out the constellations, although after a time I was able to recalibrate my sense of brightness, and discern more shades of luminosity.
There was also enough aggregate time over several sucker-holes for David to give me another lesson in finding a binocular object -- he selected a double cluster, and pointed out a useful asterism in Cassiopeia.
Also of benefit was the discussion of the "astronomer sacrifice." This is a very powerful concept.
I'd surmise that one solid fact Jason Newquist learned about amateur astronomers tonight is that we're easily amused....And easily sated by cookies and warm thermos stuff.
Thanks for a splendid evening, folks!