[Atmob-club] [Atmob-announce] The picnic was fun!

[Paul A. Valleli]

Eileen,
Thanks for the Picnic report. I now know why Phil
was not at the Stellafane monthly meeting.
Nacy Tuthill, the T-shirt committee, and I finished
up the PhotoShop design for a Jan Lipperhey ( the
proper, accepted spelling) tee in celebration of the
400th celebration of the invention of the telescope.
It will be available at the Convention, July 31st to
Aug. 3rd.
A small but enthusiastic group of members spent most
of the day preparing a new tent site and roadway
adjacent to the McGregor Observatory down in
Baumrucker Bog. The horshoe pits will be moved by
Convention. This will allow faster access to the
observing field for those campers.
The rest of the crew were busy cutting hay and
mowing the grass. Several new red Pavers were put in
place in the Pavilion with the names of famous
telescope makers such as Porter, Charley Thayer,
etc. They are custom made by members and sell for a
donation of $50. The proceeds going to pay down the
Pavilion mortgage, of course. The payoff should
occur in the next two years, unless we have a poor
turnout. There has only been a small number of
registrations for Convention so far. Registration
can be done by email/PayPal by going to the website
at http://www.stellafane.org
 
Pre-con site preparation begins on Saturday, July
26th through Wed. July 30. To get an advance
campsite, one must help with the setup for at least
one full day in that time period. Convention
officially opens on July 31st with the hopes of
clear skies for observing. 
The severe thunderstorms of the past week have done
severe damage to the dirt roads, especially, leading
to the historic clubhouse. Site Manager John Martin
has ordered several loads of gravel and expects the
ruts and gullies will be fully repaired in the next
week.
A few sucker holes developed around Cygnus at
1AM that allowed me to test out the electronic
viewfinder on the Argentini 10-inch R-C that is
intended for handicapped observers that cannot get
up to look through an optical finder scope.
Unfortunately, the AstroCam EX CCD has an excess of
"hot" pixels that add a constellation of distracting
artificial stars. I will have to find a different
camera, perhaps a MalinCam might work but it is
based on the same chip.
See y'all at the Chang Sho restaurant on Thurs.
Paul    
 
---- Original message ----

  Date: Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:18:50 -0400
  From: Eileen Myers <starleen at charter.net>
  Subject: [Atmob-announce] The picnic was fun!
  To: atmob-announce at atmob.org
  >Dear ATMoB Members,
  >
  >While others south of Westford had rain, dry
  weather held for our
  >July 5th picnic at the clubhouse.
  >
  >In preparation for the day, Al Takeda and Eileen
  Myers received a
  >lesson on setting up the dining tent from Bruce
  Berger on Tuesday
  >evening. They set up the frame and it stayed up
  during all of that
  >week's storms. Al and Art Swedlow took time
  during the week to help
  >Eileen unload carloads of picnic supplies, games,
  and extra tables
  >and chairs. Art mowed the lawn on a hot July 4th
  evening while Eileen
  >vacuumed and cleaned the clubhouse. Set-up and
  food preparation on
  >the day of the picnic were performed by Chefs Al
  Takeda, Sai
  >Vallabha, Art Swedlow and John Reed, assisted by
  John Blomquist and
  >David Prowten. Master Chefs John and Art prepared
  the hamburgers,
  >kielbasa and hot dogs, and Chef Art cooked
  outdoors for hours. Chef
  >John ran the kitchen, preparing his own
  specialities while
  >supervising everyone else. As folks arrived,
  everyone lent a hand.
  >Bob Phinney led an activity session for about ten
  youngsters, who all
  >made Big Dipper clocks and learned how to use
  them. The kids also
  >enjoyed playing with some lenses and mirrors.
  Dave Siegrist brought
  >materials outside and led a mirror grinding
  demonstration, attended
  >by adults and kids alike. Marsha Bowman used her
  nursing skills to
  >attend to a child with a cut knee. Eileen led a
  group of about 25 up
  >the hill to look and marvel at the Haystack
  Observatory facility. The
  >kids especially enjoyed speaking into the two
  parabolas at the top of
  >the hill. John Maher opened the Ed Knight
  Observatory so all could
  >see the telescopes there. Steve Clougherty
  collimated the 17-inch.
  >Clean up started, with John R., Sai, David, Al,
  Art and Eileen
  >cleaning up after the party goers. Thank you to
  everyone who took
  >down the tent and cleaned up the site. Thank you
  to everyone who
  >brought the delicious food! We all ate so well!!
  >
  >Phil Rounseville and Brian Leacu, on clubhouse
  duty, started the
  >evening's viewing by offering visitors views of
  the thin crescent
  >Moon and Saturn through their scopes. Glen Chaple
  was testing a
  >6-inch reflector telescope, and everyone got a
  chance to look through
  >it and offer their comments. John Maher gave
  views though the C-14.
  >After10 PM the skies cleared, and the ten or so
  who remained
  >experienced extraordinarily steady seeing
  allowing high power views
  >of the Galilean disks of Jupiter in the Shapley
  20-inch, led by
  >Vladimir Vudler. Also viewed through the various
  scopes were M13,
  >M57, M82, M31, M4 and other deep sky objects.
  Later Uranus was
  >observed in the C-14. Thanks go to our deep sky
  observers for the
  >late night tour of the stars. Despite low ground
  moisture, the Milky
  >Way was clearly observable. The start time for
  the picnic was 3 PM
  >and many of us left around 3 AM. The sign-in book
  listed about 70
  >attendees. It was a great way to spend July 4th
  weekend!
  >
  >Sincerely,
  >Co-hosts Al Takeda, Art Swedlow, Sai Vallahba,
  John Reed and Eileen Myers
  >
  >
  >
  >_______________________________________________
  >Atmob-announce mailing list
  >Atmob-announce at atmob.org
  >http://lists.atmob.org/mailman/listinfo/atmob-announce
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