by James Turley
Present at Sunset were Crispy, Jim N (first time), Phil T, and Kevin S. Arrived to a soft warm breeze, with threatening Marine Layer inching over the Trancos Ridge toward us. 64 deg/54 percent.
Preparing to haul out my Vixen Pier and 4.5" APO, I mozied over to Richard and found him hoisting a gigantic C14 onto a magnificent new AP1200GTO, sporting a TV 101 Guide Scope. Man oh Man. Towering above us, 10 feet high, reaching for the sky, this mighty beast dominated the South Eastern skyline all evening, slewing around the sky like a Cat D10. LX200 owners would be pleased. Slinking back toward the Astrovan, I cowered down and set up my 70mm Ranger, vowing to start a TAC Minimum Aperture sub list.
Ranger Laura stopped by. Phil showed her the Moon and Mars. In passing, she reported to me that the flawless conduct and professionalism shown by TAC Astronomy users of MB Open space Reserve are a frequent topic in the Ranger Ready Room. Way to go TACos! Let's keep it that way. In fact, I had been a little worried, since the activity up at MB has picked up considerably. And remember, never arrive early, and clean up your mess! (just joking, Wag)
Seeing was soft under Mag 5 skies. La Luna moving down, a fat crescent. Mars, as usual, a dusty blob. The Milky Way was a soft haze buried in the Urban light dome. But, getting brighter as the evening wore on. It was hard not to remember Bumpass Hell.
I enjoyed my 70mm ED views all night in Sag and Sco, confident in the knowledge that a giant photon sucker was just across to lot from me, lest I get an uncontrollable fit of AP -- Aperture Fever. Thanks to Jim F, for showing me 3 times where the comet (or was it M15) was.
Jim F was futzing with his STV all night and actually reading the manual. Phil T couldn't leave the Lagoon, although he tried. And Kevin S and Phil did a major inconclusive AB shootout between his Tak LE and a Kev's Pentax XL. I started to suggest they try my Radian, but, decided to keep the test fair :-) Phil won't let Radians near his scope anyway.
Phil and I visited our favorite object a few times: NGC 12 :-)
Suggested to Richard that we point the C14 beast to NGC 5350 and CanV, a popular Galaxy cluster at Lassen 2001. Shooting galaxies was fun, even from MB. Most of us only saw 3. I'm 6' 1" and had to stand on the astrochair to reach the TV 101.
At 1am, temp rose to 65 degrees. With La Luna gone, the sky was looking promising. A very warm breeze picked up.
All in all...a nice Summer Evening in MB.
Oh yeah, a new TACo, Dotty from Mt. View was there too! Who was set up across the lot. She had a great little ETX 90. We had a good time trying to find the guide stars. After that, we did a lot of Globs. Dotty...you need to check out "The Mighty ETX Site"
http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html
Lot's of good info on reworking the backlash etc on those motors. We had some nice comparisons with my 70mm ED vs 90mm Mak Cas. What a nice little scope!