Post by bsimon615 on Apr 24, 2023 13:15:22 GMT -6
The Deep South Spring Scrimmage 2023 is now over and it was a good one.
Our final official registration was 26 with the following in attendance -
1 Shirkey, Bryan
2 Philpot, Len
3 Simon, Barry
4 Kern, David
5 Kern, Clariza
6 Danielson, Mike
7 Wertelecki, Taras
8 Diaz, David
9 Martinez, John
10 Keating, Ron
11 Rodenhausen, Eric
12 Rodenhausen, Mary Ann
13 Walter, Matt
14 Lemasters, Clint
15 Lemasters, Jeremiah
16 Lemasters, Lorelai
17 Millet, Steve
18 Millet, Remy
19 Thompson, Greg
20 Harrison, Steve
21 Wollenberg, Phil
22 Johnson, Bill
23 Johnson, Nanette
24 Maruala, Annu
25 Barroso, Santiago
26 Sandefur, C.W.
As with virtually every Deep South Spring Scrimmage or Deep South Star Gaze the weather was not perfect but it was certainly good for much of the Scrimmage. Some came early to take advantage of the forecast for the early part of the week with Len Philpot, Bryan Shirkey and Greg Thompson arriving on Sunday. Matt Walter arrived on Monday. They had a good amount of decent weather. 10 more of us arrived on Wednesday and that night was a good one with the limiting factor being fatigue. Thursday was good during the day up to close to sunset and then it clouded up to be followed by intermittent periods where telescopes could be aligned along with some spotty observing. Friday was much like Thursday for much of the day with solar observing being possible for much of the day.
We had an approaching front line with thunder and lightning on Friday evening, quite impressive, but Friday night was really movie night. We woke Saturday to clear skies and low humidity and the evening started off very nice with an impressive triangle formed by the crescent Moon, Venus and Aldebaran. Unfortunately the sky hazed over by about 10 pm cutting the observing session short, but we did get about 2 hours of observing in and a few did a bit more.
I did some simple photography on Wednesday night using a 90mm Tamron lens piggybacked on my AT 111 triplet apo. No guiding was done but it was not needed. I will post a few photos including some of the Omega Centaurus globular. On Saturday night I did some more photography with my Canon 60D at prime focus in the AT111, and again with no guiding. I was not expecting much considering that there was no guiding and the focal length was 777 millimeters, but surprisingly exposures up to 90 seconds at ISO 1600 showed no trailing. I must have really been lucky on my alignment, especially so as many astro-photographers do not consider an AVX mount to be especially good.
On Saturday Len Philpot and I discovered a good place to eat in Columbia, see the pictures below - Debbie's Old Tyme Burgers. This place is more than burgers. They have an extensive menu. Len had a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich which he said was good and I had no complaint with my burger and fries. We took the Mt. Carmel Church Road up to Hwy 35 to get there and it was quite scenic. See photo.
Others please feel free to post some photos.
Note that the dates for the Spring Scrimmage in 2024 will likely be May 1st to the 5th. (I was thinking that April 3rd to the 7th would be better, but the Total Solar Eclipse is on April 8th so many potential attendees will be traveling to eclipse sites for that.)
Barry Simon
Our final official registration was 26 with the following in attendance -
1 Shirkey, Bryan
2 Philpot, Len
3 Simon, Barry
4 Kern, David
5 Kern, Clariza
6 Danielson, Mike
7 Wertelecki, Taras
8 Diaz, David
9 Martinez, John
10 Keating, Ron
11 Rodenhausen, Eric
12 Rodenhausen, Mary Ann
13 Walter, Matt
14 Lemasters, Clint
15 Lemasters, Jeremiah
16 Lemasters, Lorelai
17 Millet, Steve
18 Millet, Remy
19 Thompson, Greg
20 Harrison, Steve
21 Wollenberg, Phil
22 Johnson, Bill
23 Johnson, Nanette
24 Maruala, Annu
25 Barroso, Santiago
26 Sandefur, C.W.
As with virtually every Deep South Spring Scrimmage or Deep South Star Gaze the weather was not perfect but it was certainly good for much of the Scrimmage. Some came early to take advantage of the forecast for the early part of the week with Len Philpot, Bryan Shirkey and Greg Thompson arriving on Sunday. Matt Walter arrived on Monday. They had a good amount of decent weather. 10 more of us arrived on Wednesday and that night was a good one with the limiting factor being fatigue. Thursday was good during the day up to close to sunset and then it clouded up to be followed by intermittent periods where telescopes could be aligned along with some spotty observing. Friday was much like Thursday for much of the day with solar observing being possible for much of the day.
We had an approaching front line with thunder and lightning on Friday evening, quite impressive, but Friday night was really movie night. We woke Saturday to clear skies and low humidity and the evening started off very nice with an impressive triangle formed by the crescent Moon, Venus and Aldebaran. Unfortunately the sky hazed over by about 10 pm cutting the observing session short, but we did get about 2 hours of observing in and a few did a bit more.
I did some simple photography on Wednesday night using a 90mm Tamron lens piggybacked on my AT 111 triplet apo. No guiding was done but it was not needed. I will post a few photos including some of the Omega Centaurus globular. On Saturday night I did some more photography with my Canon 60D at prime focus in the AT111, and again with no guiding. I was not expecting much considering that there was no guiding and the focal length was 777 millimeters, but surprisingly exposures up to 90 seconds at ISO 1600 showed no trailing. I must have really been lucky on my alignment, especially so as many astro-photographers do not consider an AVX mount to be especially good.
On Saturday Len Philpot and I discovered a good place to eat in Columbia, see the pictures below - Debbie's Old Tyme Burgers. This place is more than burgers. They have an extensive menu. Len had a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich which he said was good and I had no complaint with my burger and fries. We took the Mt. Carmel Church Road up to Hwy 35 to get there and it was quite scenic. See photo.
Others please feel free to post some photos.
Note that the dates for the Spring Scrimmage in 2024 will likely be May 1st to the 5th. (I was thinking that April 3rd to the 7th would be better, but the Total Solar Eclipse is on April 8th so many potential attendees will be traveling to eclipse sites for that.)
Barry Simon
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