SEDONA, ARIZONA - TWO TREES
January, 2003
SIRIUS LOOKERS

2003/01/31 – 02/02
Time: Sundown – 4:00am
Location: Two Trees (Approximately 5 miles south of Sedona, Arizona)
Weather:
- Temperature – 50’s – 30’s
- Humidity – <50%
- Winds – S @ 1mph with gusts to 20mph
- Clouds – Very high thin clouds at best, other times worse.
Moon Phase: 0%

This weekend has been the most memorable of my young Astronomical experiences! It covers 2 nights of observing.

I was invited by "tfwthom", whom I met at SDC (Space.com) to join him and his wife, along with members of other Astro-Clubs from the Arizona area, for a Star-Party near Sedona, Arizona. This would be my first time to view with other people. So, I took tfwthom, his real name is Thom up on the offer. And let me tell you this; it was an awe inspiring experience to say the least!

First I must say I was saddened to hear of the news of the Space Shuttle and its Crew that was lost over the skies of Texas and Louisiana early Saturday morning. Thoughts and Prayers go out for them and their families.

My son John and I started our weekend early Friday morning. We wanted to take his Sand-rail and so careful packing was in order as to be able to get everything we would need into our faithful truck Terra. It took about an hour or so but we managed quite nicely I must say. I decided to leave my dog with a friend because of the long drive and I was not sure how the other people would feel about having a dog at the star-party. After finishing packing, we stopped at the store and picked up a few needed supplies, filled the truck with gas and headed out of town.

Sedona is a beautiful five hour drive from Las Vegas. The weather was totally gorgeous though unseasonably warm. Due to the events of 9/11, guards are still posted at Hover Damn and we were stopped as everyone was at the checkpoints. The guards wanted to know what was in the long cardboard box. Of course, I told them “A telescope”. I don’t think they were expecting that answer but let us pass without making us unpack for a visual inspection. Throughout the rest of the trip, John and I had quite a laugh taking turns suggesting things we should have told them instead! A “rocket launcher and C4” was the obvious answer but if I would have said that in jest, I’m sure I would not be here to write my report! John’s answer of “hot dogs” was probably the funniest.

As we approached one of my favorite little cities, the town of Williams, Arizona, we noticed the trees were looking a little sad to say the least. We later learned that due to the severe drought, a certain beetle was taking over the forests. It was said that northern Arizona was expected to lose 80% of its forests. The route we were given, being the shortest of course, took us through Oak Creek Canyon. I was not expecting this kind of road and it totally threw me off guard. The vertigo condition I developed in the early 90’s was running rampant as a series of switch-back curves descended an altitude of 2500’. When we got to smoother sailing, I had to peel my fingers off the steering wheel but at least I could breathe again!

Sedona appears rather suddenly as you round the last curve of the road that follows the creek. At first, I thought the town appeared rather uppity: very clean and neat, but uppity. I later found it to quite the quaint town. The backdrop of the surrounding mountains and red rocks against the city was truly awesome. I’m sure it is a great place to live.

About 5 miles south of town, we began to look for our turn to the Two Trees area. We actually found it on the first try but I thought it was wrong so I turned around, crossed the highway and went the other way for about a mile until I realized I was right the first time.

We arrived at the site first, about 2 hrs before anybody else. As evening started to begin and nobody else was showing up, I got worried that I had turned the wrong way on the wrong dirt road and was indeed at the wrong place. I tried calling Thom on my cellular phone and got his recording. I tried another number that he had given me of the president of the Astro-club, which by the way was called “Sirius Lookers”, of Dennis Young. I described to him where I was and he confirmed that we had found the correct place and that he was on his way and that other people were too. John and I felt better having made contact and so we unpacked and set up our camp. Soon enough, others started to show up. Daylight ended and Thom was nowhere in sight. It turns out that Thom’s truck had broken down on the way and he was stuck somewhere along the side of the road. Word was that he was probably not going to make it up. The other people that did come lived in the area and were not staying the night. John and I would be on our own once they left.

The first to arrive was a man named Mark, then Ara, Ron, John and finally Dennis who actually had to leave again because he was giving an Astronomy presentation back in Sedona. We had been expecting a rather poor sky for star-gazing; partly cloudy and slightly windy. What we got was better then we hoped for; slight breezes and high, thin clouds.

Of the five people showed up with ‘scopes, one of them belonged to Dennis. It was a ‘scope made by his own hands and design, a 20” Dobsonian. Dennis was not there most of the evening so his friend, the gentleman named John set it up for us to look through. When I first saw it, I was floored. I had never seen such a thing. I thought I was going to drive John crazy as I kept asking him, “can we see this, and can we see that?” But he graciously filled all my requests. They were mostly objects I had seen before with my own little 5” Newtonian but on a much more grand scale. Four of the objects I would never be able to see were NGC 2438 a Planetary Nebula which is located within the Messier object M46 in the constellation of Puppis; NGC 2392, the “Eskimo Nebula” located in Gemini; M97 the “Owl Nebula” in Ursa Major and NGC 3628 an “Edge-on” Galaxy located in Leo.

Another thing we looked at was an object everyone called 37. Yes, 37. It is located above Betelgeuse in Orion. Search for it and you will see why they call it simply “37”.

I also looked at the double-star cluster (NGC 884/869) located in Perseus. This was through a 6” refractor that belonged to Ara, the “Cluster King” of the group. I think he knew the NGC number of every object in the sky!

After about 2 hours, I decided to go to my own ‘scope. I managed to pull out M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy (NGC 5457); an object that had eluded me in the past. John had showed me an easy way to find M81 and M82 so I found that also.

Around midnight or so most everyone had drifted off back to Sedona. But Dennis stayed around and gave me some pointers on using my ‘scope in the city. He showed me a device that I think would be very useful to any “Urban” Observer like me. It was a Rigel Starfinder. It only has 1x power but it displays 2 red circles like the Telrad viewfinder. I found it a great tool and that is what my next accessory is going to be. Dennis left around 1am, leaving John and myself alone in complete darkness. Now we were wishing we had brought Sierra! It was kind of freaky and since everyone was gone, we thought about having that fire I was forewarned against having at a Star-Party. We gathered some wood but then I thought about the severe fire-hazard warnings I saw and decided against it. It was probably a good thing because we didn’t have enough water to put the darn thing out had we started one! The sleeping bags were calling anyway. At least it wasn’t coyotes!

In the morning we were awakened by a strange buzzing sound. It turns out; our “viewing” site was next to the local Radio Controlled Aircraft field. What a pain! Can’t they see I’m trying to sleep over here? So what if it’s noon!

As the afternoon went on, clouds started rolling in. I thought surely nobody would come tonight. John and I made the decision to pack up and head home a day early. I still had Dennis’s viewfinder so we drove into Sedona and I called him on the phone. What he told me made me change my mind about leaving. He said he was on his way out to the site with his 28” ‘scope. The 20” was just his “back-up” and now he was bringing the big one. This I had to see so we drove back. And guess who decided to show up? Yeah, Thom was there with his wife Ellen! Now I could be warm and make coffee in his camper…we set up our tent again.

About 12 people rolled in before nightfall, some from the night before and some new (to me). The sky was rather sporadic throughout the night. The transparency of the sky changed from place to place. Sometimes even the whole constellation of Orion was virtually washed out. The winds were increasing the whole time, from nearly none to about 20mph by the time I stopped viewing. Low humidity and temps around 40 degrees.

It was really cool to see all the ‘scopes set up in a row. There were so many different kinds; Dobsonians, Refractors, Newtonians and SCT’s not to mention different brands and so many different eyepieces and gadgets to check out. Right as I got mine all set up, somebody shouted out, “Hey, who wants to see a comet?” So, I saw my first comet in a 6” Dobsonian. Then I promptly went to my ‘scope and found it. The tail went through the whole FOV in my 25mm eyepiece. The name of the comet was, I believe, (NEAT) C/2002 V1. After that I spent time looking at the Messier objects in Ursa Major and Canes Venatici. But who really cares what I saw in my little 5” when there is a 28” Dobsonian, f3.9 on the premises! This thing is incredible. Dennis designed and built it by himself. The parts come from all over the world and it is more then likely the largest privately owned telescope in the entire state of Arizona. I hope that’s not confidential information! Here is what we looked at:

*Saturn:
- Cassini division crisp and clear
- Obvious color difference between rings and planet
- Shadow of rings clearly cast onto planet
- 6 Moons visible
*Jupiter:
- 4 Moons visible with definite color differences
- The bands were just unreal. I can’t even begin to describe it properly
*Orion (M42):
- I’ll just say; I think I woke the dead and roused a few Indian Spirits when I saw Orion through this ‘scope. All the “old-timers” got a kick out of my reaction.
*M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy, NGC 5194, and NGC 5195) in Canes Venatici:
- Just like in the pictures! Spiral arms clear, with obvious separation between.
- Brighter central stars with other stars behind (or in front of) as points of light and not blurred
- The little “side-kick” galaxy very distinct and crisp
* M104 (The Sombrero Galaxy, NGC 4594) in Virgo:
- Just like a flying Saucer
- Dust lane visible through the brighter center and taking up entire FOV

Then Dennis showed me some very sweet “Doubles”. Can you find the “Pumpkin” in Cassiopeia? It’s there! And also a nice one in Canis Major. The color and clarity was unreal. But the show was not over. By this time everyone had either left, or was in bed. It was probably around 4am. What I saw next blew my sox off!

* M13, NGC 6205 the Hercules Cluster
* M92, NGC 6341 in Hercules
* M3, NGC 5272 in Canes Venatici

All HUGE Globular Clusters! But what came last was clearly the highlight/

* The Coma-Virgo Cluster
- Eight Galaxies in one FOV! The majority of them are about 60 million light-years away.

During this whole time, Dennis was showing me how to find them. Something else I learned about is the laser pens that point things out in the sky with a beam of light. The night was late and I was very tired. I could have stayed up longer but I was frozen to the bone and the wind was really starting to kick up. I offered to help Dennis pack up his equipment but he said he had it down to a science and basically I would be more of hindrance then of help. The ‘scope itself only takes around 6 minutes to disassemble and pack up into his Van. It is all the various eyepieces that take so long. So I thanked him for about the hundredth time and headed off to bed.

Oh, I almost forgot. I must thank Ron for explaining the “f” as in “f/8”…I think!

Again, I didn’t wake ‘till almost noon. The wind was now almost a steady gale. I thought my tent was going to collapse. Thom had made coffee and that was a god-send. I must mention his wife who is a very nice lady. I had quite a nice time talking to her and comparing notes. I think I would like to adopt them both!

John and I slowly packed up all our gear; he had brought his sand-rail and did some riding while we were here. We waited for Thom and his wife to pack up and hook up the camper to his truck before leaving. Our ride home was uneventful. Before hitting the road, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Sedona called “The Red Planet”. It was a really cool little diner that was themed with space and alien décor. After finishing, we took a couple of photos of us with the red rocks of Sedona in the background.

I opted for a longer route home rather then driving back up through Oak Creek Canyon thus avoiding the switch-back curves that had terrified me on our drive in. Winds from the south-west had really picked up making driving semi-difficult. After we left Flagstaff, I let John drive Terra west down I-40 to Kingman where I took back over the controls. The guards at the Arizona side of the damn did not seem concerned about any of the items in the bed of the truck and let us pass without incident. We arrived back in Las Vegas, safe and sound at approximately 8:30 pm.

I really owe Thom a debt of gratitude. Going down to Sedona and meeting his friends was a most pleasant and educational experience. I hope to see them again in the near future.

New Objects Viewed – (Some of these objects not viewed through my telescope)

(Meade 5” EQ Newtonian):
- M101 (NGC 5457) Pinwheel Galaxy / Ursa Major
- (NEAT) C/2002 V1 (Comet) / Perseus

(Dennis 20” Dobsonian):
- NGC 2438 (Planetary Nebula) / Puppis (M46)
- NGC 2392 (Eskimo Nebula) / Gemini
- M97 (Owl Nebula) / Ursa Major
- NGC 3628 (Edge-on Galaxy) / Leo

(Dennis 28” Dobsonian):
- NGC 5195 / Canes Venatici
- M104 (NGC 4594) Sombrero Galaxy / Virgo
- M13 (NGC 6205) Hercules Cluster / Hercules
- M92 (NGC 6341) / Hercules
- M3 (NGC 5272) / Canes Venatici
- Coma-Virgo Cluster (Eight Galaxies)
- The Pumpkin Star / Cassiopeia
- “37” / Orion
- Double star in Canis Major

Unfortunately, during out time at Two Trees, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry over Texas, on its 28th mission. All seven crew members aboard perished. We were able to see some strange lights towards the southeast which I'm sure was part of it's destruction.