by Mark Wagner
At 10:12 PM 07/24/2001 -0700, Steve Gottlieb wrote:
Although I missed Lassen, I spent five nights last week at the SF State's Sierra Nevada Field Campus near the Sierra Buttes (with not a single mosquito, Mark and Rashad) helping out with their astronony class. We had clear skies every night (7/15 - 7/19) but after coming home on Friday I drove...
Glad Sierra Buttes was enjoyable. I saw one mosquito at Lassen last week, so almost as good as SB! Temps at Bumpass ranged from hi-30's to low-40's. The skies were excellent four of six nights at Lassen. The most enjoyable view I had was of the Crescent Nebula. As hard as it is to believe I feel there was more definition than last August's views. Really spectacular... no difficulty whatsoever with the object.
I spent the rest of my observing sessions swapping telescope time with Mimi. She's work her H400, I would work the remainders of the compete list. This was very effective and enjoyable for both of us. Mimi did not like using the 14.5", which is why we both ended up on the 18".
I felt the limiting mag through the eyepiece was down slightly from last year's Lassen. I was hitting mid to high 15's, whereas last year I was well into the 16's.
I was successful in completing all the remaining Herschel's I could get until spring comes around again. Since I have nothing remaining on my list for August, I am looking for a new program. Perhaps a combination of the Abell Clusters, Arp and Hickson catalogs. Suggestions are welcome!