[Atmob-club] [Atmob-announce] Acton Star Party wrap-up

[steven.feinstein at rsa.com]

Thank you Tom for a great wrap-up. It was truly a great event.
Pictures from many of the activities inside can be found at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24415259@N08/


-sjf

Steven J. Feinstein, CISSP | RSA - The Security Division of EMC |
781.515-5313 d | 617.835.0014 m | sfeinstein at rsa.com

-----Original Message-----
From: atmob-announce-bounces at atmob.org
[mailto:atmob-announce-bounces at atmob.org] On Behalf Of Tom McDonagh
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 7:55 AM
To: atmob-announce at atmob.org
Subject: [Atmob-announce] Acton Star Party wrap-up

Hi Folks,

Thanks to all the ATMOB members attending making the party another
brag-about experience.

I had a great time and always look forward to this Star Party.
Hightlights for me include:

First light for my new 10" Dob!  Many folks asked questions regarding
the different scope designs.  They seemed pretty perplexed initially by
my open tube Dob.  It was easy to point out the simple workings of a
simple scope.

Great views of the Great Orion Nebula for the time it was visible.  The
Trapezium was easily seen and I had a lot of contrast to see the dust
and gas of the Nebula.  

Saturn was a giant hit with the parents and kids.  My wide-field scope
put things in perspective next to Scott's planet killing refractor.

The humbling Saturn experience drove me off to the Bee Hive cluster,
where I parked for most of the night.  
The kids loved "driving" the Dob to get an idea as to the extent of the
open cluster.

When things wound down I was able to split Mizar and Alcor with the 14
Arc second split of Mizar and it's companion easily seen.  I did not try
to split the Mizar double double with the murky conditions being what
they were.

The chill and cornbread was welcomed once the scopes were put to bed.
Stories of past Acton Star parties were shared over the remaining coffee
before heading home.  My favorite was of Bruce Berger climbing the
Douglas building to cover and especially offending light with his coat
to save the day.

Special thanks again to all the ATMOB members.  The Acton PIP and Acton
Outdoor Lighting Education Commitee spearheaded by Stephen Feinstein did
a great job in organizing and running the show.  Sorry if I forgot to
mention anyone.  Looking forward to next year already!

Best regards,

Tom McDonagh




 
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