by Jeff Barbour
The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the Blue Planet's most active hotbeds of amateur astronomy. Numerous clubs populate the region (PAS, FPOA, SCAC, EAS, HVAG, SFSA). An active online organization (TAC) pulls together avid amateurs from the various clubs (and a few loveable rogues as well). As a result, it is possible to connect with just about any ardent amateur anywhere in the region.
For instance, couple months ago, I joined TAC (The Astronomy Connection). I did this primarily because TAC gave a sense of having roots in "Ptolemy's Supper Club" - a late 1990's group of avid observers whose members displayed the kind of wholistic approach to our High Art and Science that many AstroTalk members subscribe too. Given responsibilities to Astro.Geekjoy and AstroTalk, it took a while for me to circulate an observing report that might be of interest to TAC members. That first report drew no real response from the membership - so I kind a figured there was a bit of a black hole at large in the organization...
Even so, after Dan and I visited Fremont Peak, figured to give it one more try. Submitted a detailed report of that particular trip for TAC circulation. (That report is also published on astro.geekjoy.com).
Received one response: From a Rich N. Rich was very warm in encouraging Dan and I to drop in on an event featuring San Jose's Evergreen (Community) College's recently acquired 180mm APO refractor. Dan, "El Marko", and I (all SCAC and AstroTalk members) signed up for the visit - but it subsequently washed out due to sky conditions.
Later that same week, Rich cut me an email outlining an event scheduled for the weekend following: The San Jose Astronomy Associations (SJAA) Houge Park Public Star Party hosted first quarter Friday evenings every Moonth...
So last night, Dan, "El Marko", and I got our act together and made the run "over the hill" (as we say round these parts). Now you might imagine that we really didn't have much to say on the drive over BUT YOU"D BE COMPLETELY MISTAKEN! And of course, you might imagine that the three of us had nothing really to talk about as we contemplated the views through Rich N's 155mm Astro-Physics apochromat. (If so, WRONG again!)
Getting to Houge Park was a bit byzantine - but we managed to arrive (with only one missteps) by 8:00. I'd brought along the Pup, but on our arrival, immediately knew that I would not be setting it up! There were dozens of scopes present - from an 18 inch Obsession Dob all the way up to a 50mm Vixen achromat! Other scopes included a vintage Questar 3.5 MCT, a 10 inch Takahashi Mewlon, and of course Rich's AP155 Starfire EDF.
Not only was the party well-attended equipment-wise, but the scene was like a middle eastern bazarre, many small groups and numerous individuals circulated ceaselessly among the scopes. Kindly amateur's engaged everyone in friendly conversation. Members of a San Jose college based astronomy class swelled the ranks. (Each carried a clipboard with preprinted observing form.) Lots of smart looking and attractive people, young and old alike milled about. Pretty darn nice vibe for the other side of the hill, I must say.
As you might guess, sky conditions were mixed. On one hand stability was good (7+/10) while even after skydark transparency was poor (4.0 stars unaided). As you all know, such a mix is usually given over to lunar-planetary, and double star observing. Fortunately, there was no loss for such studies in the sky. The parks fine "low slung" western horizon allowed attendees to catch a 40% Mercury. Gibbous Venus. Be-ringed Saturn, banded Jupiter and of course a spectacular lunar terminator replete with lengthy high contrast shadows and a stilletto like Alpine Valley. Later as the planets sank, doubles such as Polaris, Castor, Gamma, and Iota Leonis were tracked down. A much lowered Orion gave a passable view of the Trapezium emersed in a vague greyish fog of nebulosity. (No, I didn't try to get anyone to turn up the Horsehead!) Finally, caught a not-too shabby high power view of M82 (through the 10 inch Mewlon cassegrain).
As for particular views and comparisons, El Marko thought that the C14's view of the terminator was the most striking of all the lunar views. And I agree, that for a big SCT, the image was extremely competent. My own favorite lunar view of the night fell to Rich N's, 155 APO. This scope gave the kind of view that causes the surface of the moon to look like it was peppered with quartz crystals - especially in the Appenines and around the Alpine Valley.
The 155 also gave a fine view of intra-equatorial zone details in Jupiter's cloudtops. The NTB cut like a knife. Dan felt the view was comparable to that seen through our two scopes at Fremont Peak, but I disagree, under comparable seeing, the 155 outperformed 150mm MCT Argo (which is often disadvantaged under 7/10 conditions) and the Takahashi FS102 APO (chiefly because of greater image scale).
The lunar view through the Questar 3.5 was also razor sharp - but it just couldn't achieve the kind of image scale seen by the larger scopes. On Jupiter, it lost out on illumination once magnification was pressed much beyond 100x.
I viewed Saturn only through the AP155. That view was comparable to that seen through Argo at Fremont Peak last Saturday evening. And like Argo at FP, it revealed the low contrast southern frontier of Saturn's SEB resolved with fine contrast.
The AP also went onto cleanly and obviously resolve 1.7 arcsec mildly disparate Iota Leonis (at 300x). This is one fine starsplitter. It's superb optics give the kind of airy disk resolution that should allow sub-dawesian pairs to be detected (though not fully resolved) down to about .6 arc seconds.
If I gave the impression early on that the Pup never got used, I would be mistaken. Dan and I encountered a fellow named Richard who recently rediscovered a long lost love of the Night Sky. During our discussion, Dan made an interesting point about competent optics and the law of "diminishing returns". I demonstrated Dan's point by setting up the 80mm ST80 Pup and turning Richard loose on the Moon, Jupiter, and Castor.
Richard was simply amazed that such a small, compact, and inexpensive scope could give such competent views. In fact, he felt the view - with the exception of the outfocus chromatic aberration - was similar to the Questor! (But this was before I reverted back to the full 80mms - the 43mm aperture stop having been in place during Richard's initial view.) At 80mm's, Richard remained impressed by the clarity - even up to 140x of image scale magnification. (But the chroma was more obvious at F5 than at F9.3 to both our eyes.)
So, 200 bucks for the 80mm Pup, 800 for 150mm Argo, or 5000 for the 155mm AP. Are the steps really that large? The chasm that huge? - Dan's diminishing returns. And a main contention of Astro.Geekjoy.Com - every decent scope has its place under the Night Sky - you just have to pick your studies well...
But to be honest, if I had a spare 5 grand and another five for the necessary mount I could see ordering an AP or compable TMB or Takahashi. These are superb instruments and will deliver that last quantum of quality - when the sky permits...
Like most wonderful experience's, this too had to pass. Dan needed to get home for an early morning, and El Marko and I planned to chase down a few galaxies in the Lunar Mist...
And thus a first visit to the San Jose Astronomy Associations Houge Park Public Star Party came to an end. Will there be others? Hope to see ya there!