A Big Crowd at Area 51
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The skies were clear and stable and the turnout was spectacular, with more
than twenty five people in attendance. The optical instruments ranged from
simple binoculars in an alt-az mount to an impressive 18 inch StarMaster
with full GOTO. If I am out in the darkness all by myself, imaging is of course the order of the day. But if I am with a small group, sitting quietly in front of my computer all evening seems a bit anti-social. This time however, there were more than enough people to keep the party going, so I once again devoted my time to imaging. Once I had acquired an object and had started a half hour imaging sequence, I was free to roam around, socialize, and mooch a few views through the multitude of other telescopes. Occasionally during the setup process others would wander by to catch a glimpse of what I was doing. The mix of interactions was most pleasing and was certainly a welcome change from the more usual condition of loneliness. I had recently switched my piggyback tracking scope from a 120mm short-tube achromatic refractor to a 125mm Schmidt-Cassegrain harvested from a disused NexStar 5. The field of view on this scope is just over one degree of arc, and the optics are impeccable. This seemed like a good time to collect some wide-field images, so I installed the camera onto the tracking scope and started imaging. With an effective focal length of only 400mm and a spatial resolution of 4.1 arcseconds per pixel, no special tracking is needed beyond that of the standard LX200 drive system. Within the next few hours, I captured good sequences of the magnificent face on spiral galaxy M33, the enigmatic Helix Nebula, and the beautiful open cluster M37. Just for fun, I caught ten minutes of light from both M31 and M45, even though each of them are far too large to fit into the field of view. A group of thin but distracting clouds rolled in about 10pm, but by then, everyone had checked off most if not all of the items on their viewing list. The last of us left for home at 12:30am. Fred Lehman, November 22, 2003.
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