Lastnight I bravely packed up my astronomy gear, fiddled with trying to get the telescope (with its 12″ diameter tube) into the car, and began my journey to the top of Piney Mountain in the Pine Grove Furnace State Park.
Halfway to the park I felt so nervous. I was going up to the top of a mountain all by myself with the goal of sitting in the darkness. It seems absolutely insane, but that’s astronomy, hah.
I almost turned around and went back home, but I really wanted to see how much better objects would look at an actual dark sky site. Granted, it isn’t the darkest, it’s even yellow on the light pollution map, but there aren’t any street lights!
I was so relieved when I pulled into the ATV parking area and saw vehicles. I was extremely happy when I realized they were really fellow astronomers. It turns out that some ASH members were having a small observing session, mini star party, whatever you want to call it. I definitely need to join! I’d have known about it before I actually arrived, lol.
Everyone was very friendly and helpful. I even had quite a few great views through a 20″ scope with Nagler eyepieces. I even saw a comet or two! The 20″ scope wasn’t actually an Obsession, but they look very similar, enough to give you the impression of just how large such a thing is.
I felt like I ‘earned my keep’ by having some eyepieces the guys haven’t yet looked through, so it was nice to be able to give everyone a look through my Agena 32mm SWA, and my 17mm Hyperion.
Here at home there’s so much light pollution that the Milky Way is completely invisible. Sometimes there might be a hint at zenith, if it’s exceptionally transparent, but otherwise there’s no hope. At the ASH observatory the Milky Way looks, well… visible. At Piney Mountain it was pretty amazing (at least for a first time view from such a dark area). I really look forward to getting up to the Tuscarora mountains and especially heading up to Cherry Springs (one of the darkest sites in the eastern US). It’s such a shame that so many people haven’t seen it, it’s our own galaxy after all!
I didn’t really spend much time finding new objects, I was somewhat overwhelmed with the sheer number of stars that I could barely find things I knew the locations of. I did view M52 and M1, first times for me, otherwise I ran through my list of previously observed items. The view of the Orion Nebula was mind blowing in my 10″ … in the 20″ … there are no words to describe how stunning it was. The level of detail was impressive to say the very least.
Somewhat random, but I’m also stunned by the fact my scope held collimation perfectly (with the exception of a very minor tweak using the Catseye Infinity Autocollimator. The springs from Scopestuff, along either their knobs, really seem to do the job at keeping things in place. I suppose the trip isn’t really bumpy, the worst was probably going down my makeshift ramp from the shed door using the hand truck. I really need to put a little work into the ramp, but it’s ‘good enough’ for now.
I still need to figure out how to arrange the telescope in the car without occupying the entire back seat and the passenger seat, hah. It’ll probably work sliding it through the trunk/back seat opening if I take off all the finders. Looks like I’ll be buying another pluck foam case! Thankfully pretty decent ones are only $9.00 at Walmart.
I had a very good ‘first night away from home’ with my telescope. I arrived a bit after 7pm and didn’t leave until about 4:45AM…. which was so much later than I ever expected. It’s amazing how the chance to view with experienced observers really boosts the willpower to stay awake.
