Austin Astronomical Society - Observatory Reports

Saturday May 18 2013 COE Star Party

19 May 2013 1:42 PM | Anonymous member

Saturday May 18, 2013
CoE Star Party
James Hall
6:15p-11:15p
Guests: 20

Tara and I arrived about 6:15 p.m. Grounds looked mostly good. Sticker plants starting to popup everywhere but not too bad yet. Picked up a blue cup and thermos in the parking lot, as well as an old hand held video game. I assume those items got lost in the dark from last star party guests. Jim Sheets stopped by and I gave the items to him. He works for COE now and was happy to drop them off at office in case they have a lost and found.

I cleaned the desks and all the glass in the observatory. We are running out of paper towels, but otherwise everything cleaned up nicely. I also picked up 1 chair out of the observatory that had most of the covering missing and took it to the dumpster with my truck.

Internet not working. All red lights working. Display working. Scopes did pretty well all night. The Forrest scope tracked well all night. Probably 90%. Switched it between Jupiter and the moon.

The Harlan still has the stiffness that Darin mentioned before, but otherwise tracked well.

Weather warm but nice breeze from south. Sky was about 50% clouds on arrival and 10% cloud cover during final hour of viewing.

Viewed Jupiter, Saturn, Mizar, Moon, and Hercules Cluster.

Used the Display hooked wirelessly to iPad through first part of night to show Positions of Saturn and Jupiters moons, Exoplanets, Solar System Models, Moon HD for landing sites. Then switched it off as night got darker to preserve dark adaption.

Several "Wow's" heard throughout the night.

Last guests left about 10:45

Secured all scopes, lights, observatory

Closed up at 11:15

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- James Hall

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CoE Star Party

15 May 2013 10:14 AM | Anonymous member

Friday, 14 May 2013
CoE Star Party
Jim Sheets
Guests: 7

Opened observatory at 8:30pm, group of 7 arrived at 9:00pm.
Sky conditions, hazy, high thin clouds about 40% cover. Viewed
Crescent Moon and Saturn, did asterism tour with what was available.
Answered lots of questions and chatted (talking points) for a while.
The group departed at 10:00pm. I waited until 10:20, then closed.
The Harlin Smith worked well after I snugged the Declination friction
ring just a bit. The roof pull ropes were all bunched and knotted while
opening the roof, so I made sure that they were stowed correctly in the
wall canisters after closing. The grounds need to be mowed. I will
suggest at the office that they have LCRA get on that task.

Jim Sheets
Host: Longhorn Cavern State Park
Astronomer: Canyon of the Eagles
Mailing address:
PO Box 356
Burnet, TX 78611
620.242.5143
N946JS

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Friday May 3, 2013

14 May 2013 8:07 PM | Anonymous member

Friday May 3, 2013

CoE Star Party

Darin Koch

7:15p-11:45p

Guests: 35

Observatory clean, scopes working, internet still not working, monitor and all other lights working. We had a clear night with no Moon, little to no wind. The first car arrived with a family of 4, and the dad helped me to install the Forrest plaque on the Ealing when it was getting dark. The seeing was 5/10, but improved to about 7/10.

We viewed Jupiter (4 moons) with Io about to touch the disk, M51 (Forrest), M81, M3, M13, Saturn (Smith). M51 was extraordinary! Dust lanes easily detected. It tracked perfectly all night.

I showed the guests 'Starry Night Deluxe' constellations and animated planets movements and an animation on the big screen and later turned it off for good dark skies. One couple from Georgia lingered and wanted to see Saturn at its highest and they were the last to leave. They were very pleased at its sharp rings.

Temp bottomed out at 42º F, and I managed to remain in my denim shorts as there was no wind!

Shut down at 11:45p and stayed in the camper for early departure for TSP next morning.

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CoE Star Party

01 May 2013 6:06 PM | Anonymous member

CoE Star Party

Monday 29 April 2013

Jim Sheets

16 Guests

Arrived at CoE about 8:30pm and checked in at front desk, they had a party that wanted to

start at 9:00pm. Open the observatory and set up the Ealing on Jupiter and the Harlin on

the Orion Nebula. It was mostly cloudy everywhere except in the west. The guests enjoyed

those views along with some talking points. Fortunately, Saturn became visible about 9:45

and I got a few "Wow's" with that image. The group left all at once about 10:30 just as the

rest of the sky was clearing. I used the scopes for personal viewing until around 11:30 then

closed. The building and grounds were clean and in good shape.

Jim Sheets
Host: Longhorn Cavern State Park
Astronomer: Canyon of the Eagles
Mailing address:
PO Box 356
Burnet, TX 78611
620.242.5143
N946JS

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Coe Star Party

28 Apr 2013 9:51 AM | Anonymous member

CoE Star Party
Saturday 27 April 2013
Jim Sheets
Guests: 18

Got a call, short notice, to open the observatory, as Mark F. was not available.
Arrived at CoE at 7:30. The sky was mostly overcast. Opened the roof and prepped the
scopes for use. Around 8:30 the western sky was partly cloudy and I was able to show
the guests on hand the wonder of Jupiter. It was visible for about an hour and everyone
present got a look.
The grounds were clean and the building was in good shape. I had to snug the declination
clutch on the Harlin, as it was too loose to hold position.
Most of the guests left by 9:30. two couples lingered for conversation for a while. Began
closing at 10:00. More guests arrived... the sky was opaque. More guests arrived...
Did talking points until 11:00.

Jim Sheets
Host: Longhorn Cavern State Park
Astronomer: Canyon of the Eagles
Mailing address:
PO Box 356

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CoE Star Party

27 Apr 2013 1:09 PM | Anonymous member

From:	startracker75@hotmail.com
Saved:	Sat 4/26/13 1:07 PM
To:	EEO

CoE Star Party
Friday, 26 April 2013
Jim Sheets
30 Guests

Arrived at CoE and checked in at 7:45pm. The sky was mostly cloudy.
Opened the roofs and activated the 12-1/2 Harlin. Had just enough clearing
in the western sky to have the early guests observe Jupiter. By 8:30 some parents
and a Cub Scout troupe had joined the few who were already present. The sky had
several layers of clouds and in some areas there were high, thin ceros clouds that were
thin enough to faintly see some asterisms. Did a laser pointer tour where possible.

I spent most of the evening doing talking points about the solar system and deep space.
fielded numerous questions until the group left at 10:30.
Closed up and left at 10.45

Jim Sheets
Host: Longhorn Cavern State Park
Astronomer: Canyon of the Eagles
Mailing address:
PO Box 356
Burnet, TX 78611
620.242.5143
N946JS

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Saturday April 20 2013 COE Star Party

21 Apr 2013 4:50 PM | Anonymous member

Saturday Apr 20, 2013

CoE Star Party

James Hall & Tara Heine

7:30p-11:30p

Guests: 90

Tara and I arrived just before 7pm. Grounds mostly good, some trash in the parking lot and grounds, but easily picked up. Weeds along the path are about due to be mowed, but not too bad yet. Tara setup her 10 inch Intelliscope while I checked out the observatory.

Observatory was secure and clean, equipment looked good, eye piece cases looked good. There is one chair that is pretty torn up with padding mostly exposed. It is located on the north wall that I meant to take out of the observatory, but I forgot, so I'll have to grab it next time. It's just seen better days.

Scopes working mostly well but the Harlan kept trying to float into the vertical position when I was trying to target several objects. It was almost like it had too heavy of a counter weight on it in back. I'll have to follow up with Darin if any thing has been adjusted recently.

Internet not working, but the large display and all other lights turned on and working well. I hooked up the apple TV to the iPad and started the iPad mirroring. Cars started arriving immediately so I put the 16 inch scope on the sun and the Harlan for those early bird observers.

The iPad wireless connection to the display quit working about 9:00 p.m. So I just switched to pointing at the iPad itself through the night to show off moon landing spots and current orbits of the planets.

Guest came and went in groups all night, it was hard to keep track of an actual count, but was at least 90. The moon light kept the path well lit all the way to the parking lot. Note: I like the red solar lights that someone added to the entrances. Thanks to whoever did that, I think it was a great idea.

It stayed clear of clouds all night. The seeing was poor at times but not too bad. Tara and I helped everyone viewed the Moon, Jupiter (4 moons), Saturn, Orion Nebula, Mizar, Betelgeuse, Sirus. I also gave normal sky tour of constellations AAS history, and notice about upcoming events.

Lots of boy scouts and guests asking questions and having a great time. Nice mix of children and adults. The best part of the night was when this boy saw Jupiter. His mouth dropped open and yelled "Wow!" He had the biggest smile on his face as he quickly got back into line to see it again.

Many guests noted they would return to the public star party nights. Donations in box.

Secured the observatory at 11:30 p.m. Temp in low 50's, wind gusting.

All in all a great night. I can't wait until next time. :)

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Friday Apr 19, 2013

20 Apr 2013 2:03 PM | Anonymous member

Friday Apr 19, 2013
CoE Star Party
Darin & Dana Koch
8:15p-11:23p

Guests: 15

Observatory clean, scopes working, internet not working, monitor and all other lights working. We had a clear night with 65% waxing gibbous Moon, wind 0-5mph from east. The first car arrived and i could smell cigarette smoke in the observatory from them from the parking area! So that's how i knew the wind had to be from the easst. The seeing was poor due to the front that moved thru earlier.

We viewed the Moon, Jupiter (4 moons), M42, M51, M3, M13, Saturn. As poor as the seeing was 2/10, it had at times improved to about a 6/10 in short brief bursts of a second here and there where you could tell that Jupiter had some detail in its eq bands. So overall, the guests greatly enjoyed the views thru both telescopes. M51 could barely see extended detail due to the 65% lit Moon.

I showed the guests 'Starry Night Deluxe' constellations and animated planets movements and an animation of the 4-8-2024 total solar eclipse that will commence in 11 years on the site. A little boy was very fascinated by that. I know i've got to learn my Starry Night Pro 4.5 software more, but always seem to have a hard time going between the two.

Temp bottomed out at 50º F.

Left at 11:23p

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Friday Apr 12, 2013

16 Apr 2013 8:40 PM | Anonymous member

Friday Apr 12, 2013

CoE Star Party

Darin & Dana Koch

7:30p-11:30p

Guests: 40

Grounds good, both scopes working good, all lights in working condition. A fine evening with good clear skies, not great transparency, but reasonable allowing us to see worthwhile deep sky objects. We had 2 good pushes of visitors at first, about 17 in each, then a few more trickled in. I worked on the HDTV to get the ND filter back in place and attached several more black plastic tabs with 3M double sided tape that won't come off anytime soon without great effort.

We saw Jupiter, M42, M46, M51, M65-66, M3, M13, M81-82. I played several movies (LRO Apollo landing sites, star sizes, galaxie collisions) and showed them my two hi-res Hubble photos of M51 and M31 Halo deep field and zoomed to show the incredible details. Guests really liked that.

A very mild evening, got down to about 61º or so.

Left just after 11:30p

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Friday Mar. 29, 2013

31 Mar 2013 7:47 PM | Anonymous member

Friday Mar. 29, 2013
CoE Star Party
Darin & Dana Koch
6:50p-11:35p
Guests: 45

The grounds were good, the building, telescopes in good condition. Weather was partly cloudy at first, but later turned mostly cloudy. Then it cleared to see Jupiter, M42, M51, so several guests were treated to good views of Jupiter and 4 moons. Ealing and Harlan tracked well.

During cloudy times, we showed guests movies and pictures on the big screen, then turned off to show the skies when it cleared. A wedding was going on at the lodge, but many guests still ventured out during the improbable skies. I really didn't think it was going to clear, but it did, but was slightly thin cloudy up high.

I worked a little more on the 11" Celestron CPC in the Ruof observatory. David Ault could not come out due to work duties. So I went in to record the firmware versions from each of the two hand paddles so we can begin to troubleshoot why it's not aligning. But this time using the illustrated handpaddle from the manual, it was most stubborn at doing anything correctly. Pressing a slew direction would send the scope slewing but would not stop after letting up... unless press the UNDO button to stop. It would not track at all after manual setting it.

So hopefully, this Saturday, we can try again with David to figure out what the problem is.

Temp 64º.

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