NASA & COE in November

Greg Claytor

Things started with NASA's Family Night. Accompanied by my 5 year old astro pal, Joey, who was smartly dressed in his silver astronaut suit, we set course for Ames Research Center in our red astro shuttle (Honda Odyssey). We de-orbited and touched down at 4:00 pm sharp. The lot was getting full, but the crowd was moderate.

Once inside the Exploration Center and saw and learned all kinds of fun things. Joey learned different satellites have different jobs. We looked at and into a real Mercury space capsule! We compared different space suits from different eras and wondered what it would be like to wear the different space helmets on display. We learned about Apollo missions and saw a real moon rock. Then pretended to operate a real moon rock isolation chamber, but he wanted to know where the rubber gloves were. We explored a big moveable mars globe and looked at robotic rovers. We studied the wind tunnel test models and a HUGE wooden wind tunnel propeller blade. We even walked inside a mock-up of a full scale ISS module. Joey got to construct a light kaleidoscope which he really liked. Finally, he thought the idea of a 747 with a big hole on the side for a telescope was just silly.

We stepped outside and were surprised by two huge lines of people; one to get into the Exploration Center and for a shuttle to other center destinations. There must have been 300 or more people in each line.

Not wanting to stand in line, we decided to explore the gift shop where we treated ourselves to a jar of gooey green metallic Mars Mud and some OTA adhesive décor.

Then we went to see robotic demonstrations. We saw one that was built by the Girl Scouts. It was darned impressive and BIG! We collected pictures and an awesome Northrop Grumman SpaceKids Workbook.

Two ladies were demonstrating elements of the Family Astro Pac education kit. They taught Joey the size difference between the Earth and moon and helped him visualize and understand the distance between them. They talked about folklore and how some cultures saw shapes or faces on the moon's surface and invited the kids to discover and trace some shapes of their own. These ladies were very good with the kids; friendly, engaging and patient.

It turned out one is a lurking TACo, Vivian White, who coordinates and teaches volunteer astronomers about how to work with schools and teachers during club assisted astronomy nights. I can't wait to take her class because Joey's elementary school is currently on SJAA's calendar for a visit early next year. We TACos, we're everywhere.

After that Joey and I went back outside. It was dark. It was time to make our way to the Telescope Viewing Area to set up, so we jumped in our red astro shuttle and maneuvered further into the center. We found the volunteer astronomer docking area and were lucky enough to spot a vacant landing pad. We unloaded our scopes and made our way to the viewing area a spectacle I'll not soon forget.

People. Lots of people. Hundreds and hundreds of them. More than a thousand I'd bet. They were standing on a field in lines that stretched a half a football field long, each in back of a telescope. There were maybe five or six scopes set up. I honestly asked myself "what was I thinking?" I couldn't locate anyone who seemed to be coordinating the activity, so I dove in and found an open spot on the sidewalk and began to set up.

I got Joey's XT4.5 set up and directed him to find the moon and bring his scope to focus with a 15mm. There was a photographer who snapped shots of my little silver suited astronaut poised at the working end of his scope intent on acquiring the target. I'd love to see that picture who ever you are!

I scrambled to get my XT8 assembled and just as I slid the 9mm into the focuser a line started to form in back of me. I swung over to the moon, a quick and easy on topic target, landed on it with a red dot and looked into the eyepiece to focus. When I lifted my head the line had grown to several hundred people strong!

I turned the eyepiece over to the first person and thus began a star party of epic proportion. People gasped at the stunning lunar views we provided. I used my XT8 to show off sharp detail on the surface, bottom edge and the light/dark meridian. Joey's XT4.5 was set to show the whole moon in the center of the field of view.

I soon discovered that keeping the target of either scope in the filed of view would be a full time job. People were excited or impatient and simply unable to keep their hands off the scopes. Kids seemed curious to see if the scopes would move if they bumped the back as someone else was at the eyepiece. They also decided the optical finders must be second eyepieces, so I had people on both sides of the scopes trying to observe at the same time. Note to self, remove the optical finders next time.

A man who informed me that he couldn't see anything in Joey's scope. I asked Joey to step over and fix it. As Joey attempted to the man said "We're using this right now little boy. You'll have to get in line." I responded "Sir, that's HIS telescope. If you'll make room for him he'll be able to fix it for you." "How old is he?" he asks. I responded "Five and half." Joey stepped in to shine a red dot on the moon then stepped away and said "OK, you can see it now." I was so proud.

People were shocked at how affordable Orion telescopes were. I mentioned Meade and Celestron, but stated I like Orion best. I also beat the SJAA drum pretty hard by mentioning Friday Nights at Hogue.

It was 8:00 and I was hoping to cut out. Greg LeFlamme had called and was on his way up to Coe. Dew was setting in, but this event wasn't over till 9:00. The lines were still hundreds of people long, so as Joey ran around I kept our scopes adjusted, answered questions, and continued to promote Orion and SJAA for the next hour.

As shocking as the size of this crowd, so was its swift departure. At almost exactly 9:00 I looked up to an almost deserted field now blanketed by low layer of fog. A few stragglers managed to sneak in a few more glimpses and one couple persuaded me to swing the dob over to Mars, now peeking just over the top of Hanger 1.

Finally, it was over. I felt like I'd just run a marathon. A gentleman set up next to me commented "can you believe that crowd?" He mentioned one lady got mad at him because his line was so long. We continued to compare comments, questions and the experience for a few moments. I looked over at Joey. Houston, we have a problem.

My little astronaut had pooped out, so I fetched the red astro shuttle and he immediately found a place to enter hibernation. As I broke our equipment down and began packing I heard a voice ask "Is that an Orion focuser?" I looked up and it was Rich, who works at the Orion's store! "Hi Rich, I know you." I said. He's one of my favorite guys down there. Turns out he was set up just a few scopes down from us.

Soon I was packed up and set out on the voyage home. I pulled into the driveway at 10:15, unloaded my astronaut and got him ready for bed. After tucking him in I changed to warmer clothes and headed back to the garage to unload the Orion scopes and reload with the Ziederscope.

Part Two: Henry Coe!

Before I rounded that last curve I tapped the horn, switched to parking light mode and pulled into the lot at about 11:15. Greg LeFlamme and Dan Kaeo were easy to find, so I maneuvered in next to Greg's truck.

I found Greg and Dano in good spirits. Dan was busy hunting and logging galaxies. Greg was making adjustments to his new 10" twin beam design and shouted "The Orion nebula is spectacular tonight." I asked if I could point his scope that way. He said sure. Crystal sharp image. Very nice. Dan invited me over to sneak a peak at a couple galaxies. He was harvesting faint fuzzies that are a challenge for me to see.

Soon I opened the Odyssey's tail gate and began assembling the Ziederscope. The Ziederscope is a massive 17" f/4.5 dobsonian loaned to me by my club, the San Jose Astronomical Association (www.sjaa.net). Membership has its privileges.

Once set up I hunted down M42; pretty amazing even without an OIII filter! The Ziederscope has jaw dropping light sucking capability. I noticed almost immediately that it's easier to sense objects in a large aperture scope. I could actually see the brightness increase as I moved toward a bright object, but before the object was in the field of view!

Greg stepped over and started bagging a few gems himself, but we soon decided we needed to collimate. I grabbed the spoke wrench and we pulled the secondary in a skosh. It was better, but we noticed the scope had zones: some sharp and some fuzzy. Still, it provided solid views. We al l noticed the night seemed especially dark. I looked back and the fog had rolled in covering most of Morgan Hill and a good part of Gilroy. Greg took an initial SQM reading of about 20.9. We continued hunting objects. A few stood out.

M37, an open cluster that actually spells out 37? Is this really Messier's 37th discovery or did he shuffle the order? Ironic or convenient? Enquiring minds want to know!

Another was NGC891, a long slender edge on galaxy with a gorgeous dark dust lane spanning the entire lateral distance from edge to edge. I starred at this one for the longest time. This one's on my Top 10 list now.

M81 & M82, a pair of galaxies: one face on and one irregular. The irregular was interesting because it too had a dust lane, but unlike NGC891 this one ran across the edge from top to bottom. I could barely squeeze the two objects in a 24mm Panoptic.

Mars was stunning in Greg's scope. It sat on its side, easily a fifth covered in ice and we could make out surface detail using a barlowed 5mm.

Saturn was also fantastic. A dark area was clearly visible between the rings and the planet surface. We could make out banding AND we could see two small moons below the right edge of the ring.

Dan called me over again to take a look at a pair of galaxies; something sick like magnitude 13 or more. I wanted to give up, but then Greg piled on and said "Naw, you sit back down. You gotta do this. Keep looking for it." I spent five minutes or more at the eyepiece and FINALLY I teased one out, just barely. Keep in mind this is Danos 10" scope. I can't remember the object designation.

Late into the morning we had consistent SQM readings of 21.16. Thick fog had masked most all light from the valley below. Morgan Hill was gone. Gilroy was a faint glow. The sky was steady and transparent and we were able to work in any direction all the way to the horizon. I could simply look up, see a fuzzy clump, put a red dot on it and instantly find a cluster. I've never seen a better sky. It was breath taking.