Now that I have Internet access, I can report the first two nights at the Great Lakes Star Gaze (GLSG) were clear. Unfortunately, they also were quite humid.
Editor's note: Visit the online photo album, "Astronomy on the road: Great Lakes Star Gaze 2008" for more images from Michael's trip.
The clarity ensured that, with the naked eye or through binoculars, we all could trace the Milky Way’s ethereal outline down to the horizon. So the sky looked good in a general sense.
Through telescopes, however, the view was not as good. Because of the humidity, planets and deep-sky objects as much as halfway up in the sky had a fuzzy appearance. That’s too bad, because amateur astronomers in this area really have some terrific telescopes.
The “king of the hill” was a 25-inch Dobsonian-mounted reflector. Through it, lots of people viewed the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) and other deep-sky treats. Other scopes of note I observed through were a homemade 12.5-inch classical Cassegrain reflector, a 12-inch Mewlon Dall-Kirkham design, and several apochromatic refractors in the 6-inch range. Whew! Double stars through those scopes looked terrific.
Also impressive were the mounts these scopes were on. Michigan amateurs don’t fool around. There were more than a dozen Astro-Physics mounts strewn about the field, as well as many other high-quality go-to systems. One observer showed me his 4-inch refractor and added, “It’s a little over-mounted.”
I know what he meant. His mount could have carried just about any scope at GLSG. Still, the mount is half of the telescope system, and if it’s inferior you’re going to have problems. These guys understood that axiom well.
I didn’t count the attendance on Thursday, but perhaps a couple of dozen people showed up. The main activities didn’t start until Friday, and several hundred people set up camp during the day and early evening. Huge stretches of open field on Thursday turned into a wonderful array of telescopes and tents.
As the keynote speaker for GLSG, I presented a talk entitled, “The ABCs of Observing” at 7 p.m. Friday. The main “speaker” tent was full, and I received lots of good comments afterward. I’m giving another talk today. I’ll report how it went in part 2 of this blog.
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