<= Return to Hidden Hollow 2008 Info

Here's a note RAS received about last year's Hidden Hollow.  Many thanks to Joe Tarkany of MVAS for letting us know how much he enjoyed Hidden Hollow!

Hidden Hollow 2007

The Wild Duck Cluster through a TelVue Pronto. I first found this object in the early nineties from a previous visit to Hidden Hollow. A few thousand stars resolved through a small telescope. The name came from an early observation.  This object reminds the viewer of a flock of wild ducks. Nice view! HH2008 should be fun. I am back for more looks.

Over a dozen MVAS members were present for this event. Dark skies, venders, accommodations, great speakers, door prizes, solar viewing, work shops, and of course the big scope will make me return for more of these events. Special thanks go out to Tammy Plotner and her Hidden Hollow associates from the Richland Astronomical Society who organized this event.

In one of the bunk houses there was a discussion from a vender of new ideas soon to be released to the public. It is nice to see that they are providing us with all of the essentials.   The cabins and bunkhouses on location were warm and comfortable. There is plenty of room for primitive camping or a RV with trailer. Hot showers, modern restrooms and a food service vendor made it easy to relax and save the energy for the night sky.

Brent Archinal is a long time member of the Richland Astronomical Society.   Brent received his PhD from the Ohio State Department of Geodetic Science and Surveying in 1987. His presentation was about mapping the Moon. He reviewed the history about mapping and the enormous amount of data from NASA archived and available to him.  Using the 31-inch Rupp reflector, Brent made the first known visual telescopic observation of a gravitational lens.

Ron Ravneberg is an amateur astronomer, telescope builder and long-time member of the Columbus Astronomical Society. Friday he gave a presentation about the resources available to the public from the last 80 years. It was the history of telescopes and astronomical magazines, researched well. He presented it with a Power Point and his narrative. A lot of historical essentials of the day was covered, most of it we lived through.

Ron’s talk Saturday was about a 4.1” f/4.2 RFT he completed in 2004. It is low powered enough that it can be hand held while viewing. He also showed how it could also be attached to a pier. His telescope creations are often practical but emphasizing preparation. He does the work before you have clear skies so you can relax and enjoy the view. Ron has been to Hidden Hollow before and also an avid participant at many star parties.  I would like to see he presentations again and I will probably get the opportunity. 

After dark we looked through his latest scope, a 4.5” f/15 refractor he built around a J.W. Fecker objective and other antique components. It works nice and produced an awesome view of Andromeda galaxy.

Phil Creed is an active participant in amateur astronomy. The has written articles for "Amateur Astronomy" Magazine, including a just-submitted one on haze and another on a dark observing site in northern West Virginia called Calhoun County Park. The well researched investigations made for the good topic. He focused this study on how to better understand the nature of haze and how to track it. The aerosols in the sky expand and disperse more light when they come into contact with moisture. He listed sources for aerosols and reported that the EPA will be restricting these pollutions from big coal burning power plants. Yes he stated the skies will be better in the future!

Terry Mann gave a presentation about the opportunities the amateur astronomers will have in the future.  Terry Mann is President of the Astronomical League. From this she sits on committees with both professional amateur astronomers. Terry introduced us to the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). The aim of this is to stimulate worldwide interest, especially among young people, in astronomy and science under the central theme “The Universe, Yours to Discover”. IYA2009 events and activities will promote a greater appreciation of the inspirational aspects of astronomy that embody an invaluable shared resource for all nations. See the link for more details. http://www.astronomy2009.org/

Between talks Saturday a few of us including Terry set up scopes for solar viewing. The H-Alpha scope from Coronado she brought was magnificent. A ninety mm objective produced some great views. A Coronado P.S.T. and even a radio telescope were also aimed at the sun.

There were work shops for constructing a card board Galileo replica telescope and Baader solar filter material available for constructing a solar filter. One member attached the filter material to the telescope. He now holds a scope to be used exclusively for solar viewing. 

Phil Harrington gave a talk about his observing site. It was a nice program about back yard observing. He showed many examples before reviewing his. He has a big DOB isolated from the observing deck. A cover rolls over the scope when it is not in use. He emphasized plenty of room to observe. It works well and it looks good.

Tom Whiting made another trip to Hidden Hollow and brought his thirty inch DOB. Tom did a presentation this year on how to get the most out of your observing and quick, efficient ways of finding what you're looking for.

He had the scope aimed at The Cats Eye Nebula using the new Nagler 13mm eyepiece. Nice view! When he aimed at The Triangulum galaxy M33 you could see the star birth regions in the spiral arms listed as NGC 604. The scope had to be moved around to capture all of the spiral arms. Tom’s ability to aim astonishes all observers. His knowledge of what he is looking at is also impressive. Later double stars that he effortlessly aimed at were multi colored and brilliant.

The big scope holds a thirty one inch quarts mirror. There is a lift that takes you to the eyepiece. This huge scope produces magnificent images. The first object found was M15. WOW! It was framed in well with a 17 mm Nagler eyepiece. The Saturn Nebula was next complete with its ring. Later while the operator was looking for faint 15th magnitude galaxies he came across PGC 69457 located high in the sky near the Pegasus/Aquarius border. This faint fuzzy is Einstein’s Cross. It was seen as almost a star point of light but fuzzier than the neighboring stars. It is an example of Einstein's theory, light following a curved path around a massive object. The light from a distant quasar is bent around the more nearby galaxy. Knowing what you are looking at helps the viewer determines what causes the difference between this and the other stars.

These are the kind of events that I do not want to miss. You see old and new friends. You see old and new telescopes. And of course see old and new things in the sky.

 Joe Tarkany