My wife and I arrived in the park on June 3, and setup our campsite at Mather Campground. Night 1 of my time at the star party was a bit of a rush being inundated with questions from early-arriving park visitors. It was a great time talking to everyone but a real test of multi-tasking. I started by imaging Bode's Galaxy, with some live stacking. As I arrived a little late that evening, I had to be a little rushed getting polar aligned and setup and was barely able to get any data at all on the galaxy. I decided to spend most of my time talking to visitors before packing it up for the night shortly after midnight. We arrived back at our campsite only to realize we completely forgot towels, so we wouldn't be able to shower at the campground. We opted to stay there that night, but for the rest of the trip drive to the Grand Hotel every night, where the rest of my family had a suite booked. This proved to not be as bad as I had thought, and it was nice to sleep in an actual bed.
A shot of my meager imaging rig waiting to be polar aligned. (GSO RC6, HEQ5 Mount and a QHY183C camera)
Night 2 (June 4) was very similar however much more relaxed as my was already more or less polar aligned, only needing some slight adjustment. I continued imaging M81, showing passerbys live images of the galaxy. I then hopped over to the Whirlpool galaxy, which was a real hit due to the galaxies brightness, especially under those dark skies. Once tear-down began on night 2, I decided I would hop over to the Trifid nebula, as this target is always behind trees for me in my front yard at home, and a chance to image it under the dark grand canyon skies would be great. I was going to slip in my L'eNhance filter to image this target, simply due to the amount of stars around it in hopes that it would reduce those stars some and bring out the Ha regions, however taking the advice of a nearby imager I decided to leave the filter out and image this target in its natural form simply due to the clarity and darkness of the skies.
Night 2 really proved to be interesting, especially toward the end of the night. Around 11 pm at teardown time, and the end of park visitor hours, I kept hearing talk of an elk lingering around the parking lots likely in search of food/water etc. I didn't pay it much thought as I figured it would be long gone by the time I was packing my stuff out after imaging in the wee hours. My wife had called it a night earlier that evening and caught a ride back to our hotel with the rest of my family, leaving me our vehicle so I could take it back when I was finished. She had told me where she parked, but in the hysteria of answering astronomy questions from park visitors this information went in one ear, and promptly out of the other. As I lay there next to my mount gathering starlight, around 1 am or so, it hit me that I had no clue where she had parked. I thought it might be prudent to lay eyes on the vehicle then instead of when I'm loaded down with my portable power unit, blankets, backpack, etc.
Anyone who has been in the park that late/early can attest to just how dark it really is, even with the lights from bathroom buildings and the odd dark-site sensitive pathway lamp. It is quite dark. Armed with nothing but an iPhone flashlight, I began my search for our Hyundai Tucson. As I walked around the visitor center lots, I kept hearing the sound of hooves galloping on pavement. It didn't bother me at first but after 15 minutes of searching with no purchase, the sounds of the local wildlife in the pitch black became more and more disconcerting.
Finally, after about 25 to 30 minutes of searching (I was still getting used to the layout of the visitor center, okay?) I found our vehicle. As they say, it was in the last place I looked -- coincidentally in the lot closest to the commercial bus lot where I was imaging.
(My wife is a sweetheart for leaving it so close). If I knew that lot was even there I would have checked there first; this clearly was my first rodeo. Sighing in relief, I headed back to the rig to see how it's doing. I let it run for a hour or so longer before closing down software, packing up valuables and heading for the long-lost Tucson. I am dog tired at this point as we had spent all day hiking in the canyon, and am running on about 3 hours of sleep. Loaded down with blankets, my backpack, and Jackery power unit, I decide to use the flashlight on the front of the power unit to light my way (once I'm clear of any remaining astronomers of course). As I near the closest building to the commercial bus lot where the star party is held, I round the corner to start down the side-walk path along the building I had used a dozen times earlier that night, and the very same that the park visitors are led down to enter the star party after the presentations. As soon as I round the corner my light illuminates the very heart of my fears earlier that night, the beast that had been haunting the parking lots all evening. THE ELK!!!
A gentle creature no doubt, unless provoked or when their young is around, but I had anticipated this creature all evening fearing a rendezvous in the pitch black -- and there she was, within arms reach.
Yelping some unintelligible expletives and almost dropping everything in my hands, I turned and ran. I think I gave her a comparable scare as most of the brief view I had was of her rearing back to run the opposite direction with a snort.
With shot nerves, and the delirium of a long day setting in all too quick I made it into the car and drove back to the hotel in disbelief at what had befallen me.
Night 3 (June 5) was much more tame. At the 7 pm meeting one of the park rangers reminded everyone of the elk cow hanging around the visitor center building, drinking the condensation from the nearby AC unit. (I must have missed that memo.) By example of another imager next to me, I decided to bring an iPad along with several of my previous images on display in a slideshow which really proved to be a hit among park visitors. I also found with some more practice I was really getting the hang of talking to people and explaining what was happening with my telescope to them. It really is an art, relaying that type of information effectively. I grabbed more data on Bode's galaxy, the whirlpool galaxy and later that night the trifid nebula. I have yet to process the images of the galaxies, but I was able to get my image of the trifid nebula processed.
Around 2.5 hours on the Trifid Nebula, no filters.
The same 2.5 hours unfiltered, and an hour with the LeNhance filter mixed in.
The three days I visited the grand canyon I maybe got about 10 hours sleep in total, and averaged about 26,000 steps per day according to the fitbit. Needless to say I was ready for some rest. But in all it was a great experience and had a great time imaging with some very nice individuals, not to mention getting to show people what's up in the sky -- the look on their faces alone makes me remember why I began this hobby. Next time I will likely skip daytime canyon activities (apart from enjoying the view comfortably atop the rim after sleeping in some), and will bring some elk repellant, if such a thing exists .
Thanks for reading. Clear skies!
Edited by cjarvis64, 22 June 2024 - 10:04 PM.
