by James Turley
| Date | Wed, 5/3/01 1915 - 0030 PDT (UST -7:00) |
|---|---|
| Location | Montebello Ridge, CA 37.328ºN, 122.1966ºW +37º 19' 40.8" -122º 11' 47.76" Elevation 2284 feet http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=37.328&lon=-122.1966&s=50&size=s |
| Equipment | VX114ED (4.5") 600mm f/5.26 Refractor, GP-DX Mount |
| Present | Phil Terzian (weightless G11), Marc Verdiell( 10"SCT), Rich Neuschaefer (AP Stowaway), James Turley (4.5APO), Jay Freeman (scopeless) |
Left Saratoga 1900, winds gusting. Debris all on the roadways up the mountain. Skyline south was beautiful, with the sun setting into a foggy sea. Wildflowers backlit against the hills. Arrived MB Ridge 1935, to meet Phil wandering around, parking lot otherwise empty. Wind gusts to 15 knots from the South. Crossed the street for a view of The City, north way to Mt. Tam. Strongly clear, but smoggy on such a windy day.
Phil forgot his counterweights, and got skunked into mooch mode. See picture on a later post. And Marc donated his chicken enchiladas to the resident coyote.
We huddled around our parked cars and set up as a fort against the wind. Cozy, yet still windy. BMW 540 makes a very nice wind break. Wind abating a tad. Rich measures 6 knots I think in his Kestrel. Temp 55, Humidity 60. Jay soon shows up scopeless, his new toy in the paint shop.
I hadn't set up my Vixen VX114 4.5" ED Refractor since last Fall. The poor thing so lonely after having to share life with my C8. With RNApo man next to me.. and with a 9 day old moon at zenith casting noon day shadows, I decided to try out a refractor experience.
Hardly any stars, but great seeing on the moon. Trouble was, at any power, the craters danced with the gusts. We spent most of the evening, all of us on the terminator. Except some nice view of M13 and M3 though the 10".
Copernicus: We spent most of the night around Copernicus, in late morning sun. The central mountain complex (1.2k above the floor) in full sun. Fauth and Fauth A were dark, like a keyhole.
T Mayer A: A little West of Copernicus, T Mayer A, a tiny crater in the Carpathians was blazing away at the terminator, casting a giant shadow. The floor was completely dark, but the high rim ridges were shining a brilliant mica-like white, casting a giant shadow toward the terminator. Rukl identifies this as T Mayer A (map 20). All night, we never saw adjacent T Mayer, a much larger crater. "A" must be high indeed, casting a very sharp, long narrow shadow. I noticed the AP Stowaway was showing an even brighter mica shine.
Although the wind was mostly with us all night, with occasional moments of steadiness, the moon seeing was exceptional. Using my 4x 2" TV Powermate barlow, 150x view with my 12mmTV was clear and colorless. This combo was nice, giving a 82 degree FOV, without any loss of image clarity that one might expect putting 4x barlow glass between me the EP an the diagonal. Later, Rich and I tried to the 4x barlow combo with my 6mm Radian, giving a whooping 400x. Bright, colorless, holding focus, but heavy dancing. This view reminded me of Calstar 2000, where I was able to get 450x on Jupiter, breaking Dawes limit by 2x, giving 100x per inch of aperture.
Other features chased by Rich and Marc were the "Great Wall" and some craters in the South Polar Jumble.
Later, we did manage a decent view of M13, and M3 through the Marc's 10"...and even a 300x view in my refractor. This was not a DSO night. Wind, moon and all.
All in all, a nice evening under Mag 3 skies, hunting for T Mayer.
