High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

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patrickdives
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High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#1

Post by patrickdives »


At the high school I work at, I host the Nature Club. We try to hold star parties once per month but every event we have planned has been cancelled due to cloud cover and/or rain. Last night, we finally caught a break and we observed from 7:30 until 10:30. Clouds rolled in at 10:30. We had two telescopes set up and some binoculars. We probably had around 20 students and their families in attendance. One of my students had her small Meade scope that auto tracked and I had my Obsession.

We started the evening by looking at the Orion Nebula through my scope and she pointed her's at the Pleiades. The group was able to split in half and take turns viewing through each scope. It was the first night I have viewed the nebula through my Ethos 21mm. Wow! I've never seen such detail. The 100 degree field of view was quite different than the 82 degree I'm used to. I next focused on the Pleiades with my scope and the group was able to see what it looked like through my scope compared to Grace's. Her scope provided very nice images and best of all she picked it up for a measly $150. My next target was M31 and M32. Both showed up pretty well. I was worried about how bright they would appear because the school's parking lot lights were fully lit with a wrestling match going on. Grace and I focused on NGC 884 and it was the highlight of the evening. Wow! it was so gorgeous last night. We had a lot of oohs and ahs from it. We looked at Uranus and there were a few jokes cracked at the expense of the unfortunate planet and it was soon time to pack up. The group had a great time and everyone was discussing wanting to have another star party soon.

Last night was the first evening I've needed to use the eyepiece heaters in my Wood Wonders eyepiece case and it worked great. When I finally get the ServoCAT installed, it'll really make the star parties enjoyable and less work for me. However, the work is more than worth it.
Equipment: Obsession Classic 15, Televue Ethos (13, 21, 6) Televue Nagler (22, 31), Explore Scientific (6.7, 18),
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#2

Post by bladekeeper »


Awesome evening, Patrick! Congrats and well done on hosting!

Our club was similarly afflicted in 2019. Every public event scheduled was cancelled due to not only clouds but rain events. So far, 2020 isn't proving any better, but lots of year to go yet. :D
Bryan
Scopes: Apertura AD12 f/5; Celestron C6-R f/8; ES AR127 f/6.4; Stellarvue SV102T f/7; iOptron MC90 f/13.3; Orion ST80A f/5; ES ED80 f/6; Celestron Premium 80 f/11.4; Celestron C80 f/11.4; Unitron Model 142 f/16; Meade NG60 f/10
Mounts: Celestron AVX; Bresser EXOS-2; ES Twilight I; ES Twilight II; iOptron Cube-G; AZ3/wood tripod; Vixen Polaris
Binoculars: Pentax PCF WP II 10×50, Bresser Corvette 10×50, Bresser Hunter 16×50 and 8×40, Garrett Gemini 12×60 LW, Gordon 10×50, Apogee 20×100

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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#3

Post by Lady Fraktor »


Congratulations on the successful evening event Patrick, hopefully more will happen soon. :)
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
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patrickdives
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#4

Post by patrickdives »


Thanks! I'm hopeful that the weather will start improving for the better. While, I'm much "younger" than you guys in terms of my time in the hobby, I remember winter being much better about clear skies. Now, if I can just force myself to get up at 4 one morning to grab an early morning Messier or two.
Equipment: Obsession Classic 15, Televue Ethos (13, 21, 6) Televue Nagler (22, 31), Explore Scientific (6.7, 18),
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#5

Post by Don Quixote »


An excellent event Patrick.
Thank you for sharing your triumph!
More clear skies to you and your group. 😊
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#6

Post by Juno16 »


Sounds like a really nice time with great company.

It is really invigorating to be outside enjoying our hobby with someone that shares in the excitement.

Last night while I was imaging, I was sitting at the desktop pc watching the images come in and watching Astrophotography Tool and PHD running the show. I remarked to my wife that it was really amazing watching all of this going on. She said “sorry, I just don’t see it”.

Different strokes I guess.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful night!

Jim
Jim

Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#7

Post by Makuser »


Hi Patrick. Congratulations on the very successful star party at he high school. It looks like everybody had a great time, and got in wonderful views. Thanks for your fine outreach work Patrick, and the best of wishes for many more opportunities like this again soon.
:text-thankyoublue:
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
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Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#8

Post by prowler75 »


Congrats on finally getting a clear night! Sounds like a good turnout and some great viewing.
A couple years ago I took my 13 year old nephew out and made the mistake of showing him Uranus. I didn't think he was ever going to stop with the jokes. I feel bad for that planet sometimes...
Craig
Telescopes: Zhumell Z12, Orion XT8, Explore Scientific FL-AR127/1200, Celestron Omni XLT AZ 102, Tasco 8v
Eyepieces: GSO 30mm, Explore Scientific 70° 25mm, 82° 18mm, 11mm, 8.8mm, 6.5mm. KK Orthos 12mm and 9mm
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#9

Post by John Baars »


Thanks for your fine report!
The view at Orion through the 21mm Ethos must have been stunning. Great you used it at the Star Party!
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#10

Post by Bigzmey »


Great outreach, well done Patrick!
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
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Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#11

Post by patrickdives »


Juno16 wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:22 pm Sounds like a really nice time with great company.

It is really invigorating to be outside enjoying our hobby with someone that shares in the excitement.

Last night while I was imaging, I was sitting at the desktop pc watching the images come in and watching Astrophotography Tool and PHD running the show. I remarked to my wife that it was really amazing watching all of this going on. She said “sorry, I just don’t see it”.

Different strokes I guess.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful night!

Jim
I can't agree more Jim. When I've tried to share with folks who don't get it, I have to admit it's baffling to me. However, everyone is different. When you get the interested parties attending, it makes the evening extremely exciting and fun.
Equipment: Obsession Classic 15, Televue Ethos (13, 21, 6) Televue Nagler (22, 31), Explore Scientific (6.7, 18),
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Re: High School Star Party Friday, Jan 17

#12

Post by patrickdives »


prowler75 wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 8:01 pm Congrats on finally getting a clear night! Sounds like a good turnout and some great viewing.
A couple years ago I took my 13 year old nephew out and made the mistake of showing him Uranus. I didn't think he was ever going to stop with the jokes. I feel bad for that planet sometimes...
Craig, poor Uranus is the butt of many jokes. Okay, I know, but I had to go there.
Equipment: Obsession Classic 15, Televue Ethos (13, 21, 6) Televue Nagler (22, 31), Explore Scientific (6.7, 18),
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