Hi All,
Back quite a few years ago, I was invited by Thomas Whiting (Erie County Mobile Observer's Group) to come out to a field, south of Erie, PA, where he and a few other gentlemen had their gear set up. Thomas had a large Dob, and there was also a gentleman who had an observatory with a slide-off roof and had a 10" or 12" Meade LX200 on a pier. Nice setups.
Anyway, Thomas showed me around the sky with his Dob and the other gentleman showed me some sites through his LX200. It was an awesome night, I will always remember how they kindly took me in as a stranger and I reluctantly left the site after many hours, having to work the next day, but I was leaving with a new level of appreciation for the night sky and had some new friends as well! I was always very grateful to Thomas and the others.
I googled and sadly found that Thomas passed back in 2018.
https://www.legacy.c...uary?id=6569787
With all that said, I was wondering if:
Anyone from that group is still around anywhere?
Anyone in the Erie Area has a "darker" area that they frequent?
I don't see a lot of references anywhere to Erie County Mobile Observer's Group as I assume it melted away after Tom’s passing, or perhaps sooner, but I can’t help but wonder if there is anyone from this group still around? Or are there any other groups or events in or around the Erie Area? I see reference here to some pre-covid events with Erie mentioned, but nothing recent.
I have been in and out of the hobby for over 35 years now since I was about 17, and I'm back into it now... again. Can't seem to get rid of the "itch". I worked my way up over the years to an Edge HD11” and then slowly worked my way back down to a small refractor for Astrophotography using an ASI Air PRO which sparked my widefield interest. I also have a 6" SCT, and have a new 10 Dob on order...if it ever arrives!
Anyway, great to be here.
Thanks,
Pat