equipment: 20" Obsession Telescope. 22mm Nagler type 4 EP. 31mm nagler type 5. 80mm Orion Short tube as finder, its EP is a TV 32mm Plossl. Bright Star Atlas 2000. A Messier Observing list created with sky tools software for objects located above airmass 2 and in dark sky customized for tonight. Omeara’s Deep Sky Companions: The Messier Objects to confirm what I found.

site: Greasy Ridge Site in Galia County Ohio

time: All night 3/23-3/24

weather: Cold. Clear. Later icy on ground.

sky: rural sky. Transparency good. Seeing stars to at least mag 5.5

Tonight I took the Obsession 20". The "Astro vehicle" is a ’91 Toyota Previa; It's plenty big. 6' ladder and ramps fit inside with room to spare.

Report:

After a 3 hour long Cub Scout Pine Wood Derby I had one hour to get the track out of the van and reconfigure it as an astronomy vehicle. Stopping on the way to the meeting place in Proctorville, I stopped for gas and to load up on an evenings worth of munchies.

We met at 5PM and then crossed route 7 for dinner at the slowest Wendy’s in Southern Ohio. Jeff Ball, Dave Tolley, Larry and Chris Oyster, and Don Kemper rounded out the crew. After Dinner we headed North. Surpassingly we found our way into the rehabbed strip mine without difficulty. Jeff picked a spot then went off roading in his minivan. The rest of us followed suit. We set up in what seemed to be a marsh – it had been raining for days. We arranged the cars as a wind break and then set up Jeff’s shelter with roof and two walls.

The we started to set up our scopes as darkness fell. It took a while to get the scope built and the finder roughly aligned. The Short tube is a little heavy for the camara adapter plate that holds it on the Obsession and fine tuning it is hard.

I searched for M33 without success. M74 also whizzed by. I didn’t think to look for M2 and M15 until too late. I began with M31, M32, and M110. M77 slipped by me – where is Cetus any way? I nailed M52 in Casseopia and then went to the Little Dumbbell in Perseus. The objects in Casseopia, Orion, Pupis, Monoceros and Taurus fell to the big dob. I invited the others over to view M1 and M78. Had a nice view of M78, with averted vision the flame shape was well seen – one of the best views of this objects that I’ve ever had. With the finder scope the OC’s in Auriga were easy. Looked at NGC 1907. I looked at old friends in Cancer and Hydra before visiting the galaxies in Leo.

I went over to Ursa major and knocked out the M’s there save for M40. I’d seen it the other night and "did not want to waste time on a double star". Eyes in the Owl were seen. The Galaxy M’s away from the bowl and handle were new to me but my object locating skills are improving. I’d started with the 22 Nagler but switched to the 31mm once I hit Leo.

Don Kemper and Dave Tolley would periodically call out and offer up views of what was in their scope. That TV 101 has nice contrast. Got a peek at an object or two through Larry’s C8.

I’d worked Virgo over twice with the Obsession. Using the Appendix in Sky Atlas 2000 and the recent article showing that "T" shaped asterism from Sky and telescope, I nailed almost all on the M’s in Virgo. It could be confusing without careful star hopping, otherwise galaxy overload could cause on to become lost in space. At one time I had 5 G’s in the EP. Jeff said he had 8 – driving the 20" not the 130mm.

There was kind of a gap from 2-4 with not much to do after the excitement of Virgo was over. I visited with Don and Dave and tried to help Don find some things, I’d point out where to look, he did the finding. Once Don and I went in the van to warm up. When we came out it was significantly colder and we each had to add another layer.

Earlier we had an unusual problem. In Virgo we made a lot of trips up and down the ladder. We were in a wet field and the temp was getting colder. The steps on the ladder began to freeze. I attacked the ice with a screw driver – Jeff with a car window ice scraper – both with little effect. I thought that my night would end early until Don uttered those famous words of advice: "Rodger, do you have any duct tape?" So we duct taped the steps and were able to keep on observing.

I had a treat in Hercules when I saw that little NGC galaxy that lives by M13, I found it first, that’s how I knew it was close. I’d heard of it but never before seen it.

Warmer, with another layer on, I attacked Scorpio and Sagittarius. Boy it was nice to see those summer objects. You could see the dust lanes in the Trifid quite easily. The lagoon and associated cluster were pretty. The Dob was nearly horizontal often and I was glad I’d brought the observing chair – I spent a lot of time low to the ground finding globulars in the Tea pot. But after all that ladder time earlier in the evening it was nice to sit in the dirt – well the ground had frozen by then so actually it was ice. The Cygnus objects were easy. It was nice to visit the Ring – one of my favorites. Finally the growing dawn ended my futile search for M55,65,83 and I turned off the Telrad and dew heaters and officially threw in the towel.

I’d seen many new Messier’s and I’d stayed up all night. I felt exhilarated, not tired. We took down our scopes and broke camp. Then as the sun rose we drove to Tudor’s for a good hearty breakfast. Only Larry had to go. The other 4 of us made it all night.

I found 95 (two less then I’d thought). M33,40,74,2,15,73,72,75,55,68,83,23, and 77 escaped me.

Well, last year I was there for 2 hours and found 10. So I’d say there’s been some improvement. Of course there’s no comparing the view in the 20 to the 10. And with my 80mm finder, most objects were seen both at small and big aperture. I wish that I’d recorded how many I saw at 80mm. Many.

A good night. Great company. I can’t wait to see Jeff’s pictures. And I saw the objects that I’d found by myself.