Posts Made By: Dave Mitsky

I've attended the NEAF every year since 1995. I'll be there on Saturday.

Dave Mitsky

The last time I had a look at NGC 6229 was last summer at Cherry Springs State Park. It was through a friend's 12.5" Meade Dob. I can't recall the magnification or if I noticed any individual stars.

Dave Mitsky

I got my autographed copy of SW4 from Phil yesterday at the NEAF. The book turned out pretty nicely from what I've seen of it so far.

Dave Mitsky

Inge,

I believe that I may have observed that group with a 30" Tectron when I was at New Mexico Skies in 2005. I don't have any notes at hand, however.

Dave Mitsky

Here's the schedule of talks.

Friday, May 18

1:00 p.m. Friday - Dr. Peter Allen (Penn State) - The Smallest Stars: Their Role in the Universe

3:00 p.m. Friday - T.J. Koller (ASH Stardust Newsletter Editor and the Secretary of the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg) - The Night Sky for the Cherry Springs Star Party

4:00 p.m. Friday - T.J. Koller - The Hubble Space Telescope

6:30 p.m. Friday - Alan Chen ( http://www.heavenlyview.com ) - Imaging with a One-shot Color Camera

Saturday, May 19

1:00 p.m. Saturday - Dr. Al Lamperti (Temple University and the Delaware Valley Amateur Astronomers) - A 3D Tour of the Universe Beyond the Solar System

2:30 p.m. Saturday - Karl Krasley (the Pennsylvania Outdoor Lighting Council and the Chesmont Astronomical Society) - Light Pollution Is Hiding My Galaxies

4:00 p.m. Saturday - Chip Harrison (Cherry Springs State Park Park Manager) - Cherry Springs Dark Skies (A PowerPoint update on what's new at the park for 2007 and where the future is going to take us.)

6:00 p.m. Saturday - Rob Teeter ( http://www.teeterstelescopes.com/ ) - Building the Perfect Telescope

When using the ASH 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain, I usually use 259x (25mm U.O. MK-70), although 324x (20mm Meade Wide Angle) works well on the brighter globulars if the seeing is good.

With my 12.5" f/4.8 Starsplitter Dob, either a 7mm (217x) or 9mm Nagler T6 (169x) provides me with a fine view.

Dave Mitsky

Vendors who will be present at the Cherry Springs Star Party or who have contributed door prizes are listed at http://www.astrohbg.org/s4/s4_vendors.php

Dave Mitsky

From my DSO list for May:

Top ten deep-sky objects for May: M3, M51, M63, M64, M83, M87, M104, M106, NGC 4449, NGC 4565

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=526759

Dave Mitsky

From my DSO list for May:

Top ten deep-sky objects for May: M3, M51, M63, M64, M83, M87, M104, M106, NGC 4449, NGC 4565

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=526759

Dave Mitsky

Friday night was very good overall but there was a bit of water vapor in the air which resulted in the first dewy night in a week, according to my friend Tony Donnangelo. The transparency did improve a bit later in the night but the wind picked up as well. At any rate, the conditions were good enough for John Vogt and I to pick off one Abell planetary nebula after another with his 32" f/4 ATM Dob. Another highlight was splitting Porrima (Gamma Virginis) at approximately 830x (a 2x Barlowed 6mm Brandon) using ASH President's Mike Snyder's 7" Titanium Questar.

I crawled into my sleeping bag at 5:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. There was frost on our gear.

During the afternoon, Dr. Al Lamperti, POLC founder Karl Krasley, and Rob Teeter all gave excellent talks.

Saturday night was fairly good for about two hours. We had some superb views of springtime galaxies through John's 32" including M51 (of course), M100, and NGC 4449. M57's central star was intermitently visible at high power despite the less than ideal conditions and M57 not being particularly well placed at that time.

After Tony and I stowed our equipment due to the rain that was predicted to arrive (and did) on Sunday moring, the skies cleared again for approximately an hour. A number of us were able to see asteroid 4 Vesta without optical aid before the clouds returned.

Dave Mitsky