Kayakers and Contractors

Observing Report:

location: Daval Forrest (near Summersville, WV)
weather: scattered clouds, warm
equipment: 20" Obsession with 80mm Orion Short tube finder.
Atlas: none used, show piece objects

I spent this weekend near Summersville (WV) for "Gaulleyfest" (a river running festival). Between eating, socializing, river rafter/kayaker watching, and hot tubbing, I did manage a little observing. The weather was similar in the early evening both nights clear - alternating with scattered clouds. But, Sunday AM at about 2- 3, it was clear as a bell.

I built the beast (20" Obsession reflector) by headlight having headed up Friday after work. The sky showed some light domes (Charleston and Summersville I think) but limiting magnitude was beyond mag 5.0.

As I was surrounded by Kayakers who were also up for the "fest" my observing became limited to showpiece objects of the summer sky: Albereo, the double double, the ring, the dumbell, the andromeda (m31 and M110 too) galaxy, the veil (filtered, OIII), M13, M92, M11 etc. I saw these over and over. It was like a public star party.

Friday I started observing after twlight. The first to show up was the land owner's contractor who had driven 40 miles on back roads (no mean feat after dark) to bring his wife to look through the scope. He'd been there the last time I'd had out the scope and apparently poped up on the spur of the moment when he found out that I was back. He and his wife and I observed the "list". Then one by one the kayakers appeared and we'd back track on the list. Dinner (fire roasted BBQ chicken and roast corn) ended the early observing secession. After dinner we headed back out but were driven back by clouds. After a long secession in the hot tub (wood fired, country life is brutal, eh), 3 of us headed back and stayed out until the clouds closed in at about 3am.

During the day (Saturday) I put my "finder" (80mm Orion Short tube) on a camara tripod and watched the rafters and Kayakers run Sweet's Falls (the last Class V rapid on the upper Gaulley) from about 600' up with a 32mm TV plossl. This gives about 4 degrees which nicely framed the approach to "Sweet's" and the Falls themselves as well as "Postage Due" the big rock just downstream from Sweet's that will "smack" you If you don't start to paddle after you hit the hole at the bottom of Sweets. Highlights included watching a 9 man raft flip over, a Kayaker stuck in the hole to the right (very, very, very bad - he escaped),as well as several well executed "boof" 360's off the left approach to the falls.

Saturday night was funny, people drifted back from Gaulleyfest at 1- 1.5 hour intervals. One or more people would come up to me and say "you brought the telescope didn't you ..." so we'd hike about 1/4 mile to the scope and run the list of objects until they got bored or clouds rolled in (usually the latter). The last crew got back at about 1am - I was at the scope by myself then - and I hear "Rodger are you looking through the scope?" come rolling across the field. So, back to the list of "what’s up". Clouds rolled in so we returned to the fire ring. A bottle of port was produced and shared as we sat around the fire ring at 2am. I went back to the scope at 3am and had some stunning views of Saturn. During moments of good seeing. It was 3 dimensional. I was using the 9mm Nagler type 6 if that matters. The sight was Something that has to be seen. At this point fatigue (or maybe the port) ended the night at about 3:15.

When I got home I found all the finder charts that I had made for comets, Hickson galaxies, etc (they had fallen under the passenger seat. But you know what, I learned that is not what most of the public wants to see. One guy wanted to see Vega. So we looked at Vega. In the 20" it is pretty bright. Gamma Delphenius {I think} (top left star in the "flag") is a pretty double in the 20" too. one yellow, one white both arround 4-5 mag I think.

Sunday, I got out briefly in the driveway. My neighbors saw the scope and came over while it was still early twlight and only about 3 stars were visible - wanting to view. Once I could see Lyra, I showed them the ring (during twilight !! The sky was still blue - don't think that this "feat" impressed them). M13 followed, Then M11. We also looked at Deneb and of course Vega. After they left i looked at gamma Delphenius and then the 2 NGC globulars in the dolphin. Both were faint against the 1/4 moon. Thin clouds appeared and rain was predicted so I put the scope to bed.

I hope you had a good weekend.

Dark Skys Rule.