Star Gazing at the Texada Island Fly-in

This week there was a full moon gracing the skies over Hole in the Wall here in Coastal BC.

After a full week of sunshine, high wispy clouds moved in, a precursor to an arriving warm front. We love sunny skies here on the Sunshine Coast, but we do need the occasional rain to keep our forests so green. But now it is back to sunny days and starry nights. And that's a good thing.

Powell River Books will be hosting a Star Party at the Texada Island Airport Fly-in on Saturday, July 11, at 10:00 pm. Wayne (with a little help from me) will set up two telescopes in the airplane camping area. The goal is to introduce people to astronomy and the availability of affordable telescopes. The Star Party is part of our contribution for the International Year of Astronomy and to encourage everyone to look to the skies.

Wayne is an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. He has three telescopes, a Meade ETX125 (125 millimeter) Maksutov-Cassegrain, a Meade LX90 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, and a Edmond Astroscan (for fun). For newbie amateurs astronomers, here are a few of his recommendations:

• 7 X 50 mm binoculars with magnification no higher than 7 ($100)
  
• a planisphere chart to identify celestial objects (about $20)
  
• Nightwatch by Dickinson, Schaller, Costanzo and Cooke ($40)
  
• Star Watch by Harrington (about $20)
  
• Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazine
• FirstScope telescope by Celestron (about $60)
  
• ETX-90PE telescope by Meade (about $600)

Thanks to everyone on Texada Island who came out for the Star Party in the airport camping area. We hope you enjoyed your evening. Look for us again next year at the annual fly-in. -- Wayne and Margy

Powell River's Star Party

Wednesday was the Star Party hosted by Powell River Books at the Town Centre Hotel in Powell River, BC. Wayne (with a little help from me) set up two telescopes in their courtyard. Light pollution was pretty bad, but the goal was to introduce people to astronomy and the availability of affordable telescopes. The Star Party was our contribution for the International Year of Astronomy and to encourage everyone to look to the skies.

After a week of sunshine and clear nights, we had a sudden cloud cover. When you live in Coastal BC, you have to be flexible with the weather. At least they didn't call for rain! Then just before party time, the skies cleared completely. We set up both telescopes to focus on the moon. Then Wayne switched his more powerful Meade LX90 to Saturn, Messier 13, a Globular Cluster, and a double-star pair (Mizar and Alcor). With computer driven controllers, we were able to find and track the evenings best celestial objects.

The participants had a good time and lots of opportunities to look through both telescopes. Wayne and I want to thank Shelly, the manager of the Town Centre Hotel, for her ongoing support of events like these and Powell River Books.

Wayne is an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. He has three telescopes, a Meade ETX125 (125 millimeter) Maksutov-Cassegrain, a Meade LX90 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, and a Edmond Astroscan (for fun). For newbie amateurs astronomers, here are a few of his recommendations:

• 7 X 50 mm binoculars with magnification no higher than 7 ($100)
  
• a planisphere chart to identify celestial objects (about $20)
  
• Nightwatch by Dickinson, Schaller, Costanzo and Cooke ($40)
  
• Star Watch by Harrington (about $20)
  
• Sky & Telescope or Astronomy magazine
• FirstScope telescope by Celestron (about $60)
  
• ETX-90PE telescope by Meade (about $600)
  

I am amazed at how dark and clear the sky can be here in Powell River. It's a perfect location for night sky exploration, even from the corner of our floating cabin up Powell Lake. -- Margy

A Schmidt-Cassegrain in Our Kitchen

My husband Wayne is an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. He has three telescopes, a Meade ETX125 (125 millimeter) Maksutov-Cassegrain, a Meade LX90 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, and a Edmond Astroscan (for fun).

The LX90 has been a fixture in our cabin's kitchen for several years. On clear nights, Wayne takes it out to the corner of the deck for dark night observations. We have a small slice of the sky to view from Hole in the Wall, but the seeing conditions are excellent. Both telescopes have the Autostar computer-driven goto feature. That's really handy for finding some of the more distant objects. The ETX125 has recently moved from our condo to the cabin small storage room. There was so much light pollution in town, we decided it was better to have both models handy up the lake.

I used Wayne's telescope to take some Moon and Jupiter shots through the lens. In the future, I hope to take some more, but I need really bright objects for my little Canon digital camera to work.

One of my most memorable telescope experiences was with the Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers. They booked an observing session at the Mt. Wilson Observatory's on the 60-inch telescope for the night. Not only is the scope massive, but it is a part of history. The observatory was founded in 1904 and in 1908 the 60-inch scope was installed. When it was built by George Ellery Hale in 1908, it was the largest telescope in the world. That night we saw Jupiter, Saturn and its moon Titan, a globular cluster, several planetary nebula and distant galaxies. It was quite a night!

Want to know more about our unique lifestyle in a floating cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC? Read Up the Lake writtem by my husband Wayne. It's available online at www.PowellRiverBooks.com -- Margy

By the Light of the Moon

After dark, our float cabin deck becomes an astronomical observatory. On clear nights, Wayne sets up his Meade 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope for nocturnal sky and star gazing. Winter nights are the longest, but often cloudy. Summer nights are clear, but short.

Last night we were also battling the moon's bright glow. The moon is an interesting object to explore, so we took advantage of the early evening hours to gaze at the craters and get some pictures with my digital camera. It isn't very sophisticated, a Canon PowerShot A710IS, but I was able to get a few good pictures through the telescope's lens.

After our moon shots, we headed off to bed. To get the darkest possible sky, we set the alarm for 1:00 a.m. There would be a very short window of time after the setting of the moon in the west and the rising of the sun in the east. Typically, Wayne gets up alone for these late night/early morning observations, but last night I joined him to try and get some pictures of Jupiter. My planet shots weren't as successful as my moon pictures, but I'm pleased I was able to get anything.

Then, it was off to bed for me, but the astronomer in the family stayed up for up for some extended personal time at the scope. -- Margy