Posts Made By: Linton Rohr

I set up my Starmaster at Tuolomne Meadows, in Yosemite last Sat. night under very dark, clear skies. I was off the main road, where backpackers park, and shouldn't have had any problems with the white light people. But it became apparent as sunset faded that the people in the RV, with their lights inside lights on were not leaving anytime soon. I tried to ignore them for a while, using my car to shield my eyes, but eventually had to go confront them.
In an effort to demonstrate why I needed their lights off, I offered to show them a few DSO's. I had tried to explain about the miracle of seeing photons from millions of light years away , but when they saw M11, M22, M8, and M31, it all made sense to them.
So I was in the middle of explaining how the eyes take 30 minutes to adapt for night vision, and so on and so forth, when one of them mentioned that four of them were optometrists. Whoa! And I'm telling them about vision? :S Strange.
So they pulled out after feeding the 11 kids they had in tow. But not before thanking me profusely for sharing my views with them. Cool.
The rest of the night was sublime. But I had to pack it in at midnight, as it had dropped to 26 degrees. Brrr.
Linton

Floyd's unusually quite.
Must be slaving away on the StellarCat installation.
Go Floyd! Git er done!
Linton 8)

I was shown a new object last night, PK64+5.1, through the 60" scope at Mt. Wilson. It was quite amazing. 8O The star itself, though 1000 times brighter than our sun, did not appear to be unusual. The hydrogen shell it has expelled however, was the most vividly red object I have ever seen through a scope. The thin, bright red ring was slightly elliptical and revealed a slight gap between itself and the star. Some observers could only see the gap on the side where it was wider. We were at 443x and no filters were in use.
Has anyone else had any experience with this planetary nebula?
I will try to observe it next time I'm out with the Starmaster, but would not expect similar results.
Linton

I've been blessed with my best seeing conditions yet on Mars. It's almost like being there.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051114.html
Be sure to click on the photo for the high-res. version.
Linton

I just had to share this with the Astromart folks.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051113.html
I've been out with Luna a time or two, but I never saw her dance like this!
Linton 8)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my Astromart companions!
Well, though it wasn't exactly a "one in a thousand" night in terms of sky conditions, I had what's got to be one of my most memorable Christmas Eve's ever. I've been watching the sky clock (thank you Attilla Danko!) for weeks , hoping for a decent opportunity to get out under a dark, clear sky, but things just haven't worked out. So imagine my surprise when I spot good conditions coming on, and only on, Christmas Eve! Oh, but I usually spend the evening with family. My wife kindly released me from that tradition and may have inadvertently started a new one.
I loaded up my Starmaster and headed out to the desert (Red Rock Canyon, for you locals ). I knew I was in for a good night, even as darkness descended. Many DSO's were visible naked eye, and many more were easily found with my 8x56 binos. I could hardly wait to get the scope in action. Once I did, I was ecstatic.
The Sculptor galaxy, the Pinwheel, and Andromeda , and my old friend the Veil kept me busy while Orion was ascending. And, of course, the plethora of open clusters that we are blessed with this time of year. Once Orion was high, I spent plenty of time on M-42 and (the mysterious) Horsehead nebula. I finished off the night with some Springtime preview galaxies in Leo. Mars and Saturn were sprinkled into the mix throughout the evening.
After a couple hours of silence and solitude I entertained myself and the coyotes with some excellent Christmas carols (via CD, not a cappella ). It was a very joyous and spiritual evening, which I will never forget.
Did anyone else forsake their families for a night under the heavens?
Linton

Here's one that is on Pee-Bay and Astromart and in a store.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7579039881&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1
"NOTE: This item is for sale in a shop. I reserve the right to end this auction early
and cancel all bids if it sells at the other location."
Evidently the "shop/other location" to which he refers is Astromart.
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds/details.asp?classified_id=400576
This site is too good to abuse, Chuckster.
Linton

Yep, I'm afraid the 41 Panoptic is just too big and heavy.
I've got it sold and my shorter focal length EP arrived today.
They do look nice though, side by side.
But, I'm downsizing...yeah, that's it. 8)
Linton

Hi Mike.
My first scope was, and is, an 8" LX-90.
You will be able to see some galactic detail,
but not a lot. Dark skies required. And good transparency.
I do recall the first time I saw M51 in it.
The spiral arm structure was very good
and the companion galaxy quite visible.
M81&82, and M104 , and some other bright ones will be viewable too.
But before long you'll get a peek through someones larger Dob,
and you'll need to get yourself one of those!
Linton

Gee guys, I hate to change the subject, but is anyone gearing up for a Messier Marathon?
I have yet to do one, but am considering it this year.
I did a warm up run last week end and got through what I thought was the better half of them. When I counted my list though, I only came up with 45. And that kept me busy until 2:00am. I did stray off on some extra-curricular objects - Saturn, the Rosette nebula, the Horsehead, etc, - but I can see already that it's more challenging than I thought.
Any thoughts or advice?
Linton