Cherry Springs Observing:

OBSERVING REPORT - CHERRY SPRINGS - MAY 5 & 6

by Ted N.
Copyright 2000, Astronomical Society of Harrisburg. May not be reused or posted elsewhere without permission.

On May 5th fellow ASH Member Tony Donnangelo and I drove up to Cherry Springs State Park, for the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's "No Frills" Star Party.

The 4 hour drive was rather interesting, and scenic to say the least. When we arrived at Cherry Springs we were impressed to see a wide array of 'scopes already set up. As a background on this site, it is in Northern Pennsylvania and the skies there are regarded as the darkest in the area. The site is 2400 feet above sea level, and at coordinates: Lat. - 41 39' 46" N, Long - 77 49' 24" W. A few people estimated magnitude to be approximately 6.3 to 6.8.

We set up camp and the clouds, that didn't look like they were going to clear out did, and gave us a fair to good night. The transparency was not as good as it could have been, but the skies were dark.

Many meteors were seen on this night, including a rather impressive bolide, that had everyone cheering. This made the whole trip worth it. This bolide originated in the NE about 25 degrees or so. The general consensus of people there was its brightness was approximately -9 magnitude. Two Sonic Booms were heard by several after it had dimmed. The exciting part was when the meteor broke in half and continued to fall. It started out rather Green and tinges of Yellow were seen and eventually a bluish green color. This was a GREAT meteor!

That night I saw many things through my C8 and binoculars, including M44 (Beehive Cluster) which was even quite impressive naked eye. I viewed this at approximately 51x through my 'scope, and with 7x35 binoculars.

I also had rather impressive views of two globular clusters - M3 (at 51x and 81x) and M13 (51x), three planetary nebulae - M27 (Dumbell Nebula), M-57 (Ring nebula in Lyra, at 51x, 81x, 240x) and M97 (Owl Nebula), and eight spiral galaxies - M51 (Whirlpool Nebula), M64, M81 (the Great Spiral in Ursa Najor), M82, M101, M104, M106, and M109. NGC 4886, NGC 4898, and NGC 4889 - all were seen in the same field through a 20" F/4 Dob with a 7 mm Nagler at 334x. NGC 4889 was the dominant object. The 2 others had low surface brightness. These were in Virgo.

My goal this night was to concentrate on logging globulars, but at around 1:15 AM the transparency begin to fade, so I decided I'd go to bed for an hour wake up and see how it was. When I got up the transparency was playing games so I decided to sleep and hope tomorrow would be a better night. I couldn't help but admire the beauty of the Milky Way from the tent as I laid there.

I was easily awoken at 8:00 AM by the heat of the sun. Both days the temperature was 85-90 degrees! The temperature at night was around 40+ degrees. Very Comfortable!

During the day I ventured to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, and enjoyed the geological beauty! I came back as the sky began to clear out, and many, many more people showed up. I'd estimate Saturday Night at one point there were 100 people easily there.

That night I had astonishing views of Seyferts Sextet through a 24" Dob, the Veil Nebulae (NGC 6992 & 6995) through many scopes, the Dumbbell(M27), various Globulars in Sagittarius & Scorpius, the Whale and Fishhook Galaxy through G. Honis' 20" Dob, the Wild Duck Cluster through manytelescopes including a 12" & 10" Meade LX200, and a 6" Astrophysics Starfire. I also had some impressive views of M5, M8 - the "Sunflower"Cluster, M13, M57, and a -7 magnitude Iridium flare, among many others.

The Milky Way is viewed excellently from this site. With binoculars structure is easily seen (dark areas, etc...). It was also excellent to see the constellation Crater from this site, as where I live it is not easily seen. Coma Berenices looked excellent naked eye, and this whole trip was totally worth it, and I will definitely do it again!

I retired at around 3:15 AM this night. I arrived home at approximately 3:00 PM on May 7th. Two totally wonderful nights of observing, at one of the BEST sites in the area! Thanks also to everyone who ventured out, and allowed people to view things through their scopes. I retired at around 3:15 AM this night. I arrived home at approximately 3:00 PM on May 7th. Two totally wonderful nights of observing, at one of the BEST sites in the area! Thanks also to everyone who ventured out, and allowed people to view things through their scopes.