Posts Made By: Lowell McCormick

September 26, 2004 02:21 PM Forum: Star Parties

The Ultimate Star Party

Posted By Lowell McCormick

I've never been to TSP but did go to Okie-Tex last year. The skies at Okie-Tex were the darkest I'd seen since I've been chasing dark skies. However, the new leader in dark sky, quality viewing goes to New Mexico Skies, the astronomical resort near Cloudcroft, NM. Andromeda Galaxy was no longer a white fuzzball as seen from S. Louisiana but a very large detaled spiral galaxy. M33 looked like a clear and distinct pinwheel. NGC 891 had a sharply defined dark lane. NGC 7000 and that area in Cygnus appeared brownish w/ a redish tint. Many views were similar to black and white images taken with a small telescope. I only had two nights of viewing as I had to race back to S. Louisiana as Hurricane Ivan closed in on the Gulf coast with no sign that it was turning away from us. I drove home in 19 hrs and Ivan turned toward Ms, Al and Fl when we were half-way home. It was a bit strange being the only vehicle heading east as the west bound traffic was solid bumper to bumper from Houston to Baton Rouge. I hope to get back to NM Skies next spring or summer. I'd also like to try out the other astronomy resorts.

I brought my 16" f4.5 dob and my binoculars but you don't have to bring equipment. Telescopes and cameras are availible to rent and at some places are included in the rental fee.

I think a club star party at one of the astonomy resorts would be the ultimate star party.

Lowell

January 2, 2003 12:38 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Jupiters detail and seeing conditions

Posted By Lowell McCormick

check this site for clear sky conditions.

http://cleardarksky.com/csk/index.html#clock_list

January 7, 2003 03:07 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Laser Vision Correction & Astronomy

Posted By Lowell McCormick

check out http://www.lasikdisaster.com

January 11, 2003 04:23 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Commercial Dobs

Posted By Lowell McCormick

You might do well to include Nightsky scopes on your list.

http://www.nightskyscopes.com/

I own a Nightsky 16 and feel it compares favorably with the scopes on your list that I'm familiar with.

Lowell

January 13, 2003 04:27 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Longtitude/Latitude Coordinates

Posted By Lowell McCormick

Could you get someone with a GPS to come by? Maybe a hunter or sailor. Then read the lat/long off the screen.

Otherwise go to this site.
http://www.fourmilab.to/cgi-bin/uncgi/Yoursky?z=1&lat=30.4494&ns=North&lon=91.1833&ew=West

This is for New Orleans. Scroll down and set the observing site to a nearby city and read out your lat/long. Also USGS topographic maps show lat/long. as does the Rand McNally Road Atlas.

I'd go with the GPS, it's pretty accurate.

Lowell

January 17, 2003 01:43 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Re: "SEEING" FORECAST TWICE DAILY

Posted By Lowell McCormick

I like this site:

http://www.cleardarksky.com/csk/

I believe it uses the same info and presents it well. It's not perfect but it does give me a reasonable forcast for seeing.

December 31, 2003 08:34 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

Saturn Very Close to Opposition, 2003/12/31

Posted By Lowell McCormick

Is there a diagram of Saturn's rings online that you can point me to that illustrates your descriptions.

Thanks,

Lowell

January 31, 2004 05:23 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Hows the sky in the catskills?

Posted By Lowell McCormick

I had my 16" Nightsky at a dairy farm near New Kingston, NY in the Catskills at 1800'. It is a very rural area with no light domes and dark skies similar to or surpassing the 2003 Okie-Tex star party (which were very dark). The Milky Way was incredible. This was in August 2 years ago so meteors were streaking through the sky every 30 seconds or so. It was quite a show for the family reunion. Naked eye, binocular viewing and low power telescope viewing were fantastic. Above 100x, viewing was terrible. It was like looking through a pot of boiling water. There was as much dew as we get in south Louisiana. I don't know if it is like that all the time but it was like that all week.

Lowell

February 20, 2004 06:00 AM Forum: Solar System Observing

Shadow Transit Alert

Posted By Lowell McCormick

Earlier tonignt I watched Europa disappearing around one side of Jupiter while at the same time Io was appearing on the opposite side. They both appeared to be touching their side of the planet at the same time. First time I've seen that. Awhile later I went back to Jupiter and watched Io's shadow transit for a few minutes. I quit at 11 central time.

Lowell

February 28, 2004 03:58 PM Forum: Solar System Observing

+ Jupiter Sketch +

Posted By Lowell McCormick

Hi Sol, nice sketch. I couldn't see all of the detail you've shown but could see hints of all the details. I have a 16" f4.5 reflector on an eq platform in S. Louisiana. I used a Pentax 10.5 XL (175x), 5.2 XL (350x), and a Meade UWA 8.8 (200x). The best views were with the Meade. The seeing was good overall all night with short, 2-3 sec intervals of better seeing periodically. 36 degrees and high humidity. I could easily see 6 stars in the Trapezium early (somewhat soft view) and later on (10pm)they were very clear and sharp.

My view was upside down compared to yours. Starting at the the bottom of your sketch, I could see the faint, dark, intermitent line just below the first white band a quarter of the way up the globe. Most of the time it looked like your sketch but periodically it got better with sharper definition. I could not see the detail of the wave-like structure above the lowest dark band. I could see a blue hump coming out of the dark band where your largest wave is but could not see any streaming filaments. I knew they were there because of your earlier sketches but could not see them no matter how much I adjusted the fine focus. The Red spot was clear and when seeing improved I could see detail in the dark band on each side of the red spot.
I could also see the little white spot between the two thin bands 3/4 of the way up the globe. Around 11pm CST (5UT) I noticed a tiny bulge on the edge of the globe in line with one of the light colored bands. I thought maybe I was seeing elevation difference in clouds bands (g). After a few minutes of it not going away and getting bigger I realized it was Io. It separated from the planet fairly quickly. I couldn't tell if it had crossed in front of or behind Jupiter. I seems to have come from behind.

It was a fun night with good views. Thanks for the sketches, they are good guides and have inspired me to look for the details you show and sometimes I can see them.

Lowell