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*********************************************************************************
May 12, 2001
> gary garzone wrote:

> Archer showed up with his new toy ,very nice
> refractor,looked at Jupiter, Mercury.

The "very nice refractor" is a Takahasahi FCL-90 aka "Sky-90",
90mm f/5.6 doublet fluorite apochromat.  This is the new eclipse
scope.  It turned out that the Megrez actually got worse after
its service, and I decided that it was getting too close to
departure time to mess around.  So out came the credit card
and Fedex brought me the Sky-90 plus a Takahashi P-2Z
"Super Eclipse" mount.  I think that this combination will
help reduce the chance of not getting the pictures I want
due to equipment problems ;-).
-- archer
This weekend whole looking through Steve's H-A filter David Dunn,
first spotted a flare and  SpaceWeather calls it a.......

G 2  That is a Moderate Flare.....

Which effects....
                           Power systems: high-latitude power systems may experience voltage alarms,
                           long-duration storms may cause transformer damage.

                           Spacecraft operations: corrective actions to orientation may be required by
                           ground control; possible changes in drag affect orbit predictions.

                           Other systems: H.F. radio propagation can fade at higher latitudes, and aurora has
                           been seen as low as New York and Idaho (typically 55° geomagnetic lat.)**.
Physical Measure is a Kp = 6
 
Average Frequency is  (1 cycle = 11 years)  or 600 per cycle  (360 days per cycle).

 Now, while all the rest of the surface appeared very RED, this flare had two areas which were
pure WHITE and probably lasted a total of an hour. The bursts would happen in mere seconds
and were very noticeable.  We took some eyepiece projection digital hand held and I think Steve
and Archer will have them listed here in a short time.

                      Tom Teters
***************************************************************

Mornin' All,

Cactus Flats
2/17/2001

Driving east to the flats the haze that was blanketing the front range
seemed to be dissipating. Arriving first to an observing field clear of
snow the sky was nice and blue overhead from about 30* up to zenith.
Steve L. and Mike R. arrived shortly after I did, we were joined by two
fellow Greeley'ites Dave & Galin who I believe to have met before, maybe
last summer.
Starting off on the three planets dominating the evening sky. Venus
was as steady as I can recall, showing a excellent quarter phase.
The gas giants were also giving wonderful views with the GRS coming
around on Jupiter and the colors in the atmosphere were exceptionally
vibrant. Saturn, now several months past opposition was casting a nice
shadow on the rings. This seems to enhance the 3-D effect when using
a binoviewer. Finally the skies darkened enough to begin hunting down
some "deep sky" objects. Naked eye it was apparent the haze was still
over us, affected viewing up to 45* above the horizon. The surrounding
glow from Denver/Greeley, Ft. Collins and Cheyenne nebulas made Galaxy
hunting futile. I did track down NGC 2261, Hubble's Variable Nebula and
its neighbor the Cone Nebula NGC 2264. Nice objects that I want to try
again under better conditions. Another highlight was NGC 1907, a small
compact OC just north of M38. By 10:00 the temperature pleasantly rose to
the upper 20's which was followed by the tightening noose of haze overhead.
Around 10:30 the sky was completely gone and we decided to pack it in.
This time we had very good seeing but lousy transparency, last trip out it
was excellent transparency but poor seeing. Sounds like were are do for a
good one where everything comes together.

DD

BTW Steve, it was 1746X !!
**************************
Subject: [FRAC] Cactus Flats Update
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2000 18:53:53 -0700
Reply-To: front-range-tac@seds.org
From: Jim S.
     Sunset arrived Saturday with about five folks at the flats, scopes and
parkas in hand. As the temperature rapidly dropped with the waning twilight,
the population rose to a high of about ten or twelve.  The seeing was it's
usual terrible self for the first few hours, but as the temperature
stabilized, periods of fairly steady conditions came and went, enabling us
to get some pretty good views of Ganymede and it's shadow transiting
Jupiter's disk. During the moments of good seeing around 1:00 AM, Saturn's B
ring was seen at times to be multiple, with the ball of the planet viewable
through the C ring, and mottling apparent in the atmosphere's bands.  As
usual, the conditions improved through the night, as the cold took it's toll
on the numbers that remained. By about 1:30 AM there remained only four.
     At 2:00 AM a vehicle pulled off the road and parked outside the gate.
Curiosity eventually led Steve L. to inquire of the occupants and learned,
as fate would have it, that they were a family out hoping to view the aurora
borealis, and just happened to turn down our road and park right where we
were! Amazing!
     I think Steve startled them a bit, but invited them into the observing
area where they were amazed to see our vehicles and telescopes covered in
sparkling frost, with we parka-clad denizens of the dark veiwing the
bejewelled winter sky - out in the middle of nowhere! Unfortunately, there
was no aurora, but we gave them a proper tour of the universe through our
scopes, and a necessarily brief lesson in cold-weather observing before the
freezing temperatures and late hours chased them back to their car and home.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the infection took root, and we'll see them
again. The husband seemed to have a mind-blower of a realization that the
universe REALLY IS out there for the viewer's pleasure!  Heh heh heh heh
heh...   He'll be back.  :)
     As the transparency was great, and the seeing very good in these wee
dark hours, the fearless foursome remained standing till four(AM), long enough
to get a peek at Mars and some of the springtime galaxies like NGC4565,
before succumbing to fatigue and the numbing cold, and opting for an extra
hour's sleep before sunrise.
     I awoke at 8:30 to find a chilling wind and a mostly overcast sky, and
Steve and David D. already up with hot water going. The sun was viewable for
a few minutes through thin cloud - just long enough to get a quick peak
through Steve's H-a scope before the cloud thickened to the point of no
return.
     All in all, it was another night of great views with great company!
     (We missed you Gary, but we knew you were there in spirit!    Semper
Fi, amigo!)

Until next time,
- Jim S.

Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 20:49:46 -0600
To: front-range-tac@seds.org
From: Tom Teters <tom@ezlink.com>
Subject: [FRAC] Virginia Dale Thursday night

Greetings All,
  Well for once I beat out the weather and got a night of star gazing. With
a potential storm coming in for this weekend. V. Dale Star party site is 7560'
elevation, a 1K feet west of Hwy 287, and about 40 feet south of the Wyoming
border.  It was cool (45*F), air was calm and slightly hazy, stayed clear until
1:40 and I was setup at 7pm. Is it dark there?
 I could see the rift in the Milky Way at Zenith at 7:30. quite early I thought.
I started shooting wide angle twilight shots (50mm@f/4) about 7:10. Venus in
Scorpio, Sagittarius & the M. W.  There were quite a few jets in that area at
that time.
  After that it was dark enough to do 10 min. exposures. I experimented  with
tracking but not guiding on U. Minor. I'll find out tomorrow if it streaked.  Then
took the Milky Way from Sag. to Delphinus, Lyra to Hercules, all of Cygnus,
I think I got the Veil Nebula.  Around 9:20 being quite dark, calm and clear, I
started 10 min. exposures w/ a200mm lens @ f/4. This will give about 7*x5*,
(~6 power) but the tracking is quite a bit more demanding.  So I tried a new
way of guiding and it should allow me more accuracy. I started this on the Veil
nebula,  then the constellation of Lyra.   Was it dark?
Visually I could see the 14.8 mag galaxy (IC1296) next to the Ring Nebula,
then BOOM, clouds came in, so I warmed up for an hour and voile', it was
clear again. Around then I got the coyote serenade, they couldn't have been
more than 200 yards away and then STOPPED immediately.  Haunting!!
 I was in the area so I checked out NGC6543 in Draco, The Cat's Eye PN,
quite distinct, easy to find with the guide stars that were visible, then back
to the 200mm work, I got the North American Nebula in Cygnus and the dew
started to roll in. With the clouds moving in from the west I turned my attention to the
rising planets and Orion. After getting the Hyades & Jupiter,  I concentrated on
Orions'  Belt and Sword, hopefully the Nebula will show up well.  At 1:41 the murk
reached Orion and I shut down the camera. 15 minutes later the whole sky was
cloudy and I snuggled into my warm van and got a few hours of shut eye before
packing it up and drivin' down the mountain.
 All in all a very successful foto session if not the longest.  I hope to post a couple of
good shots next week with the rest of my astro-fotos'.

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 15:21:51 -0600
To: front-range-tac@seds.org
From: Tom Teters <tom@ezlink.com>
Subject: [FRAC] Virginia Dale Friday
Greetings Stargazers,
  It was a beautiful clear night up the hill. The air was a bit unsettled, until around
midnight. The wind died just after the sun set and only frosted over around moonrise.
Very pleasant evening. With a coyote symphony in the background every once in a while.
  For the sun's glow, I could barely see the constellation Scorpio, while looking at Venus,
so long for another season.
I located 6 more Messier objects in Sag. (I only need 35 more) which will be the next Zodiac
constellation to disappear in the sun's glare.
  Next, Capricorn, I found Uranus fairly easy. It's a ~8"-10" blue disk. but didn't get
around to Neptune in time, so will try next weekend (WW).
 I saw the ~11:20 pm Orionid meteor (that the rest of you saw on the flats), from
beginning to end, about 80* altitude, it made me gasp.  I expected to hear a sonic
boom. It started around Aries and ended in Aquila. I enjoyed the shadow the meteor
cast on the tail, lite it up quite bright.  About an hour later I saw a very bright Orionid
to the north (went through Draco) not quite as long but almost as bright as the earlier one.
I have the times written in my notebook.
  The rest of the night was taken up scanning standard objects and lastly looking at
Jupiter.  I saw the Ganymede transit and the Temperate Band (quite narrow) and could
actually see detail (equ. band)on Saturn, as well as Cassini's Division (176X) all the way
around the ring.

From: DDLAR@aol.com
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 14:02:57 EDT
Subject: [FRAC] Stargazing at Gary Garzone's
To: front-range-tac@seds.org
Hi All,
    Four of us had a 2 1/2-hour, enjoyable session at Gary Garzone's house near
Niwot last evening.  Skies were fairly dark at this near-urban site with the Milky Way
clearly visible.
   First we saw the Space Shuttle pass shortly before 7p.m., then viewed various
objects with Gary's 25" and 30" scopes and David Dunn's Fujinon 10X70 bino's on a mount.
   Highlight for me was NGC 7662(?) (Blue Snowball) thru the 30", a distinctly blue disk
planetary nebula in Andromeda.    I have posted digital photos of this get-together at my
PhotoPointalbum website:    (Dave L.)

                              There has been to many nights of clouds & Moon.

Greetings Gazers,   09/11/2K
 Well I made it all night Thursday-Friday(5am), to show my father and new mother &
brother-in-law, the moon, which really seemed to fascinate them, we couldn't see the
Pacman crater this time, Jupiter & Saturn, which where really low for the windy
conditions in N. Wyo. Along with those other standards to show beginners, M31, M57, M51, M13.
....then...after I was left all alone....it happened....I was resting my eyelids until the moon
went down and at 11:43pm I opened them to gaze north at a ~-9th mag. metallic green
meteor went straight down into the bowl of the Big Dipper. Chunks broke off and the trail
'paused' in the middle ????  It cast a eerie shadow on my scope and lit up the inside of
my van. the trail (broken) lasted at least 10 seconds. I even looked away and blinked....
it was still there. And was I the only one who saw this incredible sight?
 No the deputies that stopped later around 2:30am to ask what I was
' up to' saw something at that same time when they were about 30 miles away at Dayton.
The ground light up, they just hadn't know what it was. Two more astronomy converts???
 Is that all you get, you ask??  NO, with that green ghost we send you, no not a false
summer sunrise, but an extended, spikey AURORA, yes not those cheap 5 minute display
that leaves to hungry for more, but a 50* glow across the north and spikes up to the bowl of
the big Dipper and yes,  suitable for photos (6-7). I tried from 20 sec. to 1 minute. Handed
them in about 2 hours ago an should be getting them back tomorrow around 4pm.
Please keep your fingers crossed. ha ha
 More later when there's more.  tomt
*************************************************
Weekend @ Camp Jack, Wyo- Labor Day Weekend, 2000
 Accepting an invitation form Marty Curran of the CAS to join them at Camp
Jack I headed up north Fri. afternoon hoping for a break in the recent weather
patterns.
        Some comments on Camp Jack. This an area next to Curt Gowdy State
Park about 1/2 way between Cheyenne and Laramie Wy. It is occasionally
used by the local Boy Scouts. It is located about 1/4 mile north of HWY 210
through a gate that is normally locked, with the field at the end of the road.
The field is a gently sloping hill with many flat areas to set up, there is a
vault toilet close by. With no lights visible anywhere and only a low light
dome from Cheyenne to the east, even less of a dome from Laramie to the west
and none visible to the south it looks like a nice site. It is surrounded by large
outcroppings of Granite with rolling hills, a nice place to spend some time.
        After a few brief showers Fri. evening the skies opened up around 11:30
when we were treated to some very transparent skies allowing fantastic views of
the Veil Neb. in Gary G.'s 30", by 12:30 I decided to set up the 17.5" and spent
time chasing objects in the large openings that were slowly moving across the sky.
The stability was not up to the level of transparence we were enjoying, though the
looks we did get of Jupiter and Saturn were still nice. At 3:00 am we (Gary G.,
Steve L. and I) called it a night, wanting to save a little for Saturday.
        You know when the sky is filled with those small, puffy cumulus clouds all day
that you are in for a good night of observing, we were no disappointed. As soon as
the Sun set the clouds dissipated and stayed clear all night. Once again the transparency
was great 7-8/10, seeing suffered though (5/10) but there were periods of stable air
over the campsite. A few more folks showed up on Sat. bringing the total up to 10,
mostly us N. Colorado observers. My evening was spend chasing down the rest of the
PN I missed at WUTS last month, observing a few Hickson galaxy groups and of course
the "old favorites" The top views of the weekend were the Veil in Gary's 30" on Fri. Sat.
night was so long that I will probably leave out several but the ones that now stand out
in my sleep deprived mind were, Saturn in Steve L.'s 16" at 3:00am with a barlowed
7mm Nagler @ 585X outstanding! NGC 891 in Gary's 30" near zenith around 4:00 am.
M42 in my 17.5' at 5:00 am, the last object of the night.
It was fun to go from seeing most of the summer constellations to many of the winter
constellations all in one night.
        BTW Marty is planning on reserving this site for all the new moon weekends he
can next summer, if you get a chance I would highly recommend this area.

David D.
******************************
Weekend #1@ Virginia Dale- Sept 2, 2000

Hi everyone,

Brian S. and I were the two lone astronomers at Virginia Dale Saturday
night; I thought at least Tom T. would be coming but I guess I misread
his last message.

The entrance we used is practically at the state line, in fact it is
right next to the "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign on the west side
of hwy 287. The meadow is about 1/4 mile from the highway, there are
potholes on the way but it looks doable with any car, considering the
short distance. There are no buildings or facilities.

The view to the south is completely unobstructed, and all the Front
Range cities merge into a single light dome, about 40x15 degrees. The
glows from Cheyenne and Laramie are also observable. So this isn't
Foxpark, but less sky is wasted than at Pawnee.

There are two bright lights on the highway, which can be avoided if
you do not park right next to the dirt road but drive further into
the meadow instead. (Neither of us did that, but I walked around and
checked that some spots had the lights hidden by trees.) You can
hear traffic, and see it on a small section of the highway, but
the car lights never shine directly into the meadow, so it's not
much of an inconvenience.

The meadow looks pretty exposed; this must be a nasty place to stay
if it's windy. On the other hand, there was not a single mosquito!

It got slightly dewy during the night, I had to warm my finder
eyepiece once; Foxpark is far worse for that. The temperature dropped
to the mid-40's by 1AM.

Overall, this looks like a keeper. Thanks to Tom T. for the relentless
search and Maritza for hosting us!

Brian looked at asteroids, Cygnus nebulae and various Messiers, and I
got started on the RASC's list of finest NGC's. I'm at 103 Messiers
and the missing ones are those that "got away" during spring, starting
with M1; so I need to keep busy with something new!

Here's what I nailed:
7789: OC in Cas, faint, rich, bear-pelt shaped
457: OC in Cas, sparse, bright, neat!
663: OC in Cas, 20', lots of pairs/triplets, fairly bright overall
659: OC in Cas, at the end of a "leg" starting from 663; <10', faint
654: OC in Cas, close to 663 "head", 10', umbrella pattern, one bright star
6210: PN in Her, <1', round, blue
6572: PN in Oph, tiny blue spot
6633: OC in Oph, sparse, 30', bright stars
6712: GC in Sct, 10', small core, looks sparse like M4
6781: PN in Aql, 5-10', round, a bit hollow, should look like pale M97
6830: OC in Vul, 15', cross-shaped
6823: OC in Vul, 15', faint
Cr399: OC in Vul, the coathanger!

We left at around 1AM, but Maritza is quite willing to have people
stay overnight. Took me 45 minutes to drive back home in Ft Collins,
which is the same as from Pawnee.

Hope to see you tonight at Pawnee,
Kimon.
*************************************************

> Brian S. and I were the two lone astronomers at Virginia Dale Saturday night;
> We left at around 1AM, but Maritza is quite willing to have people stay overnight.

> Kimon.

I found the gate locked at 1:45am, and I decided not to explore further on
foot in the dark (dogs, shotguns, paintguns, and now bears).

So I went 8 miles north and explored the sky from SW of Tie Siding, WY.

---> How transparent was the sky for you?  I expected more stars, but maybe
40 minutes dark-eye adjusting was not enough.

Thanks!
--------
Ted Cline
N0RQV@AOL.COM
Day Phone:    970-679-2352

(LAS and NCAS member)
****************
Ted Cline (N0RQV@aol.com) wrote:
>
> I found the gate locked at 1:45am, and I decided not to explore further on
> foot in the dark (dogs, shotguns, paintguns, and now bears).

Yup, we locked it back when we left. I heard a few birds during the
evening, but no large critters.

> So I went 8 miles north and explored the sky from SW of Tie Siding, WY.
>
> ---> How transparent was the sky for you?  I expected more stars, but maybe
> 40 minutes dark-eye adjusting was not enough.
>

I figure about the same as Pawnee, probably a bit better. M31 looked big
but not humongous like at Foxpark.

Kimon.

Upcoming weekend at Virginia Dale Sept 1/2 (Fingers crossed). More info?

 Cactus Flats Update: August 25/26

      In a Nutshell:
           We went    :  It rained
           We stayed  :  So did the clouds
           We left       :  So did the clouds

      Eight showed up; three left at a reasonable hour; two slept, and three
 stayed up watching the clouds and distant lightning, listening to the
 coyotes, and swapping tales till the wee hours when two more left. Gary was
 last man standing.
      Maybe next time...  Jim S.

I fared no better at Fox Park.  As the lone astronomer up there, I
observed mostly clouds.  The next day (Sunday) was gorgeous, and so
I took several long hikes through the forests.  Sunday night looked
like a repeat performance of the previous night, so I headed on home.

Brian S

Girl Scouts Event:  Catch a Falling Star in Greeley 08/11/2K

Ladies and Gentlemen:

A hearty thank you goes to our Stephanie Fawcett for joining our little
tribe, in spite of adverse astronomical weather.  The girls were delighted to
have a "peer" with the knowledge and poise that Stephanie brought to her
craft.  She shared information about her involvement in astronomy, her
knowledge of the club telescope and her enthusiasm for the heavens with over
150 girls and over 45 adults.  Only Vega, Arcturus and the moon
(intermittently) graced us with a presence while the little girls were still
awake.  True to form, the clouds broke around midnight and many of the older
girls did have opportunity to see the major constellations and enjoy a view
through the lenses of the LAS 10".  A modicum of meteors also were
visible....so the Catch a Falling Star theme did prevail.

Leigh's assistance as to planetary activity delighted a few parents who
chose to set alarm clocks and rise for the occasion.  (I missed this one,
though I slept next to the large scope on a cot...too darned tired from
training all day and 3 hours of constant stories and sharing of limited
knowledge of astronomy.)

Lastly, the cloud cover broke long enough for several hours of solar scoping
on Sunday. (Thanks, Bob Spohn and LAS).  I am pleased to say I am now an
expert at finding the sun in that little bugger.

I am personally disappointed that my first dark sky opportunity afforded no
better vision than my Longmont back yard (due to the magnificence of the
moon).  The event, however, was truly awesome and I have been asked if we
intend to do it again.  *smiles*

Thanks to all who have given me the knowledge to make me look wonderful in
the eyes of children.

Pamela Wheaton
pam_wheaton@partech.com
 

Weekend Aurora & Perseid Meteors 08/12/2K

>Morning you Stellar group,
>   Looks like we missed the weekend's fireworks.  I thought with the
>full moon, those events weren't going to show. But one of our Colorado
>compatriots got a beautiful aurora pic, check out....
                          (time dependent link)
                  More Beautiful Amateur Pictures

From: "Ray Warren/Houston/IBM" <raywarre@us.ibm.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 10:35:57 -0600

No Tom, not everyone missed it. My wife and I got up early Saturday and
saw them in a little park just West of Lyons (on the way to Allen's Park).

I was up late enough Friday night to see the Star Gazer ("keep looking
up").  Jack said that there would be a little window Saturday
morning after the moon went down to get a view of the Persieds.

Here's how it went :

We dragged out of bed about 3:45am.  I was considering just going North of
Longmont, but there was cloud cover.  A clearing to the West convinced me
that our hope was toward Lyons.  Thinking that the Rabbit Mountain open
space would be far enough West, we stopped just North of route 66.  But
only for a few minutes until an approaching car blinded us.  Until then we were
able to see a couple of meteors and I observed what appeared to be lots of light
pollution from the North (but still a lot of patchy cloud cover).
We hopped back in the car and headed to the Park West of Lyons (I can't
recall the name).  We weren't the only fools up looking for a view.  There was
at least one other car already there (we blinded them on our way in) and a few
others showed up after us.

The sky was very clear from here.  The clouds continued in the East and
generally cleared until sunrise.  Lyra was setting in the West with Cygnus
right behind.  Pegasus was at zenith.  The Aurora was a spectacular sight
which moved from a small column to cover the whole Northern sky and
continued it's ghostly metamorphosis throughout our viewing.  These eyes
couldn't make out any color in the Aurora, just various shades of light (maybe
it needs darker skies).  There was one meteor that both of us caught peripherally
but its trail persisted for what seemed an eternity (probably 2-3 seconds).  It
was just South of the Aurora and it kind of puffed until it burned out.  Our best
views were in the area between Cygnus and Pegasus owing to less clouds and
darker sky in that direction.  When looking to the North, I spotted some meteors
fall in the proper direction to confirm the illusion that they had come from Perseus
(as usual, there were some that were not playing the game).  The rate was probably
no better than the Leonids last November (If I remember right, Steve Lynch and I
counted about 40/hour).
It was a good show.  Sorry you missed it Tom.  But, I'll bet Bob Spone saw it.

Shootout at Cactus Flats  8/5/00

     The Pawnee Patrol took up position last night at sundown, wary of the
extremely violent action in the regions to the north. The first objective of
the expedition (the moon) demonstrated great cunning in it's wiley attempts
at evasion behind the rapidly moving cloud cover, though a few of it's host
of fortified mountains and craters were taken captive. As the electrical
action in the north increased in intensity, the intrepid patrol was forced
into defensive positions in David D.'s mobile command post for a short time,
until atmospheric reinforcements unleashed a tremendous counterassault
(35-45 MPH sustained north wind) which completely cleared the obscuring
cloud cover in two or three minutes' time.
     About moonset, after a prolonged and heroic stand against the wind,
more troops arrived from Fort Collins who covered our retreat to Crow
valley, where the vegetation provided a much needed reprieve from the wind's
assault. The clear and darkening sky yeilded many targets of opportunity to
the heavy artillery and small arms alike. Many planetary nebulae and
galaxies folded under the withering fire from the 6's, 8, 14, 16 and 17.5
inch guns.
     As the captives were taken, the atmosphere calmed to a settled peace,
and the victorious warriors returned from their patrol to the security of a
late morning's sleep.
     Until the next mission,

- Jim S.

 dsdunn@pop.dnvr.uswest.net
  A small group of astro folks showed up at Cactus Flats Saturday evening
hoping the skies would cooperate and clear for one more night of warm
weather stargazing. An ominous cloud moved in and provided quite a
lightning show, which led to some concern for personal safety so Steve L.,
Karen M., Jim S. and I retired to my truck. Once the cloud moved off the
wind picked up and cleared out the remaining clouds by 11:00 p.m. Tom T.
and Pete C. arrived about midnight as the Moon was setting and suggested
that we move to the Crow Valley campground at Briggsdale, 6 mi. east on
Hwy. 14 to escape the wind. Once setup at the campground we began
observing, the haze that was so heavy at WUTS last weekend , was not a
problem tonight. The winter constellations are starting to make appearances
now so it was a good night to look up some old "friends" that I had not seen
for a while. Some of the highlights included,

M33, The Pinwheel galaxy in Triangulum. Nice spiral structure with lots of
faint detail. With a noticable H II region or Star Cloud at the edge.

NGC 891 in Andromeda, with its prominent dust lane down the center. This
one gets better as the year goes on.

M77  in Cetus. A very bright (9.6) spiral galaxy that holds up well to higher
magnifications.There are 4 other galaxies brighter than 12.5 mag within 1.5*.

NGC 7331 & 7318 (Stephan's Quintet)- About 30 min. apart. NGC 7311 is
part of the Deer Lick group, 6 galaxies, just brighter than 15th. mag and no
further than 30 min. from 10.3 mag 7331.  Stephan's was just visible in the
14" SCT and obvious  in the 17.5" Alt-Az.

NGC7009, Saturn Nebula, an 8th. mag. bright planetary in Aquarius that appears
to have a disc similar to its namesake planet. We had this one in 3 different
scopes at the same time. Next to M73 9.4 mag. G.C. & M72 9th mag. O.C.

Of course some time was spent by all on Jupiter and Saturn, with a lot of upper
atmosphere turbulence the seeing never allowed "great" views but there was a
brief period of good seeing when Io reappeared from behind Jupiter around 3:30.
My last view was to walk across the parking lot to see Orion above the horizon,
if that tree was not in my way I would have gotten my first look at M42 this season.
Though it could be seen naked eye just before twilight began. Guess its time to
dust off the winter clothes!
                                                                                                    (minor notes by tjt)

Fox Park- Weekend under the Stars(Smoke) July 27-30

Viewing conditions at this years Weekend Under The Stars
were generally so poor that in other circumstances I would
have left early.  High haze from the many fires in the
west left the limiting magnitude at ~5 at a site that
regularly hits 7+.  However, one thing kept me there,
the prospect of viewing through the 2.3 meter, f/27
classical Cassegrain at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory
(WIRO) high atop Jelm Mountain (9656').  It isn't every day
that someone puts a focuser and eyepiece in a telescope
that made it into S&T as one of the largest of its kind!

The road up Jelm Mountain is about 6 miles long, and
very steep.  I did see someone bring a fairly normal
looking sedan up to the top, but I suspect that it was
a rental.  High ground clearance is desired on this road
<http://home.att.net/~rldp/9911rmm1.htm>.

Ray Martin of the University of Wyoming is the official
caretaker of WIRO, although in reality we all knew that
Mew Bootis (Boots), the observatory cat was really calling the
shots.  WIRO is a fairly small facility, just the one
scope with an attached control room and dormitory for
the staff.  The living room is equipped with a TV, VCR
and a complete collection of Star Trek for those nights
when the staff get trapped by 100+mph winds.  When the
wind isn't blowing, 1/2 arcsecond seeing is said to be
common.  And to think, at one point the UofWy was thinking
about scrapping this observatory because the road costs
too much to maintain.  Fortunately, Ray made them see the
error of their ways, and with a new 10.5Mbps microwave
link, WIRO can now be controlled from anywhere in the
world through the magic of X11, and is getting NASA
funding to help keep the facility running.

Fortunately, it is not completely operational as a
remote observatory yet, and the brief window allowed
Ray, an avid amateur as well as professional astronomer,
to have a focuser made to bolt onto the Cassegrain
focus of this world class research telescope.

A further word about the scope is in order.  Many IR
telescopes aren't designed to work in visual wavelengths,
however WIRO was figured to work from the visible down to
20 microns or so.  This evening the scope was set up for
optical, so the secondary and core baffles were in place.
The scope itself sits on an offset Engligh yoke mount,
similar to the Hooker, but with the declination bearings
mounted on top of the yoke to permit viewing in the polar
regions.  The moving weight of the scope is about 60,000lbs.
The 2.3 meter primary has a f/ratio of about 2.1.  The
secondary magnification is almost 13x, the diameter is
8".  Lets see a Newtonian with a central obstruction of
less than 9% by diameter!  A 50mm eyepiece was used, giving
a magnification of 1242!  More info on WIRO can be
found .

The evening wasn't the best.  Winds were moderate, but
the high haze was hurting transparency.  And because this
event was organized along with a large regional star party,
there were about 30 people waiting in line to look through
the eyepiece.  Oh well, sacrifices must sometimes be made.

The group that I was in (thanks for driving, Ray W.!) arrived
at about 10:00.  The first group of visitors was supposed to
be finishing up, but for some reason they were slow to leave ;-).
M57 was in the eyepiece, and quite a sight it was.  The central
star was held in direct vision with no effort whatsoever,
and as much structure as is visible in a good amateur photograph
was clearly visible.

Next up was NGC6543, the Cat's Eye.  This object was further
above the horizon than M57, and it showed.  Amazing loops and
tendrils of gas were visible, along with a central star that
burned brightly in the center of the field.  This view was
astounding, and made all of the waiting and driving more than
worthwhile.

NGC5866, aka M102 was up next.  In the 92", only part of
it was visible, but it ended up looking more like 4565 than
anything else.  Less detail was visible than in 6543, although
it was still an impressive view.

I mentioned waiting.  We had to do a lot of it, because while
WIRO is computer controlled (and quite well, I might add), the
UI leaves something to be desired.  A series of command line
controls are entered into a Wyse50 terminal, and the organization
is by observing lists for the various users of the telescope.  So
if you want to find M57, you first have to find a list that has
M57 in it, tell the software to use that list, and then tell the
scope to follow the item in that list.  Since most IR astronomers
aren't interested in the same things that we are, it was tricky
to find some of these objects.  I offered to write some new
software for it, but Ray said that they had tried that, and
the head of the department had thrown a fit ;-(.

Last target for the evening was Uranus, and it was a chore.
The volunteer operator for the evening wasn't able to figure
out what the software wanted, and since I was standing right
there I allowed myself to be coerced into driving the scope ;-).
In the course of slewing, however, the scope bumped against the
observing platform, and it took a while to get it straightened
out.  Finally, Uranus was located.  While the detail wasn't
great (we were looking close to the horizon through a 92"
column of air!) we did manage to spot at least 3, possibly
4 Uranian moons.  A look at the Astronomical Almanac didn't
really help that much, but we took credit anyway.  The planet
itself looked more like Jupiter does in a typical amateur scope
in terms of size and brightness.

As we were leaving Ray said something about arranging rentals
of the facility for $1000 a night.  Seems like a bargain to me.

Thanks again to Ray Martin for hosting this wonderful event,
as well as finding a cure for aperture fever!

-- archer sully
 

Colorado Springs Star Stare  June 29 - July 2, 2000

This last weekend there an annual major star party held yearly west of
Colo. Springs for some great pictures of what you may of seen if you got
there, or what you missed if you couldn't make it. Look at this page!!
********************************************************

Fox Park Report, 7-1 New Moon
From David D.
A small group of Colorado observers headed north
to avoid the potential monsoon rains, hoping for a
weekend of clear skies. Fri. night exceeded all our
expectations as we were treated to an evening of transparent
and very steady skies. A look in Lyra at the double double
cleanly split at 70x, a good sign.

Early evening highlights were M51 thru Gary's 30" with knots
visible throughout the spiral arms. The Globulars showed much
detail as the seeing allowed high power viewing. (still can not
locate that Galaxy in M13, Archer). With the Milky Way rising quickly
the next stop was NGC6888, the Crescent Nebula in Cygnus. This one
is difficult to find without a filter (O III works best) and showed
much more detail than I had seen before. Moving over to the Veil
Nebula it too was giving up much more detail than usual, many
of the more faint components were plainly standing out. I spent
about 45 minutes just crusing around picking out previously
unseen (by me) parts of the Veil. Sagittarius was next and provided many
great views highlighted by M17, the Swan showing much feathering.

Tracking down NGC7331, a spiral Galaxy in Pegasus, is how I locate
Stephen's Quintet. This was another object that was better than any
previous views I had seen. All five members visible with direct
vision. About this time Gary G., Steve L. and I decided it was time to
track down Comet Linear/S4. Knowing it was in the vicinity of M34 thats
where we started. After a couple of false alarms (small Galaxies) it fell
into the eyepiece of my 27mm Pan optic. WOW! we sure have been fortunate
with the number of bright comets in the last 20 odd years. Linear/S4
showed a pinpoint core with a tail angling out at 30* about 35' long.
This is one to watch in the next month.

As you may have noticed in my opening Fri. was _the_ night as Sat.
evening had a large dark cloud hovering over the observing area. After
waiting until 11:30 and fearing severe thunderstorms I packed up the
scope. Kimon B. woke back up around 1:30 and had a great evening, I'll
leave it to him to report on that evenings observations. Thanks to
everyone who showed up, Gary G., Steve L., Brian Simpson, Pete Currie
and Kimon B. on Sat.

I would like to reiterate Jim Sapp's comments in the last newsletter, If
you only attend one star party this year make it the "Weekend Under the Stars"

Hope to see you all their next month!

David D.

BTW the "Astro Fox" made an appearance Sat. late twilight!
***********************************************
From Kimon
Well, the clouds almost spoiled the night, but great seeing was
there for the persistent.

We got a visit by the fox at dusk, he enjoyed his usual chicken
treat. Sorry, no photos this time, we all got caught by surprise.

There was a patch of clear sky over Foxpark around 8, and it
disappeared as the evening went on. With a bit of fortitude, you
could observe by dashing around the clouds; but we ain't Oregonians,
we demand horizon-to-horizon clear skies. At 11, I decided to
stop waiting and took a nap instead.

I got up at 12:30, there were patchy clouds over the whole area,
but the situation was definitely improving. I tried again at 1:00,
and sure enough, the skies were clear!

I started with the Lagoon and Trifid, which were gorgeous. That's
when I realized that the seeing was superb. I used the opportunity
to recollimate my SCT at 200x... I would have tried more, but I had
to remove my dewcap to collimate and I did not want to spoil the
night with dew.

I caught another batch of Messiers, my total is now 86... getting
real close now! And the missing ones are not the most difficult
ones, either.

I tried and failed to see Neptune, I just had a small chart from
Astronomy magazine, and the position was inaccurate.

I did get to see Uranus for the first time. That was easy! The
ball was very well defined, and had a neat blue-green tinge. It
definitely did not look like a star!

The highlight of the night was the comet, which was very close to
M34. It's still pretty small - the tail is about 1/2 degree now,
but very sharp, and quite bright already. I gawked at it for
a good twenty minutes, then the pre-dawn glow started to show,
so I called it a night.

Conclusion: based on ample statistical evidence, a fox sighting
is a sign of good seeing. Keep yer eyes open next time!

Kimon.
 

Comet Linear from The Billingham Ostrich Ranch, Morrill Nebraska 7/1
Greetings astro-fanatics,
  Back from the 30th, WHEW, those people got older....glad I didn't. ha ha
With a storm moving across the scene to the south, I delayed setting up my
scope until about 10:30.  Even though, I had a string of kids and a couple of
curious classmates following me back to the van and helping me set up.
After turning out the 5 million candle watt Mercury vapor yard light, thank
GOD for switches we got to gazing.
  Now what to look at first?  Well, Scorpio was bright so check out a globular
cluster- M4.  Then a double star Alcor/Mizar, since we were in Ursa Major, get
double galaxy M51, that got a lot of ahhhs,  then a Planetary Nebula, The Owl,
still in U Maj. and to show there are different types of PN's, the Ring M57. By
then the conversations were of UFO's..do you believe in extraterrestrials, etc.
Several classmates even indicated how they had dark skies where they lived
and would like to have a telescope to see the stars, they already know of the
local College Astronomy professor, so maybe we will have a new astronomy
club soon.
 **********************************************************************************
 After viewing the obligatory and my favorite deep sky objects it was time to find
the Comet Linear for the second time.
Well here are TheSKY info on Linear when I viewed it.  Mag. estimate is mine!!

July 1, 2000  1:19am found Linear for the first time.
C/1999 S4 (LINEAR)
Distance from Earth: 0.980821  a.u.
Distance from Sun:   0.903977  a.u.
Heliocentric: l:326.7977 b:18.0989  r:0.9039
Magnitude:~ 9.7 -9.8
RA:02h 37m 36.7s  Dec:+43d 50' 55"
Azm:42d 57' 57"  Alt:+14d 20' 11"
Rise: 22:44  Transit: 08:53  Set: 18:59
RA:02h 37m 34.8s  Dec:+43d 50' 47"  Epoch 2000
From C/1999 S4 (LINEAR):
  Angular Distance=00d 03' 14"
  Position Angle=+211d 15'
*********************************************************************
By taking field of view out of focus and comparing nearby stars, I
estimate the mag. at 9.7 - 9.8.  Bright nearby star SAO 038175, F5,
mag 8.7.  While setup at the Billingham Ostrich Ranch 1.5 miles
east of Morrill Nebr. during my 30th Class Reunion.

 Unluckily everyone had left me alone with the Ostrich ,Camels and
Fireflies to view this heavenly visitor by myself.
 Shortly thereafter as I walked out of the obstruction of the trees, I could
see the Pleiades and just off to the south what at first I thought was Aldebaran
and another Hyades, but my how bright they were...no..no that's Jupiter & Saturn.
Even though the two wanders were rather low,  I could see the space between
the rings and planet, but  could see no structure in the rings.  The four moons of
Jupiter were all on one side and quite close to each other (~4 Jupiter Radii), the
belts and  a couple of zones were visible to me, the atmosphere was turbulent.
Enter the SUN and sleep!!

Local Astronomer Makes Big Time Publication

Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2000 16:02:32 -0700
To: front-range-tac@seds.org
Subject: [FRAC] Made it to the big time!

Gary Garzone's 25 inch scope is in the August Astonomy magazine. He is
seen in the shadow of the scope. It is in the "Looking ahead" section of
the magazine. Only problem is they called it a 40 incher (he wishes).
Congratulations Gary for making it to the big time!

Steve L.
*********************************************************
Upper Beaver Meadows Trail head (almost)  04/03/00

Arrived with clouds overhead with promising clear skies to the west.
The road to Upper Beaver Meadow was closed (until Sunday) Steve L.
and I setup across from the gate. I must say the sky there is darker
than Pawnee, plus its not much farther away (if at all).

Best views included:

9 Galaxies in the eyepiece of a 20 Nag. on Steve's scope in the Realm,
centered on M84

NGC5128 Lenticular Galaxy/Centaurus A, had to find this one before it
moved behind MT Meeker. At first all I saw was half of the disk followed
by the dust lane and other half of the disk popping into view. Way Cool!
Think I will make the TSP next year just to see this and Omega Cen.

M51 thru the Binoviewer, much better than out at Pawnee. Background sky as
dark in between the arms as outside the disk.

>While looking at NCG4631 a meteor streaked thru the view. There was a
"smoke" trail that I could see for 1 min, even had time to call Steve over for a
look. Similar to a contrail the way it moved against the background stars.

David D.
 

*********************************************************
Fox Park First Weekend of June 2K

'I just want to use my scope, foxy' .... Luckily Steve knew that fried chicken
is a good bribe.

  Wow!! must say that was well worth the trip to Fox Park.We were visited
by the local fox who was checking it all out. He went up to Steve's table
looking for food, so Steve threw him half a chicken,  he pranced around
with it then left. An hour later he showed back up and I got great
digital pictures around the camp site. The stars were incredible, clear
and no dew for my eyepieces or diagonal without dew heaters on. Well
can't wait to show film of Fox at club meeting maybe. Dan L. showed up
with 18 inch kreige, Obsession scope, he just bought, so I guess we
will be seeing a lot more of him soon, I hope.  Dan also found the comet
Linear C\1999 S4 at about 3:45am in Triangulum. Jim S. found Mercury
just above and to the right of the new Moon before dark, also looked at
Sunspots, Sunday morning, really nice solar filter the club members also
made too. See you all at club meeting in Berthoud,      Bye,  gary g
******************************************************
In a message dated 6/4/00 7:58:27 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
dsdunn@uswest.net writes:

> Another great New Moon weekend, up at Foxpark Wy. I approached
>  it as a camping weekend with the chance to do some observing also.
>  Happy to say it was successful on both counts!

Successful indeed.  I went up for Sat. night, my first dark-sky remote
this year.  I chose not to bring my scope this time as I wanted to sample
some other members' scopes and also try out my new (Orion) 10X50
binoculars.  There were about 25 people in attendance, about half from
LAS and a dozen or so visitors or club members from Laramie, Cheyenne,
and Ft. Collins.

Mosquitos (little buggers) were as bad as anyone had ever seen at Foxpark,
but repellent did the job for most.  Skies were clear at sunset with very low
dewpoints.  This was great for viewing although the temperature dropped like
a rock after dark to the upper 20s by late evening.  A mild breeze pushed
temps back into the 40s shortly after midnight. Cold front and upslope clouds
pushed in by dawn Sunday.

A highlight for me was a great view of M51 with spiral bands evident thru
Steve Lynch's dob.  I also viewed M13 & M92 with Gary G.'s 30", M104
(Sombrero) thru Jim Sapp's refractor, and took a quick look thru David D.'s
17-incher.  My new 10X50 binoc's (w/BAK-4 porro prisms) revealed many M
objects especially with Foxpark's dark skies.  Of course, you don't see the
detail as you would with a telescope but it's fun to locate Messier's so
quickly.

Had a nice chat and visit with Carol McFadden of the Laramie club.  Carol's
husband Hugh is City Attorney for Laramie and active with LASSO.  Carol
set up an Astroscan (the classic ball-shaped beginner scope) on a small
table and we took in some wide-field views (3-deg) of Lyra and Scorpius.
I had seen Astroscans over the years but this was my first viewing with one
of these amazingly simple scopes.

Also had a talk with Dan Laszlo of the Ft. Collins club (NCAS) who brought
his new Obsession 18 dob.  Dan mentioned that the Rcky Mtn Natl Park
public starwatching sessions are very popular--sometimes with several
hundred visitors.  The first one this summer is scheduled for  June 9.
Astronomy folks can get into the Park free for these sessions.  Contact
Dan at djlaszlo@aol.com

Clear Skies,
Dave L.

April 1, 2000
From the Desk of Jim S.

MARINES MANAGE TO MAUL MESSIER'S MANAGERIE IN MAD MOONLESS MARATHON
-or-
Condolences to the Cold Crew that Couldn't Continue the Course
-or-
April Fools! The clouds went away!
-or-
Cactus Flats Update:

     The clouds to the north dissipated rapidly yesterday afternoon as the
trek toward the Flats proceeded. Upon arrival, the ground was dry, and there
were a few scattered fair-weather cumulus that gradually disappeared as the
sun sank toward the horizon. A fairly stiff breeze out of the southwest
dropped to zero at sundown, when the hunt for deep-sky beasties began in
earnest. Perhaps twenty folks showed up?
     The viewing was great until the witching hours, when a soft moist
breeze from the west accompanied slowly building clouds from all quarters.
Many of the hearty souls that had come began to fold under the impending
onslaught of obscuration, correctly foretelling the sky's approaching fate;
and at one point five or six carloads departed simultaneously, looking for
all the world like a gaggle of geese going through the gate.
     By midnightish, some of those that remained had snuggled in for their
midnight snooze.
     By 1:30, the sky was completely obscured with only a narrow wedge on
the southeast horizon revealing one or two stars through binoculars. Only
two stalwarts remained past that.
     By 2:30 or so, a renewed light breeze from the west began gathering the
clouds into rapidly moving bands, leaving strips of sky through which we
could continue the Messier pursuit. (Rapid dodge & shoot kind of stuff.)
     By 3:30-ish Dave E. provided the clearest, most contrasty view of the
Veil nebula I have ever seen in an eight inch scope. Stunningly clear air.
Structure could be seen around the entire loop.
     With dawn approaching, the last leg of the marathon was run in a
frenzied attempt to bag the remaining dozen or so, through marvelously clear
air between patches of shifting cloud, as the meadowlarks cheared us on, but
the last two of the fleeing quarry managed to slip away into the brightening
blue, as a third hearty soul (Ray W.) rejoined the chase.
     With an exhausted slump into the comfort of my lawn chair, the moon's
sliver was observed to rise from a low band of cloud, shortly to be replaced
by the gleaming orange rays of the sun (and a NASTY north wind).
     The race was run, and the LAS emerged victorious! Ya Haaa!!
     My game bag was stuffed with 106 confirmed messiers through the course
of the night, all captured with 3.25 inches aperture or less. (You can do it
too folks! - It's persistence, not talent!) The ones that got away were:
    M74 - tracked it's setting nearby star through the greenish-yellow
twilight to within a smidge of the western horizon. Didn't have a chance.
Two weeks earlier might have done it. (I beleive now that the ideal time to
attempt a Messier marathon is when the new moon falls around the 15th or
20th of March.)
     M77 - didn't attempt it, though Dave E. bagged it while I went on to
other quarry.
     M75 - in the early morning hours my guide stars to it were obscured, so
I skipped it, then remembered it too late. By the time it was centered in
the 3 inch, the background sky was too bright to see it.
     M30 - had a good crack at it, but that section of Aquarius never
cleared a persistent band of cloud, though while waiting for it I was able
to bag the last globulars in Pegasus as the clouds there were parting.
     I beleive Dave E. bagged 100 or 101 of the little buggers!
     Those are the only totals I am aware of at this time. I don't beleive
there were more that three or four actual marathoners at the Flats. The boys
with the big guns were going through some NGC lists - until the clouds
scared 'em away. The sky says "April Fools!!"
     Okay - I'll stop the rambling. Need heapum big sleep.

- Jim S.

P.S. Hey Dave! You were right! M56 IS a little globular, not a planetary
like I thought. Sorry!

****************************************************************
X-From_: owner-front-range-tac@seds.lpl.arizona.edu  Mon Dec 13 09:47:59 1999
X-Authentication-Warning: seds.lpl.arizona.edu: majordom set sender to
owner-front-range-tac@seds.org using -f
X-Sender: doubled@mail.frii.net
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.3 (32)
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 09:37:29 -0700
To: front-range-tac@seds.org
From: David Dunn <doubled@frii.net>
Subject: [FRAC] Pawnee Saturday Night
Sender: owner-front-range-tac@seds.org

Saturday started out great, Clear skies with just a slight breeze.
Arriving at the Grasslands at the end of twilight I was surprised
that no one else was there.
Finished getting setup when Steve L. arrived. He stated the wind
was bad along the foothills, probably scaring off everyone else.

 With the cresent Moon not due to set until 8:50pm limited viewing to
brighter objects. Started the evening looking for Neptune very close to
the cresent Moon, a little too turbulent for my 17.5", Steve got it in his
12" w/ binoviewer (gotta get me one!) Jupiter and Saturn showed the
atmosphere to be unsteady with moments of good seeing, Checking
"J-Moons" on my PalmPilot showed Io transiting starting about 9:00pm.

  First deep sky object NGC253, Sculptor Galaxy. After realizing I was using
the wrong guidestar (Fomalhaut instead of Beta Ceti, Duh!) an easy target.
A nice elongated spiral. Not a lot of detail due to the setting Moon and
glow from Greeley, but still dust lanes visible with bright knots.

  Keeping in the same vein, jumped over to Andromeda. being right at zenith
made it difficult to scan but very bright. Several dust lanes visible with
the main one very prominent. Its fun to see just how far out I can follow it.

  Next over to the Pinwheel Galaxy, M33,NGC598 another bright large face on
spiral. Finally over to NGC891, definetly the neatest edge on galaxy. Dust
lane very obvious with a 12mm Nagler giving the best view at 175X.

  After 4 straight months of great skies during the new Moon, the cloud bank
that was hovering over the Rockies moved in at 10:00pm. Still got in a good
4 hours of viewing at what will be the last night out this year.

Remember, the next new moon is Jan. 6th. Hope everyone has a great holiday!
 

David  Dunn
********************************************************
Subject: [FRAC] NEFARIOUS

Weekend (11/06/99) report from the...
     Northern-area
     Extemely
     Few
     Astronomers
     Really
     Interested in
     Observing
     Under the
     Sky.              (light-hearted humor)

- or -

Cactus Flats update:

     Another good weekend for those that showed up (and stayed late). The
season's first month of ice on the neglected coffee cup.
     About ten carloads of astro-people and their gear showed up (maybe
fifteen or eighteen folks) for an evening with an early spell of fairly
good seeing under a layer of lingering afternoon haze. - Good views of
Saturn and Jupiter.
     During mid-evening, the attendees were blessed with a mild auroral
display to the north, which was largely ignored due to the desire to make
the most of the concurrent good seeing conditions, which were soon followed
by a cold, moist breeze from the west which immediately destroyed the
seeing, so attention was directed to the deep sky. These periods of good
seeing came and went with the periods of calm between the light breezes.
     It was nice to see (couldn't really "SEE") a few new faces getting
their first dose of concentrated starlight.
     As usual, the best seeing conditions occurred after midnight. And, as
usual, it started literally within minutes of the time that most people
left! Incredible timing!
     Dave K., from the Denver club, wowed us with views of Jupiter and
Saturn through his seven inch Astro-Physics refractor, equipped with a
bino-viewer, and Gary G.'s 30 dazzled our eyes with great views of the
great deep-sky.
     This reporter's picks for the evening's best views:
          1. Jupiter's atmosphere, and Saturn's ring structure through the
seven-inch at tremendous magnification.
         2. NGC - uh, oops... forgot the number; an edge-on galaxy near
zenith around 2 AM through the 30.
          3. A cluster of dim galaxies in Monoceros through the 30.
          4. My first (that I remember) view of an extra-galacitic
supernova. Very impressive when you consider the tremendous energy that it
uts out, which makes it visible from such a dim, dim  galaxy, far, far away.

All in all, an evening and morning well worth the effort.

REFRACTORS RULE!

- Jim Sapp/Longmont Astronomical Society
****************************************************************
From: gary garzone <garvinc@bouldernews.infi.net>
Subject: [FRAC] Another great new moon star party

Wow!! another great star night to remember.I can't believe how good it
was again, with small aurora to boot, how lucky to get so much in one
night out. Jim S that was great write up as usual. Thanks go to Dave from
Denver club for sharing excellent views thur 7 inch refractor, best
views of Saturn while seeing was at it's best several times that
night.  Of course having bad case of aperture fever myself, REFLECTORS
RULE, Can't beat those galaxy clusters, and 891 edge on with dark lane
down middle like highway stripe.Thanks to die hards, Steve L, Jim S,
Dave D, Tom T,Dr Dan L. and others keep this  whole thing alive and
well, see ya at next new moon star party,
Gary G
******************************************************************
NEW Moon weekend  Feb. 4-5, 2000

> David Dunn wrote:
> >
> > Being the eternal optimist that I am, I'm going out
> > to Catus Flats this Fri. evening before sunset, unless its
> > completely socked in. Anyone else game? Will probably try
> > Sat. evening after a social event.(9:00 pm?) also.
> >
> > Clear skies, Please clear skies!
>
> Well, I was planning on going Saturday, but the forecast is mostly
> cloudy. Tonight's forecast is mostly clear, so tonight it is. I'll see
> those who make it tonight.

Uh, well, I guess the phrase that describes it best is "viewing Jupiter
with averted vision".

I arrived a little after 8, and left a little after 10, having reached
the limit of my patience. Another guy from Fort Colins showed up a
little after I did (was it "Eric"? - my memory for names stinks). His
limit was far more reasonable than mine, and he left about a half hour later.

I'm willing to bet that the sky cleared by 12 or 1am, but I was sound
asleep by that time....

I may try again tonight. I doubt I can get there before 9:30 or so.
Dave

 Pawnee Prairie Grasslands Fri. Oct. 8, 1999
Very good clear night.  About 17 gazers from Greeley, Longmont and Ft. Collins.
Air was quite steady.  The largest scope was Gary Garzone's 30" Dob.  Multiple
bands and zones visible on Jupiter as well as some large storms (the Red Spot
was visible Sat.). Cassini's division and the Crepe Ring were visible on Saturn
with an 8" Dall-Kirkham.  Orion is up around 10pm, the Nebula is a beautiful as ever.
                                                                                                     Link to SP Pics.
                                                                                                                  tjt