a report from the 2014 free state star party, with guidelines and recommendations for conducting a...
TRANSCRIPT
PLANNING A DEEPSKY
MARATHON
A report from the 2014 Free State Star Party, with guidelines and recommendations for conducting a deep-
sky observing marathon.
by Hannes & Pieter Pieterse
Read about the Mother of marathons – The Messier marathon
GoTo vs star hopping. We ended up using a combination of methods:
- star hopping to the well-known objects
- “pushing to” others with our Orion SkyQuest XT10i IntelliScope.
Planning a Marathon Choose a Date Choose a Venue Choose the Catalogue
ASSA Top-100 Deep SkyThe Southern Messier Other - See list in DOCdbRoll your own
What Resources were Prepared?
Other Catalogues
The best time for a Marathon June is the best time for observing in the Free
State free of mosquitoes, free of light pollution –
free in the Freestate! And cloud-free, too. The cold creates good stable conditions and
the nights are long and dark: almost 11 hours of deep time if the weather co-operates and body & soul don’t give in.
And it almost never rains.
What Resources were Prepared?
1. Object Visibility Using DOCdb and/or Skytools 3
2. Finder Charts (THESKY6)
3. Time table
4. Developing a report form in sync with the schedule
5. Star Charts & Information Sheets From Skytools 3
2. Finder Charts (THESKY6)
3. Time table/slot
4. Report form in sync with the schedule
5. Star Charts & Information Sheets
The anchor of the Marathon 1. 21 finder charts (2) 2. Time table/slot (3)
A Week(month) Before the Marathon More time was spent on chart work, generating
observing lists, and consulting the Internet and books, than was spent on doing the marathon. But that’s how it goes with any observing evening.
Good preparation makes things go smoother.
You don’t want to be left in the dark…..
Collimate your telescope Watch the weather patterns Be aware of the Jetstreams
- Just be aware of potential influences and adapt to the conditions.
Temperature and relative humidity
Learn the Constellations
A Week(month) before the Marathon
-
The Marathon
10-inch Orion Intelliscope Digital recorder Made a few notes. - Pencil time graph
Time and Temperature
Problems encountered People arriving late.
10 min delay per person/per car = 30min. -7˚C - low temperatures
Clothing and equipmentGreen laser - Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries
Unfamiliar objects Get use to `n star atlas if using one To compute or not to compute How many eyepieces
Using DOCdb(Deep Sky Observer's Companion – the online database) http://www.docdb.net
1. Go to http://www.docdb.net and REGISTER and/or LOGIN.
2. Click on EDIT SESSION to set your location and date & time. Save your changes.
3. Under List Options, click on LOAD, then tick the “ASSA Top-100” option and click the load button.
4. Under List Options, click on PLAN , to get a suggested observing schedule for the date set in step #2.
5. Under List Options, click on MARATHON , to get a day-by-day summary of results for the list chosen in step #3.
Dates to diarise: 2015 The Free State Star Party will be held from 12-16 June on
the guest farm Gansvlei, near Brandfort, about 50km from Bloemfontein. There is accommodation for 40 people (mostly sharing) and there are numerous guest houses in the vicinity. Contact: [ [email protected] ] or visit [ www.assabfn.co.za ] for further details.
The National Karoo Star Party (first held in 2009) is organized by ASSA Pretoria Centre members Johan Smit and Danie Barnardo, and is held on the Kambro guest farm, 20 km north of Britstown. The 2015 Karoo Star Party will be held from 12–16 June. Booking is essential. Contact: [ http://www.pretoria-astronomy.co.za ]
