GSSP 2008

I arrived on Wednesday at around 11:30 AM and observed
all 4 nights with my son Nathaniel. I observed with
my AP155 and Nathaniel used my old and reliable C8.
We set up near Rob Hawley and Rob Enns as well as
several others observing with large Dobs. We almost
bailed on Saturday, but sure glad we decided to ride
out the clouds! Saturday night was great and I think
showed what dark skies this site can deliver. Since I
observe with a relatively small instrument, dark
transparent skies are important and seem to add inches
of aperture.

One thing that impressed me about this site is the
consistently steady seeing - observing M57 directly
overhead at 355x on Saturday revealed at least 3 stars
embedded in the nebula itself - something I have
glimpsed only on rare occasions before. Likewise M27
revealed ~ 6 stars embedded in the nebula (in addition
to the central star itself). Never saw this level of
detail on the runway at Sizzletown. Impressive!

Even though the skies were not always cooperative,
this was a great event - this site is superb and a
very promising one for the future. I want to thank
all of those who volunteered their valuable time to
make this event possible. Thank you Richard, Jane,
Mark, Kevin...as well as the Albaugh family who
graciously hosted us! I am looking forward to GSSP
2009!!

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