What do you do when you are stressed out and need a quick getaway to dark skies.....Mount Pinos to the rescue!!!! Was feeling stressed from stuff not working at work and wanted to unwind. That and plus the fact that I have not been under dark velvety skies since my first trip to Pinos way back in May. Seeing that the summer observing season only last between April and October (it gets too cold after that with snow and what may), one has to make the most the the 6 month window. I also wanted to go, but did not want to have to content with the crowds during the summer season. The solution....go a week before the new moon!!! Going there a week earlier can be a two edged sword though. On one hand you have the whole place to yourself. On the other hand, there is the worry that there might not be anyone there, making this kinda creepy. Good thing that there are some like minded astronomers who also happen to enjoy a quiet respite. After making the decision to go, I decided to throw everything together at the last moment. I had no intentions of staying the night as the last quarter moon would come up at approximately 11pm. Hence I only packed my 20x80's (no tripod even!), my trusty Celestron C6 on EQ converted alt-az mount and my Celestron Firstscope 75mm micro dob. I also had with me a recently acquired Orion StarBlast 4.5"f/4 imaging OTA that I wanted to try out. One of the other reasons I wanted to go was to spend time with the summer northern milky way, as well as the centre of our galaxy.
Leaving at 5.30pm from home proved to be a really stupid idea, especially since I know how bad LA traffic can be, even on the weekends. I was surprised to encounter traffic this late on the 405, and on a Saturday! After driving frantically, I managed to get to the top of Mount Pinos before sundown. The views of the mountains as the sun was settling was magical. There is a feeling no words can describe when you are driving, on your way to dark skies, as the sun sets after a gloriously clear day! The temperature was also quite pleasant when I got there, and since I was not staying the night, I did not have with me a beanie or gloves. Bad move on my part (read on later to find out why). I now know never to go up to Mount Pinos without those two essentials. I was also glad to see Dave and his Meade 12" SCT up there. At least I was not going to be there by myself. Another astronomer pulled up later as well, also sporting another 12" SCT. Setup time was minimal for me as did not even bother folding up the tripod. I just collapsed the legs and stuck it in the backseat. As soon as it got dark, about 1/2 hour after I arrived, I started to look at some of the more familliar sights. First up was M57, since it was almost overhead at that time. The ring looked spectacular in twilight skies. Kinda weird, seeing that the views were markedly better than from night skies over suburban Culver City. I noted how the NPB filter made the views even better under such skies. I next looked at M27, the dumbbell nebula, also with the filter in place. As the skies were not totally dark, the views were not as good as when I revisited it later. The dumbbell looked like a ghostly football suspended in space!
Looking south, Scorpius and Sagittarius were looking good and most of the scorpion's tail was above the pine tree line. Now's a good time to revisit some old friends before they get too low when I come here next month. The centre of our milky way was, by now, very evident. I started off the region by just scanning the region between M6/ M7 and M17 using the Celestron Firstscope 76mm. The best views came using the Meade SWA 24.5mm and the Shorty 2x barlow. M22, the crackerjack cluster in Sagittarius and M4 in Scorpius was nicely resolved. The butterfly cluster and Ptolemy's cluster, M6 and M7 filled the FOV with nice sparkly stars. The butterfly shape was clearly evident. M8, the lagoon and M20, the trifid nebula fit in the FOV. I also noted how nice and tight the stars looked and did not notice any spherical abberation. I must have gotten lucky with this scope as they have spherical mirrors and the primaries cannot be collimated. I, however, only use this scope for low to mid power scanning and generally do not use it for high power study. For that I have the 6"f/5. With this scope, both M6 and M7 were much prettier, with more stars visible. M22 and M4 showed even more resolution, with M4 showing the bar of stars clearly, as did M80 in Scorpius, although this cluster was not totally resolved. I next wandered over to Ophiuchus and scrutinized M10 and M12, both globular's showing nice resolution in the C6 at high power. M8 and M20 showed so much nebulosity, even without the NPB filter in place. I like getting lost in the twirling mist of nebulosity, with some dark nebulae splotches thrown in for good measure (i.e. I really miss the Eta Carina Nebula).
Using the lagoon and the trifid as jumping off points, I wandered over to the small Sagittarius star cloud, which appeared "congested" with stars even in the small Firstscope minidob. M17, the swan nebula showed its characteristic swan shape, as well as feathery structure coming off its back (I liken them to vapours rising from its back after a swim on a hot day!). The extra nebulosity around the swan was also very evident. M16 the eagle nebula could easily be made out, resembling the little ghost (as O'Meara puts it). M11, the wild duck cluster was pretty in the Firstscope, with some resolution, but was totally resolved in the C6! I also spent some time with the bug nebula, although details were not as evident when compared to the views I got in my 10"f/5 dob. Also spent heaps of time perusing globular alley in Sagittarius. I have not done this in a while so it was a blast using the C6. Most of the globs just showed central condensation with little or no resolution. By now my fingers were starting to numb up from the cold, so I decided to have one more look at M27, the dumbbell nebula, then the North American Nebula (it was visible to the naked eye, but almost overhead and very painful to find in the scope) in Cygnus, M13, the great Hercules cluster (nice propellar effect evident in the C6 at 150x) and finally the veil nebula. Have not looked at this supernova remnant in ages so this was a real treat. I spent some time admiring the ghostly cigarette smoke wisps around 52 Cygni and its surrounds. Was all packed by the time the last quarter moon was up...till the next time....
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