by James Turley
If you don't read any further. Go up to MB! Conditions should be very very good up there for the next few days.
A great evening observing at MB, First Night 1/1/01. Conditions were dry, 100% clear. Scant high whispy scud South and West. By the time the moon set at 2338, Orion was showing mag 6 stars. Great seeing. Temperatures ranged from 39 to 47, humidity 59 to 74 percent. At 2300, a fine dry warm wind from the sea blew away the moisture, making for a sparkling clear night.
Some great adventure up there on the first evening of the year.
Arrived at 1615 to a PACKED parking lot. No space. Can you believe it? Looked like GG park on a Sunday. Finally parked, and decided to check out my cell reception (PacBell Wireless). Dead at MB. Then crossed over the Las Trancos. At the trail entrance, take the first dirt path to the right, walk 35 steps up to the crest of a knoll. Boom! 4-bars. Full Signal. Move 10 feet in any direction. No bars. At least for PacBell, I chanced on the ONLY spot with any signal. Fine view of Mt. Tam, Mt. Diablo from this point.
Lot thins out. Set up my newly collimated Bob Knobbed C8 (courtesy of Phil Chambers at Dino) on my 2nd GP-DX. This one rigged with Digital Setting Circles (Orion Sky Wizard 3). I like DSC's better than the SS2K GoTo for a lot of reasons. The Vixen encoders are very accurate (3000 clicks) and integrate seamlessly into the mount. I use the a cleverly clutched RA Motor only, allowing me to disengage RA and point quickly to any area of the sky with out affecting alignment, and reengage easily with a simple set screw twist. The SS2K GOTO requires the "tethered" motors to be engaged at all times and operated with the paddle. With the DSC's I am learning a lot more about the sky. Plus, call me weird, I like to hug my OTA.
Showed Jupiter and CIEG to the cute new Ranger, Sherry. Just out of Ranger Training School in her shiny new uniform. Empty lot. A fine show of planets, all lined up with the moon.
8": M57 Lyr Ring Nebula. At 166x a blur. at 250x nice contrast, but no central star. Moon near. DSC in good alignment,.
8": M56 Lyr GC. Part of my Globs of Winter (GOW) project.
8": NGC1664 Aur OC. A random find in NSOG, since Auriga is nicely placed.
8": B26-28 Aur Dark Nebula. DNF (interrupted by flashlight)
Some white light flashing at the Gate. A Night Rider. Local resident, Jim Sullivan, lives up on Skyline (for 20 years) near Crazy Pete's Drive. Very cool guy. Has repair business for Italian Espresso machines. Just landed contract for Pete's. Rides in the dead of night through out the MB Preserve, Skyline, Alpine. Expert the mating rituals of Tarantulas, hunting habits of owls and bats. Rides the trails by the moon. Sometimes, he follows the packs of coyotes romping on the trails in the full moon, keeping up with them, howling with them from the ridges. Amazing, these night people, aren't they? Gave him a grand tour of the showpiece objects (M42, M31, etc. etc.). Not a peeper, but really studied each object. If you see a lone bike rider in the dark on Wednesday nights at MB, show him something cool. I told him to turn his helmet mounted headlamps out before approaching. Also got his phone number since he agreed to give us cloud reports on night time conditions up there. Nothing like a resident spotter, eh?. Maybe set up a weather station up on his property. Hmmm...
8": Sunrise over Cassini in the Lunar Alps. Shadows cast in A and B central craters.
Jim Feldhouse shows up with his 16" Dob. I'll keep you guessing and let him tell you about his new EP Toy. Put it this way, his new EP toy made my Nagler 31mm Type 5 seem ordinary. We stared on a great adventure looking for:
8": NG2419 Lynx OC. I've tried to find this object for 6 months. At Dino, Jim Everitt said he'd been trying to find the Intergalactic Wanderer Glob too. Jay's comment there was, "faint". Yes, very. Wow. Lynx is a lonely place. There is really nothing in this area. Faint dim stars. A fitting place for this object. According to NSOG (1-232), this Glob is way out there...moving at a velocity greater than the escape velocity of our Galaxy. A lonely courageous Glob of stars on some mission away from home. Couldn't find it, until...I'll let Jim tell you about finding it.
8": NGC2683 H708(3) Lynx Galaxy. At 166x a defined central core. Mottled halo. Dim.
Although the skies are getting darker, by Moonset, I was ready to break down. Just too much excitement with Jim's new EP toy. Temperature was rising, wind was warm. Orion showed many stars, almost like Dino on 12/30/00. A fine clear warm dark night at MB. Doesn't get much better on this First Night.