I too really enjoyed Calstar this year. Unfortunately
I had to leave on Saturday and miss the last night.
But I did get two good nights of observing in.
I was camped over by the big tree and had the
opportunity to hang around with Paul and some other
imagers. I also enjoyed several opportunities to look
through Mr. Kennedy's awesome 28" f2.66 wonder. I was
amazed at the binoviews of galaxies. Binoviewing
Galaxies... now that was fun! It was also fun to see
an image developing on Paul's laptop and then go to my
scope and try and find it. It was suprising how well
those objects looked in my scope. Not bad for just an
18".
And in defense of my little trailer:
"One person with a trailer was driving way too fast on
the main field, looking for a place to set up. I don't
remember if that was Thursday or Friday."
I would like to state for the record that I am very
well aware of the sensitivity of others to people
driving fast and kicking up dust, rocks or perhaps
even worse. I made absolute sure I never exceeded
5mph. My foot was on the brake most of the time
keeping my V8 in check. I apologize if it seemed as
if I was going "way to fast" but I know for sure that
I wasn't because I care about your scopes as much as I
do mine and I made sure I didn't go too fast. I don't
want to argue about it. I just want to apologize for
the appearance of evil and assure you that I tried to
be careful and considerate.
I exercised my Plettstone 18" plenty those two nights
(Thursday and Friday) and I too saw things I'd never
seen before. It was a wonderful opportunity to just
sit out under a dark sky, explore, experiment and
enjoy the companionship of friends. And luckily the
sun had a little bit to show too.
And my son Michael Jr. made the rounds and visited
some of you. Thank you to all those who welcomed him
and helped him enjoy his active, wandering approach to
astronomy.
And I would also like to offer my appreciation for all
the efforts made by the organizers. It must be a hard
job but most certainly appreciated.
Saturday night I went up to Montebello to observe with
Greg, Lance and the gang. It was fun, but what a
difference a dark sky can make! I miss Calstar
already.
Michael Swartz
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