The Sonoma Double Cluster

by Jane Houston Jones

There were two clusters of 8 scopes each at Lone Rock Flat, Lake Sonoma, CA last night, 4/6/02. Mojo and I was set up at the high spot with the best northwest horizon for viewing Comet Ikeya Zhang, and to enjoy a sunset picnic with friends. The other cluster set up in the headlight-hollow near the road, a nice low point protected from car lights. Both spots have their "high" points depending on your observing plans.

Our first observations were thru Russ Thomas' Orion Short Tube 80 with his brand new Coronado SolarMax 60. The two solar prominences, on the north and south of the sun looked like the sun was skewered with a flaming poker. The detail was spectacular, and made me anticipate the day in June when our own SolarMax arrives in the mail. Soon black hilltop and tree silhouettes masked the h-alpha disk, and the cluster of observers separated and returned to set up their telescopes.

As soon as it was dark enough to see the star-hop path to Comet Ikeya-Zhang, we passed out our printed star charts and many of the gathered gazers aimed their binoculars near the horizon. Soon almost everyone could glimpse the comet, and I aimed my big dob way down low, and followed the dots to the comet. We all got a mediocre view. A half hour later, when most of the observers were at their own eyepieces on their own projects, the comet came to glory, its tail filled the three degree apparant field of view of my Orion Short Tube 80 finderscope and went on for over three fields of the 31 Nagler's 82 degree field of view in the big dob. Now it looked like a comet!

About this time, my 7 year old nephew arrived with parents, out-of-state relatives including 80-something year-old Aunt Ruth, who hunkered down, knees on a folded up towel for her first view of our comet through a telescope. The AP180EDT offered some nice 270 power views of Saturn and Jupiter. About this time we borrowed Jim Shield's green laser for a constellation sky tour for our visitors. It was my first time to use a green laser pointer and I liked it alot, and so did our guests. 7 year-old Aaron asked for sketching materials and proceeded to draw 4 new constellationsthe Great Boot, the Sphynx, the Long Triangle, and the Pyramid. He then aimed the green laser at the stars, and pointed out his new constellations to me in the sky.

We wanted to continue our interupted Fort Davis, TX Messier survey with the new refractor, and that was our project for the evening. While waiting for Virgo to rise we matched the progress of our friends Mike and Jim as they plowed through M&Ms with their C-8 and f/7 ten inch Dobson-class-made dobsonian reflector. We were able to point out some of the little nuggets tucked away near some of the M's, and to revisit them ourselves, too. By the end of the night, we had completed 65 M's, through M104 using Don Maccholz's order of viewing inthe refractor.

From about midnight to 1:30 a.m. the four of us struggled through the Virgo area. Our friends had had enough of disciplined Messier starhopping, but made it from 6 Coma Berenice's surrounding M's -- 100, 98 and 99 -- all the way to M84 and 86 before they decided enough was enough!

Our chemical hand-warmers were getting cold and so were the body parts they were charged with protecting. We provided a Messier antidote with the pretty starhop from Vindemiatrix, pointing out blue and gold double Struve 1689 and NGC 4762, 4754 and 4694. Then we all did a little final celestial sighseeing, and packed up for the night. At about 4:00 a.m we made our wy through the Petaluma fog finger and had breakfast at Pete's Henny Penny Restaurant. When our arteries were filled to capacity, we drove south and home, a star-filled caravan, led by the rising yellow crescent moon.

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