Observing Report: GSSP 2007 - Where The Myth Began
- From: itsmarkwagner@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:58:33 -0000
There is something special for me about Mount Lassen. I've always
loved the observing sites there that I've been to. Watching the colors
fade to black on the side of Lassen Peak from the Devastated Area or
seeing the sky glow electric behind Brokeoff Mountain's silhouetted
spikes to the west, while the last light dances over Lassen Peak's
frozen lava plugs - red and brown, until all fades to black. As one
show ends, another begins...
The skies are what we come for. The seemingly never fail to amaze. The
navigational stars used by our seafaring ancestors are first. Then,
dozens of less famous ones begin to pepper above. It is tantalizing.
Soon, hints of the Milky Way begin appearing, and before you know it,
the sky is filled with more stars and lanes of black than you could
possibly remember from the prior year's trip. It is always amazing.
I've heard long time observers talk about becoming jaded, after years
of this, but I don't know how. To me, it is the embodiment of the word
"transcendence" ... as it really does transport one from the daily
routine of our existences back home, into the realm of things few men
and women know - - - and we return home with stories that enrich and
inspire. We do, in a literal sense, take our place, in our own way,
among the Heroes of Myth when we, like ancient seafaring adventurers,
navigate the unknown and return home with fantastic stories that seem,
to those left behind, amazing - beyond possibility. Those who
undertake these journeys literally stand apart from others.
If you stood atop the volcano with us, where the sky seems to sweep
you up and cast shadows under your heels, you're enriched, in
possession of knowledge to share with others, so they too might choose
to expand their world, beyond the limits of their "civilized" lives.
Like the adventurous seafarers navigating by the stars we see today.
Congratulations, to all who journeyed far this past new moon. Tell
your friends... our stories are what help make the world a larger
place and encourage others to share what we do.
This year is the first year I just observed, and didn't take notes.
But the views are with me. Here is what I recall of the experience.
After arriving at Lost Creek Campground we decided to make it a short
night by observing from The Devastated Area. It is a five minute car
ride from camp, and is excellent for those who want to stay at lower
elevation (6,000 feet approx), don't want a longer drive back, or
expect to turn in before 1 a.m. I knew I'd be tired, and so did about
30 other attendees. my daughter Mimi and I used some of the monthly
lists I put together for the SJAA Ephemeris. She was using my 18" f/
4.5 Obsession Dob.
Mimi hadn't been observing since last year, at Calstar, but
immediately she began landing on targets. I am always amazed at her
ability to look at a chart, starhop and pinpoint the same spot in the
sky. She is simply uncanny. She worked on the primary targets on the
list. The first was NGC 6340, a bright galaxy in Draco. She moved on
to NGC 6543, the Cats Eye Nebula.also in Draco.
The Cats Eye was showing some excellent detail at 294X. The central
star was blazing away, surrounded by a black torus. Around that was an
intensely bright silver-white ring which was very well defined on the
inner and outer edge, with a very faint oblong halo surround it. Quite
a sight. Next she moved on to NGC 6229 in Hercules. This bright
globular cluster has two mag 8 stars close by to its west. Nice view.
of course, glorious. More centrally concentrated than nearby M13, thisFrom there, on to M92, as we went north to south in the sky. M92 was,
showed the difference between a Messier globular and the prior target.
There is really no comparison.
M13 was ablaze at Lassen. My collimation was good, the stars
pinpoints, and it appeared thousands of them swarmed the eyepiece.
Mimi was having a ball. We looked for NGC 6207, which is so bright at
Lassen you'd think it was a Messier, and little mag 15 galaxy IC4617
sat off the point of the parallelogram - easy to see. What a place!
During the night, Richard Navarrete and I used a 100mm binocular and
101mm refractor, checking out mostly Barnard dark nebulae. We also
walked around quite a bit jabbering with others as excited as we were
at being under such a great sky. The hours flew by. I also spent time
talking about the future of the star party with Dan Wright, who is an
excellent counterpoint to my views much of the time. So, I was having
fun.
Mimi moved on to four other globular clusters during the night. NGC
6426 in Ophiuchus, a dim one for sure, but no doubt about it at
Lassen. M 10 and M 12, showing their similar sizes but distinct
differences, and finally M14. She was a treat to watch during the
night. Imagine what a pleasure it is to see your child (she's not a
kid at 19 though) sharing your hobby enthusiastically, at a place like
Lassen. But its easy for her, as she's been going for probably 12
years. She tells me Lassen feels like home to her.
That was Wednesday night. We headed back to camp around 2:30, tired
from the day.
The next three nights we observed at Lassen Peak twice, finishing up
at the jewel of observing sites, IMO, in California, Bumpass Hell
parking lot.
Thursday night at Lassen Peak, there were some tourists. A friend of
Mimi's was there with her mother, and a couple from Colorado. I gave
them a tour of highlight objects, and showed them how to use a
telescope. This went on for probably two hours. When the public is
there, reach out. What I learned over those two hours was the seeing
at that parking lot, previously a big unknown, was excellent. I think
the view of the night for me was Navarrete's TV-101 looking at Barnard
85, which are the dark lanes in the Triffid Nebula. The Triffid is an
outstanding object, or course. But at the Peak lot, the dark lanes
were so clearly defined, their edges appeared literally etched into
the glow of the bright nebula. Hands down, the best view of this
object I've ever had. I'd return to Lassen just for that view!
What I observed the next few nights were objects solely on Steve
Gottlieb's "Off The Deep End - 10 Challenging Observing Projects"
list. And what could be better than to have Steve set up next to me
the last two night, at the Peak and Bumpass! At times I would describe
what I was seeing.... if he got excited and came over, I'd know I
found it. On the other hand, I knew when I was wrong, as he'd just be
quiet. It didn't take long to decipher the code!
I went through all the Sharpless HII Regions. My favorites were:
Sh-2-105, the Crescent Nebula. Detail galore. The section crossing
through the Wolf-Rayet star extended clearly all the way across. Knots
were all over the nebula. Yeah, the Veil is a great object, but at
Lassen, I always feel the Crescent somehow steals its thunder. Perhaps
because I can get good views of the Veil elsewhere.
Sh-2-108, or IC138 - the nebulae surrounding Gamma Cygni. What a
blast! There was tons of thick ropey twisted stuff all over the place.
I'd *never* seen it before - and the area it covers it tremendous. Put
*this* on your list for next year *right now*. Again, this view is
worth the price of admission by itself!
Finally, in the Sharpless objects, I enjoyed the picking out the
gentle arch Sh-2-157 in Cassiopeia, and finding it literally no more
than an eyepiece field away from a highly detailed Sh-2-162 - aka The
Bubble Nebula.
The Sharpless objects provided a lot of challenge and pleasure. Lassen
was the right sky to make it all work. I'll be heading back to some
place hopefully even darker next month for more such pleasurable
"abuse" ;-)
I had also worked on some Palomar Globulars. Palomar 9 is easy. Check
it out in *any* size scope, pretty much.
Palomar 5 though, is a challenge. I did detect it, which is about the
best I can say. What I loved though was Mimi working on this one with
Steve Gottlieb, on his scope. She *clearly* saw it, describing in with
detail only 19 year old eyes could pick up. I think Steve was
surprised when she asked about a glow, or knot, off the star the
cluster appears centered behind - and Steve replied it is probably the
core of the cluster! Way to go kid!
With Steve, and on various objects Richard Navarrete and Alvin Huey,
here are other objects I observed:
Shakhabazians 16 and 166. 166 was the most fun, as I did not have any
idea of how the seven galaxies lay across the field of view. Next day,
Paul Alsing showed me a printed image, and I had been dead on. Lots of
fun!
On 16, we picked out some extra galaxies in the field. This target is
also listed as Arp 330, should you want an easier reference. Arp 330
consists of a linear chain of five galaxies in the MCG ranging from
mag 14.8 to 15.6 (and one with no mag). We also observed three other
MAC galaxies, one to the west and two to the south of the chain,
ranging in magnitude from 15.5 to 16.5. Thanks to Alvin for the views
on this group!
I went after Seyfert's Sextet. This is a group of six tiny galaxies in
a compact field. I was disappointed as said so out loud when I only
saw four of them. Fortunately, Mr. Gottleib was next to me and
immediately perked up, saying "you see a forth member? That's very
good!" I went from sullen to ecstatic immediately! Mag 16.5 was not a
barrier....
I'll finish up by just listing some of the challenging objects that
rounded out my Lassen observing trip....
Arp 112
Arp 84
Arp 91
Arp 86
Arp 293
Abell 262 (galaxy cluster)
Abell 347 (galaxy cluster)
Hercules GXCL
Abell 84 (planetary)
Abell 65 "
Abell 61 "
Abell 39 "
Sh-2-68 "
Sh-2-71 "
EGB-1 "
The Arps were all interesting, and were the last objects observed from
8200 feet high at Bumpass on Sunday morning as the sky was
brightening. The Abell clusters were very rich, too rich to really
fully explore. The planetaries, well, they deserve Bill Cone's
creative description of "an enticing journey into the Zen of greater
minimalism".
said for years among friends, it is "all about observing". But inFrom start to finish the trip was an outstanding success. As has been
other ways, it is far more than that. It is a personal exploration,
pushing yourself to your limit, going new places, enjoying - knowing -
that you have not just read or heard about these amazing sights few
others have witnessed, but in the most personal of sense, you've gone
on the journey yourself, and, brought back the stories to share with
others.
The journey continues next year. I'm inviting all readers to join
in...
Your friend and fellow traveler in dark sky adventures,
Mark
---
Golden State Star Party
http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org
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