NYAA News, August 2000 |
August 7 -- Bog Upgrade II (Report by Marc Castel)
Many thanks to new member Edmund Wall for assisting me in completing the
electricals at the new BOG II flip roof observatory. We installed white
lights, red map lights and leds as well as 12V DC Cigarette Lighter sockets
and RCA sockets for your various peripherals and accessories. We also
cleaned up the wiring on the 12.5" Newtonian. The observatory is now ready
for full service to those members with key passes.
We still require someone with a van or pickup to remove the last of the
building rubbish, and a touch of black pain is required behind the
map/computer box in the Observatory. This spot was missed in the last round
of painting and those pesky carpenter ants are busy at work munching the new
wood. If any of you are planning on using the observatory in the near
future, you may wish to help finish off these last remaining tasks.
(The 12.5" has suberbe optics and will delight all users. Please bring your
own eyepieces.)
|
August 7 -- Manitoulin Star Party Update (Report by Marc Castel)
What a show! Manitoulin is a spectacular island paradise with miles of
beautiful untouched beaches and best of all DARK skies. A small and hardy
contingent of NYAAers worked there way up to the Great Manitou Star Party
starting last Wednesday. The Club was well represented by members John
Clemmer, Abe Slomovitz, Ramesh Pooran, Stefan Shach, Marc Castel, Andreas &
Bonnie Gada, Bob Sandness and many of their family members and pets. Days
were glorious and nights generally mosquito ridden cloud sensations with the
exception of Saturday Night....and oh what a night it was. Steady seeing,
7th mag skies, light wind and cool temperatures made for excellent
observing. We plied our way through the wonders of the night sky 'till we
dropped dead tired in the wee hours. It was amazing to see how a Stefan's 4"
AP Traveller performed in these conditions. He saw more objects in one night
than in the past 2 years! The club Refractor, a truly beautiful instrument,
was set up in 30 minutes (all 7 boxes) and provided multiple viewing portals
with its dual telescopes on the G11 mount. The 5" AP EDF refractor was
simply outstanding - crisp bright images - nebulas, globulars, galaxies,
doubles and triples split to the arc second. This is a wonderful club
resource well out of the realm of possibility to own for most of us. I would
encourage all members to utilize this scope to the max. On most objects it
totally outperformed larger aperture scopes. The newly acquired C5 SCT 5"
scope provide sharp bright images with more than pleasing views. Aside from
Saturday Night most evenings were a bust, but the excellent company and
environment were well worth the trip.
Many thanks to Bob Sandness for organizing the event.
|
| DATE |
EVENT |
PLACE
|
| Jul 27-Aug 2 |
The Great Manitou
Star Party |
Gordon's Park & Carter Bay Resort, Manitoulin Island
|
| Sat, Aug 19 |
Starfest
Stuffing Party |
|
Aug 22,23
(Tue,Wed) |
Starfest Setup
Work Parties |
|
| Aug 24-27 |
STARFEST 2000 |
The River Place
|
| Sun, Aug 27 |
Starfest Take-down
Work Party |
|
| |