I Got Stood Up!

[jrkirkham]

I had set up a viewing session for 8:00 last night, but the person didn't show up. I'm going to check on her and see what happened?

I got to the telescope about 6:30 and had Hardees fast food for dinner. I opened up the observatory and started a small campfire. This brings me to a question for all of you who observe from dark sites in the country. Do you ever light fires? The first time I lit a fire it was at the request of a guest. I thought it would mess up my night vision. It's not so bad if you keep the fire low and have a little distance. It is a faint red light, usually hidden by my dome. It does offer some benefits. 1) It reduces the bugs. 2) It seems to keep the neighborhood critters away. I have had opossums, racoons, and coyotes come into my observing area before. I've even had a cow and a deer come walking through.

Anyway, back to my report. My guest didn't show up, so I took a few moments to read about double stars.

My guest didn't show up, so I took the time to grab a coupe of snapshots of the moon and Venus. I caught Venus before dark. Venus looks a lot better in the daylight than at night when it's brightness blurs the eyepiece.

My guest still did not show up, so I set up a small action camera and got my first star trail/firefly video of the summer.

My guest still didn't show up, so I grabbed a few more double stars: Psi Draconis, 40/41 Draconis, 95 Herculis (my favorite of the night, I grabbed a snapshot of this one), 70 Ophiuchi, & Epsilon Lyrae (As long as I was in the neighborhood I had to say, "Hi" to the Ring Nebula).

My guest still didn't show up, so I went to bed. As I reflect on the evening I can't help but wonder, "Is there a way I can make sure more guests miss their viewing sessions?" It seems I can get along just fine without guests.

[Ylem]

I have a small fire pit in the yard, but haven't used it in a while.

We used to use it for guests mostly, personally I can't be bothered with it when observing, if someone else wants to keep it going, have at it

[John Donne]

Good show Rob !
I am glad you were able to catch the image.

And yes, I have a brake drum from an 18 wheeler in which I can build a fire. I do this early in the evening, starting before dark. It sits five or ten yards distant from my setup. The fire burns down but the iron brake drum retains the heat and it is usually deep with a bed of coals with no smoke issues due to the depth of the drum...it IS a bit of a monster. I confess it has been a while since I have done this as I have not been cold weather observing for about 2 years now. And it took two of us to drag this thing around. Henry and I used to do all nighters in the cold and this was a thing we did.

Thank you for your post, Rob.

[Bigzmey]

Fun read Rob and congrats on catching a few fine doubles. I hope your guest is OK. Otherwise completely agree with you, observing is fun whether you with guests or alone.

[helicon]

If this is the guest that previously wanted to observe with you then it is too bad, one never knows what happens with these sort of things, except that the guest either forgot or has some issues. Anyway, you observed and kept observing and caught some photos. Not a bad evening.

[kt4hx]

Nicely done Rob. Well I am a solo observer for about 99.9% of the time, so I know its not the end of the world to go it alone.

Sounds like you left at the altar in this case! Hopefully you can find out what is going on and she will show up eventually.

[Butterfly Maiden]

It is a shame Rob that you were let down by your guest's absence. Hopefully she is okay and maybe she forgot or had an urgent appointment to deal with.

Anyway, you managed to get a good session in so well done you

[pakarinen]

Fires are not allowed at any of my club's dark sites, but I always have one when camping. They usually have died down pretty much by the time I start observing and I keep my scope(s) a fair distance away.

IIRC, there was some wailing and gnashing of teeth on CN about soot from camp fires getting deposited on objectives, etc., but I think keeping a reasonable distance would eliminate any problems. YMMV.

[jrkirkham]

Fires are not allowed at any of my club's dark sites, but I always have one when camping. They usually have died down pretty much by the time I start observing and I keep my scope(s) a fair distance away.

IIRC, there was some wailing and gnashing of teeth on CN about soot from camp fires getting deposited on objectives, etc., but I think keeping a reasonable distance would eliminate any problems. YMMV.

I keep my flame low and the fire is several feet from my dome. When you pull into my drive there is a small parking area. Then there is the dome on its deck. Behind that is a shed I use for a warm room and sleeping quarters. The shed is set to it is shaded from the evening sun. In front of the shed door (and in the shade) I have a mall circle of lawn chairs around the fire pit. It's sort of a "planet, stars, and smores" set up.

It all turned out VERY well in the end. This was the same person who asked to be seated next to me at a friend's funeral. She had overworked and wasn't feeling well the evening before. She tried to call, but lost my number.

She came out last night and I got to know her a bit. It turns out she is an 88-year-old widow, who has a son my age. I know her son. She has wanted to look through a telescope all of her life but could never get her family on board. Twice she has purchased small used telescopes, but could never find someone who could get them set up for her. She wants to go visit a big observatory some day, but her kids would never take her. She is just a spunky, fun farmer's wife and mother who stayed on the farm, curious about the universe. She already knew some of the constellations.

88-Years-old and never looked through a telescope! Needless to say it was a fun evening. She stayed between two and three hours and I almost couldn't answer her questions fast enough. She wants to come back to see on a better night and also when Jupiter and Saturn are out.

The night itself was nothing to brag about. There was a haze in the sky that reflected light pollution back at us. It was partially cloudy. A wind of about 25-30 mph came in about the time she left.

We looked at Venus and Mars. Mars was just a little red marble. She wasn't impressed. We looked at Venus before sunset. She had a lot of fun with that. It was her first planetary view and it was a good one. She learned how to focus and switch eyepieces for the best view. We also looked at the beehive cluster and moon. I slowed the slew rate down and let her run the telescope to explore those targets and the open sky as long as she wanted. We finished on M13. She was amazed at that. She had never heard of a globular cluster.

I think I'll see her again. She walks with two canes. I am going to need to place a small step next to my deck. Getting her into the observatory was the hardest part of the night.

[Butterfly Maiden]

That is a brilliant report Rob.

It just goes to prove that you are never too old to get an interest in astronomy.

She has now got a friend in you who is prepared to show her around the skies with your telescope, so I am sure she is very grateful for that.

[Bigzmey]

Terrific outreach Rob! Kudos to you for taking your time to show the sky to the old lady.

[John Baars]

A funny report with an happy end!
I loved it! Great story.

[Unitron48]

Great reporting; fine session!!

Dave

[helicon]

A smashing turn of events Rob. Helping an 88 year old get her first view through a scope is great and as it turns out, the snafu was on her side. As nominated you win the VROD for the day (5-26-2023)!

[jrkirkham]

A smashing turn of events Rob. Helping an 88 year old get her first view through a scope is great and as it turns out, the snafu was on her side. As nominated you win the VROD for the day (5-26-2023)!

Thank you everyone. It was a fun evening.

[pakarinen]

88-Years-old and never looked through a telescope!

Never too late!

I think I'll see her again.

Let's hope so!

[John Baars]

A truly deserved VROD, Rob!!
Congratulations!

[Unitron48]

Great reporting; fine session!!

Dave

Congrats on your VROD!

Dave