Friday night wasn't as dark or transparent as it gets, but it was good enough to create some wow's for the three visitors from East Hampton who found there way up to Arunah Hill through a geocaching contact.
I was up on the hill with my son Tyler and his buddy James. We arrived on the hill around 10 PM to find the zenith clear and dark, but the southeastern window slopped up with a large light dome. Perseus was just clearing the trees in the northeast, so we were not sure how many past peak Persied meteors we would see.
We were soon rewarded with a half dozen zooming fireballs within 20 minutes. Most were faint, but one qualified as a dazzler. I was struck by how quick the Persieds move!
The highlight though was a sparatic out of the northwest that exploded into a bolide well below Polaris. The ground lite up like someone had set off a flashbulb.
Around 10:30 we saw a car pull in to the clearing, but it stopped short of the warming hut. A half hour later, a trio of folks warned up the hill and asked "where the telescope" was. Of course I can't resist showing off the Gaertner to some newbies. Soon Tyler and I had the Gaertner trained on all of the summer highlights... the Hercules Cluster, the Lagoon, the Wild Duck, Alberio, and the rising Andromeda galaxy and it's companions.
I was up on the hill with my son Tyler and his buddy James. We arrived on the hill around 10 PM to find the zenith clear and dark, but the southeastern window slopped up with a large light dome. Perseus was just clearing the trees in the northeast, so we were not sure how many past peak Persied meteors we would see.
We were soon rewarded with a half dozen zooming fireballs within 20 minutes. Most were faint, but one qualified as a dazzler. I was struck by how quick the Persieds move!
The highlight though was a sparatic out of the northwest that exploded into a bolide well below Polaris. The ground lite up like someone had set off a flashbulb.
Around 10:30 we saw a car pull in to the clearing, but it stopped short of the warming hut. A half hour later, a trio of folks warned up the hill and asked "where the telescope" was. Of course I can't resist showing off the Gaertner to some newbies. Soon Tyler and I had the Gaertner trained on all of the summer highlights... the Hercules Cluster, the Lagoon, the Wild Duck, Alberio, and the rising Andromeda galaxy and it's companions.
Well past midnight I turned the Gaertner on to Jupiter for a terrific show. Maybe transparency wasn't great, but the seeing was very steady. We all got GREAT views of Jupiter while still catching some quick persied meteors when not glued to the eyepiece. Our visitors left the hill, I suspect a bit overwhelmed by their tour of the universe, vowing to come back for Arunah Hill Days.
Just before we packed up, we caught Io emerge from behind Jupiter. First just a little bulge on the edge of the giant planet, but soon enough we could see some blackness between the moon and its planet. Just a few minutes later it was a huge gap.
By 1:30 the frequency of the meteors settled down, and we packed up for the drive home. I turned the wheel over to my son, who is much better qualified to drive at that hour than I. Nice night.
On Saturday night, my wife and I joined Kevin Collins and folks from the 5As up on Mount Greylock for a huge public star party. Greylock is a great location and Kevin did a terrific job on publicity, highlighted by an ebay worthy poster. When I pulled in to the parking lot it was already almost full with excited families headed for the tower.
I set up on the west edge of the tower and was soon showing off the thin crescent moon hugging the horizon. My little Astroscan seems to attract kids, and I soon had a steady line of folks who were treating to some interesting views of a orange moon with some great clould formations drifitng past.
Kevin's big dob, and Tom Walker with the Arunah 18" had lines all night. The clouds eventually won out, but I think everyone got to see some wonderful sites.
Exploring the tower at night, and getting to watch an Adams High School fireworks display, added to the evening's enjoyment. Thanks to Kevin and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation for organizing a great program.
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