CalStar 2007

by Greg Claytor

It was an introspective drive down rain soaked 101 as I listened to XM's Sonic Theater about the early life of physicist Richard Feynman. I like that he was a brilliant rebel and so passionate about science, life, love and math. I could relate to the first three, but wondered what it would be like to see equations as colorful pictures...

..Then I pulled into CalStar. It looked like a Globular Cluster of vehicles, scopes and tents scattered in random symmetry about the site. The only time I've seen more scopes was in an Orion Catalog. I noticed a canopy that looked official so I parked in the roadway and walked over. It was Dan Wright's I said hi, concluded this was definitely a happening spot because these people were "happy" and I decided to park across the way.

When I returned, I sat down and met person after person that I knew from TAC. This was so much fun! We yakked for a bit as the rain outside increased in intensity. Then I noticed a neat row of empty wine cartridges dotting the center line of the table. "What are you guys drinking?", I inquired. "Nothing", was the response. I asked if anyone cared for a Margarita and was met with an enthusiastic "Oh Ya!" When I mentioned the generator curfew the response I remember most was a raspberry. So the pitchers started to flow. I lost count after about five.

This was a party in full bloom! People were smiling, joking, telling stories, sharing SJAA and TAC legends and describing alternative uses for telescopes. I really like that you can put a high powered flashlight or camera flash into a focuser and turn a scope into a photon cannon. We lit some lanterns so that we could see one another and that was truly the best part of the evening, for me. I couldn't help but be amazed that I was finally sitting face to face with so many of you. I'll always look fondly on my memory of this night for that reason.

A few of us stepped out from the shelter of the canopy to gather our breath after what seemed like several hours of a non stop laughter marathon and noticed stars peeking from behind holes as the clouds were beginning to break. Our attention drifted skyward. After all it still was a star party. Swimmingly, I and several others followed Michelle back to her scope area where she produced a GLP (Green Laser Pointer) and gave a lesson in constellation and object location. Thanks Rob for relaxing the rules. Chris Pattel joined us with a massive pair of Astro Binos. I wish I remembered more about what I saw. As the clouds continued to break, the meadow stirred. Voices could be heard as others emerged from their rain drenched shelters to check on scopes, tents and the sky. It was still pretty cloudy, damned soggy and I needed a chair. No, I needed a bed. I meandered back to my carbon footprint obliterator (RV), laid my head down and enjoyed more stars.

Saturday morning and afternoon was liberating. No phone, no chores, no nuthin'! I slept in and when I was tired of that I took a nap. I just read, rested and snacked all day, occasionally peaking outside to a mostly deserted site. Apparently, others were doing the same.

Late in the afternoon I got up and walked down scope row to find where Albert was parked. Instead I found Chris Pattel who I'd gotten to know from the night before. He was in a good spot next to Heather and Eric, so I walked back and fetched the RV. I unpacked my new chairs, scope and other accouterments. Threw a few sausages on Chris' Weber and watched the sun sinking to the west. The field had been desolate all day, but now it was a buzz. Foil bags were unfurled from serious looking visual instruments. People tweaked their setups, others walked and snapped pictures, and others took inventory of who had the eyepieces they'd be mooching later, while others discussed objects they'd be looking for. It was very social, but the mood was much more serious and deliberate than the night before. This evening had purpose. You could sense it. All we needed was a cooperative sky.

As the sun sank lower, it was time to go see Albert. I was SO looking forward to this. Secretly, I felt like a lottery winner or a kid opening the BIG present at Christmas because I'd scored an appointment with him to learn something more about astronomy. This was a privilege that I coveted even if I was a bit intimidated. This was a ridiculous internally generated feeling that I managed to dismiss before I found him. Albert's always been a gracious, gentle and generous soul towards me. This night would prove that fact again.

After exchanging a warm handshake he asked what I'd like to work on. I stated that I wanted to learn to open a chart, pick an object, look up and find it! I proudly produced my new trio: Sky Atlas 2000.0, S&T's Pocket Sky Atlas and Edmund's MAG 6. He liked and chose the SA2000, but then asked "Where's your chair?" DOH! I scrambled back to get my freshly minted O.S.P. (Ocular Stabilization Platform) and when I returned we got to work.

Albert Lesson One: Get a good table. I learned that I need a stable table big enough to open an Atlas and small enough to drag around with me. The SA2000 is really big at 16" x 41" with the index and a chart open. He suggested a folding table about 20"x48" available from Target. The point is that you want to be able to drag the table with you as you change your position about the axis of your scope. The key is being able to remain seated as you refer to your chart and then return to address your scope. Think about how much more important this point is at higher magnification as objects have a tendency to race across your field of view.

Lesson Two: Make your atlas user friendly. Albert suggested writing the page numbers of charts adjacent to the edges of the chart being viewed if they aren't already there. It'll make it easier to increasing your perspective of the chunk of sky you're attempting to view as you flip from chart to chart. Apparently SA2000 2nd edition includes this. I later learned from other amateurs that they'd gone so far as tracing the outlines of constellations in their atlas as well. I plan to do both.

Lesson three: You don't need much to see much. Albert seated me at the controls of his brand new 13" creation, purpose build for air travel. It was adorned with a red dot finder, single rate crayford focuser and a 9mm Nagler. I later calculated the magnification at 165x. As much as I wanted to marvel over the scope, I was here for the hunt. He explained that the 9mm was the only eyepiece we'd be using this night that it was the only one we'd need. He went on to explain that if I could learn to match the star patterns in the chart to the stars I saw in the finder, that a single eyepiece would yield the object of my hunt. This was getting interesting.

Lesson four: Ditch the list. Albert mentioned that you never know what you're going to have access to and if you're fixed to a plan you might be setting yourself up for disappointment. His advice: look up. What can you see? Find a chunk of sky that looks like it'll be visible for awhile. Choose a place that won't sink over the horizon too fast and is less likely to be over taken by clouds, fog or impacted by light. This should be a place that you intend to explore for awhile as you discover as many objects in this chunk of sky that you can.

Lesson Five: Develop a thoughtful strategy. Albert explained that an observer will usually develop a strategy using a multiple step stars as a path towards the object of the hunt. The result is bagging a gem. He taught me these strategy steps:

1. Choose a major constellation target area.

2. Open the atlas to the appropriate chart.

3. Identify a target object to hunt near your constellation target area. The target object can be far from your constellation target area, but understand more hops will be necessary complicating your hunt. He recommended I choose a closer target object till I got the hang of it.

4. Choose a bright star (your constellation guide star) in the constellation close to the target object and put that guide star in the finder.

5. Refer back to the chart and identify step stars that lead from your constellation guide star towards the target object.

He explained that all those black spots in the atlas actually represent real stars of varying magnitude in that field, that they're not just there to fill space on the page. He helped me understand the distance displayed in the finder and the distance displayed in the atlas. He suggested that as I moved the scope with the constellation guide star centered in the finder to the first step star that both should be able to fit within the finder even it at extreme and opposite edges. He recommended plotting and executing straight line jumps when possible, but went on to elaborate that angles, especially triangles, are helpful in planning moves that will get an observer closer to the target object. The key, he went on, is understanding and visualizing what the hops will look like as the observer hops from constellation guide star to step star to target object using star data in the atlas and comparing it to the sky. Another key was to twist the atlas to the orientation of the sky.

The table being as close as possible was important because I was like a yoyo: atlas, finder, atlas, finder, atlas, eyepiece, atlas, finder, atlas, eyepiece, BINGO! Our first constellation target area was Sagittarius (the Tea Pot). Albert had me find several objects and then lesson four was reinforced as clouds slowly drew a veil concealing our chosen constellation. So we switched to Pegasus. I was working hard to orient myself, interpret the chart and find objects that don't remember all of the ones we found. My goal was to acquire skill, not notes.

That said, one object I bagged was NGC7331. It was an elliptical galaxy that was slightly tilted forward. It had a dense center with a disk that filled most of the remaining field of view. This was the most beautiful galaxy I've ever viewed because it was relatively small and I found it myself. No computer, no setting circle, no angle finder, no push to system; just me, the sky, an atlas, a scope and Albert. Thank you, Albert, for encouraging me to go back to the eyepiece and spend some time with NGC7331. That one object and your time will remain in my memory forever.

That was quite a work out, but I was feeling quite victorious. I thanked Albert, packed up my atlases, grabbed my O.S.P. and headed back to my scope. Chris Pattel was busy capturing multiple 15 minute images of the Cocoon and the sky seemed to cooperating. Heather was picking off objects and Eric was too. We all conversed and picked off objects till we dewed over. My finder went first. Then I remembered Michelle telling me to put my eyepieces in my pockets to keep them warm. Wait a minute that was Friday night. How did I remember that? I took my finder into the RV and set it in front of a heat register until it was dry then returned to the scope. It wasn't long before it was gone again. After the third time it was getting old. Most of us were done except Chris. He's an imaging animal.

As we stood there whining about the dew and generally looking for an excuse to stay up or go to bed it happened, car alarm and lights. Someone pointed out that it was James Turley's, so Eric, Heather and I decided we should go ask him to move to the Casual Area. After we finished yanking his chain, James showed us Earths shadow in space. I stopped by to say hi to Rob Hawley and another gentleman with a 20" Obsession. They were looking at M15, a globular cluster, but more interested in locating its companion, an embedded planetary nebula. I was invited to take a peek. I did. I didn't see the nebula, but M15 was spectacular in a 20" Obsession. I made my way back to my scope, but using it was futile. It was soaked. I covered the OTA, removed the finders and eyepiece and called it a night.

Sunday morning was spent packing a saying goodbye to the friends I'd finally met. I felt like I'd spent my whole summer on the TAC List learning astronomy from these new friends and it was still surreal to be standing there face to face. My first CalStar was fantastic. I'll be there next year.