[Lvas] Cathedral Gorge

Tue May 26 20:04:57 PDT 2009

All,

Just about anything in Centaurus is a goal of mine!

Fred

From: drivester at hotmail.com
To: lvas at lvlug.org; fred.rayworth.ctr at nellis.af.mil; trenglish at gtcc.edu; steve.davis at fascontrols.com
Date: Tue, 26 May 2009 12:38:20 +0000
Subject: Re: [Lvas] Cathedral Gorge

Rob and all,

I also count 10 galaxies in your image of the virgo cluster. This is a first for me...and this image should be an addendum to the observers challenge. It still surprises me that so few observers realize the significance of galaxies within this small 1° fov. 

If not for Tom Lorenzin of 1000+ The Amateur Astronomer's Field Guide to Deep-Sky Observing, I too would have not realized that nine galaxies could be visually seen within this 1° fov. 

We were standing in a cow pasture when Tom presented this question. (Tom English, I am sure you remember standing in this pasture also...at the Guffy site, March 1993).

Rob, as you said, most larger scopes lack the necessary field to see all. Fred Rayworth using a wide field eyepiece was able to see and sketch nine with his 16-inch Lightbridge. 

I have seen another sketch by Todd Hargis using a 16-inch reflector, but he sketched only seven galaxies at 46x. His magnification was too low to see the fainter galaxies.   

Rob, would you be so kind as to resend your images of Omega Centauri and Centaurus A from Death Valley? 

If not for your e-mail with the mallincam images of both, I would not have attempted to view 20 minutes N of my backyard. Now I have a sketch of Omega Centauri and Centaurus A complete with notes...after thinking about them for nearly 25 years.  

I realized that your Death Valley images were from a very similar latitude and this gave me hope. I never thought they would be possible from my latitude.  

I was very surprised that I could see so little detail of Centaurus A using a 12-inch reflector, but I was pleasantly pleased with the view of Omega Centauri. The greater concentration of a cluster always wins out over the more dispersed light of a galaxy.  

roger    

    I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.      Abraham Lincoln

> Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 17:44:55 -0700
> From: scopegeek at gmail.com
> To: lvas at lvlug.org
> Subject: Re: [Lvas] Cathedral Gorge
> 
> Fred,
> 
> I'm sorry about this weekend. I tried to send out as accurate a weather 
> forecast as I could, without trying to sway members one way or the 
> other; just tried to let the members draw their own conclusions about 
> attending. I had to work into the evening on Friday and would have been 
> very late getting there, had I tried. I had touched base with the 
> Rangers during the day and posted their current conditions and the 
> updated forecast on the website. I also followed up with them on 
> Saturday with pretty much the same results. I just couldn't see driving 
> up there with no hope of being able to observe. Any other time I would 
> have been there with you.
> 
> I'm going to try to get the word out to our members through the website 
> about weather forecasts for our future events. Hopefully our members 
> will begin to check the website as they make their plans for attending 
> future events.
> 
> Because Friday and Saturday were a bust for observing, I drove down to 
> Joshua Tree National Park Sunday afternoon and joined up with the 
> Southern California Desert Video Astronomers for the last evening of 
> their four-day star party at Joshua Tree Lake Campground. Although it 
> wasn't your cup of tea, Fred, I enjoyed watching and participating in 
> their orchestration of a video star party. They had five large screen 
> projectors with switchers and audio to display the images being pulled 
> down by 8 video (Mallicam) observers. They had an experienced 
> astronomical narrator that described each object as they were displayed 
> on the screen. Friday and Saturday nights they had over 200 visitors. 
> Last night it was down to about 50. I primarily used my Orion ST120 to 
> provide wide-field views of the Leo Triplet, the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, 
> M13 with propeller, and other objects (See attached single frame images).
> 
> Leo Triplet - Captured early in the evening - skies were still a little 
> bright
> M81 and M82 - even the Mallincamers were impressed with this wide-field 
> - most of them had larger scopes with much narrower fields of view
> Virgo Cluster - Counted 10 galaxies in this image - same here - the old 
> Mallincamers had never seen this many galaxies in the same field of view
> Veil Nebula - NGC 6960 - The upper half, I believe
> Veil Nebula - NGC 6995 - The lower half
> My M13 image didn't come out as well as I would have liked - on the 
> monitor I could clearly see the propeller, but my captured image was 
> washed out - I'll need to turn down the brightness a bit to get the 
> propeller to come through like I saw it on the monitor.
> 
> After the public star party was over, I used the rest of the night to 
> observe and capture our Observer's Challenge Objects for April, May, and 
> June. I wasn't able to get the Virgo Diamond. By the time the public 
> star party was over, the Diamond had already set. I've got to figure 
> out how to get my LX200 to help me locate the Diamond using RA and Dec. 
> I'll try to get it while I'm in Alabama on vacation next week or maybe 
> at Kaibab Lodge later in the month.
> 
> Anyway, Fred. I'm sorry you were about the only one there. The 
> elements just combined against us this weekend.
> 
> Take care.
> 
> Rob
> 
> 
> Fred Rayworth wrote:
> > All,
> > 
> > Well, I finally showed up to an out of town star party and I was 
> > almost the only one there, and certainly the only one with a scope!
> > 
> > Though I was a bit disappointed to see no other brave souls willing to 
> > drive 161 miles or so, we had a good weekend and got to test our new 
> > folding travel trailer. When we got there late Friday, we got rained 
> > on. We made a round of the park and there were no empty spaces. 
> > However, we forgot to fill the water tank and had to go back down to 
> > the water station and fill up. By the time we got back, there were two 
> > emtpy spaces and we pulled in. Then I discovered another water faucet 
> > right across from our space!
> > 
> > Friday night, never saw a star. I heard it cleared up a bit after 
> > midnight, but I was asleep by then and disgusted.
> > 
> > Saturday was stormy all day. Walked around the park and saw the 
> > sights. We went into Panaca just to say we did. We got back and in the 
> > late afternoon, the storms hit and it rained pretty hard for a couple 
> > of hours. Plugged in my generator to recharge the battery and 
> > something shorted out because of the water, and the battery only 
> > charged intermittently. Finally gave that up and waited for the rain 
> > to stop. Started a campfire and sat by it until about 10. As we were 
> > dousing it, I looked up and saw the big dipper. By then, I was in no 
> > mood to set the scope up in sandy mud, so we just went to bed. Woke up 
> > this morning and the sky was clear as a bell.
> > 
> > So, that's my first official club out-of-town star party.
> > 
> > Fred
> > 
> >
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