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Hi,

I am new to the club, and wanted to share one of my "trip reports", if that's okay.

This was the first trip to an event by the Back Bay Amatuer Astronomers (though I did stop by in the daytime in March for your Spring event, and met a few folks)

Unfortunately, I did not get to see anyone this time, but I did get two hours of a nice clearing last night.

I was supposed to go to Cherry Springs for May's new moon, but I needed to stay home, and the forecast for Cherry Springs was not great anyway.

So I went to Chippokes State Park, 10 miles from home (5 miles as the crow flies.? Hence the?"mini-astro-trip")

I thought the Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (Virginia Beach area) were meeting there Friday night, and after I got to an empty parking lot at the Chippokes Plantation, I checked my email, and it was for the next night.? But I set up anyway and did some imaging?for an optical test I am conducting, and will report on at a later time (as it is not done yet).

It was peaceful and comfortable, with an amazing deep blue twilight sky,?and interesting clouds.

Near the end of my first night before going home, at around 2:30 AM, I got?a shot of Scorpius and the Milky Way, with a very noticeable skyglow to the East,?from the city of Newport News:

I went back again Saturday night, but again, no other attendees besides me.

This time the parking lot was full of cars, but it was for a country wedding there that cleared out before dusk.

Another amazing evening?sky, with incredible clouds, sun rays, comfortable temperatures, and low humidity.

The clouds did not pass until just after midnight, at first exposing Lyra with Vega, as they moved in a line that looked like the teeth of a comb.

Our cloud expert, George Preoteasa, told me these are undulatus clouds.

The view to the West is less light polluted, and I could just barely see the coma cluster, all the stars in the little dipper, and the three leaps of the Gazelle, underneath the Big Dipper:

If you're unfamiliar?with the three leaps, of which two are the front?and rear paws of Ursa Major, I circled them here:

I am used to hearing owls, or coyotes, but hearing cows late at night is a first.? I remembered that this park is a "working farm" since 1619

This photo was taken in March, when I visited the Back Bay club in the daytime for their Spring star party, just to say hello, coming home from the Staunton River Star Party.:

I got two hours on my intended target, UGC 9242 (PGC 51503), before the clouds unexpectedly returned:

An album of my two-night trip to Chippokes is here:

UGC 9242 information:

This is? another "inspired by the Gary Imm Compendium" image.
Deciding on a target is my nemesis.?
I needed a target that transits about 1 hour after astro twilight ends, as my view to the East has too much light pollution, but quickly improves from the meridian to the West.
Gary Imm's spreadsheet made this very easy for me to find and decide on.
I have imaged several very thin galaxies (NGC 5907, NGC 4565, etc.), but this has to be the thinnest so far.
It is 66 million light years from earth, in the constellation Bo?tes, and is 2.7 arc-minutes in length, and only19 arc-seconds in width, with no central bulge, making it appear essentially as a line in space.

UGC 9242?Capture?Information:

Telescope:?Apertura?6-inch f/12 Classic Cassegrain with Baader Alan-Gee reducer, which brings the scope to f/7.1, 1085mm focal length

Camera: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, cooled to -10C
Integration:?
? ?- ?Baader UV-IR cut, 120 x 30 seconds, Gain 121 BIN 2.?
? ?- ?Baader Red, 15 x 90 seconds, Gain 121 BIN 2
? ?- ?Baader Green, 10 x 90 seconds, Gain 121 BIN 2
? ?- ?Baader Blue, 15 x 90 seconds, Gain 121 BIN 2
? ?- ?25 Flat Frames, 25 Dark-Flat Frames and 30 Dark Frames for each set

To achieve the most detail, I created a?super-Luminance?frame from the best LRGB frames, based on FWHM and Eccentricity accept/reject criteria.

This resulted in 144 frames total as follows:

114 LUM, 12 BLU, 5 GRN, 13 RED
102 minutes, 1.7 hours total for?super-Luminance

Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro using EQMOD software
Guidescope: The?Bellavia?Basic?50mm, f/7.5 refractor
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 290MC
Dates/Times: May 23 and May 24, 2025, 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM
Conditions:? 10 to 15 Celsius, light wind, dry and comfortable, both nights
Sky: ?Transparency: 6/10, Seeing: variable from 2/5 to 3/5, but with many clouds I had to time and image around.
Location:? Chippokes State Park, Surry, VA

(:

Steve

? ? ? ?*

? ?_/)

~~~~~

Steve,

Your trip report is far more than okay - it is highly encouraged, and thank you for sharing!

Nightwatch is a monthly club event (not outreach), so it tends to be a catch as catch can for attendance. Much like Cornwatch at Cornland Park, it is more of a scheduled opportunity than a heavily attended regular event.? I know it has a few regulars, but not much more than that.

That said, I hope you will continue to post your updates.? If you feel inclined to share some of your observing plan with the club in advance, that may also inspire some others to come join you.? It's a great site and I am glad we have easy access to it!

Best,

Jeremy

On Sun, May 25, 2025, 9:14 PM Steven Bellavia via <stevenbellavia=[email protected]> wrote:

Hi,

I am new to the club, and wanted to share one of my "trip reports", if that's okay.

This was the first trip to an event by the Back Bay Amatuer Astronomers (though I did stop by in the daytime in March for your Spring event, and met a few folks)

Unfortunately, I did not get to see anyone this time, but I did get two hours of a nice clearing last night.

I was supposed to go to Cherry Springs for May's new moon, but I needed to stay home, and the forecast for Cherry Springs was not great anyway.

So I went to Chippokes State Park, 10 miles from home (5 miles as the crow flies.? Hence the?"mini-astro-trip")

I thought the Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (Virginia Beach area) were meeting there Friday night, and after I got to an empty parking lot at the Chippokes Plantation, I checked my email, and it was for the next night.? But I set up anyway and did some imaging?for an optical test I am conducting, and will report on at a later time (as it is not done yet).

It was peaceful and comfortable, with an amazing deep blue twilight sky,?and interesting clouds.

Near the end of my first night before going home, at around 2:30 AM, I got?a shot of Scorpius and the Milky Way, with a very noticeable skyglow to the East,?from the city of Newport News:

I went back again Saturday night, but again, no other attendees besides me.

This time the parking lot was full of cars, but it was for a country wedding there that cleared out before dusk.

Another amazing evening?sky, with incredible clouds, sun rays, comfortable temperatures, and low humidity.

The clouds did not pass until just after midnight, at first exposing Lyra with Vega, as they moved in a line that looked like the teeth of a comb.

Our cloud expert, George Preoteasa, told me these are undulatus clouds.

The view to the West is less light polluted, and I could just barely see the coma cluster, all the stars in the little dipper, and the three leaps of the Gazelle, underneath the Big Dipper:

If you're unfamiliar?with the three leaps, of which two are the front?and rear paws of Ursa Major, I circled them here:

I am used to hearing owls, or coyotes, but hearing cows late at night is a first.? I remembered that this park is a "working farm" since 1619

This photo was taken in March, when I visited the Back Bay club in the daytime for their Spring star party, just to say hello, coming home from the Staunton River Star Party.:

I got two hours on my intended target, UGC 9242 (PGC 51503), before the clouds unexpectedly returned:

An album of my two-night trip to Chippokes is here:

UGC 9242 information:

This is? another "inspired by the Gary Imm Compendium" image.
Deciding on a target is my nemesis.?
I needed a target that transits about 1 hour after astro twilight ends, as my view to the East has too much light pollution, but quickly improves from the meridian to the West.
Gary Imm's spreadsheet made this very easy for me to find and decide on.
I have imaged several very thin galaxies (NGC 5907, NGC 4565, etc.), but this has to be the thinnest so far.
It is 66 million light years from earth, in the constellation Bo?tes, and is 2.7 arc-minutes in length, and only19 arc-seconds in width, with no central bulge, making it appear essentially as a line in space.

UGC 9242?Capture?Information:

Telescope:?Apertura?6-inch f/12 Classic Cassegrain with Baader Alan-Gee reducer, which brings the scope to f/7.1, 1085mm focal length

Camera: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, cooled to -10C
Integration:?
? ?- ?Baader UV-IR cut, 120 x 30 seconds, Gain 121 BIN 2.?
? ?- ?Baader Red, 15 x 90 seconds, Gain 121 BIN 2
? ?- ?Baader Green, 10 x 90 seconds, Gain 121 BIN 2
? ?- ?Baader Blue, 15 x 90 seconds, Gain 121 BIN 2
? ?- ?25 Flat Frames, 25 Dark-Flat Frames and 30 Dark Frames for each set

To achieve the most detail, I created a?super-Luminance?frame from the best LRGB frames, based on FWHM and Eccentricity accept/reject criteria.

This resulted in 144 frames total as follows:

114 LUM, 12 BLU, 5 GRN, 13 RED
102 minutes, 1.7 hours total for?super-Luminance

Mount: Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro using EQMOD software
Guidescope: The?Bellavia?Basic?50mm, f/7.5 refractor
Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 290MC
Dates/Times: May 23 and May 24, 2025, 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM
Conditions:? 10 to 15 Celsius, light wind, dry and comfortable, both nights
Sky: ?Transparency: 6/10, Seeing: variable from 2/5 to 3/5, but with many clouds I had to time and image around.
Location:? Chippokes State Park, Surry, VA

(:

Steve

? ? ? ?*

? ?_/)

~~~~~