Observing Report from Red Box Junction, January 17, 2015

I had plans to head to a darker location on Saturday, but I got an upset stomach and wasn't ready to hit the road until almost 4pm. That would have put me at the Chuchupate Ranger Station (near Frazier Park) at about 5:30pm, or about 1/2 hour after dark.

While I've pulled in to observing spots later than that, this seemed a little tricky, what with having to set up in the dark and being at least a little annoying to the other folks who were there for dark skies.

So, instead, I headed for Red Box Junction. This is in the Angeles National Forest, adjacent to the Angeles Crest Highway. It's right where you'd turn right (if coming from La Canada) to go to Mt. Wilson.

The altitude is modest (I'd guess just 4,000 feet or so) and it's set a few miles further north from Mt. Wilson. In theory, this would make the sky a little darker.

I wouldn't call this a "dark sky" location, by any means. Limiting magnitude is probably only about 5, and it's much worse towards the South (where everyone lives). It is, however, much dark than viewing from town. Even more so, my own home has lousy horizons

On the plus side (beyond the slightly darker skies than in town), it's got a large, paved, mostly level surface, and vault toilets. On the down side, it's right next to the road, so you've got lots of traffic that's going to affect you.

But even more than that, a lot (I mean, a *lot*) of people on late night drives through the forest) stop at Red Box to chat, smoke, or plan their next stop. So rows of cars will pull in with some regularity (especially on weekend nights), which means lots of lights in the lot.

So, basically, I would need to decide if the convenience of a toilet and the slight security that increases by being where people regularly stop is outweighted by the bright interruptions.

In any event, I only observed and photographed for about two hours. My clock drive is really crappy, and most of the shots were terrible. In many cases, I was better off just taking short exposures on a non-motorized tripod.

So, some surprisingly descent shots of the Orion Nebula, and some with the Pleiades and Comet Lovejoy easily visible. No tail, but a nice, obvious, green snowball.

Mojave National Preserve Star Party, Saturday, November 1, 2014

Upcoming, on Saturday, November 1: The Mojave National Preserve Star Party. Not ideal for true dark sky observing, but it'll be darker than in town, and you'll have some great "guides" to help lead your tour of the night sky!

Night at Mt. Wilson Observatory

I recently spent a half-night with a group, observing through the historic 60" reflector.

The 60" is the largest telescope dedicated primarily to public use and outreach. You can rent the telescope for a half-night or a full night. Currently, it's $900 for a half-night, or $1700 for a full night. How much that works out per person depends on how many people you bring in your group (up to 25), and if your group is also planning to rent a bus.

In our case, we rented a bus. And our group size was 25. That made it $125 per person, which is pretty steep, but a price I was willing to pay for my first view through the big telescope.

Unfortunately, the skies at Mt. Wilson are far from dark. That means that even with the 60" of aperture, some extended objects are less impressive here than through an 11" telescope from truly dark skies. Resolution is better, of course, so if seeing is good, you can see better detail on planets and split double or resolve individual stars in globular clusters easily.

The 60" telescope is also limited to objects more than 35 degrees above the horizon. That excludes the heart of the summer Milky Way. I was a little disappointed to learn that.

Of course, if you've never observed under a really dark sky with a moderate-ly large telescope, this will be by far the most impressive view you'll ever have. Also, on planets, the views are superior.

I've attached some shots I took, mostly from inside the dome, after dark. They have numerous red nights around the one end of the dome, so seeing inside is not a problem. It's tough to photograph, though, especially without a tripod.

It's also hard to focus in the dark. I semi-solved the latter problem by stopping my lens down to f/8. Of course, the aggravates the long exposure problem. Still, with enough careful bracing, I'm satisfied with my results.

Objects we viewed included Saturn, M57 (the Ring Nebula), the Cat's Eye Nebula (don't recall that NGC number, off-hand), M13, M92, another planetary nebula, several double stars or significant stars (Barnard's Star, for example), and a comet). M57 was definitely nice, with the central star apparently visible. Of course, had they added an O3 filter. . . ?

Saturn looked great, but the view was too short.

Overall, worth a trip, but less of a quantum leap in viewing experience over what I had seen before. Then again, I've been to much darker places with fair-sized telescopes. For those less telescopically endowed, the experience is undoubtedly more impressive.

NASA explains why the world won't end in 2012

Just in case you find yourself talking to someone who believes the world will end next month, NASA has a handy reference page for you to check out.

Endeavour Opens to Public on October 30

I got a "sneak preview" today. It was really cool. ;D

This is the first view of Endea-vour, as you walk into the hanger. It's big, of course. And a little dark. I had to push the ISO up to 400. For shots of the belly, even at 3200 it was dark. Ended up going with a flash for most of them.

This is Endea-vour from the port side. The general flow they expect is you'll walk around and across, and exit from this side. There's also a little sales area near here, with mostly kid-sized NASA-like gear.

I had a friend at the Observa-tory who had an authentic tile. He was able to find where it came from by matching the number (and knowing the general area where it would be located). It's like a giant jigsaw puzzle, with nearly every tile a unique size-shape combination.

The tiles are surpris-ingly fragile, despite their ability to insulate the shuttle on reentry. Here, it looks like the movers dropped it a bit. Wouldn't have taken much for that ding, considering the size and weight of the shuttle.

Some day in the future, Endea-vour will stand as ready for launch, complete with mock ups of the external fuel tank and the solid (fuel) rocket boosters.

Information on seeing the space shuttle can be had at California Science Center's website, linked above.

Sidewalk this Saturday

That's the goal, anyway: Saturday, October 27, in Monrovia, at the corner of Myrtle and Lime. Figure from about 7pm - 9:30pm. Possibly 15-20 minutes earlier on both ends, though.

In the meantime, I'll start working on my LX80 write-up. It'll be several days before I'm done.

No Sidewalk Astronomy on Sep 22

Pretty clouds as the sun sets tonight, which, unfortunately, means no sidewalk astronomy tonight. We'll try again next month.