Tuesday night, I arrived at Rancho Hidalgo in Animas, New Mexico, to find developer Gene Turner setting up the 30-inch Starmaster reflecting telescope. As I pounded down the magnificent steak dinner Gene had prepared, my continual thought was, "Has the mirror cooled down yet?"
The night was cold, about 25° F. That's a temperature you might not associate with Arizona. The site, however, sits 4,600 feet above sea level, so it's not your standard Southwestern U.S. desert. Luckily, I came prepared. With fleece-lined winter boots, a down parka, and a full-head ski mask, I was toasty — not so much as a chill all night.
I say "all night," but, in reality, our session lasted not quite 3 hours. Early in the evening, we noticed Venus embedded in a haze in the southwest. Pretty, perhaps, but an ill tiding of what followed. Joining Gene and me was Ben Hale. He's the son-in-law of Turner's partner, Loy Guzman, and he also works on the development during the week. I had to smile when he said he hadn't looked through a telescope for many years. He was in for a treat.
Although I had compiled a detailed list of deep-sky challenge objects to observe, having a newbie with us changed my early plans. Gene and I decided to give Ben a tour of some bright sky-treats. And what better object to start with than the Orion Nebula (M42)? This object ranks at the top of the visible nebulae list, but it's a whole new ballgame through the 30-inch. What I see as wispy tendrils through smaller scopes appear as nearly solid sheets of gas with twists and faint color. At about 150x, we could move the scope more than a whole field of view in either direction and still see nebulosity.
Other bright objects — globular cluster M79 in Lepus, open cluster M46 and its included planetary nebula NGC 2438, edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 891 in Andromeda — followed. Each time Ben climbed the ladder to view, he'd let out a "Wow!" That's fulfilling.
We continued to observe bright objects, but the sky, although star-filled, was brighter than normal due to high-level cirrus. As we monitored transparency, things ever so slowly got worse. We went inside for a snack and a break, and when we emerged an hour later, we decided to call it a night. So, yes, I observed through the 30-inch, but I didn't get to my list.
I have two more nights to do that.
On the road preview: Into the night once again