Perseid Meteor Shower - 12 August 2010

LVAS conducted its 2010 Astronomy Day on April 17th instead of April 24th with the rest of the nation.  We had already scheduled our Astronomy Day for the 17th based on there being a Crescent Moon instead of a near Full Moon on the 24th.

John and young Visitor at Solar Scope

Start Stop Back Fwd

We had a record public participation both during the daytime solar viewing and the evening viewing. Although we didn't try to take an accurate count, we estimate at least 400 people came to view the Sun, talk with our LVAS members, and take away some handouts from NASA, Harvard University, and other sources. We had a constant flow of people through our setup area between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Ranger Kate estimated we had between 535 and 600 people to attend the evening program. There were at least 125 people that attended the evening presentation on "Saturn - Lord of the Rings". There were so many folks that without a microphone quite a few couldn't hear me and went back out to the scope area to talk with our members. About 20 people stayed to ask questions until Ranger Kate came and said, "Rob, I need you outside.  We have over 500 people wait to observe." When I got outside, there were people everywhere.  Our scopes were spread across the front of the Visitors Center walkway and there was wall to wall people everywhere.  With 13 scopes, we had people patiently waiting to see whatever the object of interest was at each scope.  At one time, I had over 75 people standing around my monitors viewing the Moon, M42, M81, M82, and M51.  Even though we fought hazy skies all night, the people were especially thrilled at what they got to see.

Part of the great turnout had to be attributed to the articles about our March Red Rock Star Party in the various Community View newspapers that came out on Tuesday.  Jan Hogan, the Las Vegas Review Journal Correspondent that wrote the article, was thrilled to learn that the article had that significant an impact on the crowd. It was a great day and an even greater evening. 

Thanks to the following LVAS members that supported the Solar viewing and manned the information table during the day:

Morning Crew: Brett Platko, Paul Kelm, Dave Redding, John Heller, and Bob Boyle

Afternoon Crew: Jeanne Howerton, Ron Helbling, Shawn Mann, Paul Kelm, and Harold Nations (Sorry I didn't get a photo of the afternoon crew.) 

And thanks to everyone that came and supported the evening viewing.  I didn't get a chance to get around to see the everyone that provided support in the evening, especially on the north east end of the Visitors Center.  I know that Laura Kelm and Rob and Renee Howard were there.  I'm sorry I missed the others that were on the other side of the entrance from where I was.  Please know that I appreciate your support.  Without your help, the crowd would have been unmanageable.  If you were there, please drop me a line and let me acknowledge your support.  If anyone took photos that we could post here, please send me a copy at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Thanks again.

Rob Lambert

President 

The weather finally held for our Valley of Fire All-Nighter held at Group Campsite #2 on 13 February.  In addition, to the 35 LVAS members, family , and guests, we had a group of Cub Scouts and a few other visitors to share the night sky.  Thanks to John Boron and David Blanchette for the photos taken during the setup.  Our next All-Nighter will be at Sandstone Quarry on April 10th.

I need your help in identifying those that participated in this outing.  If you were there or have corrections regarding those that I have listed below, please send me a note.   Here are the folks I remember being there:  David Blanchette, Paul Kelm, Tom Smith, son and grandkids, Frank and his wife, John Boron and three professional photographers, Matt Starr, Matthew Vannah, Joe Dimartino, Mike Turley and kids, Richard and Becky Sullivan, Mark, Patrick Whiting and his wife from Baltimore, Rob and Rene' Howard, Geary Keilman, Fred Rayworth, and Elena and Art.  There was also the couple in the Vette and another couple and their friend. If you can help me in correcting and completing this list, I would appreciate it. - Rob

View from parking lot  View from the rocks above

David surveys the area    Rich and Becky's observing area

David's Monster SCT Rob's Lil' Hubble and the Club Solar Scope

 Almost Ready

Mike and kids are ready and waiting Darkness Approaches

The Furnace Creek Resort Area

LVAS Members and Guests returned to Death Valley in January to enjoy the dark skies at one of our favorite sites. We had guests join us from Michigan, California, and Oregon. The weather didn't cooperate Friday night - clouds prevented us from even setting up. John Heller and I met a few Park visitors at 8pm, but could only point out a few stars and Orion as it burned through the clouds. We could only hope for better skies on Saturday night.

In Front of General Store

Talking with Visitors at the General Store while waiting for the clouds to depart

We set up at the General Store on Saturday hoping for some Sun to try out our new Lunt Solar Scope. Clouds prevented any solar observing until about 12:30, but we passed out a lot of NASA handouts on the Sun and talked with folks about various astronomical topics. The Clear Sky Clock predicted a 13 hour window of clear skies beginning about 1:00pm and at 12:30, the clouds began to part and the sky opened up. Our new solar scope got its first light and Cindy Heller got to use her TelevVue 127 to observe the Sun for the first time. We able to observe Sun the for about 3 hours with these two scopes and David Blanchette's 80mm before we tore down to set up for the evening star party. See solar viewing pics below.

Our Three Solar Scopes Helping Visitors see the Sunspots

The weather Saturday night was great and we had over 100 visitors to observe through our scopes and observe the images of three Mallincams. Stan Watson, a Mallincam buddy from Michigan, joined us for the weekend. Dan Duriscoe, one of the Park Rangers, set up one of the Park's CPC 11s and spent the evening with us. After the crowd departed, several of us stay a few more hours for some personal observing. Some of us tackled the January Observer's Challenge and saw the Cone Nebula for the first time through our scopes. 

Beginning to Set Up

Setting up at the Airport

Overall, it was a good weekend despite the loss on Friday night.