The Forth
Annual
JEPC
Stargazing
Event
June 10 - 13, 2010
(Jim Edgar Panther Creek ---
Illinois)
The
first year we had 24 people that came
to observe and signed our guest list. It was a great turn out for
what was pretty much an impromptu gathering. Not to mention that
everybody had a GREAT time. So, after careful consideration, we
decided ---
HECK YEAH, WE’RE GONNA DO
IT AGAIN!!!
Here is a report on the
2008 event...
The 2nd
Annual JEPC Event
May
29 – Jun 1, 2008
This
is a report of how it turned out.
If
you didn't come, sorry that you missed out on the fun, and adventure!
Perhaps we'll see you in '09.
Mike
and Danny
The number of attendees was down this year. I
imagine that several chose not to come because of the cost of fuel.
Then there were the pitiful excuses like “I’m having surgery”, or “my
daughter’s graduation is that weekend”, or “it might rain”! Sheesh,
what some people will come up with for excuses to not have to go! (I am
happy to report that the surgery went ok, congrats on finally graduating
(weren’t you just 12 a week or two ago??), and --- you don’t have enough
hair left to have it messed up in the rain!) (John, John, and Ray)
There was a threat of severe weather in the
forecast for the weekend, but heck, this is the Midwest and you will
never get to go anywhere if the threat of possible thunderstorms bothers
you. So, we forged ahead with our little gathering. I arrived at what
I thought was early, but Debbie and Danny, Kathy and Jerry, and three
others were already there and set up!
Jerry collimating his
Starmaster as he prepares for another great night of observing
As I was setting up, somebody had me declared the
collimation guru. I have no clue where this thought even came from, but
I agreed to “take a look” at Larry’s 12” Meade Lightbridge. After going
through collimation procedures the performance of his scope was “way
better than it ever was before”. Thanks Larry!
John Williams, Dan
Rutherford, and Larry Kruzan
Debbie took some lanyards that I had come up with
and made some great looking badges and some matching bookmarks. She
also took charge of the snacks and making sure that the coffee pot was
always full. Thank you Debbie for the extra effort!
The weather was interesting! Once again there was
a severe weather front moving through, dragging wind, rain, hail, and
tornadoes through the area. I had the television on and the local TV
station had stopped normal programming and went to continuous weather
broadcast. The radar was several shades of purple, and there was half
dollar size hail in the area. As bad as the weather got on the field,
thankfully the more severe weather stayed to the south of us.
Survival --- did we? Yes, I would say that we did
survive the storm. There was no noticeable wind or rain damage to
anything on the field. A few of us had some water get into the rocker
boxes of our scopes (my rocker box was turned into a shallow wading
pool), but it was nothing that the next day’s sun couldn’t handle.
Strange cloud formations anyone?
How about a little color?
Thad’s new 17.5” Telekit performed flawlessly and
gave VERY impressive views! Not only does it perform well, it’s also a
beauty to look at. Not to mention that he really KNOWS how to use it
too! If you see Thad and his scope out somewhere, make sure to take a
minute and have a look.
This year’s gathering ---
left to right are Jerry and Kathy Morris, Barabas, Mike and Sandy
Wolford, Paul Thompson, Danny Mitchell, John Wasmuth, Terry Steadham,
George Sears, and Thad Hatchett.
Missing from the photo
are: Bev Thompson, John W, Dan R, and Larry K
And ---
once again this year, Debbie has sacrificed the honor of being in this
photo by volunteering to be the photographer --- thanks again Debbie!
The sky is clear for the last night of observing…..and a
FINE night it was too!!!
From both Danny and I --- thank you
all for coming! Perhaps we'll see you at JEPC next year!!
mike@mikewolford.com
