Observing Reports by Knuck

Okie-Tex 2010

October 26, 2010 at 12:52 pm | Posted in Observing Report | Leave a comment

We had five good nights at Okie-Tex this year.  A couple of the nights were better than just good.  On the last evening the sky was overcast shortly after dark.  By then the scopes were already packed away, in anticipation of the required early departure the next morning.  I worked on my sketching almost every night.  There was wind that kept me from sketching at times.  But, I even attempted a sketch on the last night, just before the overcast arrived.  I attempted a widefield sketch of the Milky Way ascending over a picturesque ridge line to the South.  I’m still working on that sketch.

This was the first star party that I have attended by myself.  Before, there has always been someone that either went with me or that I planned to meet and camp with.  This time I had no idea who might be there and had no one that I would be camping with.   Before I left, I was concerned that the absence of any of my usual star party companions would result in a less satisfying experience.  The social aspect of star parties is an important one.  I needn’t have been concerned.  Many friends I had met the previous two years at Okie-Tex were back.  It was great to renew those friendships.  New friends, that I met for the first time earlier this year, at the Texas Star Party, were there.  Then, and this is almost always the case at any star party, I met new friends.   When you get down to it, the community of amateur astronomers is really not all that big and it’s pretty easy to form a new friendship based upon a known shared interest.

Here are the observing reports and some of the  sketches.  You may be interested to compare the sketch of M31 and M110 to the sketch of M31 that I made a year ago.  The comparison shows that I have made some progress with my sketches.

Click on the link for the observing reports.  Click on any of the sketches to see a larger version.  I hope you enjoy them.

Observing Reports