Here’s a shot taken the other night (7/5/08) atop a ridge in Utah’s Uinta Mountains. Located about 10 miles up the Trout Creek drainage at about 9400′, we’re prepping for what would turn out to be an amazing night of observing. That’s me and the ObDob posing in front of a gorgeous alignment (moon, regulus, mars and saturn).
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I had the pleasure of attending a small star party the other night on top of Kitt Peak in southern Arizona. For those of you not familiar with the name, it is home to the Kitt Peak National Observatory. We had a smallish moon to contend with throughout the night, but it was a wonderful experience nonetheless. Skies were amazingly clear and otherwise dark. The star party was organized as a side event for attendees of the International Dark Sky Association’s 20th annual general meeting which I was in town for.
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Camping and astronomy are two of my favorite summer pass times. I love to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and surround myself with the wonders of nature. The silence of a clear mornings sunrise is not something we get to experience often enough these days. Daily hiking and mountain biking allow me to stretch my legs in ways my regular schedule does not allow.
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Many people find themselves in the possession of a new telescope this time of year. For some, it is the fulfillment of a dream, for others, a quite unexpected surprise. If you’re one of these people, you may be wondering to yourself… now what? What in the world am I going to do with this shiny new telescope? How in the world will I ever be able to find anything besides the Moon to observe? Let me give you some advice right up front. Stop. Take a deep breath. Relax. It doesn’t need to be an overwhelming proposition. Getting to know your telescope… and the night sky… are things that virtually anyone can do. Think of it like this… when you first met your best friend… did it instantly feel like a future best friendship? LIkely not. Sure, you may have hit it off well, but friendships take time to develop. The same is true for your understanding of your telescope… and (perhaps more importantly) with the night sky. Take it night by night and step by step and you’ll develop a passion that will last a lifetime.
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Winter has finally arrive here in Park City. About 20″ or so fell in the last couple of days with more likely (and hopefully) on the way. Park City is ski country. That’s one of the main reasons that I’m here. That said, I’m also an avid astronomer. Park City’s snow filled winters can be a bit of a challenge to the hobby. Here’s a picture of what I awoke to this morning. I spent quite a bit of time clearing off the deck (twice) and the driveway (twice). Summer and fall are generally quite clear and great for observing. Winter, on the other hand tends to be quite a bit stormier. We get lots of snow here typically, and that means considerably more cloud cover.
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We headed down to Goblin Valley for the weekend. This seemed like an ideal time to go… weather was forecast to be nice (and it mostly was)… and we were to be under a full hunter’s moon. Hunter’s Moon is the name given to the October full moon by native Americans. As it turned out, we never did get into Goblin Valley for a moon light hike. Skies were cloudy the only night that would have worked for us. We had to make do with sunny, day light hikes. This is, by no means a sad situation, as Goblin Valley State Park is amazing under almost any conditions imaginable. Anyway….
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Didn’t expect to get any deep sky imaging in because of the full phase of the moon. I figured I do some tweaking on my system (I actually did some). Then, I got an email alert of a new comet suddenly brightening to naked eye visibility. I figured, what the heck… I’ll go out and see if I could see it. Well… duh…. I certainly could… it was right there… as if a new star had been added to the venerable constellation Perseus. Reports were indicating that the comet had brightened from mag 17 yesterday (this is beyond the reach of backyard telescopes) to mag 2 (easily naked eye visible). This is a 500,000x increase in brightness… for the mathematically challenged 
Maybe there was more to it than I’d expected? Only a look through the telescope would tell for sure.
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