Realm of Galaxies

Yes, some observing did take place on Arunah Hill over the Mememorial Day weekend. Kevin, Barry, Rich, and others (?) had clear skies on Sunday night, despite the rain many of the rest of us experienced. Barry, Rich, and I also had some good stargazing on Monday night, and had fine views of the Sombrero and M-87, and the host of small galaxies around the M-84 & M86 pair. We also got a fine look at Saturn and at least 3 of it's moons.

Good passes of the International Space Station were seen on Friday, Sunday, and Monday night.

-Ed

We are not An Angry Mob

Saturday, May 23 was a great day on the hill. The day began with gathering of a large group of geocachers, looking to find the 5 caches hidden on the hill. Despite the blow down on the Billy Farington Trail, most cachers had no problems with the finds. A hot dog roast for lunch capped the caching events.

After that, with Jim Downing's leadership, about a dozen kids built rockets. Ranger Gary arrived right on time and set up his 7 station launch pad. Kids had a great time launching rockets. The "C" engines put the smaller rockets right out of site. I know several people got some great pictures, I'll post them as soon as I get them.

After a small ceremony for the100th anniversary of the Gaertner telescope, it was on to the turkey fry. burger grill, corn boil, and a great pot luck dinner. Whatever the Volants brought was a great appetizer, though I'm pretty sure Rich just made up a name for them, whatever they were. I'm proud to say I didn't set anything on fire, though I did make a bit of a grease spill on the extended north section of the pavilion floor.

After dinner, several of us stayed and enjoyed a nice camp fire and were even treated to a few sucker holes for a nice view of the dippers, Draco, Corona Borialis, and Hercules. The title from this posting comes from a comment made around the campfire by Barry's young daughter while playing with a stick in the fire... it seemed to fit the mood perfectly.

I'd guess at various times we had 50 or 60 people visit the hill, and I'm pretty sure all had a great time.
-Ed

Updated Forecast for Saturday May 23

Some passing showers during the daylight hours, partial clearing but some passing thunder showers at night. It won't slow down the celebration, though we might have to "shoot the holes" for stargazing.

I cut the grass tonight and got to enjoy the peace and tranquility of being alone on Arunah Hill, watching the stars come out. With bats and the night birds busy overhead, Arcturus was the start to emerge, quick followed by Saturn, then just the "top" of the winter circle: Castor and Pollux, flanked by Procyon and Capella. Soon Spica was visible, then by reversing the "arc", the whole big dipper. Saturn showed the way to Regulus and Denebola, and then most of the lion. The surprise to me is how much ealier Vega rises then it's summer triangle buddies. I got in the car, clicked on the radio to Brubeck's Take Five... a perfect choice. After that, I listened to the last two innings of a Red Sox win. Not bad for a work night.

There's another new addition on the hill... Pete brought up a portable observatory. It looks great, can't wait to use it.

Hope to see you all up on the hill.

-Ed

Hill Soggy, but Ready for a Birthday Party!

Arunah Hill has a new charcoal grill and 5 new "Geocaches" and is ready for the big May 23 Gaertner Birthday Party. Things were pretty soggy on the hill so I couldn't mow, but with sunny weather predicted this week we should be ready for Saturday.

If you don't know what "Geocaching" is all about, see : http://www.geocaching.com

-Ed

May 23 Pot Luck Dinner Items

Ed F - Deep Fried Turkey, Birthday Cake
Tom W - Potato Salad
Matt - Italian Pasta Salad
Ray B - Chips and Dip
Steve H - Macaroni Salad
Bruce B - Bolide Stew
Barry H - Still deciding
Chevy - 4 Bean Salad
John D - Chips and Dip, and corn on the cob


The math works out that you don't have to try to feed everyone... just bring an entree, a side, or a dessert that will feed about 8 - 10 people. If everyone does that, we'll have a feast!

Stove Pipe, Chains Saws, and the Return of the Mirrors

The May workday proved to be very productive. Matt Paine, Steve Pielock, Glenn Benscoter, Ray Burk, and I mostly got in each other's way, but we eventually were able to replace the rusted out stove pipe to the timber frame clubhouse. When we got through Matt commented that it looked like something out of Dr. Seuss... not quite straight or square, but it will do the job.

Kevin Collins and Tom Walker arrived with the freshly re-coated mirrors and got to work cleaning out the telescope shed and storing the mirrors. We were disappointed to find more evidence of mice activities, some minor damage to the fan harness on the 18" mainly. That lead to some creative brainstorming about what else we can do to keep out the mice. Tom will research getting a retractable corrugated steel box to surround the 'scopes while in storage. That may be the most cost effective way of keeping the mice away from the telescopes.

Meanwhile, Dan Carnevale, Barry Hervieux were busy with chainsaws turning more of the winter's ice storm damage into firewood. Mr. Zuraw Sr was his usual dynamo clearing things down by the barn, then later helping us haul dirt.

Steve and I did a little grading around out telescope pads. Bob Osgood and Peter Scherff showed up and help out with the brush clearing. Bob and Kevin both took pictures, I'll post them here once I get them.

Thanks to the Labodycz family for the donation of a nice patio table and chairs, and for Dan C for loading it all into his truck. We all enjoyed the new "breakfast nook" in the pavillion.

On his way out, Barry reported seeing a strange bird on the road a few hundred feet below the clearing. He suspects it may have been the elusive ruffed grouse. We've heard these on the hill before, but I don't think anyone has seen oune. Barry reports it had a black plume around it's neck. It flew off into the woods before he could get a picture.

Thanks to all who helped make this a great work day, and I look forward to a wonderful celebration of the Gaertner's 100th birthday on May 23. Bruce has the finder and the counterweights back on, it looks great.

-Ed

April 24 / 25... A Summerlike weekend of stargazing

It was a warm weekend of observing on the hill. John Kocur, Jay Emirzian and his family, and I spent Friday and Saturday nights camped out under the stars.John with his homemade 8" scope, Jay with his 15" Obsession and me with my 16" Lightbridge.We were also joined by Mike Johnson of Holyoke on Saturday. Friday we were dealing with passing clouds that thickened up by midnight. Saturday there were high clouds passing through in the evening and pretty much clouded up by midnight.We were able to spot many of the springtime galaxies including the Leo triplet, NGC 4565,M63, M104, and many members of the Virgo cluster.We also observed Saturn with it's thinning rings and retinue of moons. The warm weather also brought out the black flies. Hopefully they will be gone before the Memorial Day Potluck Weekend. It felt more like August than April but it was better than dealing with snow.

-Barry

NEAF update

Through to the generousity and hard work of Pete Scherff, Arunah Hill has some new members. Peter had the chance to network with amateur astronomers from all over the northeast and vendors from around the world. Thanks to Peter, and all of the NEAF attendees who made contributions to Arunah Hill.