A Star Lit Hill

Beware the Icy Driveway!

2012-02-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

Warning!!

The lower road to the back parking lot clear of snow, and but it has a solid sheet of thick ice.

Even with my 4 Wheel Drive locked, I had a fun time to keep from slipping off into the side drops.

The path to the top is still snow covered, maybe 4 inches or so, but it is iced beneath, likely not drive-able for a few weeks unless we have a major thaw again. I was alone, and so I didn't chance the walk to the top, so no info there, but it is likely snow/ice free due to the sun.

If anyone does chance it, be very careful, and try not to go off the lower ice road.

-Ray

Clear Nights Continue!

2011-11-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend provided some seasonably warm and clear nights for some good observing opportunities. Of course, seasonable warm on Arunah in late November means survivable, with overnight lows in the upper 20's.

Friday Nov 25 saw a small crowd on the hill to get in some great views of setting Summer objects like the ring and the veil, all of the autumn stunners like the great Andromeda galaxy, the double cluster, and M-15 globular, plus a chance to catch Orion rising over the distant hills.

Kevin's big scope and the club 17.5" dob delivered great views on a night that became increasingly transparent as the afternoon's high thin clouds dissolved away.

Big Jupiter high in the south proved stunning, as we all watched for the approaching Europe transit and shadow crossing.

Some stray meteors keep things lively. Barry, Kevin, Matt, and Ben L and the Amherst College students and I enjoyed a pleasant night on the hill.

A Busy November Weekend

2011-11-21T08:57:00.001-08:00

Seasonably mild temperatures and clears skies brought out lots of activity on the hill. On Firday night Ben L from Amherst College brought a group of students up to the hill, and reported "it was stunning and incredible... most of us hadn't seen a view like that before. One of the international students was particularly stunned. It was amazing."

On Saturday Ray Burk and I trimmed back some fallen trees from along the driveway. I also double checked the shower lines to make sure everything was drained.

Scott Masey and Joe Zuraw brought a group of scouts up for a late autumn camping experience. The scouts cleaned up the Towers Trail as a service project. Thanks guys!

On Sunday Joe fired up the tractor and added some gravel to fix some ruts on the driveway. The road is now in good shape, but as always, proceed with caution and go slow up the hill. Wet leaves can conceal rocks and ruts.

Barry Hervieux was up on Saturday night to move his camper to its winter home.

With a good forecast for Thanksgiving weekend, hopefully we are not through the 2011 observing season yet!

Autumn to Winter back to Autumn

2011-11-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

A freak October storm dumped over 30 inches of snow on Arunah Hill on October 29, just 5 days after a more typical October storm put down 3 or 4 wet inches of white. Kevin Collins reports that by Sunday, Nov 6, things were pretty much back to "normal" November conditions of the hill. The storm spared the hill much of the blow-down damage experienced by the valleys in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The road is passible, though please use caution!

-Ed

Arunah Hill Days 2011

2011-09-09T04:43:00.000-07:00

The return of the RUM, a clear Friday night of observing, great speakers, and our most successful rocket launches ever highlighted AH Days 2011. Even Saturday night wasn't a total washout, with nice views of Jupiter and the moon despite some "soupy" skies.

Gary Cislak was presented with the first "Curt Schilling Award" for meritorious service in so many ways: tractors, gravel, mowing, rockets, and medical emergencies. Thanks Gary!

Thanks to all who made this a memorable event.

Details to follow.

Arunah Hill Survives Irene

2011-08-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

I went up hill tonight to check on things. Everything came through just fine with the exception of some moderate to severe washouts along the driveway. The worst part is where the road takes the big left hand turn past the brook. Fortunately, we have a good supply of gravel well positions and the tractor should make short work of the road repair in plenty of time for Arunah Hill Days.

Looks like Irene was exclusively a rain event for the hill... no damage at all to any of the buildings, and very little "blow down" around the clearing. The porto-potties are fine, and the new roof on the shower building came through its first tropical storm with no problem at all.

The hill is still pretty saturated, especially in the usual spots, like below the telescope storage shed. The berm we put in a few years ago seemed to do its job, the clearing and the top of the driveway came through it all in pretty good shape. I'm expected with the great forecast for the week we'll be in great shape for Arunah Hill Days.

On the way to the hill the Westfield River was flowing fast and muddy, but was below flood stage. Once I got the the Knightville Dam, it wasn't too hard to figure out why... The dam is impounding massive amounts of water that would have otherwise inundated Westfield and Agawam.
Click on pictures to view at full size

I'll be up on the hill Wednesday and Thursday after work. Hopefully if the mowing and gravel repair is done in time, we'll be setting up the RUM and enjoying some dark skies on Thursday night!

Quite a Busy Week

2011-08-08T04:35:00.000-07:00

It was a hell of an astronomical week for me. No, I didn't win a ribbon at Stellafane for my tri-shiefspiegler (I didn't get around to making it again this year), and I didn't see a spectacular aurora (even if they did reach this far south this week, I saw mostly cloud bottoms). What I did was participate in a star party with a background sound track of John Williams and the Boston Pops playing live at Tanglewood (thanks Alan Rifkin for organizing this) on Tuesday, showed off Saturn and the quarter moon to a great group of kids at the Enfield CT library on Friday night, and got to watch Matt Paine and Joe Zuraw fabricate a roof on the new Showers.

Matt and Joe were ably assisted a "ground crew" of Ray Burk and Peter Scherff. Meanwhile, Kevin Collins and Tom Walker rebuilt the collimation setup on the 18" Dobsonian.

Barry Hervieux and I mowed, and we managed to clean the tube of the Gaertner.

Lots more work to do over the next few weeks as we approach Arunah Hill Day. Thanks to all for their efforts!

Photo by Kevin Collins.

Gem of the Berkshires

2011-07-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

Troop 550 and Crew 550 had a great time on the mountain last week. An Indigo Bunting has taken up house keeping in the tree tops around the clearing and we were able to capture it with the Geartner. The new locking diagonal that Bruce made for the telescope will allow the use of the large eye pieces.

The scouts conducted a orienteering course across the clearing and several pioneering projects took shape. One, a Cranson kitchen, is still set up for use behind the pavilion. We also conducted CPR and First Aid certification and had numerous nature walks on the trails. Tuesday night was music night featuring the Bruce and Joe show with special guests. Wednesday was a canoe trip on the Deerfield river and movies in the Pavilion in the evening.

There was general agreement that it was better than any BSA summer camp.

The new showers were well received. Everyone used them whether they wanted to or not. Even with a three day hike on the Appalachian Trail, I managed three long showers. When the week was over we had used only one of the three tanks. Suffice to say we have built plenty of capacity into the system.

I was up on the hill today removing one last car load of camp equipment. I also cut and installed the rafters for the shower house. All that is left is the roof. We need to decide what kind of roof we want. It could be pine boards and shingles or metal.

It is time to put some work into the roadway. At the next work weekend I will start spreading lime stone and gravel.

Well that's all the news from the Mountain. All the girls, boys and parents of troop and crew 550 say thank you Arunah hill it is truly one of the gems of the Berkshires.

Joe

Showers in the Forecast

2011-07-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Joe Zuraw and several Scout Leaders have been busy on the hill, ably assisted by the regular first Saturday work crew. Working showers will soon be on the hill. As of July 5, we have a 12x12 slab poured for the foundation to the shower house, and a 7 x12 slab on the northeast end of the pavilion to hold the water tanks. A structure has been completed for the tanks, and the tanks have undergone a thorough cleaning, thanks to scout leaders Mike and Doug, and Joe Z's daughters.

Many thanks to Joe and the Saturday crew: Ray Burk, Peter Scherff, Tom Walker, Barry Hervieux, newcomer Will from Arlington (last name?) who helped me keep the cement flowing, and to DeeDee Pielock, Dan Carnevale, and Jonathan Klinkowski who mowed and did other things around the hill.

It was also nice seeing Bob Osgood now back on his feet and getting around pretty well.

I'm not sure Will knew what he was in for when Barry invited him up to Arunah to enjoy dark skies, but we sure appreciate his hard work. At least he had some great views of the summer Milky Way for his efforts.

Joe reports that the showers will be operational for the Boy Scouts camp out starting July 15.

-Ed

Memorial Day Feast

2011-05-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

The feast is Saturday, May 28, 2011 at 6 PM. Rocket building and GPS Scavenger Hunts begin around 1 PM.

So far:

Ed F - Chicken and Rice, paper products, rockets, glue, paint, launch pad(s)
Ray Burk - Chips (and dip?), soda, ice
Kevin Collins - homemade Polish Dill Pickles and a cooler full of sodas and ice. I will have the grill as well in case we have any charcoal issues
Jonathan Klinkowski - Burgers
Barry H - Chocolate Chip Cookies
Crystal -Tabouli salad, chopped meat for burgers, other salads like potatoe and a lemon crumb cake.

A Cloudly Day

2011-05-23T04:35:00.000-07:00

I went up to Arunah Hill today (Sunday, May 22) to drop off my camper and did a little bit of mowing while I was there. It was cloudy and cool but the black flies were feasting on me anyway. The road was in pretty good shape, even with all the rain we have had. We received our delivery of limestone. It was left in the small clearing after the stream crossing. The grass is growing fast with all the wet weather. It was hard to tell that any mowing was done just two weeks ago. The clubhouse seemed to be free of flies and wasps when I checked on the weather station. I guess I will see everyone next weekend for our potluck gathering. Let's hope the forecast improves and we can get some observing in too.

-Barry

Hilltown Festival Music, Meteorites, and solar system to scale

2011-05-15T08:31:00.001-07:00

Peter Sherff and I, ably assisted by our talented wives Kendra and Cathy, had a Arunah Hill booth at the Hilltown Festival at the Cummington Fairgrounds.

The two nearby stages filled the day with great music as we talked to a steady stream of hilltown folks... many who knew all about our hill.

Peter gave out meteorites to kids of all ages, in his continuing quest to give everyone in Western Massachusetts their own piece of the sky.

Peter and I also set up a scale model solar system walk, with the sun shrunken down to volleyball size. The planets were marked across the fairgrounds with flags and scale model planets. Earth was a tiny bead thirty paces away... Jupiter a fishing float over 100 years away. Uranus was at the far end of the parking lot, over 1/4 mile distant, so we had to "double back" to place Neptune.

Neither Peter or I had the drive to continue another 300 yards to place tiny Pluto.

A half dozen families took in the solar system up to Saturn, and one or two may have even made it to Uranus.

Rains held off to late afternoon, we packed up under a moderate rain and enjoyed the final music acts of the day under the stage tents.

Thanks to Kendra and Cathy!

Black Fly Work Day

2011-05-08T04:33:00.000-07:00

A good crew turned out on a mostly pleasant but occasionally threatening skies, braving the black flies to get some work done on the hill.

Thanks to Anne and the crew from Mass Highways, we walked the gravel road and explored ideas for improving drainage. Anne made several good suggestions that we'll try to implement over the next few months. Thanks to Kevin Collins for leading this effort.

Jonathan Klinkowski and Tom Walker spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning out our existing culverts best they could given the tools at hand. They report our culverts were pretty well filled in with debris from over the years, and they were able to improve flow considerably though more work is needed.

Barry Hervieux and Tom wrangled mowers around the pavilion, Club House, Gaertner, and upper picnic area.a The grass has really exploded in just a few weeks, and mowing is a necessary job, though thankless hard work with our ancient mowers.

Ray Burk, Peter Scherff and I cleared a beech and birch tree from the clearing.

Dan Carnevale had to postpone the planned Notchview observing due to clouds. Our next event will be the Hilltown Festival at the Cummington Fairgrounds on Saturday, May 14. Should be a fun event. I'm already on the lookout for planets for our "Scale Model Solar System Walk".

-Ed

Bald Eagles, Bolides, and Transparent Skies

2011-05-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

April exited in grand style on Arunah Hill. Barry Hervieux was the first on the hill, an was treated to an extraordinary site: A very large adult bald eagle lording over Arunah Hill.

By sunset, about a dozen of us were on the hill for the 5A's star party that Kevin Collins organized. The weather was perfect for star gazing: transparent dry skies, no wind, and temperatures slowly dropping from the fifties into the mid thirties.

Several large dobsonians went into action early, catching Saturn in the late twilight. As the sky darkened, M-3 filled up some wide-field eyepieces, a terrific globular cluster that resolves to the core. M-3 caused a bit of discussion of our high school Latin (2 weeks worth for me) as we tried different pronunciations of Canes Venatici. Once the sky fully darkened, galaxies dominated, usually in multiples. The "Leo Trio", the Whirlpool with the companion bridge revealed, M-84 & M-86 surrounded by tiny faint smudges caused lots of scurrying between scopes.

The Sombrero stood up to high magnification and had us all braving the heights of Kevin's ladder. Thanks Jonathan for "spotting". The rules were if you feel off the ladder you had to fall into the rocks, not Kevin's telescope.

The beautiful skies also revealed a dazzling bolide, exploding as it headed downward in the southeastern sky, racing out of Bootes. Someone refered to the -8 spectacle as a "Arcturide". A space station pass gave us all a chance to wave at "local" astronaut Cadie Coleman.

Before I left the hill, a view of the Beehive Cluster in Barry's little 5" rich field scope showed you don't always need big glass to see some wonderful site on a clear dark night on Arunah Hill.

And by the way... if you bet there would still be snow on Arunah Hill in May this year... you won! There isn't much left, it it may be gone by this afternoon, but there is a tiny patch of snow hanging on in a shady spot on our lower parking.

NOTE: Pictures to follow, once I get them emailed from Kevin and Barry.

-Ed

Spring on the Hill... Almost

2011-04-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

Joe Zuraw and I went up to the hill yesterday afternoon to survey the run-off and have a look at the culvert situation. The good news is the culvert by the lower lot turns out to be in pretty good shape... only the connector between the two halves of the culverts seem to be compromised. Joe promised that it would be an easy fix with some wire and fresh cement. We'll take care of that at the May work day.

Looks like the work day is going to be a busy one, with gravel and culvert work on the roads, and some chainsaw work at the edge of the clearing, and the usual trail clearing.

Despite near 60 degree weather down in the valley, Arunah was a chilly 38 degrees (yes, the weather station is doing it's job), and there were still occasional piles of snow, and even a few snowflakes in the air. I was able to carefully drive my little two wheel drive Matrix up to the top of the soggy hill, though the drive is pretty rutted in spots.

Ray Burk had visited the hill earlier in the day and reported similar conditions.

I look forward to the May work day, with the Hilltown Festival and the Memorial Day weekend pot luck soon behind.

-Ed

NEAF

2011-04-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the hard work and generosity of Peter Scherff, Arunah Hill again had a popular booth at the NEAF show this past weekend. Peter, Kendra, Dan C, and various others talked to hundreds of amateur astronomers and dozens of slightly overwhelmed newbies over the two days of the show, with Peter giving away over one thousand meteorites to Earthlings visiting the show, along with scores of "View from Arunah" 's and AH Days flyer's. NEAF is a great way to catch up with old friends and get the word out on the magic that is Arunah Hill.

Dan also joined Barlow Bob and the NEAF solar crew for some great solar viewing once the skies parted on Sunday for all those who braved the flood waters on the Saw Mill Parkway

.

Hill Still Frozen Tight

2011-03-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

I went up to the hill tonight to see how things weathered. The road is clear to the barn, very rutted to the lower parking lot, then impassable beyond. There is still up to 18" of hardpacked snow on the roadway, though there are also drop-offs to bare ground. I'm not sure even a high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle can make it to the summit at the moment. I parked at the barn and walked up. The clearing is mostly clear of snow, though it was frozen solid this evening. Our weather station is working great (31 degrees, winds out of the west-northwest at 7 MPH...) The radio is also in fine shape, which means the solar panel and batteries are in good shape. I chatted with folks on both the Mt Tom and Greylock repeaters, they said I was loud and clear. I'm not sure if we'll have an April work day this Saturday (April 2), it might be postponed until later in the month. Enjoy the pictures (Click to view large)

Busy "Opening Weekend" for Arunah Events!

2011-03-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

March 25-25 didn't exactly bring Spring weather to Western Massachusetts, but that didn't stop us from kicking off the 2011 Calendar of Events in fine fashion.

On Saturday night, Ray Burk and I hosted a small star party at the Bullitt Reservation in Ashfield, MA. The Bullitt farm is one of the newest properties managed by the Trustees of Reservations, and is a beautiful location. The large hay field had great horizons and good dark skies, and Layla Hazen and the staff at Bullitt did a nice job organizing the event, and about 30 people turned out on a very chilly evening for a celebration of Earth Hour. Ray put his trusty old Coulter dob to good use showing of galaxies in Leo, the great Orion Nebula, and the Gemini-Auriga clusters. We had good views of Saturn rising and a few double stars in my Gen.

It was nice to be able to retreat to a warm classroom from time to time to thaw out. Thanks to the Trustees, and we look forward to doing more events at the Bullit.

On Sunday, Peter Scherff, Dan Carnvale, and I staffed a booth at the New England Air Museum's Annual Space Expo. Astronaut Rick Mastracchio was signing autographs at the booth across the way from us, and we had steady traffic all day.

Pete's 120 pound Campo del Cielo meteorite was a big draw. Everyone that stopped by got a free piece of Camo meteroite, to the joy of many junior scientiests.

Arunah Hill member Jim Zebrowski was also at the museum in his roll as NASA Solar System Ambassador, and as always had great stories and neat "toys", including a kid sized space suit.

A Weather Station and a new Subaru

2011-03-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday’s impromptu work party saw Matt Paine, Ed Faits, and myself on the Hill to see how everything was wintering over. Matt picked me up in Northampton in his shiny new Subaru Outback, a great car with road comfort and AHC (Arunah Hill Clearance). He wasn’t only excited to be driving his new wheels, but also because this was the first time in quite a while he had driven his own car to the Hill. His old Camry (namely the exhaust flex pipe below the header) didn’t get along to well with the road in recent visits. For me it was nice to ride and enjoy the scenery as I spend lots of time behind the wheel. When we arrived around noon, the road had been cleared enough for 4WD and AWD vehicles to make it into a small clearing in the lower parking lot. Of course I was there egg Matt on in taking his shiny new car through the snow and slush to the lower lot…..hey, it wouldn’t be my towing bill!

On went my snowshoes, I grabbed my camera and Matt and I started up the road. Watching Matt walk fairly easily in his boots on the already compressed, wet snow I realized I could’ve probably left the snowshoes behind. The walk up the road was quite easy, there were some tracks from recent visitors and the fog had set in over the Hill, making for some neat photographs as the Gaertner and the Club House emerged into view.

At the Club House, Matt checked out the radio finding all had survived the brute of winter. Ed arrived just a few minutes later with a LaCrosse Weather Station in hand, donated to the Hill by the Faits Family. Ed had already mounted the tipping bucket rain gauge and thermo-hygrometer to a small wooden stand for mounting in an appropriate place. Ed and Matt decided to mount the solar powered anemometer/transmitter to the amateur radio antenna mast on the Club House. Up went Matt while Ed steadied the ladder and I took pictures and offered “positive” encouragement…..you know like “don’t worry if you fall, the snow is deep!” But wait, no one brought the appropriate tools to fasten said hardware to the mast. Matt was headed back down the Hill for his Leatherman which he “forgot” in his car. I personally think he was having withdrawals and needed to see the Outback again. Ed and I put batteries in the wall unit, rain gauge, and thermo-hygrometer sensor. Matt returned from his Subaru withdrawal pilgrimage with his Leatherman to finish mounting the anemometer. Does anyone have any idea how long it takes 3 nerdy Arunah Hill members (with telescopes, radio licenses, and “extensive” computer skills) to figure out how to setup a lousy wireless weather station? 1 hour, 8 soft resets, 4 remove-the-batteries resets, downloading the quick setup guide on my iphone, and 3 cycles of wondering what the heck “res in 55, 54, 53….” meant is about what it takes! It’s no wonder I can even post this blog entry.

All sensors communicated successfully with the base unit now mounted in the Club House, although the anemometer communication was intermittent. We think it was because of its battery not being fully charged under a cloudy sky….I’m sure it will be operating again on our next visit after a sunny day or two. The rain gauge and thermo-hygrometer were temporarily mounted on the north side of the Gaertner until a future work day. I will be constructing a fold down mast similar to the one for my 2 meter amateur radio install at my house for all the weather instruments. More on that later. In the meantime, don’t touch the buttons on the wall unit if you visit, lest you deal with the dreaded “res in” countdown to, well, we still don’t know what.
With the weather station installed and working, the fog cleared, and Matt having withdrawals again we all walked down to the lower lot….chit chatting about the upcoming Spring, what is bound to be a VERY wet melt season on the road, and how we might improve the road for the upcoming summer.

Thanks again to the Faits Family for the Weather Station!

Kevin.

Sunshine and Snowflakes

2011-01-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

I used a pleasant seasonable morning to check out Arunah Hill today just to see how everything was wintering. All is well on the hill.

I parked in front of the mailbox, and hiked up the hill on our driveway, four inches of light powder snow on top of a hard and slick foundation. In a phenomenon know to skiers, a sunny sky with a bit of thin overcast somehow dropped steady light snow on the hill the whole time.

The hill was quiet and calm. It looked like someone must have been up on the hill after the first storm of the year, there were tracks from a 4 wheel drive vehicle, filled in by the recent powder. An abandoned attempted snowman lent evidence for someone having winter fun.

After warming hut for a few minutes in the hut and a few calls on the radio, I headed back home, day dreaming of starry spring nights, not too far in the future.

-Ed

Chainsaws and Frivolity

2010-12-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Intermittent sunshine and seasonable temperatures hovering around freezing made for a fine December workday on the hill. A bit of ice didn't cause any problems on the road, even my little Matrix made the summit with no problem.

Dan Carnevale and I took down a few beech trees that would have threatened the telescope shed in the event of another ice storm. That area has some potential to turn in to a nice little gathering spot.

Kevin Collins and Tom Walker made sure the contents of the shed were ready for winter, checking on our mirrors and removing the batteries for the telrad finders.

Kevin, Tom, Ray Burk, and Steve Pielock provided humorous running commentary on the chainsaw progress as they hauled brush.

Barry Hervieux supported the chainsaw operations and removed his camper from the property for the winter.

It was a three Advil day for me, and I suspect for Dan as well. Dan's chainsaw skills bailed me out of a couple of problems, much appreciated!

The hill is ready for winter… I suspect things will look much different up there by the January work day. Thanks to all who helped out.

-Ed

Scouts, Chainsaws, and Stovepipe

2010-11-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 6 was a busy day on the hill. Boy Scout Troop 45 from Southington, CT made camp early on Saturday. They spent the day completing the Astronomy Merit Badge training. The astronomy merit badge is demanding, with observing projects and setting up public observing as part of the requirements. Eighteen boys went through the training, and I'm confident several of this bright and motivated group will achieve the badge.

During a break, Barry Herveiux and I went with two groups who did trail maintenance on the Piliated Path, Amanda's trail, and the Klondike Connector.

Tom, Kevin, Jonathan, and Ray replaced the interior stove pipe in the warming hut. Once the piping "broke in" and the coatings burned off, the new piping drew a strong draft, but not before the smoke drove everyone out of the hut.

Dan Carnevale did massive amount of chainsawing, and gave the scouts a hands on demonstration of a computerized "Go To" telescope.

The forecast break in the clouds didn't happen early enough and the Notchview viewing was canceled. The Boy Scouts persevered and were rewarded with a few holes in the clouds to catch some views of Jupiter, Albireo, the Andromeda Galaxy, and the ring nebula.
-Ed

Great October Days and Nights!

2010-10-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

From a group students from Olin College and Wellesley College to a troop of brownies from nearby Peru, MA, visitors have been enjoying the telescopes, trails, and wonderful dark skies of Arunah Hill this month. Local town residents were treated to some fine stargazing at Notchview, thanks to a crack team of Arunah Hill astronomers.

The college students caught a windy but transparent night of the Friday of Columbus Day weekend. They are a knowledgable and enthusistic group, and were rewarded with fine views of everything from Jupiter to the Pinwheel Galaxy. The Veil Nebula and Comet Hartley as seen in Barry's scope were particular treats to this discriminating group.

This past weekend, a local Brownie troop found geocaches, built cardboard telescopes and lauched a rocket, braving the elements before the persistent clouds washed out any hope of stargazing. Still, everyone had a great time, and I suspect they will be back soon for a promised look at the Moon and some planets.

October Workday

2010-10-08T04:06:00.001-07:00

Chainsaws and gravel work marked a fine October day. With color in the distant hills, Dan Carnevale and I took some trees down behind the telescope shed... starting to open up some of the east and the northeast from the top of the clearing.

Tom Walker, Ray Burk, and Jonathon Klipkowski hauled brush, raked out gravel on the driveway, and otherwise worked to clean up the site.

After sunset, Jonathon and group of folks had a fine night of observing the crisp and pristine skies of October over Arunah.

A good day. Thanks to all involved. The hill is in great shape, and October has a busy schedule of Scout visits and a field trip for Olin College of Engineering.

Pizza and Telescopes, and an ISS Pass!

2010-09-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

Sidewalk Stargazing at Flatbread's was a big success! We had steady traffic and a big group of middle school students. Venus was sharp right to the horizon, the near 1st quarter moon, and then Jupiter were all big hits, but the highlight was a great pass from the International Space Station. Thanks to Dan Carnevale with his Traveler and Tyler Faits with a Teleview Genesis for tirelessly showing off the sky and answering "extra credit" questions from 5th graders, and to Jonathan Klinkowski for manning the busy raffle table.

Special thanks to Cathy Faits for getting us the pizza and her painting and to Peter Scherff for donating a meteorite and putting together the Arunah display, and to Eric and the staff of Flatbread's for hosting us.

We raised a little money for Arunah, got to show off the night sky, and even might have picked up a new member or two! Not bad for a Tuesday night.

Pizza Tuesday at Flatbread's in Canton

2010-09-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Gather up some friends and stop by Flatbread's in Canton, in the Shoppes at Farmington Valley for dinner on Tuesday night. It's a great pizza spot, and the will be donating $3 for every pizza sold on Tuesday, September 14 to Arunah Hill!

A pretty spectacular few weeks for Arunah Hill, including our best Arunah Hill Days ever!

Thanks to the Pielocks (great choice of movies, Steve), the Volants, Peter Scherff , the Benscotters, Joe Zuraw, Scott Massey and the Boy Scouts, Kevin Collins, Tom Walker, Ray Burk, Jonathan Klinkowski, Bruce Blanchard, rocketeers Ranger Gary Cislak and Jim Downing, and our speakers Jim Zebrowski and Prof. Tim Barker, and the rest of the Arunah membership who make such and event happen. Also thanks to Paul Tuthill at WAMC and to Amanda Germain and the Springfield Republican for some great publicity.

A special thanks to my family for all that they do.

Sunday Night!

2010-09-05T06:05:00.000-07:00

Great night on the hill last night, and a terrific forecast for tonight (Sunday). If you are still thinking of attending Arunah Hill Days, there is still plenty of time!

-Ed 9 AM Sunday Morning, Sept 5

Arunah Hilll Days Update

2010-09-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

The latest forecast looks like Arunah will miss most of the bad effects of Hurricane Earl, just some showers around Friday night, and not even too much wind, though it's possible some of the showers will be heavy.

We should see clearing by daybreak on Saturday, with winds peaking in early afternoon. Saturday night should be mostly clear with some breezy conditions, but nothing too bad.

At this point, we're making a few changes to the schedule:

1) NASA Ambassador Jim Zebrowski's talk will move to 7 PM on Saturday. Professor Barker's talk will immediately follow Jim's.

2) On Friday night will be showing the DVD "GalaxyQuest" in the pavilion. It's a great Tim Allen-Sigourney Weaver spoof of the StarTrek franchise. If time and interest demands, this will be followed by something from Steve Pielock's collection of SciFi gems. Free popcorn!

3) The Scout kitchen will NOT open until mid-afternoon on Saturday. Please be prepared! If there is interest, I'll sell Mrs. Murphy's Donuts on Saturday morning. I'll even volunteer to make a big pot of coffee, though no guarantees on the quality!

If anyone has any questions or concerns, please call me on my cell phone 860-818-8130. I'll be on the hill by noon on Friday.

-Ed

Earl Update

2010-09-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

Earl is tracking to the northwest, and should make a northern turn sometime tonight... then turn to the northeast. Timing is still the key to how badly Arunah Hill is affected by the storm. At the moment the best guess is some moderate wind and rain Friday afternoon and evening at the center of the storm moves off the coast of Cape Cod, with clearing on Saturday.

No changes to the Arunah Hill Days Schedule has yet been made, everything is on as planned, but stay tuned!

Hurricane Earl Tuesday Update

2010-08-31T18:10:00.000-07:00

No good news to report, if anything the projected track has moved westward a touch. The storm should make a northern turn tomorrow, then a northeastward turn later in the week. Timing is everything.

Hurrican Earl Update: Monday 10 PM

2010-08-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Looks like Hurricane Earl MIGHT affect Arunah Hill Days. Current Projection has it passing somewhere east of Arunah Hill in the early hours of Saturday Morning. Still a lot of uncertainty in the forecast... but Arunah Hill Days WILL go on as scheduled!

If we end up taking a direct hit, we have the option of juggling some events to Sunday.

Updates will be posted here every night between 9 PM and 11 PM through Thursday night, check back for the latest info!

-Ed

Ready for Arunah Hill Days!

2010-08-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

After a weekend of mowing and cleanup, we're ready for Arunah Hill Days!

Thanks to Dan Carnevale, Ray Burk, Jonathan Klinkowski, Tom Walker and Kevin Collins for big efforts on Saturday, and to Joe Zuraw and Steve Pielock for their efforts on the tractor on Sunday. The hill looks great!

Now we just have to get hurricane Earl to turn out to sea!

-Ed

Arunah Hill Days 2010 Sunset Table

2010-08-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

Date.............Sunset..End Twilight ..MoonRise
Wedneday 9/1 _7:29 PM___9:12 PM __ 11:22 PM
Thursday 9/2 _7:28 PM ___ 9:10 PM __ 12:21 AM
Friday 9/3 __ 7:26 PM ___ 9:08 PM __ 1:29 AM
Saturday 9/4 _ 7:24 PM ___ 9:06 PM __ 2:44 AM
Sunday 9/5 __ 7:23 PM ___ 9:05 PM __ 4:02 AM

Busy Weekend for the Arunah Hill NSC

2010-08-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

And Not So Wow...

2010-08-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

You'll be pleased to know that I went up to AH last evening (Wednesday 8/11) to see the spectacular Perseid meteor shower!

Naturally, I was all alone, just me and my little red lantern. And one far off Barred Owl. What a hoot!

The sky was spectacularly stunning; bright stars, many clouds and about 40% clear, exactly where the radiant was. I did see the Cygnus nebulae through my binoculars.

From 9:30 until 1:30, I counted about 60 meteors - 4 Perseids, 2 accidentals, and 54 very slow movers, with red and green blinking lights on the tips. Boeings and Airbuses, likely.

Weather was good, about 60 degrees, and quite dry. Around 1:30, the sky started to get somewhat foggy, and so did I.

-RDB

A Wow!

2010-08-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

The August workday and a Notchview Public night turned out to be a terrific and productive one for Arunah Hill. The workday consisted of lots of mowing and a lubrication of the Gaertner telescope. We then used the historic scope to observer a couple of big sunspots, which we proudly showed off to a couple of pairs of geocachers who wandered onto the hill.

Thanks to Ray Burk, Matt Paine, Jonathan Klinkowski , Barry Herveux, Steve Pielock, and Tom Walker for all their hard work. One good mowing and we should be in pretty good shape for AH Days.

We did see some signs of mouse penetration into the telescope shed, but I think Tom had a good idea of what we need to do to deal with it. Fortunately, we found no damage to any of the scopes in the shed.

After some rest and lively discussion up at the pavilion (OK, I'll admit being the target of some of the humor... one flag indeed!), we moved on to nearby Notchview for the public observing. Dan Carnevale was already set up. We all even got to do some birdwatching and got to watch an American Kestral. The staff at Notchview treated us to a wonderful dinner highlighted by chicken and faccachia bread that was terrific, and zucchini chocolate cake.

I screwed the Hydrogen Alpha filter into the Genesis and slowed the scope onto the sun. As the sun popped in to focus, I was BLOWN AWAY by two large prominences dancing on one limb of the sun, while another 5 smaller flares could be seen around the sun. It was the most solar activity I had seen in many years! I got to share this view with several people as the public arrived for the Notchview Star Party... and the reaction ranged from a grumpy "ho-hum" to several "wow... that's amazing!". I was definitely in the latter camp!

As sunset fell, Venus popped out, brilliant, followed by Saturn then Mars. We turned the telescopes on planets, and our public star party was rolling. Tom and Jonathan keep the Arunah Hill 18" busy, Dan C had his wonderful refractor on the computer drive, and Steve Hershberg had his SCT slewing on objects as they emerged from the deepening twilight. We soon had a happy crowd.

I did a green laser sky tour as the milky way became dazzling after twilight. M-13 was naked eye and was a breathtaking object in the scopes. Cruising along the milky way yielded numerous Messier objects, all dazzling to the public. A few stray meteors and quite a few satellites added to the wonder of the evening.

Notchview is a wonderful spot for a public star party, with great horizons, dark skies, and creature comforts... real bathrooms and a warm house. Thanks to all who helped make this event such a big success.

-Ed

A Dark and Still Night on Arunah is Neither

2010-08-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

For the first time in weeks, a promise of clear dark skies made the call to the hill too much for me to resist. I left my house at sunset, and by the time I turned onto Trouble Street night was started to overtake twilight. A small red fox darted out in front of me and safely made it into the woods with me as I drove up the empty hill, turned off the car, and emerged into the silence of nature. As the sky continued to darken to a velvet black, the silence of the hill turned out to not be so quiet after all.

Once away from the din of cars and trucks and the roar of suburban lawn mowers, the sounds of the night emerge… the cacophony of crickets, tree frogs, and night birds emerge from the silence. Off in the distance an owl announces its presence with authority. In the woods behind the clearing, the scurry of small animals can be heard. I’m sure that owl has heard them to…

Low in the west, Venus is blazing, but with two escorts on this evening. Saturn and Mars are nearby, and offer some stark contrasts in brightness and color to Venus’ glory.

The puffy clouds of the midsummer afternoon gave way, and the beautiful glowing “cloud” of the summer Milky Way emerges. This is what I’d come to see. I scanned the Milky Way, from the brilliant clusters off the stinger of Scorpio, caught the lagoon and Trifid and host of nebula and clusters in Sagittarius, then lingered on the rich star fields in Scutum.

I took a minute to just let the splendor of the summer Milky Way soak in… the rift was sharp in the cooling dry air. I picked up the binoculars again, and grin as I’m surprised by Collinder 399. To me, in binoculars, this cluster is a cosmic joke… it just too perfectly looks like a coat hanger, made up on identical 7th magnitude stars.

I completed my tour of the summer Milky Way, concluding with a game but failed try to pick out the North American Nebula. The whole area seems glowing to me, I can’t positively identify the object. The only time I’ve glimpsed this elusive object is under dark skies of Texas, and even then I needed on O3 filter.

After straining to see dim objects, I’m amazed at how bright the clearing looked. I could easily followthe road past the warming hut, and noticed the tall stack of firewood we’ve got aside it. The lesson is a dark night isn’t dark if you let the amazing human eye-brain adjust to it, and the night isn’t quiet, once you remove the sounds of civilization you hear the richness of nature.

Too soon a rising 3rd quarter moon put an end to my dark sky fun, though it put on its own moonrise dance show as it climbed through distant trees.

For a few quick hours on the hill, just me and the sky with my trusty old binoculars, the year could have been 2010 or just as easily been 1710 or hopefully 2110. A nice way to connect with nature and the wondrous universe we live in.

A Hazy Hot Humid Sunday in July

2010-07-11T13:29:00.001-07:00

Since I couldn't make it to Easter Island today for the solar eclipse, I make a quick visit up to the hill to check on things. I haven't been on the hill in a while. Thanks to Ray Burk for being the sole volunteer for the July workday.

The hill was quiet except for the birds on a sunny afternoon. Temperatures were approaching 90. I got some mowing done, then retreated to the hut and used the radio see how the 2 meter band was working. I easily reached the repeater in Vernon, CT and talked to a ham in New Britain.

It's now only about seven weeks to Arunah Hill Days.

-Ed

Pot Luck and Rocket Launch on Saturday, May 29

2010-05-24T11:54:00.001-07:00

Folks will start showing up at noon, Saturday, May 29 for the annual Memorial Day weekend feast. This year's fun will include geocaching (A genuine IGLOO is hidden on Arunah Hill!) and rocket building and launch. I've got a bunch of kits, should be plenty for all. We'll do the potluck dinner around 6:30 PM. No fried turkey this year, but I might just try barbequeing one.

The rocket launchs will be introduce a new competition: Keep the rocket in the air for 50 seconds exactly, and try to land it on the Gaertner Building. Lose one point for each second short or long, and deduct 1 point for each "Pielock Length" from the observatory. Loose 10 points for parts that fall off your rocket, you get disqualified if your rocket ends up in a tree.

Up to 3 launchs per team!

Any questions? Just email me: efaits@comcast.net

Aruanah Hill Educates, Entertains at Boy Scout Event

2010-05-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

The Arunah Hill booth saw steady traffic for the weekend at UMass. Over 1,200 scouts camped out around Alumni stadium as part of ADVENTURE 2010, and most ended up coming past the Aruanah Hill booth during the day on Saturday.

Jim Zebrowski absolutely wowed the scouts. As a NASA solar system ambassador, Jim had plenty of props and great stories to keep the scouts fascinated. Jim developed a loyal following of scouts who came back for second or even third sessions. The NASA 3D Mars scape was also a big hit. Many thanks to the Hadley senior scouts, who staffed the display very ably.

Jim's scale model solar system was also a hit. Peter Scherff's meteorite collection and Jonathan Klinkowski's demonstrations of the RUM were also a draw.

A Fine May Day

2010-05-02T04:54:00.000-07:00

It was a sunny and warm day on the Hill for the May work party. I arrived just after noon
to find Matt Paine, Ray Burk and Steve Pielock enjoying burgers provided by Jonathon
Klinkowski. I had one and then it was time to get to work.

Dan Carnevale had left before I arrived. Dany had dropped off a "new" donated heavy-duty plastic picnic table for the top of the hill. Matt finished getting the radio hooked up in the morning and it is now good to go.

Steve and Ray left after lunch and Matt, Jonathon, and I scouted some of the trails for blowdown
but they were in good shape despite the recent high winds. After that I fired up my chainsaw and cut down two trees at south end of the clearing and three to the east of the summit. After Matt and Jonathon left I started up my lawnmower and did a little mowing around the summit. I then started up the orange mower (first pull of the rope) and mowed around the Gaertner.

Ed arrived to check on things around 6:30 and as I was leaving at 7:00 I heard two woodpeckers hammering away in the woods south of the clearing. The seemed to be communicating back and forth. The Hill is in good shape for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend festivities. Thanks again to everyone who contributed their time and sweat to keeping Arunah Hill neat.
Barry

Olin College Students Enjoy the Hill

2010-04-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Last night a dozen students from the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering stayed over on the hill, and were treated to dazzling views of the moon and Saturn in the Gaertner Telescope.

The were hoping to see some Lyrid meteors after moonset, but I didn't last that long. Thanks to Jacob I. for organizing the trip.

NEAF a Treat

2010-04-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Peter Scherff for again organizing a great Arunah Hill booth at NEAF. We picked up several new members and got to talk to amateur astronomers from throughout the northeastern United States. We even met two gentlemen from Finland, a crew of solar watchers from Virginia, an 11 year old boy from Houston, Tx and a 14 year old girl from Washington, DC that came a long way to enjoy the show.

Our booth was next to Shady Pines booth, a natural fit, a gold mine, and a live birds of prey demonstration. Peter was disappointed the hawk never went after the field house sparrows.

Hill in Great Shape after April Work Day

2010-04-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

The hard work of last fall paid dividends as despite the heavy spring rains and run-off our road remains in good shape. Only a few buckets of gravel to smooth out some low spots will be needed once things dry out. In the meantime, the road is passible to the top in any vechicle, as long as a bit of caution is used.

The telescope shed continues to be rodent free, and the scopes all seem to be in great shape for spring. Our trails are in great shape too, as Chevy and Ben, Ray Burk, Tucker Blanchard and I walked and cleared the network. Thanks to Dan Carnevale for a quick tuneup on my chainsaw, and for setting up another bluebird house on the hill.

Peter Scherff, Barry Herveux and his ever-active chainsaw also helped out on the hill and John Klinkowski made burgers for the whole crew.

I faded by midafternoon, but re-inforcements were expected as Kevin Collins, Tom Walker, and Matt Paine were due on the hill to work on building maitenance and add to the radio tower. Tom also had a bluebird box to contribute to the hill.

Dan and Barry were then off to host the first Notchview public viewing of the season, and most of the rest of the crew were heading to Amherst College Observatory for the public sessions.

Spring has returned to the hill, and I'm looking forward to a great year at Arunah.

Thanks to all who helped out today.

-Ed

Scout Troop 504 Enjoys a March Campout

2010-03-27T20:50:00.001-07:00

You might think high thin clouds, a near full moon wouldn't make for a very good stargazing event, but Troop 504 from North Amherst, MA were treated to some great views in the 100 year old Gaertner telescope tonight. In addition to the moon, Saturn, Mars, the Orion Nebula, and some double stars drew great reviews from the 10 scouts and their leaders who were sending a seasonable cool March night camping out in Scout Heaven.

An iridium flare and some great questions from the kids added to the evening. The Scouts even helped me reposition the weights on the Gaertner drive to get the old 'scope tracking perfectly.

Four neighbors from down Trouble St dropped by to enjoy the view and even built a fire in the clubhouse so the scouts could warm up.

The driveway is now passable to the top in a four wheel drive, high clearance vehicle, but watch out for those ice channels, some are 4 inches deep. I made it to the lower lot just fine in my little Matrix.

-Ed

Bluebird Houses Placed on the Hill

2010-03-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

It was spring in my backyard this afternoon, but a short hour later I found out it was still winter on Arunah Hill.

I placed five bluebird houses on the the Arunah Hill property. I couldn't find "optimal" sites for them, mostly I just placed them where I could get my posts into the ground.

Despite what your backyard may look like, there is still lots of snow on the hill, and the driveway is an icy mess past the barn. There is bare ground showing up here and there on the hill, but also knee deep slush piles in some spots.

On the bright side, looks like all of our buildings wintered over quick nicely.

I'd guess with several more days of warmth and sunshine, things could improve quickly. I expect we'lll at least be able to have an April workparty.

Thanks to Tom Johnson, Joan Presz, and my wife Cathy for the bluebird houses. We could still use a few more if anyone else wants to put one together. Now we'll have to wait and see if any nesting pairs like our hill.

-Ed

Snow, Snow, Snow!

2010-03-06T16:19:00.000-08:00

It was such a beautiful day down in the Valley, 55 degrees and sunny, that I thought I'd hit the road and find out just why Ed cancelled the work party. After all - there was no snow anywhere here, and surely 40 miles or so couldn't make that much of a difference! Could it?

Ha!

It was snowy. Big time! The first photo shows the entrance - the large snow mound on the left is the mail box:

The left photo is the barn - note the large snow mound blocking the door, with my car for comparison: The right shot shows the barn from the rear:

If anyone is tempted to head up to do some observing, wait!! There is about 15-20+ inches of snow from the driveway on, and snowshows are a must. The final shot is a pan of the path from the barn up to the parking lot. Note my footprints, and Ernie's new goat shed:

My apologies for the pan resolution - the original is 10+ megapuppies, and wouldn't fit in the upload. Anyhow, you get the idea! Maybe the snow will be gone by July ...

RDB

All is quiet...and cold...on the Hill

2010-02-20T20:30:00.000-08:00

Matt Paine and I had a little time to make a quick stop on the Hill this past Friday afternoon. We wanted to check all the facilities and see what kind of shape the road was in. Unfortunately last weekend's "sanding" (work) party may have been a bit futile as old man winter and the Hill's elevation left a good 5-7 inch fluffy snowcover on the road. Right at the barn I put my truck in 4 wheel drive and we gently, as to not dig any ruts in the road, made it up past the lower lot. At the first hill I instantly felt all 4 wheels break loose, even in first gear with very little throttle. The hill, combined with a slippery base layer of wet snow, and 5+ inches of fluffy stuff was enough to overcome any friction I had. I backed down, put it in 4 wheel Low and locked the rear differential. I let the truck's idle take us up as it supplied just enough torque to not brake any wheels loose. We made it gently up to about 50 yards below the clearing and started to break loose again. Mind you I've had my Tacoma up to well past its hubs and skid plates in snow behind the Deerfield rail yard before with no issues. The road on the Hill Friday had just the right mix of conditions to cause the need for chains.....well unless of course I wanted to "gun" it and risk digging up the road or worse ending up against a tree. Neither of which I preferred....so we parked my truck and walked the remainder of the way.

Aside from 6+ inches of snow and some deeper drifts (one 10 incher on the road), the Hill was quiet with cold temps and blowing snow. The clubhouse was still buttoned up, Pavillion looked good and the telescope shed still rodent free. Of course the half iced and snowed over pad near the clubhouse sent a sturdy "I'm not ready for spring yet...." message from old man winter. The sky was partly clouded over but a nice crescent moon shone high above the clubhouse with the new HAM radio antenna looking as if it was pointing it out for us.

After a few minutes of taking in the snowy hill we headed back to my truck and off to dinner. With the potential for some good snow storms this week I'm thinking that groundhog was on to something after all.......

-Kevin.

Sanding the Road and Radio to the Far Reaches

2010-02-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

We had a good turnout for the February workday. Dan Carnevale, Kevin Collins, Ray Burk, Tom Walker, Matt Paine, and I spread several barrels of sand on the slick spots of the driveway. By afternoon, even my little 2-wheel drive Matrix easily made it to the top of the hill.

We inspected the telescope storage shed, and were pleased that there are no signs of a rodent problem.

With the outside temperature hovering around 25 F and the sun struggling to break through the high overcast, we gathered around the wood stove and Matt went to work on the ham radio. Matt was soon hitting repeaters all over New England and New York. He had conversations with folks in Westboro, Ma, Troy, New York, and Rhode Island.

With a massive Nor'easter just south of the New England coast, the prospects for a clear night on Arunah seemed to fade. If the weather holds, the hill will be in good shape for next weekend's winter star party.... though a midweek storm looks like it might have other plans. We'll just have to wait and see.

Our mailbox was a midwinter casualty of snowplowing. I ran into town to pick up the Arunah Hill mail. We'll have to put mailbox repair on the list for the March workday.

Thanks to all who helped today.
-Ed

Midwinter's Day

2010-01-31T14:01:00.000-08:00

Joe Zuraw carved out a tractor path to the top of the hill yesterday, and today Joe and I spread some sand on the newly rediscovered road and were able to get my little Matrix to the clearing. It's been a cold winter on the hill, but so far not a lot of snow. The cleaning looks like a wind-blown moonscape, frozen solid but down to bare ground in many spots. The trails have some drifting snow, I walked part of the Farrington trail and the snow varied from ankle to knee deep.

With a bit of luck from the weather and a solid workday next Saturday, the hill should be usable for star parties in February.

All of the buildings appear to be wintering over just fine, and so far the trails have seen a significant amount of blow-down. We still have the back half of the winter to go through, but for me it was nice to be back on the hill for the first time in six weeks.

Just to preview the upcoming spring, we'll again have a Memorial Day feast on the Saturday, May 29. It will be just two days after the full moon, so don't expect any great dark sky viewing, but Saturn will be just past opposition and Mars will be high in the south at sunset. Expect a few new geocaches to be hidden, and we'll have the First Annual Arunah Rocket Challenge: You goal, launch a model rocket (NAR approved!) keep it in the air for the prescribed time (to be chosen on launch day, but say 75 seconds) and try to land it on the bulls eye. For every second away from 75 seconds, and every yard away from the bulls eye, you get one penalty point. The person with the lowest score wins!

Bring your own rocket, or build one on site (I'll have a few kits available, plus a selection of engine sizes). You can have up to 3 chances, so you can change engines, add weigh, or change parachute / streamer size to you get that perfect combination.

Circle September 14 on your calendars. We're going to have a fundraiser at Flatbread's in Canton CT! We'll get a few dollars for every pizza sold that night, plus we'll have a raffle and some telescopes out on the sidewalk. Invite friends! Flatbread's has great food and is a fun place. It's at the Farmington Valley Shoppes, with great shopping for everyone in the family. Kohl's, Barnes and Noble, Dicks' Sports, Talbot's, Kid Jamboree, and other specialty shops make it a fun destination even of a drive for some of us.

-Ed

Geminids Worth the Effort!

2009-12-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

Despite frigid wind-chill, icy roadways, and still being 24 hours from the Geminid Meteors peak, Mike Kozicki braved the elements and drove up to Trouble St on Saturday, December 12 to observer the shower. He expected he'd find a few die-hard sky observers, but turned out to be the only one. The road leading up to the hill was impassible, so he pulled over to the side of Trouble Street as far as he could and stood outside the car. He took a bunch of photos of Orion and Sirius but didn't catch any meteors - they were all in other parts of the sky. He stayed until about 2 AM before calling it a night. It was a good show - He reported seeing dozens over the four hours or so that he was there.

As many of you know, the Geminids turned out to be a very strong shower this year, perhaps the best since the Leonids of 2001... but by the shower's Sunday night/Monday morning peak, New England was enshrouded in rain and snow.

Snow Flakes

2009-12-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Small crew today, and just a little bit of work to get the hill ready for winter. Ray Burk picked up and stored some wayward tools. I walked most of the trail system to check up on things and clear blow downs where necessary. By early afternoon the overcast skies started dropping snow that was starting to stick. The forecast called for four to six inches of whiteness, so I called it a day early.

We've got a nice stack of firewood and set for the winter observing season. For the moment, he road is still in good shape, but if you are planning to use the hill be sure to check carefully on conditions before trying to drive to the top.

If we get good weather next Sunday, I expect to see some of you up on the hill for Geminds!

-Ed

Late November Observing

2009-11-22T14:12:00.000-08:00

I came up to Arunah Hill this weekend for some observing. While both Friday and Saturday nights were both clear, the wind prevented any observing on Friday. This was unfortunate forTom Walker and Kevin Collins who showed up with Kevin's20" Dob.

Saturday night was a great night for observing. Joe Z. opened up the Gaertner for the scout troop he was hosting while Matt Paine, his friend Tom from Seekonk and I were at the summit. Tom was doing some imaging but the dew was winning the battle over his C8. Matt and I were cruising the sky with my 16" scope. M33 showed alot of detail while the Orion Nebula was incredible. We were also able to pick up theHorsehead using an H-beta filter. We also observed M31, M1, M44, M15, the Blue Snowball, Double Cluster and other objects including the California Nebula.

After Tom left and Matt turned in I stayed out until after 4:00 am. I took a look at Mars and Saturn, the Cone and Rosette nebulas and M81/M82 but the highlight came just after 4:00 when a Leonid fireball lit up the sky and ground. I quickly looked up to see the bright glowing trail this fireball left. The smoke trail was visiblefor almost 10 minutes as the upper level winds shaped it into a donut. I then called it a night. All in all a pretty good weekend at Arunah. Matt installed the radio in the clubhouse and it is now up and running. Here's hoping the snow holds off so we can get some observing done in December.

Barry

Cold Rain No Problem to Troop 32

2009-11-15T17:52:00.000-08:00

For the second weekend in a row a scout troop used Arunah Hill to prepare for their Astronomy Merit Badge. Troop 32 out of Springfield braved cold blowing rain but didn't let it deter them.

Seven scouts and leaders participated in a "human" solar system, studied the phases of the moon, learned about distances in the solar system and beyond, and learned how to use a planisphere. The asked great questions and demonstrated quite a bit of knowledge about the night sky.

Though the weather was dismal, they were able to glimple the great square of Pegasus, Cassiopeia, and even catch a brilliant meteor before drizzle moved in Friday night.

-Ed

Notchview Public Observing on November 7th

2009-11-13T04:23:00.000-08:00

Arunah Hill has concluded it's 2009 public observing program at Notchview. We were blessed with mild temperatures and clear skies well into the night. 20+ people from the hilltowns, and as far away as Colebrook, enjoyed views of Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and a variety of galaxies, clusters and double stars.

Our host Jim Caffrey had the wood stove running and set out hot chocolate to warm the young & old. The Notchview Visitor's Center is an excellent facility that makes late fall observing sessions (at 2000 feet) an enjoyable experience.

In a year of generally disagreeable weather, we had agreeable weather for an unprecedented number of events. My thanks go out to club members who brought their scopes and skills to these events: Ray Burk, Kevin Collins, Ed Faits, Barry Hervieux, Jonathan Klinkowski, Tom Walker and Ron Woodland.

On this night, and after spending the daylight hours at an Arunah Hill work day, Kevin Collins brought his 13" Dob to Notchview. It's good to have different types of scopes so that our visitors can enjoy the strengths of each design. Kevin's full day of commitment to Arunah Hill is much appreciated.

Early next year, we'll work with Colin & Jim to set 2010 Notchview dates. For those that enjoy cross-country skiing, I encourage you to visit Notchview during the winter months.

djc

A Busy November Day... and Night!

2009-11-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

A successful workday, public viewing at Notchview, and an Astronomy Merit Badge educational session for a group of Boy Scouts from Ludlow, MA, was pulled off on Saturday, November 7, through a great effort by the Arunah crew and some unseasonably terrific weather.

While Joe Zuraw, Bob Osgood, and Ray Burk split firewood, Matt Paine got a crew to raise a radio antenna. We have an antenna on the Club House and Matt will be installing the radio in a secure locking box soon. A preliminary test with Kevin Collins' 5 watt radio and Arunah’s 2000+ foot elevation allowed us to key up a repeater in Boston loud and clear. The 60 watt radio to be installed next week allowed clear contact with someone west of Albany and a so-so contact with a repeater in Manhattan. Matt will (hopefully!) provide details in a future View from Arunah.

Kevin and Tom Walker also installed the LED solar recharging light in the Telescope shed and completed the folding shelves.

Joe Zuraw and Bob Osgood, and Scott Masey were great with the scouts and those of us who really had no clue in the merit badge department. Dan Carnevale and Kevin set up at Notchview while Steve Herzberg and Matt Paine helped with the scouts. The Notchview crowd was good and the scouts got through a good deal of their requirements (as Joe I’m sure can elaborate). All and all a great day.

For those of you who would like to get a Technician Amateur Radio License, you’ll need the following book which can be ordered online and picked up at Barnes and Noble or Borders… ARRL’s Sixth Edition (with current question pool) Level 1 Technician’s Class License Manual…. http://www.arrl.org/catalog/lm/

-Compiled from reports from Bob Osgood and Kevin Collins. Pictures also by Kevin and Bob (click to view larger images) For more photos, see: http://www.amherstastronomy.org/NovWP.zip

Impromtu Workday a Big Success

2009-10-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

With cool rain threatening and washing out any possible "Fall Star Party", a lot got accomplished on the hill on Saturday, October 17.

Dan Carnevale and I arrived late morning to find the portable dome collapsed on the pad, apparently due to a violent wind storm. We got things safely disassembled, dried out, and sent to the barn for winter storage. Dan then turned his attention to the hydraulic wood splitter.

With the able help of Glenn Benscoter and Scout Troop 93 and Ray Burk, by afternoon's end we had a huge wood pile stacked up that should make for a warm comfortable winter.

Matt Paine turned his attentions to cleaning out the warming hut. He filled two large trash bags, and had the place spotless. It really loooks great! Now it's up to all of us to keep it that way. We can't use the hut for storage.

Tom Walker, Kevin Collins, and Jonathan Klinkowski cleaned out the telescope shed, Tom and Kevin built some wonderful folding shelves, then they put it all back together. The "mouseproofing" seems to be working. Great job guys!

Barry Hervieux fired up his chain saw and opened up the Amanda trail. It's clear all the way to Land's End.

We then enjoyed a fine foil dinner, complements of Kevin.

Cold and Clear at Notchview

2009-10-11T07:16:00.001-07:00

A cloudy afternoon gave way to mostly clear skies for a nice evening of public viewing at Notchview. About 20 people showed up for public viewing, including some very knowledgable middle schoolers from Dalton. They compared clusters (the wild duck, the great Hercules cluster, and the double cluster), and saw galaxies and marveled at the colorful double star Alberio, and they got a nice view of Jupiter.

Thanks to Dan Carevale for organizing this, and to Ray Burk, Ron Woodland, Jonathan Klinkowski and Barry Hervieux for setting up telescopes, and especially thanks to the Notchview staff for the hospitality... and the wifi!

-Ed

Astrophotography from Arunah Hill by John Kocur

2009-10-01T15:35:00.000-07:00

M 42 Orion Nebula taken with Canon XSi and 80mm Eon refractor.
71 second, single shot, unguided, f/6.25, 1600 ISO.
Image cropped, color adjusted, filtered with Neat Image.
Taken on 9 - 20 - 09 at Arunah Hill at 2:30AM

John Kocur - New AH Member

One of those GREAT nights

2009-09-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 19, 2009 will be remember by many of us as one of those nights were the weather gods made up for a summer of rain, clouds, and fog. While a core of volunteers showed off the wonders of a great sky to over 100 atop Greylock, a dozen or so of us gathered on Arunah Hill to take advantage of the great skies.

Comfortable temperatures, low humidity, transparent skies, and improving seeing made for great views of the Summer Milky Way, Jupiter, and the rising galaxies of fall. Add to that two passes of the IIS, and an angelic apparition courtesy of a NASA sounding rocket... not a bad night.

September Workday... Drizzle and Fog

2009-09-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

The calendar still says it's still summer, but it was a raw fall day on Arunah Hill for the September workday. Temperatures hovered around 60 degrees, and drizzle was a constant. The observing events planned for the evening on Skinner Mt and Notchview were canceled.

Still, alot was accomplished. Matt Paine and I helped Ernie Z get the backhoe back on the tractor, then Joe Z used the tractor to spread some gravel, then Tom Walker, Peter Scherff and Joe put the backhoe to good use, digging a trench and berm on the north side of the road just below the Gaertner. Hopefully this will give the water a place to go and diminish the frequency of our washouts.

Ray Burk stopped by the hill, then headed off to Ashfield to participate in a Berkshire community event that included a light pollution session.

Matt and I made a quick run to Cummington Supply for stovepipe for a quick repair on our woodstove. It's amazing how much stock that tiny store has. The stove is now ready for winter.

Barry Hervieux, Matt, and I then did some trail maintenance. A 14" pine had closed off the Pileated Path just past the summit, and it took some creative sawyering to get the trail back in shape. We also started working our way down the Amanda trail until the chainsaw fuel gave out.

Jonathan Klinkowski make some great burgers, and we brainstormed a design and location for our "kiosk" sign. All in all, a productive way to spend a rainy day. Thanks to all who helped out.

The Grinch Couldn't Steal Chrismas, and Hurricane Bob Couldn't Steal Aruanah Hill Days

2009-08-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

Despite a category 3 hurricane churning off the New England coast throwing some serious rain bands on the hill, a soggy but happy group got to enjoy Arunah Hill Day. (Click on images to view full size)

Friday afternoon brought a fierce thunderstorm, with lightning strikes not far from the clearing. The rain settled down to a mere drizzle, and we were treated to a fine talk by Kevin Renfro, space suit engineer from Hamilton Sunstrand.

Somehow, despite a horrible forecast and a full day of rain ranging from torrents to drizzle, the skies cleared out, and Barry Hervieux and his crew reported excellent transparency and good seeing between 11 PM and 1 AM.

Saturday morning dawn with high humidity (dew points in the 70's made for some uncomfortable camp sleeping). Late morning activities included making cardboard telescopes (celebration of Galileo's 400's anniversary of the first use of the astronomical telescope) and rocket making for kids of all ages.

Unfortunately, fog and steady rains moved in before we could launch the rockets. The raffle was held in a steady rain, but no one seemed to be deterred, and fortunately the names and numbers on the tickets we still readable despite the soaking.

John Briggs delivered a fascinating talk about the history of the great Yerkes 36" refractor, and even managed to work in a connection to our own 6" Gaertner telescope. After the talk, a few "sucker holes" appeared in the sky, but lightning (and fireworks) could still be seen off in the distance.

Thanks to all those how attended and made such an enjoyable event despite challenging weather.

Now thanks to all that worked hard to put the event together... Steve Pielock and Kevin Collins for providing the A/V (and Tom Whitney for making a projector available on short notice), Bruce Blanchard, Joe Zuraw, Scott Massey, and the Hadley Boy Scouts for running an excellent kitchen, Peter Scherff for all his work with the raffle, getting the telescope kits, and putting together the "retail clothing" tent, Jonathan Klinkowski for providing the weather alerts and forecasts, Glenn Benscoter for help out in the merchandise tent, Ranger Gary Cislak for his work on the rockets, John Davis for coordinating speakers, Barlow Bob for bringing his solar gear, Al Rifkin for organized the telescope build and providing popcorn and lime seltzer, Tom Walker and Barry Hervieux for doing whatever else needs to be done, and Rich Volant for his infusion of dark humor and/or electrical repair as needed, and to everyone else who's contributions to AH Days I'm overlooking at the moment.

Special thanks to DeeDee Pielock and Deb Volant for supplying me with snacks and tasty liquid refreshments.

And remember, "we are not an angry mob"

-Ed

Ready for Arunah Hill Days!

2009-08-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

With the tractor now operational, the 17 1/2" telescope is all set, the 10" is rebuilt, we're ready for AH Days! Now just hope for weather like this weekend!

Thanks to Steve and Will Pielock, Ray Burk, Jonathon K, Dan Carnevale, Kevin Collins, and Tom Walker for all the work today.

Exquisite Skies!

2009-08-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

While many of you were enjoying good skies at Stellafane or Northfield, my son Tyler and I went up to the hill of Friday, August 14 to do a little publicity for the hill with a reporter from the Hampshire Gazette. I'm happy to report that my son is much more eloquent than I and ended up getting the lion's share of the interview time, and he's a terrific spokesperson for Arunah Hill. Thanks Tyler!

After the interview, we showed the reporter Jupiter ascending over the trees in twilight, and the Gaertner delivered! Amazing that after 100 years this telescope can still deliver. After the reporter left, Tyler and I went up to the top of the hill and sat and watched the summer stars slowly emerge. Once the milky way popped out, after a summer of haze and humidity, we we stunned at how transparent the night became.

Once fully dark, the rifts and knows in the Milky Way were vivid, and a binocular tour revealed structure and detail beyond comprehension. We went back to the Gaertner, and hit all the summer show pieces: the wild duck, the trifid and lagoon, M-13 & M-22, then the double cluster and Andromeda galaxy filling the eyepiece.

Before we knew it, it was approaching midnight and moonrise. Had Jupiter really moved THAT far before our eyes? It seemed like no time had past.

We got back in the car, turned on the radio, and were distressed to hear the Red Sox down to their last strike... but then a double, and a flurry of hits, a Sox victory! A nice way to cap a great night with my son before he hads back to college.

-ED

Mower Deck Back Together

2009-08-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

Steve Pielock, Ray Burk and I assembled the shaft back to the mower deck tonight... almost ready to go. Thanks to Steve, Bruce Blanchard, and Barry Hervieux for taking the lead on getting this fixed, and to the Volants for the welding job to hold it all together.

I also got a chance to spray for carpenter ants in the telescope shed. My wife Cathy sewed up a new shroud for the 18" telescope.

We're getting ready for Arunah Hill Days!

-Ed

The Arunah Hill Bandana

2009-08-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

For just $7, (or 3 for $20!) you can be the proud owner of the new Arunah Hill bandana.

Bear Alert!

2009-08-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let you know that we have a black bear in the nearby neighborhood.

As I was leaving the Hill (around 3:30 or so), I turned left onto Trouble Street, and just about the place where Dave Bowman lives, there was a largish (180 lbs or so) black bear standing on the road, examining something on the ground. I honked, and it rambled off into the woods on Dave’s side of the street. I didn’t see any cubs, so I don’t know if it was a female or a sole male, but it was a bear, no question about it.

Since we now know we do have a bear in the woods nearby, it’s a good idea to remind everyone at Arunah Hill Days to keep their food either in their cars, or in a bear proof container so as not to attract the critters into the clearing.

-Ray

My comments:

We also need to be doing a better job getting our trash out of there ever time we use Arunah Hill. Next time I'm up on the hill, I'm going to leave a bag of heavy trash bags up by the pavilion. Please don't leave ANYTHING eatable in the blue barrels. Put everything in a trash bag, and haul the trash bag away at the end of the evening. I've been guilty of this myself in the past, after the "fried turkey" of Memorial day, raccoons got in to the leftovers.

-Ed

New Doors and a Suprising Jupiter

2009-08-09T05:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday Aug 8 was an impromptu workday. Kevin Collins, Tom Walker, and Rich finished off the "mouse proofing" of the telescope shed by installing new doors (thanks Kevin's brother!), installing trim work, and adding vents. It was a full day's effort, but things are looking great and if a mouse can still get in to that shed, I'd love to know how. (By the way, it will now be very important to keep the doors securely closed at all times other than actively loading or unloading telescopes, or we risk re-infestation. Now our main problem seems to be ants! I treated the perimeter with Ant-B-Gone, but we still need to spray to knock out the ants already nesting in the walls.

Jonathan Klinkowski helped keep the generator running smoothly and also helped out with the shed work and some mowing, then treated us all to some great burgers. Ray Burk was a week whacking demon, and John Davis mowed between the pavilion and the telescope shed. I got the Pilated Path opened up all the way to Land's End, and started clearing back down the Klondike Trail until I ran into some blowdown that will require a chainsaw to clear.

Not a bad day's effort for a "non-workday".

After the work party, my wife and son Tyler and our friends the Markens came up to the hill. After a session picking berries at Bashan Hill, we lauched a couple of rockets, hiked out to Land's End, picnicked in the pavilion, then built a campfire and just soaking in the Arunah Hill ambiance under overcast skies with predictions of approaching rain. To my great surprise, some pretty large wholes in the clouds opened up. Tyler and I scurried to ready the Gaertner, and to my surprise we had very steady seeing and great views of Jupiter and the just-past-full moon. We caught a shadow transit on Jupiter, and lots of details in the cloud bands.

-Ed

August Workday: Getting Ready for AHDays

2009-08-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful summer day on the hill, warming into the low 80's with only moderate humidity. The first order of business was to repair the washed out parts of the road. A few loads by hand gave we to two big tractor loads and the road is now back in good shape. The portable observatory next to the Gaertner was collapsed in a big thunderstorm last week, Barry, Matt and I put it back together, with only two pieces left over.... :)

We took advantage of the nice weather to get lots of mowing done, with Steve Pielock, Jonathan Klinkowski, Matt Paine and me pushing around mowers.

After the mowing, Steve Pielock and Barry Hervieux started the process to repair the broken shaft on the tractor mower deck. It's now dis-assembled, and Steve took the pieces home to put it all back together. We should have the tractor mower back in action before Arunah Hill Days.

Barry and Tyler cleared the Pilated Path all the way to Lands' End. Our trails are really getting back in shape after all the devastation from the December Ice Storm. It's nice to have that work behind us to be able to focus on our telescope operations.

Next weekend we'll have Kevin, Tom, and a small crew working on getting the new "mouse proof" doors installed in the telescope shed. If anyone wants to join in this as an impromptu work day the help will be appreciated. Arunah Hill Days is fast approaching. On the way home I watched the fat waxing moon rise... once it's new, AHDays will be here!

Thanks to all helped out today, and thanks to Jonathan for feeding us again! Great burgers!

-Ed

First Light

2009-07-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

I made a trip to Arunah this weekend for some observing and a little work. As I arrived
at the summit I saw a fox run off into the woods.

I did a little mowing Saturday and got my scope setup for the night. I was joined by Andy Johnston, his wife Jessica and young son Ben. He brought his homemade 12" f/4.5 dob for first light. I was impressed with it. The views were very crisp. Saturday night was plagued by passing clouds but all in all observing was pretty good. Sunday was a beautiful day with a nice breeze. Andy and his family spent the day in the Northampton area while I got to work on clearing the rest of the Tower's trail. It is now completely open.

I spooked a whitetail deer on the lower part of the trail while I was repainting blazes. He took off in a hurry leaving hoofmarks in the trail.Sunday night was mostly clear and the Milky Way was stunning. Some high clouds washed out parts of the sky but Andy and I observed until well past midnight. Andy headed home Monday morning and I took down my scope. Later in the afternoon I headed out to the Farrington trail for some more work. Only my chainsaw running out of gas kept me from finishing the cleanup. Only a little bit more work and this trail will be open.

I came across a pair of red spotted newts during the cleanup' they soon disappeared under some leaves. After a little more after dinner mowing, I was able to catch a pretty good pass by the ISS just after 10:00. That part of the sky was the only part not cloud covered. I left Tuesday morning as the rain moved in thinking about Arunah Hill Days a month away.
Barry

Five Weeks and Counting...

2009-07-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

With just five weeks until Arunah Hill Days, the July work day was a busy one. Matt Paine was up at sunrise and had much of the "cleared" parts of the hill mowed by the time I arrived mid-morning. Kevin Collins and Tom Walker, with friend Rick, had a compressor and generator running and were very busy installing mess lined plywood to the telescope shed, gaining much ground in our continuing "mouse proofing" efforts. Dan Herzberg joined the effort mid-morning to provide some re-enforcement.

During the morning we had two visitors: Barbara, the oldest resident in the town of Cummington! Barbara is about to turn 94 and has lived in Cummington all her life. She visited Arunah Hill with her friend Lucy to see what the place now looked like. I gave her a "tour" of the Gaertner. It's interesting to think that she may have used this telescope during a visit to Smith College when the Gaertner Telescope was still shiny and new.

Ray Burk and Steve Pielock took turns pushing a mower around the hill, and I did a bit too. The hill. All this mowing effort made it clear to all of us just how important it is to get the mower deck fixed for the tractor. Some generous donations were pledged, but more is needed. I you can, please send a check to Peter S. so we can get some "capital improvements" done on the hill, ideally before AH Days.

Barry Hervieux did some trail clearing and general cleanup. With Barry's chainsaw work, and Matt and I working the loppers, we now have most of the Farrington trail cleared, and have the Piliated path cleared from Raven's Perch to Poet Rock.

John Davis and Steve Herzberg also helped out on the hill, and helped in the planning for AHDays. Jonathan Klinkowski fired up some great burgers for lunch.

Soon enough the bright skies of the morning turned gray and threatening. Over the next five weeks there is still a lot of work to do, but the July workday build a fine base.

More mice and fireworks

2009-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

I managed to clear more trails Saturday and Sunday. The Tower trail is now clear from bottom of the hill to Dogleg corner. The Bartlett trail is completely open. The Farrington trail is open 3/4's of the way from Raven's perch to lower parking lot. I hiked the other trails to see how bad of shape they were in. The Amanda trail beyond Scout Heaven is a mess. The Klondike trail is not quite as bad. The Pileated path from Land's End to Poet's Rock is also in rough shape. While I was clearing the Tower trail I came upon a Red Spotted Newt. I did not have my camera with me nor my camera phone so I was unable to get a picture. I managed to do a little mowing around the clubhouse, the dome and path to the toolshed. I was unable to keep the trimmer running so I couldn't do any weed wacking.

The mice have several nests in the telescope shed. I removed a dead one and saw another one running away.Saturday night I was treated to a natural and man made fireworks show. I was able to see fireworks from someplace near Springfield/Holyoke as they burst just above the hills. At the same time there was a thunderstorm in the same general area sending lightning bolts across the sky. Arunah stayed dry but some storms were not far off. I did get a picture of the setting sun illuminating thunderclouds to the east. Unfortunately I did not get much observing in due to the persistent clouds.

Barry

A Hill Full of 8th Graders

2009-06-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 16 turned out to be an amazing night on Arunah Hill. Seven van loads of 8th graders from the Springfield Renaissance School arrived a bit before sunset for an evening of stargazing and exploration. Thanks to Keith Wright, one of the school's science teachers, for arranging the visit.

We treated the kids to a couple of rocket launches as a warm up, then took them on a hike out to Scout Heaven. After that, it was to the pavilion for a welcome and orientation talk and a little history of Arunah Hill. The kids were fascinated with the pavilion's timber frame construction techniques.

By sunset all eyes were scanning the sky to try to see the first star of the night. One of the kids found Arcturus, then Vega, Saturn, and Regulus emerged. Quickly lines formed at Ray Burk's small dob, Dan Carnevale's wonder refractor, but the longest lines of all were at the Gaertner. All 3 telescopes caused oohs and ahhs as the kids first looks at Saturn produced squeals of delight that the rings were really visible. The Gaertner was a joy, tracking beautifully and delivering crisp images. The kids were impressed with the 100 year old instrument.

A -8 magnitude Iridium flare caused quite a stir in the twilight. Once darkness descended we gave the kids a green laser tour of the constellations of spring and summer.

The kids asked great questions and soaked up the wonders of the night sky. For many kids, this was there first time under a dark sky. They asked great questions and quickly learned to master the skills of using telescopes.

All too soon it was time for the kids to head back to the vans. It was fun to be around so much energy and enthusiasm, and I'm sure some of these future scientists will long remember their evening on Arunah Hill.

Ravens, Woodpeckers, Mowing, and Trail Clearing

2009-06-06T19:28:00.001-07:00

The June work day was fun, efficient and even had some nice birding activity. Tom Walker and Kevin Collins weed whipped around the Gaertner, telescope shed, and club house before rushing off for the 5A's solar public observing program. Ray Burk was rejuvenated with his knee feeling good, and was a "mowing maniac" and got quite a bit of mowing done. Matt Payne did some shovel and rake work on the gravel road, smoothing out ruts, then took the mower from Ray and expanded the mowed area up at the top of the cl earning, then around the telescope pads. New member Andy Johnston worked with Barry Hervieux with loppers and a chain saw to open up the path from the clearing to the Pilated Perch lean-to. Dan Carnevale mowed around the barn and chainsawed some of the blow down on the lower trails.

After firing up some burgers and enjoying some watermelon, we settled in to a bit more mowing and trail clearing. The top of the Billy Farrington trail had be all but obscured, but now it's open and easily passable.

We got to watch a courtship flight, complete with screeches, from two ravens, then were treated to hearing a least 2 woodpeckers (one probably a pilated) working the trees at the edge of the clearing.

The weather was pleasant, and the black flies and mosquitoes were at a minimum. Not a bad June workday. Thanks to all.

Just a note, the July workday will be postponed until July 11 to not conflict with the 4th of July holiday.

-Ed

Realm of Galaxies

2009-05-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-23T20:24:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-21T08:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-18T07:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-06T16:16:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

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.

Garlic Mustard, Cleared Trails and Kayaks

2009-04-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

A good day on and around the hill isn't always about stargazing. Saturday April 18 proved to be an interesting day in and around Cummington despite a heavy overcast and occasional drizzle. For me the day started by attending a fascinating "Invasive Plant Species" seminar at the Cummington Community Center. In Massachusetts non-native invasive plants like Garlic Mustard, Oriental bittersweet, and Japanese barberry crowd native species and cause subtle ecological changes that can poison butterflies, inhibit the growth of oak and sugar maples, and even lead to the spread of Lyme disease.

After the seminar I headed up to the hill, and immediately used my new booklet "A Guide to Invasive Plants in Massachusetts" to identify the invasive herb Coltsfoot growing along our roadway, basically from near the stream most of the way up to the road. We'll try to get a handle on this before it extends up to the clearing.

Once I got to the top of the hill I realized someone had been pretty busy clearing out the ice storm damage on some of our trails. Not surprisingly, I followed the trails and found the steadfast Hadley troop lead by Joe Zuraw, Bruce Blanchard, and Scott Massey. Also clearing trails on another part of the hill were the Windsor, MA troop lead by Gleen Benscoter. Thanks to all for their hard work. It will take many more weekends to open up all of our trails and clean up the remnants of the December ice storm.

I drove home down Rt 112 S to Rt 20 and was treated to a parade of canoes and kayaks in the Westfield Whitewater River Novice Race. I pulled off at "Turtle Bend", one of the more technically challenging spots in the novice race, despite the lack of lots of rapids. The river makes a sharp turn at turtle bend where the river runs up against Tekoa Moutain. The more experienced paddlers gain speed in the current, but novices get washed ashore or get dumped on the one big rock in the path.

The race brought back some painful memories of my near diasaster while practicing for the 1973 novice race. Let's just say I learned a lot about life, whitewater paddling and trying to swim in 33 degree water that day.

-Ed

April (Snow) Showers...

2009-04-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

The April workday was productive despite cool weather and persistent snow flurries. Water was flowing all over the hill and the grounds were "mud luscious". A hearty work crew accomplished a lot. Tom Walker and Kevin Collins boxed up the 24" and 18" mirrors and took them away for re-coating. Joe Zuraw, Ray Burk, Barry Hirveaux and I all worked on making some quick repairs to the gravel road. Once the road thoroughly drys out we'll still have to do some grading work, though I was able to get my little Matrix to the top of the hill without too much problem.

Barry fired up his chain saw and cut up the tree that came down in the December ice storm just a few feet from the telescope shed. He also removed some of the debris that had fallen near where the driveway opens up to the clearing. Our outhouse wintered well, but the shower is knocked out of operation. Maybe a rebuild job for the WPI fraternity?

We had a visit from members of Troop 45 in Southington, CT. The will be camping on the hill and working on their astronomy merit badges next month and wanted to check out the facility. They look forward to a service project, and I think they are going to tackle clearing the trail to Scout Haven that has been badly clogged with damage from the ice storm.

After examining Scout Heaven we realize we were lucky that all of our buildings came through fine. Scout Heaven had a "near miss" from a big hemlock that fell behind it, and the telescope shed wasn't too far from a fallen tall beech tree.

As I was leaving, Peter Scherff arrived, we talked briefly about his exciting plans for NEAF this year. If anyone has some time to volunteer to help staff the Arunah booth please contact me or Peter. NEAF is April 18th - 19th in Suffern, NY.

-Ed

Barry's Late March Visit

2009-03-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

I went up to Arunah on Friday but the clouds rolled in when I finished setting up my scope.
I made it through the snow with little trouble. The top of the hill has dried out some more.
I stayed for the day on Saturday but the clouds returned late afternoon so I packed up and
left just after sunset.

The snow at big curve had softened up some but I made it back through.
There is alot of debris around the top of the hill that will keep us busy in the coming months.
The outhouse was untouched by falling limbs but the shower stall was not so lucky. The telescope shed was free of mice. The decon was still untouched. The stovepipe will need to be replaced as it has rusted out just outside the wall allowing some ash to fall to ground and singe the grass.

I spent part of the day Saturday watching about 50 robins looking for grubs, a sure sign that spring has arrived. I have attached a couple of pics.
Barry

Winter and Spring in a Standoff

2009-03-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

No longer winter on the hill, but not quit spring on Arunah Hill. I just depends where you are standing. It's high mud season on the lower driveway... It' passible, but watch out for some serious washouts. I don't advise going up to the hill alone at night right now. There are some DEEP washouts that can grab even a 4 wheel drive vehicle, and one wrong turn and it's mud up to your axle.

Past the brook it's still winter... over a foot of snow at 'the big turn'. As you approach the top of the road, it' starts to clear and firm up. The clearing is a bit muddy, but mostly snow free.

I don't think the road will be passable by the April workday, but we should be able to hike up and get lots done.

As for a Messier Marathon next weekend, as long as the dry weather holds up you can at least set up at the lower field... just watch out on the driveway. See the red circle in this, the rut is 10" deep!

-Ed

March 8, 2009

2009-03-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

No workday this month, but I visited the hill today to show some film students around Arunah Hill. Three grad students from Massachusetts College of Art and Design are making a short video of "The Hidden Hills" of Western Mass. They are having a good time touring the Berkshires and enjoyed seeing our Gaertner Telescope and admiring the fine craftsmanship to the Timber Frame Pavilion. I don't know how much of Arunah Hill will make the final cut, but we may see the students back for Arunah Hill Days.

Today was a warm spring day and Mud Season has hit Trouble Street and is starting to hit our gravel road. The Sugar House down in Worthington had a booming brunch business going, and the Sugar Evaporators on Rt nine were all on a full boil.

-Ed

February Work Day

2009-02-07T14:02:00.001-08:00

Steel gray skies and "warm" temperatures that hovered near 32 were the order of the day. Barry H, Tom Walker and I spent a couple of hours on a short mid-winter workday. The road is only passable to the lower lot, beyond that we had to trudge up to the top of the hill. There's maybe 14" of snow covered by a thick layer of ice and a thin frosting of powdery snow. This made walking an adventure... sometimes you broke through, sometimes not. Barry could mostly glide on top of the ice, Tom and I not so much...

The buildings are wintering over nicely. A couple of dead mice were found in the telescope shed, but it looks like the double effort of making it more difficult for mice to get in, plus the De-Con spread around the floor is keeping the critters under control this year.

After spreading a bit of sand around the driveway from the barn to Trouble St., we all packed up and headed home.

The snow pack isn't real deep so far this year, but I suspect it will still be well into April before spring reaches Arunah Hill. I'm already planning my menu for the Memorial Day pot luck dinner... 14 weeks away?! Thanks to Barry and Tom for working on a day when enjoying starlight on the hill seems a long way off.

January Workday

2009-01-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

On the eve of the Quadranid meteors, a small group of us braved the elements on a sunny, seasonable-but-blustery morning. Dan Carnevale's four wheel drive made it up the driveway to the stone wall, but my little Matrix stuck in the ice just past the barn. Dan, Barry Hervieux and I spent a little time clearing the small parking area across from the barn, and we sanded the area.

The lower drive is now "passable", but I still don't recommend anyone go up to the hill to observe alone. If you do come up, I'd recommend bringing your own sand, just in case. NOTE: free sand is available at the Cummington DPW yard just off Rt. 9, just bring your own shovel and container.

Ray Burk joined us, and we made our way up the hill, clearing the driveway of blow down as we went along. Barry and Dan's chains saws got a good workout, there were lots of large tree limbs to move out of the way. Dan had to stand on his tailgate to carefully cut up one of the limbs that was on some telephone wires.

I walked out to the lean-to's to check things out... both Scout Heaven and Piliated Path Lean-to's are in good shape, but there's a lot of blow down around Scout Heaven. All of the paths are impossible to follow, I needed to bushwhack my way through a tangle of brush... good thing I had my trusty pair of loppers. Maybe we can get the scouts to do some cleanup on the trails in the spring. It will take a lot of work. The big lean-to at Scout Heaven took a near miss... the top of a huge Hemlock must have missed the roof by a matter of inches!

The wind has blown most of the snow from the clearing, though where the drifts pile up the snow can be knee deep. All of the buildings are in great shape.

By noon we had cleared up the road enough for Dan and Barry to get their trucks to the clearing. Thanks to Dan, Barry, and Ray.

After all that hard work, I hope someone gets to see some meteors tonight!

-Ed

Into the Belly of the Beast

2008-12-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

On Friday, December 12, the area was hit with one of the worst ice storms in recent memory. Today temperatures rose just above freezing, and the work crews had cleared at least the main roads in town, so I carefully ventured out to have a look around.

As I turned off Rt 20 and turned north on to Rt 12, I was pretty surprised that Huntington wasn't touched by the storm. Even South Worthington had missed the brunt of the ice. By the time I got to Worthington Center, tree limbs were down and power was out. I got stopped a couple of times, waiting for power trucks and work crews to load up cut up timbers and clear one lane to traffic.

Crystalline trees gleamed in the sunlight to create a surreal beauty... though to the local residents without power for 48 hours, I don't think they saw things quite the same way I did. Soon enough, I had reached Trouble Street. Some folks had obviously worked hard, there were branches in piles along the way, but the road was sanded and passable, even in my little Matrix.

I didn't dare do anything but back 10' up into the Arunah Hill driveway. The drive was glare ice, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't part of the problem for emergency crews. I wasn't going to risk getting stuck.

I slipped on my crampons and started up toward the hill. I keep a wary eye on the ice-encrusted power lines to the barn and beyond. Some pretty large branches cover the driveway, but nothing a crew of volunteers and a chainsaw won't make quick work of once the footing is safe. We've got some limbs on top of the power lines near where we set up the speaker's tent. VENTURE CAREFULLY if you go up to the hill in the next few days. I'm not sure what will happen to his line when power is restored!

Without crampons the walk would have been impossible, and there were still down branches to walk around, but all in all, the road is in pretty good shape. Once I got up to the clearing, it was obvious we had lucked out, all the buildings came through just fine. Some small limbs were hanging on the old tool shed, but I don't think they are a threat to the building.

Our hiking trails will need a lot of maintenance, the Scouts will be pretty busy come spring time, but I'm sure they will be up to the task. I'm not sure how our lean-to's fared, it's definitely "hardhat required" to be bushwacking out there with so much ice still up in the trees.

I'll probably call a work day as soon as it's safe to do one, but for the mean time there's no immediate needs for maintenance on the hill. We got lucky on this one.

-Ed

Winter Sets in on the Hill

2008-12-08T08:45:00.001-08:00

I whiffed on sending out a work day reminder for December, but hardy members Ray Burk and Bob Osgood showed up anyway. Thanks! -Ed

Ray reports:

A word of warning to anyone attempting the summit: drive up VERY carefully. Both Bob and I had to make several attempts using the 4 wheel drive locks on his truck and my SUV to get past the lower regions of the hill, which were very icy. Getting down again was an interesting experience as well. As to work, we simply picked up some trash (one plastic knife and one piece of blowing paper), tested the chairs in the warming hut (they all worked just fine), killed at least 4000 flies and one yellow jacket, and left about 2:00 PM or so. Air temp outside was 26 degrees, wind about 20 knots, and inside air temp 80 degrees and wind 2 knots.

Respectfully submitted,

Ray Burk

Notchview Public Observing - 11/22/2008

2008-11-24T15:20:00.000-08:00

The drive to Notchview began with stop at Arunah Hill to check out the recent tree clearing. I arrived in the midst of a snow squall (see home page), snow devils would come and go with the wind. When it comes to weather, there's rarely a dull moment at Arunah Hill!

On to Notchview, where I met up with John, Kevin and Tom. It was already 4:00 pm and cold, so the Visitor Center stove was stoked and scopes were set up.

By 5:30pm, we were scanning the cloudy sky for a glimpse of the ISS, with the Space Shuttle in tow. This was a 4+ minute pass that peaked at 84 degrees. Sure enough, a very bright object was spotted almost directly overhead, and Kevin was able to track it for a short while with his dob. Under better conditions, this would have been a memorable pass. Oh well, some you win...

During the best moments, we had a partly cloudy sky on a windy 18 degree night. Not ideal, but observing did take place between runs to the Visitor Center for hot chocolate and warmth.

The event was well publicized and approx. twenty people braved the elements, including a large scout troop. The scouts decended upon the Visitor Center from their tent site on the hill. When resolve and endurance peetered out, we packed up and convoyed back toward Northampton.

This concludes our 2008 program at Notchview. We were able to conduct three of six planned events, for over sixty people that came from the hill towns, as well as Pittsfield, Northampton and Springfield. Thanks go out to Ray Burk, Ed Faits (and family), John Klinkowski, Kevin Phillips and Tom Walker for helping me with these events. Over the winter, I'll be working with the Notchview folks to set dates for 2009. Stay warm!

djc

Youth Trumps Weather

2008-11-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

A contingent of 28 dedicated young people from Worcester Polytechnic Institute made an incredible contribution to the hill today, despite a steady rain that soaked everyone thoroughly. Among the tasks they completed:

Hauling a huge pile of brush off the south end of the top of the clearing. We now have a much lower southern horizon from the parking area, after Joe Z and his dad did some major chainsaw work.
Help pull timber snags out of the east side of the clearing
Pile dirt around the telescope pads so now hopefully no one will fall off that pads in the dark.
Re-stack the "log cabin" that's been slowly decaying at the bottom of the clearing. The re-stack should buy us time to use the wood for something come spring, maybe a shelter on the south summit.
Cleared out the entrance to the trail from the clearing to the Piliated Lean-to.

I apologize that our attempts to feed them were hampered by running out of Coleman fuel. They put up with rain, wind, lukewarm Bolide Stew and some warm but not quite hot bratwursts, all without complaint. They seemed to enjoy the work. Thanks to a great group of young people. A special thanks to Dan Herzberg for organizing this. I promise if you guys come back in the spring time well have a building project!

-Ed

See all the pictures

Incredible Day... and Night

2008-11-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

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

Up in the Clouds

2008-10-25T17:04:00.001-07:00

I made a quick stop up on the hill this morning, to do a little mice eradication. Just a quick stop, but it was interesting to drive up the hill into a fairly dense fog and mist. Trouble street wasn't foggy at all, but the top of the hill was in the cloud.

Anyway, I opened two packages of De-Con and put them in the telescope shed. If anyone is up there and notices all of the De-Con has been eaten by the nice, I've got two more packages on the self in the shed, ready to go.

-Ed

Star Watch 2008

2008-10-20T06:11:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Steve Herzberg, Dan Herzberg, Tom Walker, M.P. Chevrette, Mike Kozicki, Matt Payne, and Kevin Collins, the Star Watch class of 2008. Pictures coming soon!

Thanks also to Bruce B, Joe Z, John D, Dan C, Rich V, Mike O, and the rest of the crew for putting on another great weekend of leadership training.

-Ed

New Species Discovered on Arunah Hill

2008-09-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

Gashopper discovered by Barry Hervieux

Boy Scouts on the Grill.

2008-09-09T09:53:00.001-07:00

I think that was MY omelette on the grill.

-Ed

Arunah Hill Days 2008

2008-09-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Just a quick recap and a picture or two...

Well, Thursday night was good observing, Sunday night was GREAT, and Barlow Bob showed off the sun in both HAlpha and through a spectrometer on Saturday before the clouds socked in. Unfortunately, other than a quick peek at the slender crescent moon and Jupiter on Friday night, no night time stargazing took place during AH Days'08, compliments of the remnents of Tropical Storm Hanna.

Still, I think all that attended had a great time. Kelly Beatty gave a great talk in the pavilion on Friday, and the rocket launches on Saturday were the best ever. Thanks to Ranger Gary and Jim Downing for their leadership and never ending patience with balky ingiters and changes in wind direction.

The scouts did their usual fine job with hamburgers and eggs to order.

Many of us cleared out just as the first rain drops hit, with an estimated 4 inches of rain falling on the hill between 6PM Saturday and 6 AM Sunday.

Bird ID

2008-09-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

The bird in the photo is likely a Cedar Waxwing. See:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Cedar_Waxwing.html

for a better photo. If this is the bird mentioned, that's what they are. I've seen them on the hill among the trees, and heard them frequently.