Incredible Day... and Night

The November 1, 2008 work day proved to be a winner on many levels. It started bright and early, with Joe Zuraw and his amazing father working the chain saws to free up some snags just east of the top of the clearing. Mr Z is somewhere in his mid '80s I think, and still out-works most of us on the hill.

Sometime mid-morning the high thin clouds thickened, but it wasn't an unpleasant day... no wind, and temperatures near 50.

The recent Star Watch grads were well represented and did an amazing amount of work... Matt Payne and Kevin Collins cleared brush and did some creative mouse-proofing of the telescope shed. Steel wool, foam, and a bit of pine sealed the place up nice and tight.

Steve Herzberg and his crew cleared some brush on the east end below the pavilion. Chevy and his son Ben moved many wheel barrows of dirt out around the upper pad, so it's now not such a drastic step-off in any direction.

Tom Walker swings a strong axe and split a cord of wood or so in front of the clubhouse. We should be set with firewood for a while.

Regulars Dan Carnevale, Ray Burk, and John Davis also did there usual fine work. Barry Hervieux had his chain saw roaring 'til sunset. It was also great to see Bob Osgood up on the hill on a rare Saturday off and got involved in brush clearing and cleaning up the telescope shed. Peter Scherff stopped by to review the proceedings, take care of some official paperwork, and also lent a hand to the activities.

Sunset brought a great community foil dinner, and skies cleared out nicely.

Jupiter was razor-sharp in twilight, as Io peaked out from behind the gas giant and gave us a nice shadow transit. I moments of good seeing in Dan's wonderful refractor I was making out detail in the bands.

As twilight deepened and the milky way emerged, we all knew we had a terrific night coming on. Highlights for me was the double cluster in Dan and Matt's scopes, and an awesome M-13 in Barry's scope. We had a nice collection of glass and knowledgeable folks that knew how to use it. M-13 was definately a naked eye object once the sky got fully dark.

After a quick binocular tour of the milky way and some wide field views of the Andromedia galaxy, I had to turn in relatively early (despite getting my "lost hour" back as daylight savings time ended), so I look forward to reports from those that stayed later!

Thanks to all who helped today, it was a terrific day and fun night on Arunah Hill!

-Ed