May 16, 2009: Observing with the multitudes

David Cooper

I decided to observe from Fremont Peak last night to continue my work on the H400 & HII lists with my AP155. I joined Jeff Crilly and Bill Drelling on the pads. Surprisingly, both were there to observe (not image) and just have fun, Jeff with his 15” Obsession and Bill with his 8” SCT. This was Bill’s swan song at Fremont Peak as he has to move to Alabama in about a month’s time. He will be missed.

Observing conditions were ideal with clear skies, above average transparency, no wind and shirtsleeve weather all evening. Although I had my observing session well planned out with associated finder charts and deep sky maps, my plans got derailed by the large crowds that showed up for the public program. I estimate between 100 and 150 visitors showed up and I spent most of the evening showing various eye candy objects to large numbers of folks lined up at my telescope. Rob Hawley and Ron Dammann were also very busy entertaining the multitudes with the 30” Challenger – the lines were so long that I think they spent about an hour on each object. Fortunately the seeing was very good – Saturn was superb with rings nearly edge-on with cloud band detail visible in both hemispheres and 4 moons easily discernable (I could not pull in Enceladus). The standard globulars (M5, M13, M92) revealed pinpoint stars with beautiful dense cores. Later in the evening I managed to view a few of my personal favorites – the 5350 group in CVn showed up nicely with 5350, 5354, and 5353 in a line forming the base of an equilateral triangle with 5358 at the apex. M56 and M57 were also sharp and showed nice contrast.

Even though this observing session was different from what I had planned, I (as always) very much enjoyed sharing views through my telescope with folks from all age groups and all walks of life – students, toddlers, grade schoolers, high schoolers, elderly, handicapped, employed, unemployed etc. All took time out from their everyday set of problems to take a look at our beautiful universe and to ask questions about what they were seeing. I particularly get a kick out of the “wows” and “gasps” from young children who are perhaps exposed to their first good views of Saturn – most can’t believe you can see it so clearly. I find it gratifying to think that some may even decide to pursue a career in astronomy or science. Maybe I need to start showing up at Houge Park for public sessions!

I guess my last night’s observing plan will have to wait until next time - I’ve still got lots of H400s and HIIs to observe and am looking forward to GSSP next month and CalStar later this year.