Bill Cone on SFSU's Astronomy Class, 2006
(originally posted on TAC's mailing list)
(observing notes following)

I've been trying to write this up for awhile. It got so big, I finally
split it in two. This section describes the class and the observing
site. The next post has an OR of objects.

Having taken a leave of absence from work, starting in mid-June, I was
very interested to see Ray Cash's post of a few months back announcing
an observing class at the SF State field campus up at the Sierra
Buttes. Steve Gottleib and Ray were both listed as volunteers, which
further encouraged me. In a class structure, it is ok to ask a lot of
questions, and I figured I'd have plenty. I got back into observing
last September and am still 'muddling through', picking up
hints and tips all the time about many aspects of this hobby.

Watching the temperature gauge climb as I crossed the Central Valley at
mid-morning made me glad the class was being held at a high altitude. I
was looking forward to the 3 degrees/1,000 ft. lapse rate of
temperature that would keep things relatively cooler while the Bay Area
did a slow broil all week. On reaching Truckee, I gassed up, and turned
North onto Highway 89 for about 30 miles, reaching the town of
Sierraville in about 40 minutes. I'd never been in this part of the
Sierras before and was amazed at how undeveloped it was. Having
recently spent 2 weeks poking around remote towns in Idaho with my Dad,
I found the sleepy burgs of Sierraville and Sattley, situated in a
vast, relatively empty, valley, bore a great resemblance to places like
Elk City or Clarkia, sawmill and ranching towns that have never grown
past their initial phase of development. Somewhat shocking for real
estate in California that close to Lake Tahoe. Whatever forces are
keeping development at bay in that region, I welcomed the uncluttered
view and empty road. Reaching Sattley, which is nothing more than a
small collection of cabins and barns at a junction, on the west side of
the valley, I turned onto Hwy 49, climbing into a pine forest, topping
out at Yuba Pass (elev. 6701), and descending  a heavily forested,
narrow drainage of the North Yuba river, on a winding 2 lane highway,
the creek- sized river tumbling over boulders on my left, as the trees
flashed by.

  The field campus is a collection of large tents on wooden platforms,
scattered among the pines, across the Yuba river from the highway,
surrounding a few larger wooden buildings that serve as the director's
cabin, the staff dormitory, and the dining hall/classrooms. Rustic, but
with hot showers and meals, the white noise of the river tumbling by,
overall a good place for a week of study, away from the heat of the
valley and the lowlands.

I was already a bit late for class, which was held in the upstairs
dining hall. The instructor was Martin Sirk, an energetic fellow who
led us right into some basics, starting with planispheres and a simple
chart of the summer sky that we began to label star names and
constellations on. As the class was designed to introduce observational
astronomy to complete newcomers, I expected to be covering some topics
and concepts that I would already be familiar with.
I found the fellow students to be an interesting mix. There was a
family group of 5, two teenagers and 3 adults, some of whom  had been
taking courses there for many, many years, on such topics as
wildflowers, butterflies, bats, birds, and field sketching. Another
student, Ira, had  taken the astronomy class repeatedly,  for the
excellent  observing conditions and convenient accommodations, along
with the added benefit of some very experienced observers around to
learn from. There was an energetic middle-aged couple that had a small
scope at home, and wanted to learn more,
Kimberly, a high school graduate from Steve Gottlieb's class, Leo an
extraordinarily opinionated Russian kid who desperately needed one unit
to graduate from college, and Duane, a guy like me, getting back into
the hobby.

Our class was held concurrently with a 'Bat' class, so  breakfast for
all us nocturnal types was at 9:30, announced by the clanging of the
big triangle at the dining hall, echoing through the pines above the
persistent "hushhhh" of the river.
We'd pile in for food, chat with our classmates awhile, and then were
free to roam until lecture from 1-5. Numerous small alpine lakes were
only a few minutes drive from the campsite, so I usually spent my
mornings resting in the shade along the shore of one of these little
gems, swimming periodically, and jotting down notes about the previous
evening's observations. Absolutely grueling. What was, in fact,
somewhat stressful was that I was full of ideas about what I'd seen,
determined to see more things the next night, and at the same time, I
really wanted to paint the beautiful scenery, or just relax after a
late night. You can't  do it all, so, in retrospect, I don't know if I
did any one thing very thoroughly. Nonetheless, I had a great time.

Lecture began with some very simple basics, as I described,  went on to
cover reading a chart, and in subsequent days dealt more with the
nature of the objects we had observed the night before, which Martin
would then describe in greater detail their structure and origin. He
did a good job throughout the week of leading us toward the point in
history (1920's?) where many different types of objects, including the
'spiral nebulae' had been observed, and even photographed, but not yet
accurately placed in the universe. The last 2 days of lecture dealt
with the understanding of
what a galaxy was in relation to our own Milky Way, as well as to the
other types of objects we had observed, capping it off with a great
sermon on the  behavior and structure of the varied stars in a
Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, ending with a revival tent description of
how a supernova occurs. By the time he got to the point where he
described all the neutrinos exiting the star in an instant, triggering
it's collapse, I was on the edge of my seat. A scientist with a great
passion for his  topic is really inspiring to listen to.

Dinner at 6:30 was followed by a caravan up to the observing site
around 8 or so.

Observing site and conditions:
Packer Saddle, on the shoulder of the Sierra Buttes, is about a 20
minute drive up  from the campus at an elevation of 6834 ft. There is a
good sized parking area of gravel and dust off the paved road.
Weathered,  storm bent pines are sparse on the ridge, and the view of
the Buttes at sunset makes for spectacular diurnal eye candy.
Conditions for most nights were quite warm. I only wore my parka and
hat twice, late in the evening. Overall the seeing was very good,
better than Shingletown a few weeks earlier. I could push Jupiter to
285x with good contrast and detail. Transparency, however, was not
quite as good. The dark clouds in Ophiucus, specifically the Pipe
nebula, were clearly not as apparent to the  naked eye. Through the
eyepiece, ngc 6520/b86 was also lacking a bit in contrast, though still
one of my new found favorites of the season. To sum it up, we had
multiple nights of steady seeing in extremely comfortable temperatures,
under quite dark skies, with above average transparency. That sure
beats my backyard all hollow.
Shingletown, and now the Buttes, have upped the ante for me on how good
it can get.

We observed Sunday through Wednesday, then hosted a star party on
Thursday night for the whole region.

As this was a class, and not everyone had scopes, I spent some of my
time sharing views of objects with others, helping them find things
with the oft-maligned-but-useful green laser pointer, and also kept an
ear out for what Steve G. was looking at.

The star party on Thursday night was a goofy affair as folks from
Tahoe, girl scouts from England, and local vacationing families
wandered about our small forest of scopes, oohing and aahing
appreciatively. My favorite was the Tahoe poet lady who went into
absolute rapture over Mu Cephei, describing it as a radiant, golden
king surrounded by his court!  I felt compelled to show her more
objects to see what further analogies might be elicited, but she
wandered off. Another classmate said she got fascinated by some
patterns on the crescent moon through her scope, describing them as 2
dragons fighting each other.  Well after 1 am, as most people were
packing up, 2 cars full of  Bat class folks showed up, so a small group
of us gave them a tour of the sky through my scope to wrap it up. Great
fun to be  high on a ridge in the Sierras, with good people,  in the
early hours of the morning, appreciating the marvels of the sky.

This class was enjoyable, and well worth my time. I  needed more
mileage under dark skies, and this venue provided that, as well as good
seeing. The class format made it easy to ask questions without feeling
like you might be disturbing someone. The accomodations were great, I
enjoyed the lectures, as it helped add greater meaning to what it was
we were looking for, and at.  Martin Sirk, the instructor, and Steve
Gottleib, the lone volunteer, were troupers, helping folks throughout
the evening, from scope collimation, suggesting objects to look for, to
sharing and discussing views of what they were pointed at. Steve was
especially good at pointing out subtle details in structure,
orientation, etc on objects, be it Jupiter, or a faint fuzzy, and
encouraging others to see it for themselves.

-Bill

 

Observing notes for the week:

Jupiter showed a wealth of detail over several nights. Unfortunately I
only have notes from 2 of those nights.
Monday night, 7/24, I sketched Jupiter as Ganymede was approaching it's
western limb. 3 large lemon-shaped, light colored ovals, outlined by a
darker tone, were tangent to the North belt, inside the equatorial
zone. The darker toned area towards the north pole also was subdivided
into some smaller belts.

When viewed through Steve's 18", he pointed out that the moons were
resolving into discs, which I hadn't thought about until he mentioned
it. You could clearly see a clean disc of Ganymede. Something I had
read about, but not seen before. Back at my 10" I could not see that
effect at 285x.

On one other night, probably Wednesday 7/26, I recall the southern
equatorial  belt had separated into  3 distinct dark bands separated by
lighter zones. Radically different looking than a few nights before.
What a dynamic object for observing.

Here's a list of some of the objects viewed over the course of the week
with some brief notes. I was NOT a good note taker at this class, I'll
admit.

M27: I looked at this repeatedly during the week. Under dark skies,
this was easy in the finderscope, and quite a treat at the eyepiece. An
OIII filter expands the form of this object, giving it more of a
football shape. The brightest masses are  the northern and southern
lobes, the southern lobe being slightly brighter. I found I could hold
the central star steadily with averted vision. The northern lobe has a
bright field star in it, and there is an even brighter field star on
the southwest corner of the southern lobe.
I had also observed this object at Shingletown at about 3 am, with Bill
Cherrington muttering in low tones how you should be able to see color
in it. Having someone telling you that at 3 in the morning while you're
at the eyepiece is quite compelling, but I can't say I percieved any
color in this object at the Buttes.

ngc 6522, 6528: These are 2 GC's visible in a very rich star field,
just north of the Teapot spout of Saggitarius. 6522 is slightly larger
and brighter than its companion, to my eyes.

ngc 5981, 5982, 5985: Galaxy trio in Draco. I had seen this at
Shingletown through Paul Alsing's 25" scope, and wanted to find and
view it through my own scope. At  127x, I could clearly see all 3
galaxies in one field, with the edge on, 5981, being the faintest, on
the western edge of the field. 5982, the elliptical at the center was
the brightest, with a very distinct stellar core. 5985,  sits on the
eastern edge of the field, large and oval, but fairly dim.  A great
smorgasbord of galaxy types in one view.

ngc 6822: Barnard's Galaxy in Saggitarius. Already seen in larger
aperture, but a first for me finding it in my own scope. The night
before I found it, Steve Gottlieb had showed me some faint H2 regions
in this galaxy through his 18", visible as dim extended objects
adjacent to 2 stars in the field. My memory of the view I had through
Alsing's 25" at Shingletown was of the boxy nature of the glowing form
of the whole galaxy. Through my 10" scope I could discern a faint
elongated glow within a brighter irregular outline of stars that helped
define a rectangle form around it.

ngc 6818: Planetary nebula, Saggitarius. This is a pretty, small,
bright aqua disc just about .5 degrees N of 6822. A good guidepost to
navigate to Barnard's galaxy. If you're in the neighborhood, check 'em
both out!

ngc 7662: Planetary Nebula, Andromeda. You want color in a DSO? This
one is for you! Large, bright, rich thalo blue/green colored disc. Easy
to spot in the finder as it is about 10' west of a prominent 8th or 9th
mag. star in the field.

ngc 6058: Planetary nebula, Hercules. I had to search for this one for
awhile, as it was larger, but much fainter than I figured on. No blue
snowball here. Grey and dim. Sits inside the western side of an eq.
triangle formed by 3 faint stars in the field. At 163x, the central
star was visible.

B143, B142: Dark nebula, Aquila. Recommended by Steve G., and worth the
trip. Large, distinct,  dark interruptions of the Milky Way glow. B143
looks a bit like the 'pi' symbol, or a post and lintel type of shape, a
thick slab running north and south, with 2 thinner extensions to the
west.  B142 sits just to the south of this form, slightly larger, an
elongated form running east and west, fatter on the western end.

ngc 6939, 6946: Open cluster and galaxy, Cepheus.  I do like multiple
objects in a field. Not only aesthetically interesting, but it gives
one a compare and contrast context. To me, these 2 have a wonderful
contrasting texture, 6939 being a brillo pad of noisy star patterns,
and 6946 a soft glow, like steam on a window pane.

Mu Cephei: Herschel's Garnet Star, Cepheus.  Yellow orange color. With
an OIII filter I could detect some faint nebulosity around it, the only
area of the  IC 1396 region that I was able to see nebulosity, even
though photos show a wealth of it. There is, however, a beautiful,
tight, triple star in the center of the IC 1396 region on the charts:
Struve 2816.

M15: Globular Cluster, Pegasus. One of the more elegant and beautiful
of the Messier Globs. The gradient of stars building up to the center
mass grows at a rate where there is always room for more as you
approach the core. M13, by comparison, is 'fat', with star chains
extended from a big ball of stars.

M72: Globular Cluster, Aquarius. Anemic! Much fainter than I imagined a
Messier glob would be. Not all Messiers are
eye candy, ah well.

The great parade of Messiers that run from Scutum down into
Saggittarius and Scorpius was viewed repeatedly all through the week
just for the sheer pleasure of it, as were some of the big and bright
galaxies, M51, M33, M81/82 (with ngc 3077 snuck into a widefield view),
M31 and companions, 4565


Great views in other scopes:
ngc 6826: Blinking Planetary, Cygnus. Through Martin's 18". Large
planetary that, with direct vision, did a slow fade away, leaving a
stellar core with a slight halo, then popped back to full strength with
averted.

Veil Nebula: Supernova remnant, Cygnus. I had the opportunity to view 
all 3 sections with an OIII filter through the 18" scopes. One could
sweep up and down, observing vascular subtleties within a larger form.
Mysterious, subtle, beautiful. Like viewing a faintly phosphorescent,
exposed tree root on a dark night.

Neptune and it's moon, Triton. A real blue planet! No wonder planetary
nebula have such a designation. Viewed late in the evening through
Steve's 18", Neptune showed a nice blue disc, with Triton close by,
small, gold, stellar.

ngc 891: Galaxy, Andromeda. Big and faint edge on. Dust lane is more
centered than 4565. Field stars  interrupt the
view of this one, making it harder to read the full extension of the
object.


Objects that eluded me:
M73: I've since learned this is one of those obscure objects, perhaps
only an asterism. I saw an open cluster designation on the chart, and
was sweeping around expecting something perhaps faint, but grander, and
saw nothing of the sort. I'm sure I went right by it numerous times
without realizing it.
Saturn Nebula: hello?
Palomar 11: I realized I had no patience for something like this
without a field chart for a specific magnification, so I could be sure
of the correct field. Then, I would be willing to try to and sense it's
presence.
B72: Snake Nebula: I was certain I was in the field, but couldn't
identify it. It may be much smaller than I was figuring on.
I have to do better prep to track down these objects.

A note on the dim stuff. Steve at one point showed me a very faint
glob, perhaps IC 1257?
My first impression was that it reminded me of some of my earliest
views of clusters in my 80mm refractor from the middle of San
Francisco: Extremely low contrast glow with no apparent detail! So the
quality of the image was quite familiar to me, even if this was a true
challenge object.
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