IHOP Saturday 8/26

by Jane Smith

In attendance: Randy Muller, Gary Manning, Matt Tarlach, Dan and Rene, James Wilson and family.

I arrived at IHOP at 6pm to an empty parking lot. After a nice leisurely setup, I sat down to enjoy some peanuts and a Starbuck's Frappichino. Matt arrived shortly there after, followed by James and family, Randy, Gary, and Renee and Dan. v While Matt and I were setting up, we were paid a visit by one of the locals who saw our telescopes as he was driving by and stopped to say hello. John McCabe. His cabin is located a couple of miles down Peavine Ridge Road. Turns out he's also from Davis and another amateur astronomer to boot. He was up for the weekend to work on his cabin. We let him know we're usually there during 3rd quarter and new moon weekends and invited himback to join us for some observing. He said OK.

Almost my entire evening was spent sketching 4 challenge globulars I needed to complete the AL Globular project: NGC 5466 in Bootes, IC1276 in Serpens, Pal 8 in Sgr, and NGC 6717 in Sgr. I'd originally observed these 4 objects at Lassen this past July, but didn't realize at the time that sketches were required to complete the project. So I was more than a little worried I might not be able to see them as easily, if at all, under IHOP skies.

I started in Bootes and, much to my delight, located the first object while it was still twilight. Of couse it didn't look like much, but I still took a huge sigh of relief... if I could see this object in twilight, then there was an excellent chance I'd see the others as well when it was fullly dark. I readied my sketching materials.

Sketching was a new experience for me, so I wasn't at all sure how to approach it. Earlier in the week I asked Randy for any advice he might care to offer. He said, "Bring a pencil.". Thank you Randy, for this most valuable advice!

I learned that Matt is quite an experienced sketcher. When he heard I was trying my hand for the first time he showed me his sketching kit, a professional looking set with all sorts of different pencils, erasers, smudgers, etc. At first I didn't see the need for all that stuff, but after making my first sketch with but a single pencil, I quickly deveoped an appreciation for having the right tools.

Once it was dark I proceeded to the work at hand. As it turned out, sketching wasn't as diffiuclt as I'd first anticipated. Of course, these were all tough objects for my somewhat modest aperture, so there wasn't a whole lot of detail to be sketched. Mostly they looked like fuzzy blobs. Still, drawing fuzzy blobs can be challenging for a newbie sketcher.

Eventually I managed to sketch all four, starting in BOO, then moving to the two in SGR, and finally finishing up with IC1276 in Serpens. It was slow going... first finding the object, then having to take my reading glasses on and off as I went from eyepiece to paper. Plus, holding the red flashlight so I could see what I was sketching was awkward. A high table onto which one could clamp a faint red light would be most useful. Also a very narrow pair of reading glasses so I can observe and sketch without removing them. And of course, a good sketching kit.

All in all it was great fun and I enjoyed the evening immensely. I now know why people like sketching the objects they see. It's a wonderful way to learn! Not only does it help commit the star-hop to memory, it aids you in remembering the star field and gives you pause to take special note all the subtle characteristics of an object. Also, it's creates a wonderful observing record... a picture is worth a thousand words!

Many thanks to Gary for locating Palomar 11 in his 16" Starmaster. This was another object I'd hoped to log, but came up empty with my 10". After seeing it in Gary's 16", I'm not surprised I failed to see it with my smaller scope. It's a nasty little fella!!!

Thanks also to Matt for sharing his wisdom about sketching, and to Randy for confirming my twilight sighting of NGC 5466 in BOO.

It was a pleasure to meet Dan and Renee, and James, his wife, and son, all great additions to the TAC-SAC family.

Clear skies and Happy sketching,
Jane.