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Monthly Archives: August 2015

Directions to Hopewell Observatory

25 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by gfbrandenburg in astronomy

≈ 2 Comments

DIRECTIONS TO HOPEWELL OBSERVATORY:

Short version, if you have Waze, Google Maps, or some other GPS navigation system: make your goal to be 3804 Bull Run Mountain Road in The Plains, Virginia. That will get you to the gate mentioned in step 6, below. 

Long version:

(1) From the Beltway, take I-66 west about 25 miles to US 15 (Exit 40) at Haymarket. At the light at the end of the ramp, turn left/south onto US 15. (Exit is at approximately latitude 38°49’00″N, longitude 77°38’15″W.)

(2) Go 0.25 mi, at the second light turn right/west onto VA Rt. 55. There is a Sheetz gas station & convenience store at this intersection, along with a CVS, a McDonald’s, and a Walmart-anchored shopping center on the NW corner. This is a good place to stop for restrooms or supplies.

(3) After 0.7 mi on Va 55, turn right (north) onto Antioch Rd., Rt. 681. You will pass entrances for Boy Scouts’ Camp Snyder and the Winery at La Grange. (38°49’12″N, 77°39’29″W)

(4) Follow Antioch Rd. to its end (3.2 mi), then turn left (west) onto Waterfall Rd. (Rt. 601), which will become Hopewell Rd. (38°51’32″N, 77°41’10″W)

(5) After 1.0 mi, bear right onto Bull Run Mountain Rd., Rt. 629 (this is beyond Mountain Rd.). This will be the third road on the right, after Mountain Rd. and Donna Marie Ct. (38°52’00″N, 77°42’08″W) Please note that Google Earth and Google Maps show a non-existent road, actually a power line, in between Donna Marie Ct. and Bull Run Mtn. Rd.

(6) In 0.9 mi, enter the driveway on the right, with the orange pipe gate. There is a stone gate on the left, opposite the entrance. We’ll have some signs up. This is a very sharp right hand turn. (38°52’36″N, 77°41’55″W)

(7) Follow the narrow paved road up the ridge to the cell phone tower station. You can park here (but PLEASE don’t block the driveway around the towers!) and proceed the remaining few hundred feet to the observatory on foot, or…

(8) Take the grassy track around to the right of the station, and continue south, through (or around) a white metal bar gate. The few places among the trees near our operations building, the small house-like structure in the woods, are reserved for handicapped people, Observatory members, and those bringing telescopes. Please watch out for pedestrians, especially children! The observatory itself is in the clearing a short distance ahead.

Location of the observatory is approximately latitude 38°52’12″N, longitude 77°41’54″W. The drive takes about 45 minutes from the Beltway if the traffic is light. (Otherwise, it can take much longer!) A map to the site follows. If you get lost, you can text me (Guy) at 202 dash 262 dash 4274.

map to hopewell oct 2019

Some Photos from Almost Heaven Star Party

18 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by gfbrandenburg in Uncategorized

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A wonderful astronomical weekend near Spruce Knob WV, at the Almost Heaven Star Party.

The fields at The Mountain Institute where it’s held remind me of the farm I grew up on, near Clarksburg MD, and the farm I lived in with Susan Greenthal Hurd in East Ryegate VT about 44 years ago.

The altitude here in WV does mimic the climate in VT. I have never gotten bitten here at TMI or AHSP or anywhere else I’ve hiked or canoed in West Virginia by any ticks or chiggers – which bedeviled me and my siblings 50-60 years ago in Clarksburg MD and continue to bite me at the Hopewell Observatory in Northern VA near Haymarket.

I brought my 12.5″ truss-tube dob, which you can see in one picture. I had just re-made the secondary cage and spider and secondary adjustment mechanism. I had to perform emergency surgery to cut off the truss tubes by exactly one inch so that all of the eypieces would actually come to a focus.

Part of the road up to TMI and AHSP

Part of the road up to TMI and AHSP

Baling hay in fields right next to TMI / AHSP

Baling hay in fields right next to TMI / AHSP

Learning how to use a sextant; if you know the exact time, you can use this to calculate your location to within 100 meters or so.

Learning how to use a sextant; if you know the exact time, you can use this to calculate your location to within 100 meters or so.

Beautiful but slightly threatening clouds the first night ended up dissipating. We had three beautiful nights of observing!

Beautiful but slightly threatening clouds the first night ended up dissipating. We had three beautiful nights of observing!

Me and my 12.5" truss-tube dob that I built,

Me and my 12.5″ truss-tube dob that I built,

This is the Durbin Rocket railroad - a small and slow coal-burning locomotive designed to carry heavy loads of lumber. If you sit behind the engine, you WILL be coated with coal dust and cinders.

This is the Durbin Rocket railroad – a small and slow coal-burning locomotive designed to carry heavy loads of lumber. If you sit behind the engine, you WILL be coated with coal dust and cinders.

A friend's minimalist, ultra-light dobsonian telescope, either 18 or 20 inch diameter. Note the lack of mirror box!

A friend’s minimalist, ultra-light dobsonian telescope, either 18 or 20 inch diameter. Note the lack of mirror box! It also tracks and has both Argo Navis and a go-to capability.

One of the many excellent talks. In this one, Jan Wisniewski (Vish - NYEV-ski) is showing how to make an IR on-axis autoguider.

One of the many excellent talks. In this one, Jan Wisniewski (Vish – NYEV-ski) is showing how to make an IR on-axis autoguider.

Here I demonstrate how light and insubstantial are the famous Seneca Rocks that I passed on the way back from the star party.

Here I demonstrate how light and insubstantial are the famous Seneca Rocks that I passed on the way back from the star party.

Great Long Weekend of Observing Near Spruce Knob, WVa at 11th Almost Heaven Star Party

18 Tuesday Aug 2015

Posted by gfbrandenburg in astronomy, Telescope Making

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Tags

AHSP, astronomy, ATM, dobsonian, star party

I put all of my tickets (over 30!) into the raffle for a 100-degree-apparent-field-of-view eyepiece at AHSP but didn’t win it. I probably should have put a few tickets in some other raffles. They had a whole lot of different stuff being raffled off. The eyepiece I wanted was donated by Hands On Optics. At AHSP they give you ten tickets as part of your registration, and then you can buy more of them. Elizabeth Warner and her husband left the morning of the raffle (Sunday) and gave me theirs, which was very nice of them.

At Stellafane, they used to have just ONE humongous item in the raffle, like a full set of really expensive eyepieces from Al Nagler. So it used to be in fact all-or-nothing. Don’t know if it was like that this year?
I discovered that the things I really needed were:
* an inexpensive laser collimator so I can get collimated in a minute or two all by myself, accurately, instead of fumbling around for an hour and needing an assistant… (now on order)
* an inexpensive electronic timer controller for my Canon TSi so it doesn’t need any cables to a computer (also now on order)
* a way to get rid of dew. The last night was fantastic except for the dew, which even defeated the chemical hand warmer packets that I wrapped around my finder and Telrad. I bet it got to the secondary as well. I will study up on the physics of heat production by resistors or heating wire wrapped around those and devise something.
BTW, I had to use a borrowed hack saw and masking tape to cut each of my truss tubes by exactly an inch on the second day so that I could come to a focus with all my eyepieces. I used some local rocks to deburr the cuts.
They had some great presentations on astrophotography, including how to do it simply and effectively. I was much encouraged.

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