Ad Astra Observatory

I was invited to spend the weekend in dark sky near Clear Lake, CA. My ex-boss owns some land up there and wanted to see the sky. A rare chance to see some dark sky during the height of the summer Milky Way is not to be lightly dismissed, so I set about packing up the observatory for a weekend away.

When I first moved into the observatory, I was fresh off of going to Shingletown Star Party 2 years in a row, and was used to setting up and tearing down the scope each night. I hated polar alignment, but for a night of visual, I could set up in 30m or so, observe for a couple of hours, and tear down. I had padded bags and boxes for everything.

Since I moved into the observatory, well, things have swelled up a little. The mount is bigger and heavier, the scope is bigger and heavier, and I finally succumbed to the need for a laptop, not to mention motor focusers, and a tangle of cables going to and fro. Also, I no longer have cases that fit all the gear. So “packing up the observatory” turns out to be a bit of a logistical nightmare.

I went to OSH and picked up a couple of storage bins. This is a good placeholder solution, but they don’t really make the best use of available space. I was in a hurry, and they got the job done. I ended up using 2 big bins (one for the head and one for the power and other random stuff, 2 briefcases (one for Pumpkin, and one for ST-4/Gemini electronics), 2 padded bags (Veronica and the legs), and a milk crate (CW and CW shaft). The tripod base didn’t have a case. I also brought along a few rugs for dust control and a couple of chairs for tables.

I tried not to overpack, and decided against bringing Wobble, a photo tripod, or the hubcap. I also forgot the binoculars at home.

Having stripped the observatory as bare as I could, I got the rig, me, and the dogs in the car for what turned out to be a 150-mile road trip.

The night was turning out perfectly; the 3-day moon had set behind a hill, Scorpius and Sagittarius were rising in the south, and an ever-brightening Milky Way was appearing between them.

Unpack the car, start to set up the mount…

I forgot the tripod base. I’m standing under dark sky, picturing it sitting there, under the kitchen counter, mocking me.

It was a total bonehead maneuver. And now, it’s totally impossible to set up the scope. Without a base, I can’t set up the mount at all, and without a mount, Veronica stays in the bag. We kicked around a few thoughts about improvising a base, but 8” aluminum pipe doesn’t just grow on trees.

We ended up doing a short sky tour with their alt-az non-motorized 4” achromat. It was not a bad scope, mind you, it’s just not Gemini + Veronica.

I’ll be driving back to Newark tomorrow to get the tripod base. 🙁

So, I’ll only get one day under dark sky with a camera. If I’d brought even the photo tripod and the hub cap, I could have at least been doing all-sky stuff. I was trying not to overpack. Something to consider.

But, this has been a good test run for “getting portable”. Now that I know how things fit in the Passat, I know that with the Rocketbox, I could have put wife & both kids & both dogs & the scope in the car, albeit without a ton of room for clothes or other gear. Without the dogs, it’s an easy fit. Also, I discovered that I need cases for *everything* (and that the “cases” I have are probably incorrect long-term). And that I need to figure out how the Tetris works to fit everything in the car.

And, most important, I need a CHECKLIST. 🙂

Even without power and with a cheesy finder on the scope, we had nice views of:
M7, M8, M16, M17, M4, and Jupiter.

M16, M17, M8, M7 were all easily naked-eye objects down at the horizon. I believe that I saw NGC7000 naked eye also — there’s a big cloud there, in any case. There is a ton of detail in the Milky Way from this site. There were hints of the Great Dark Horse (”I see a dark rainbow going over to Antares”). Very peaceful, very small light domes. A bit brighter than Shingletown, but still about 4 magnitudes (literally) better than my backyard.

In all, a nice night, with a bonehead oversight.