Halloween observing rampage (long, rambling)


9:30 on a friday evening. I lay on the floor of my apartment, trying to
wake up from a nap. I had been planning on going observing this
evening. In fact, I felt compelled to do so. It was a rare clear
night in my neck of the woods (madison, wi). We had just left a
looong stretch of cloudy weather behind. Clouds can linger for days,
sometimes weeks, in the fall. Combined with the rapidly cooling
conditions heralding the approach of Winter, clear comfortable
nights for observing are indeed rare. For the past week I'd waited
impatiently for things to clear as the moon waned. From a weather
perspective we'd been under high pressure, and the clarity was good.
But cold winds blowing off the still warm great lakes had lead to many
nights of thin cloudiness. A fractured fractal sky of mid-level
cloudiness. Clouds so thin one could often see brighter stars and
constellations through them. JUst enough to deny starlight.

But tonight was clear, still and cold. My aging bones felt tired, and
I felt old. It was tempting just to go to bed. Then I noticed the
sounds of revelry from the street below. Sounds I normally ignored, as
they were common. The distinctive sound of drunk students reached my
ears - 'WOOOHOOOOOOO!!!' 'AUUUUUGHHH!' 'TITTIIEEES'... Then I
remembered - it was halloween weekend. During this time the college
town I live in turns into something of a zoo the entire weekend.
Students come from 100's of miles away for a sort of midwest mardi
gras. 1000's of people would be packed into a few blocks (state st.)
on Fri. and Sat. nights. The majority costumed.

[ The following night this would culminate with 100,000 revelers
clashing up against 400+ police in a pepper spray melee on State St.,
a pedestrian throughfare leading to the state captitol ]

Slowly I got up and glanced out the window. Sure enough, the streets
were packed with costumed people... more than I care to remember or
even attempt to describe. I live very close to a 'student slum' area
of town, and no doubt loud and raucous parties would be raging all
night. Well, it's not like I was going to be getting much sleep
this night. This broke my inertia, and I decided to get ready to
go out. Speaking of intertia, I had a lot to overcome before I could
put eye to eyepice. I have no car, and when I'm unable to leech
a ride from a friend out to a dark site, I'm forced to use my bike.
It's a big production. I've got to organize and assemble a seemingly
endless amount of gear. As I live downtown I don't have the luxury
of observing from my 'backlawn' - I've got to commute, one way
or another, to a dark[er] sky site.

First I've got to break the mount down (in my case it's an orion
alt-az mount). Remove the OTA rings and slo-mo controls. Collapse
the tripod legs. Unscrew and detach the accessory try and tripod
spreader. Detach the tripod legs from the alt-az head. Then I
bubble wrap the alt-az head and OTA rings and stuff them into a
box. Then pack the tripod spreader and slo-mo controls into the
same box. Followed by some star charts (in this the cloudy nights
mag 7 charts), my 7x50 binocs, and my dew heater kit.

But wait, there's more. Next I've got to roundup all my eyepieces
(in their cute lil boxes), 90 degree star diagonal, and finder scope.
These go into the small pouch of my backpack. Next I carefully
wrap the OTA (orion 90mm f/10 refract0r) in bubblewrap, then stuff
this into a pants legs which I've tied off the bottom off. Since
the OTA is about a yard long, it's too big to fit into the backpack -
the top of it sticks out a good foot or so. So I stuff the packaged
OTA into the backpack, and using a rope looped around the pants belt
hooks I lash and tie this to the handle of the backpack. I
snug the two zippers on either side of the backpack as close as I
can get them to either side of the OTA and then circle another piece
of rope around the OTA, threading it through the zipper handles. This
prevents the OTA from working the zippers loose. Next I rustle up a
plastic bucket which I use as a chair.

Oh jeeze, I almost forgot. I gather all the screws, nuts, bolts,
wrenches and screwdrivers needed to reassemble the tripod and put
them into a bag. Stuff this into the backpack pouch with the ep's.
Well, I was going to be out all night so I'd better bring along some
food and drink. I bottle a couple of cups of water, and stuff some
donuts into a bag. And the red flashlight too. Can't forget that.

How to dress? An important question. It was going to be a chilly night.
Not as cold as the two previous nights, but close to freezing (in
fact there would be a hard frost in low lying regions this night).
I had forgotten how cold one gets observing. I choose a thick
flannel button up, a sweater, and an old ratty patagonia parka which
I like cuz it has lots of pockets I can stuff things into. The water,
donuts and flashlight go into the jacket pocket(s). I'm wearing a
bomber style hat (with ear flaps) and since I couldn't find my gloves
from last Winter, I end up wearing an old pair of socks to keep my
hands warm

Just getting out of the apartment was something of an ordeal. I'm
wearing this backpack with the pants-leg-wrapped OTA sticking out of
it, and I'm carrying the box of kit (an Orville Redenbacher 12/30 oz
popcorn jar box, which I got from a local grocery store. I know from
my years of experience stocking these are stout boxes. It also fits
nearly perfectly on the back rack of my bike) with the tripod legs,
accessory tray and bucket resting on top of the box.

I managed to get in the elevator, but on the way down the elevator
stopped and opened before the ground level to reveal a crew of
firefighters and EMT people with someone of a stretcher. Ooops, sorry.
No room for them. I finally was able to manoever all the gear out onto
the street, which was full of wandering costumed freaks of all sorts.
I fit right in. There was also a large firetruck parked outside my
apartment belching a noxious plume of diesel exhaust. Probably waiting
for the victim from my apartment complex.

I then had to lash the box of kit, with tripod legs, towel, accessory
tray and bucket to the back rack of the bike. This was accomplished
using three bungee cords. I carry the OTA in my backpack to avoid
subjecting it to unnecessary shock; any cargo on the bike rack gets
rattled pretty good.

Now I had an 8-9 mile bike ride, in the cold and dark, out to the
observing site. This included a brief, hellish, two mile stretch
along the shoulder of the interstate, as I hadn't bothered to locate
an alternative route

The first mile or two I had to contend with the insane and crazed
halloween revelers and associated traffic. The bikes handling
characteristics were whacked by all the cargo I'd lashed to it, and
he heavy awkward backpack I was wearing was not helping anything.
Though I did get a few compliments on my 'costume'. This should give
you some idea how ludicrous I appeared - I probably looked like some
sort of crazed homeless bike-hobo, wearing my dirty old stained
jacket and mad bomber hat.

I also noted, near the end of the ride, all the new suburban
developments and McMansions, all with new streetlights under
construction, not yet turned on. Finally I reached the turnoff
to my oberving site. It was about 200 years up a small hill, dead
ending at the locked gate to a local park. Being on top of this
small hill would prove a good thing, as low lying regions saw fog
and frost on this night, but amazingly my scope and eyepieces
remained dew and frost free all night, even though the binocs,
resting on the ground, would be knocked out by dew within an hour
or two of my arriving.

Now I had to unpack and assemble everything. It took me about half
and hour to pedal out to the site, and close to another half an
hour to assemble everything in the dark. I figure any astronomer
worth his salt should be able to go about his business using
starlight alone, though parts of the tripod assembly were done
more by feel under the tenuous light of countless distant suns. This
also gave my eyes a chance to more fully dark adapt, something not
possible during my commute as I was constantly beeing dazzled by
streetlights and headlights.

Finally, Finally(!!) I was good to go. And after going through all
this work you'd better believe I had no intention on leaving until
dawn (I was setup around mindnight). I parked my ass on the upside-
down bucket and got to work.

My first target was Mars, now quite high in the sky. My first glance
told me I had chosen wisely, as not only was the transparency good,
but the seeing was excellent for these parts. It was a calm night and
the atmosphere was in a rare temper. Often times we have good clarity
in the Winter, but terrible seeing (the 'underwater' jetstream look).
Despite the fact my highest power was only 90x, I got a very good
look at Mars, noting a butterfly shaped formation on the disk. Though
I thought the planet looked a little milky - the duststorm perhaps?

I was finally beginning to feel competent using the alt-az mount
and starhopping to stuff. This despite only having a 6-26 finder
scope. I found the trick was keeping both eyes open when sighting
things through the finder, and using the 'free' eye to correlate
what one was trying to find. I also like how quickly you can 'hop'
to objects you're familiar with - much faster than using a 'GOTO' or
EQ mount. Although locating stuff for the first time can be quite
time consuming.

On to stars and DSO stuff - my primary interest. I hit the blue
snowball nebula first (ngc 7662). It makes a nice little triangle
with two other stars. It really lived up to its name on this night.
I then took a quick peek at Andromeda. It looked quite nice. I know
it had to be some sort of optical illusion but, the core had a
grainy look. I was unable to locate any dustlanes.

Next I decided to take a peek at M74 - 'the phantom'. I had first
found it a few nights ago, and wanted to cement its location to
memory. This was easy to starhop to, between Aries and Pisces. In
fact, after sighting it, it was right in the 25mm eyepiece. With
90mm of apeture there wasn't much to see - just a large round patch.

I then decided to try to find some new stuff. My first target was
NGC 6946 in cepheus. I consulted my star charts. There were a couple
of pairs of bright stars pointing towards the galaxy, which I located
without much difficulty. After a brief bit of searching I found the
galaxy itself - very faint, and very large. It was nicely hemmed by
6-7 faint stars. It had a somewhat mottled look to it, on the edge of
visibility.

Emboldended, I decided to try for M76 - the little dumbbell, located
between Pegasus and Perseus. I think I located the star in perseus
it's close to, but I was unable to locate M76. [ When I got home
I checked the starry night software, and it turns out I was
moving in the opposite direction from this guide star as I should
have been. I was moving towards Triangulum when I should have been
moving towards Cassiopeia.] Sure where a lot of stars up there though.

Next I spent a bit of time learning naked eye southern constellations
I was not familiar with. I know the Summer ones well, but not the Fall/
Winter ones. Constellations like Cetus, Eridanus and Lepus (who
thoght of that 'Eridanus' constellation anyway? what a mess).

Next I decided to try locating M77 in Cetus. It proved quite easy
to locate this critter. What was I looking at anyway? (lol) A
faint streak of nebulosity with a couple (??) of stars embedded in
it.

I then moved on to M79 in Lepus (a nice easy to locate constellation
which was new to me). This turned out to be a tight, easy to find,
globular cluster.

I took a break and ate some food, drank some water. Bounced around
trying to stay warm. During the first few hours I was cold. My feet
were frigid, was nose numb, and my thin fingers were whining. However
as the night went on my metabolism finally cranked up, and I
warmed up.

Orion was up, so I spent some time gazing upon M42. I lost track of
time on M42. The green knots and whorls of gas were pleasing as ever,
and the trap lovely. I looked for 'E' and 'F' in the trap, but I think
I needed more than 90x to resolve them, as they eluded me. I then
looked at M1 (as bright as I've seen it), M37 (a favorite), M36
and M38 (I was already familiar with these). I then quickly hopped
to the Eskimo nebula (ngc 2392) in gemini. This is my new favorite
planetary. First there's that cute little orange star next to it
which constrasts so well with it. This planetary (like the blue
snowball) handles magnification well, and I found myself
wishing for more than 90x. Still, I was able to see two parts to
the nebuala - the inner half (radially) appeared solid and bright,
and the outer half had a more tenuous appearance. I got the feeling
there was some interesting detail here, but I needed more aperture
to really see it. Still, I love this nebula - very easy to find, and
I like the orange color.

Next it was back to the star charts. Sirius had risen in a blaze,
and I wanted to familiarize myself with this part of the sky
telescopically. I spent a lot of time blunting my dark adaption looking
at star charts trying to learn Canis Major, and especially Monoceros.
Monocerus is one of those lame contellations like Aries. I had a lot
of trouble locating its faint member stars in this rich part of the
sky. I also spent some time scanning this part of the sky with my
40 mm. It proved a stunning region, laced with stars and knots of
nebulosity.

After finally locating Monoceros, I was ready to look at some of
its celestial goodies in the scope. I grabbed my binocs to do some
reconnaissance of this area (and to get a fix on stars as I'd see them
in the
telescope finder) only to find the binocs totally dewed out. Dammit!
Nervously I checked my eyepieces and telescope objective using the
flashlight... they were still clear. Phew.

My first stop was M41, which proved a somewhat boring open cluster.
This was followed by M50 - again, another open cluster. I think
I was able to see both ngc 2335 & 2343 which were both located
below M50 in a prominent grouping of stars. These were pleasing
little clusters.

I then located M46 and M47. I really liked M46 - an openish cluster
of fainter stars. I'm not certain if it was an optical illusion,
but it seemed there was a maze of dark dustlanes running through
this cluster. Wow.

Another break to wolf down another donut. I listened to the sounds
of distant barking dogs and yipping coyotes (??). Somewhere I
heard an announcers voice from a radio or TV. A rooster. Sounds
were traveling quite well in the still cold air.

Saturn was up, so of course I had to look at it. This jewel looked
better than it had any right to. 3,4... maybe 5 moons visible. I
noted its orientation was different than I remembered from years
ago, with one pole orientated towards the earth, with the rings
crossing near the top of the other pole. In moments of good seeing
the Cassini division was obvious, with the outer portion of the
rings beyond the division having a lighter more transparent appearance,
like a scrim. There was single dark belt obviously visible on the
disk of the planet beneath the rings, and the polar regions looked
darker too. At this point I was deep in my observing trance, and lost
track of time looking at this absolutely beautiful planet.

When I finally pulled away from the eyepiece I noticed the crescent
moon had risen. BOO!!! I though it had seemed brighter. This added
some urgency to my observing. It must be getting late, and despite
being thin I knew the moon would soon be washing out the sky.

[ When I got home I kicked myself for not looking the Xmas tree
cluster, the beehive cluster, and NGC 2903 in leo. I'll be back
though. ]

I quickly sighted on the double cluster, and the view was simply
stunning in the 40mm. I was blown away by a wall-to-wall field
of brilliant stars. Blew the back of my head clean off.

I noted that the big dipper was rising, and decided to do some galaxy
hunting. I quicky found my old friends M81 and M82. These two
little fuzzettes mesmerized me with their glow, the glow of countless
stars. From here I quickly hopped to NGC 2403... this streak of light
with two embedded stars was easy to find.

I was surprised next. My other observing spot is in town, and while
more light polluted, it does offer a decent view of the northern
portion of the sky. I had searched for the owl nebula at this other
spot on several occasions, but never been able to find it - despite
double, triple and quadruple checking the star chart. So I decided
to take a look for the owl nebula again. I quickly sighted on the
triangle of stars it should be close to in this sparse region of the
sky. I was prepared to carefully scrutinize this part of the sky,
but when I put eye to eyepiece (25 mm) I was stunned to find the
owl nebula plainly visible, making a diamond with the triangle of
stars it's close to.

I couldn't believe it! The owl was much brighter and larger than
I thought it would be. This just slams home the fact there's simply
no substitute for a dark sky. I'm now kicking myself for not looking
at the owl nebula at higher power to look for its eyes, but at this
point I was getting a little harried.

I then decided to look for M108 and M109, but I simply could not
find them.

While I'm not a big fan of the moon, it's undeniably beautiful
when it's a little crescent, so I spent some time looking at the moon
at 90x (10 mm). Awesome.

Checking my watch, I was a litte surprised to find it was already a
little after 5:00. I reluctantly decided it was time to break camp.
Cold and tired, this was not pleasant. At this point I just wanted
to snap my fingers and go home to bed. An arduous bike ride back
home awaited me, and I wasn't able to get to bed until after 7:00.
I slept until after 2:00 the next afternoon.

Still, it was worth it. Now that the new moon is almost here it looks
as though we may have cloudy to partially cloudy weather all this
week. Sigh. At least I was able to wrest one night of good viewing
from the Gods, and it was good.

-Eric B

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