Gallery Archive: 2009

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Star Party at Portsmouth Middle School, Friday, March 13th, 2009

Friday, March 13th, 2009 @ 8:00 PM / Portsmouth Middle School The night went well with around 12 scopes. A few members that weren’t on the list had also showed up so we had a good turn out. We probably only had around a total of 150 students, parents and teachers that show up for the event. It seems they cam in a few waves. The temperature was around the freezing mark but the wind let up so it wasn’t too bad. We had first intended to setup in the parking lot but the has been long gone and the ground on the north side of the building seemed firm. The lights in the parking lot went off at 7:30 and the lights on the building, that they were unable to shut off last year, were shut off just after 8:15 or so. I had a live CCD image of comet Lulin running for those interested and this was our first event with the binocular table that was setup with donated binoculars. Bob Magnuson, a member of ASSNE was also able to join us. As the night went on the clouds slowly thickened. By 9:45 it was cloudy and everyone started to pack it in. Newport Bridge toll $2.00 each way…what can you do.
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Girl Scouts Visit to Seagrave, Friday, March 20th, 2009

The clouds persisted all day but did completely clear within ½ hour of their arrival. I arrived earlier to setup the binocular table, Night Sky Network table and setup with the CCD. We only had around 9 Girl Scouts and 4 adults show up but everything went well. The temperature was in the mid 20’s, so everyone was done by around 9:30 and by 9:45 we started packing it up.
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Cub Scouts Visit to Seagrave, Saturday, March 21st, 2009

I arrived early to setup and get the meeting hall ready but found Bob H and Bob N needed a hand lifting the 16” Meade back onto it mount. Bob N. tested it out later that evening so it should be back in operation for the next event and public nights. The presentation started at 7:15 and seemed to be a fairly full house with probably just over 40 seats taken. Afterwards I discovered that several of them were people that had arrived early for public night and just joined in with the group. This was my first presentation but it went well and several parents even commented on it. At around 8:15 we took it outside where I demonstrated how easy it was to setup and use the ETX80, pointed out how to find the North Star and let them try out the binoculars at the binocular table. Everyone then went into groups and rotated through the scopes. The temp was around 28 but they stuck it out until around 9:30.
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Boy Scouts visit to Seagrave, Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Wednesday, March 25th @ 8:00 Boy Scouts visit to Seagrave The group was smaller than anticipated and was comprised of more parents and siblings than boy scouts. They stayed until after 9:30 and were well dispersed since we had so many viewing stations open. We again had the binocular table setup along with the M42 flyby video. John Kocur and Jim Hendrickson both had their scopes setup and Larry Isom had his but since we had as many scopes as people, he was better utilized for moral support at the different viewing stations. Nicole has also attended for moral support. I did a demonstration of the ETX80 and let everyone view Orion then let them compare it to the live CCD image. We used this to lead into why is doesn’t look like the photos in the eyepiece.
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Phases of Venus

January, 1 2009 - March 26, 2009 (1 day prior to inferior conjunction)
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Photos from Al Hall & Dick Parker's Clark Telescope Drive Restoration

The new “old” drive was re-dedicated and ownership passed to the Skyscrapers Board of Trustees during a ceremony at the annual Skyscrapers Cookout which was held on Saturday, July 11th, 2009. First light with the telescope being driven by its old weight drive occurred on July 13th, 2009 with myself, President Bob Horton and First Vice President Bob Napier in attendance.
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John Kocur DSLR Astrophotography

These shots were taken at Shady Pines Campground, Rockland Astronomy Club Summer Star Party, Savoy Mass, Aug 17 – 20. All shots are single shot unguided 1 min 30 second exposures f/6.25. ISO 400 for double cluster, ISO 800 for all others. Comet Christensen was in Sagitta at Mag. 8.2. Equipment used - 80mm Orion Eon, Canon XSi, Meade LXD75 mount. Live View controlled by Canon EOS Utilities software via laptop.
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AstroAssembly 2009

AstroAssembly 2009 will be remembered, I believe, as one of the best ones Skyscrapers has ever put on. Yes, it rained. And at times heavily. But a lot of hardy New England amateur astronomers showed up, some as far away as New Hampshire, regardless of the weather to enjoy our program of wonderful speakers talking on a variety of interesting topics.
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CCD Workshop

A CCD imaging workshop was held at Seagrave Observatory on Saturday, November 7. Bob Horton set up the Meade 16 inch SCT with an SBIG ST 4000 camera. Club members took turns imaging deep sky objects. All images 1 to 2 minutes exposure, unguided. Images processed by John Kocur.