February 8, 1997 - Deepsky Observing Star Party Meeting

It was clear the entire night and we had about 15 people show up for observing. Steve brought his 20", Ron brought his 13", Jeff brought his 14.5 inch, and Rick brought is 4.5 inch. We had Blaine and Nate in the observatory all night using the 12.5 and the 20" sat idle most of the night, since I was in a roaming mood. However, I did do some observing. I pondered m81 and m82, like I do so often, and M42 of course. Magnificent in the 20". M36, m37, and m38, the open cluster jewels of the winter sky. M1 was not very impressive tonight. I think the sky moisture is fairly hight tonight.

The whirr of hairdryers, and the distant tick, tick, tick of WWV. Ah, astronomy at its finest.

I enjoy watching and listening to the sounds of astronomers in the still of the night. The bustling of people setting up their scopes in the evening, with great anticipation pouring forth from their every breath. Gossipping with others about their latest conquests of the sky, and the neat equipment they just got and are begging to try out tonight. It's like watching the tribe come to life as the alien sky opens up and new photons are about to hit the ground. We are not often graced with clear weather here, so it seems like a small ritual, when it does clear.

I digress. Mars rose late, and upon observing it, I went to bed, leaving several diehards, still pondering the light hitting their retina. I would arise in 3 hours to view the comet. Which I did, and everyone else was gone.
So at 4:30am on the 9th of February, EST, I observed Comet Hale-Bopp and took several photographs piggybacked on the 12.5". Using asa1600 Ektachrome:

Lense	Exposure
200mm f/4	2 minutes
200mm f/4	3 minutes
70mm f/4	2 minutes	Probably too long
70mm f/4	30 seconds

I estimated the magnitude to be 2.0 that night. Most agreeable night.