Post-trip
postscript
During
our stay at New Mexico Skies Observatory we tried to observe the supernova
but found that our instruments couldn't resolve it. We did take images
of the erupting variable star in Perseus and used our imaging software
to get magnitude estimates each night for the AAVSO, the American
Association of Variable Star Observers. We'll send our images as soon
as we hear back from them with their preferred format.
Two of our students, Jonathan and Jeff, registered as observers on the Internet Telescope, which is physically located at New Mexico Skies but run by the University of Denver, and Jeff has booked a two-hour time slot on April 14th to take more images.
One very exciting event was watching the space shuttle re-enter the atmosphere in the early pre dawn sky...we could see the heat shield glowing as the shuttle streaked eastward on its way toward Florida. The glowing trail behind it stayed completely lit across the night sky for about 3 minutes. Needless to say we were all standing with our mouths wide open as we watched this spectacle.
Jonathan and Betsy and I did a Messier Marathon for our last night's observing. We had a real system going with Betsy looking up the coordinates of the galaxy, star cluster, or nebula, Jonathan entering the data into the star commander computer and maneuvering the 25-inch Dobsonian toward the field of view, and, finally, me checking and confirming the objects in the eyepiece after Betsy and Jonathan centered them. They were really becoming experts at identifying spiral and elliptical galaxies, star clusters, and planetary nebulae.
We were on a roll and found 70 objects before midnight, a full 2 hours ahead of schedule when the clouds rolled in and shut us down. Plus we had already spotted all the difficult objects setting at sunset, and there was only one pre-dawn object that was going to be a real challenge for us. We checked the sky at 1 am and again at 3 am, but we'll have to wait another year for that magical mid-March date when we're again below 35 degrees North latitude and it's possible to see all of the Messier Objects in one night.
It was great fun working with the kids and having the support and interest of the rest of the group as we raced along against the earth's rotation.
Wayne and I were impressed with all of the students' work this year. They made some very beautiful images and even perfected their color composite techniques. All in all a very successful trip!
Lor