Dave Mitsky
26-July-2004, 04:25 PM
The 2004 Southern Skies Star Party is now over. It was a time of many ups and downs, some of which I will elaborate on in a future post.
On the plus side I experienced 6 nights of superb observing from the shores of Lake Titicaca at an altitude of over 12,000 feet on the Bolivian altiplano. The weather was far better than it was when I was there in 2002. During the course of the week I viewed hundreds of deep-sky objects under nearly seventh magnitude zenithal skies including such southern hemisphere gems as the Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372), Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), Centaurus A (NGC 5128), 47 Tucanae (NGC 104), the Jewel Box Cluster (NGC 4755), NGC 3532, NGC 6397, NGC 6752, and both of the Magellanic Clouds and many of their components using my 15x70 binocular and a number of telescopes including a Takahashi FS-106 apochromatic refractor, a 10 inch Starmaster Dob, and a 22 inch Starmaster Dob. On the evening of July 12th we witnessed a spectacular bolide that was far more brilliant than Venus, which by the way was an easy naked-eye target during the day. One very pleasant surprise among the many objects that I observed was the strikingly unusual Spiral Planetary (NGC 5189) in Musca.
Spending time with the renowned David Levy while he was hunting comets in the early morning later on in the week was quite a treat. David interviewed my friend Tony Donnangelo and me for his Internet show Let's Talk Stars.
However, due to a number of factors and concerns including a somewhat close call with a potentially dangerous political situation (i.e., a national referendum on the disposition of Bolivian natural gas reserves) and an absolutely horrendous 37 hour long return trip I will not be attending the SSSP again.
Dave Mitsky
On the plus side I experienced 6 nights of superb observing from the shores of Lake Titicaca at an altitude of over 12,000 feet on the Bolivian altiplano. The weather was far better than it was when I was there in 2002. During the course of the week I viewed hundreds of deep-sky objects under nearly seventh magnitude zenithal skies including such southern hemisphere gems as the Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372), Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), Centaurus A (NGC 5128), 47 Tucanae (NGC 104), the Jewel Box Cluster (NGC 4755), NGC 3532, NGC 6397, NGC 6752, and both of the Magellanic Clouds and many of their components using my 15x70 binocular and a number of telescopes including a Takahashi FS-106 apochromatic refractor, a 10 inch Starmaster Dob, and a 22 inch Starmaster Dob. On the evening of July 12th we witnessed a spectacular bolide that was far more brilliant than Venus, which by the way was an easy naked-eye target during the day. One very pleasant surprise among the many objects that I observed was the strikingly unusual Spiral Planetary (NGC 5189) in Musca.
Spending time with the renowned David Levy while he was hunting comets in the early morning later on in the week was quite a treat. David interviewed my friend Tony Donnangelo and me for his Internet show Let's Talk Stars.
However, due to a number of factors and concerns including a somewhat close call with a potentially dangerous political situation (i.e., a national referendum on the disposition of Bolivian natural gas reserves) and an absolutely horrendous 37 hour long return trip I will not be attending the SSSP again.
Dave Mitsky