CN3y Sharing the Sky Weblog No. 26
Sharing the Sky and the Adirondack Astronomy Retreat 2011
Each summer, Jarnac Observatory, in conjunction with the National Sharing the Sky Foundation, puts on an astronomy retreat at Twin Valleys Camp. This camp, owned by the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, is the closest I have ever been to Heaven and still be on Earth. The magic began this season as as we exited Interstate 87, the Adirondack Northway, and traveled along a series of back country roads that led us to the final entrance to the camp, at the end of Twin Valley Lane. As that road headed northward for almost a mile, it then proceeded uphill and then we caught our first glimpse of the site, via its newest structure, the Cutting Pavilion of the David H. Levy observatory. The building houses Aart, our 14-inch Meade “Adirondack Astroniomy Retreat Telescope” that the Sharing the Sky foundation donated a few years ago through the generosity of Scott Roberts and Meade Instruments. Then the whole expanse of the campsite appeared, a rolling valley set upon soft grass. This was our first view of the Adirondack Astronomy Retreat.
Our first view of the Retreat, with the Cutting pavilion of the David H. Levy Observatory.
This year there were more than just some sights to bring back the memories. There also was the sound of classical music. At home, my favorite radio station is WOXR, a station out of Schuyler Falls, New York, just south of Plattsburgh. In Arizona I reach the station via my computer’s web connection to Vermont Public Radio. Wendee and I both enjoy their varied selection of baroque, classical, and romantic era music. As we physically drove by I turned on the car radio and enjoyed receiving the station directly. However, I was most surprised when we arrived at camp, we were still able to hear this station! In fact, when we returned to Elizabethtown for supplies, I stopped by the local Radio Shack store and I purchased a radio. That evening I sat outside alone under a cloudy sky, listening to that wonderful classical music station. It was then that the magic of the place began to exude. It was as if the camp and I were recalling old memories from the time I spent there as a teenager, from 1964 through 1966. I also recalled the role the camp played in my decision to begin a comet search program, during the 1965 season. The way I remember the story, director Ernie Coons was advising us to plan a most difficult science fair project, one so challenging that it could possibly fail. “Fail?’ we inquired, expecting a joke from the director in return,. Instead, his answer was deadly serious. “Failure is the great teacher,” he explained. “If everything you do succeeds on the first try, then you’re not working hard enough. Life’s best lessons come from what you learn from a failure. Then when you finally succeed, the effort is so much more valuable.”
The site, now crowded with telescopes!
I actually didn’t come up with the project I wanted until the following October, long after that particular summer ended. While walking to my tenth grade French oral examinations I was thinking of how fortunate were the two great Japanese comet hunters, Ikeya and Seki, to have discovered the comet that would become the brightest of the 20th century. That was when I had my project: I would search for comets just like they did! I had so much fun planning my project over the following two months, that it was nicely organized when it was finally launched late in the evening of December 17, 1965. But that was 46 years ago, and now I was about to continue another project, our 8th annual Adirondack Astronomy Retreat.
The next afternoon the people who signed up for our first session arrived. We were filled beyond our capacity of 35 people, and it was pouring rain. As Patrice Scattolin, Marty Rice, and I drove to Elizabethtown to purchase dinner, the rain stopped and a beautiful double rainbow appeared, and grew until it traversed the sky. During this drive I recounted the somewhat painful story of how, more than forty years ago in 1967, I almost was expelled from the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada after an argument with some senior Centre executives. Marty listened silently, and he was stunned by the account. Because it represented an important part of my life back then, he recommended that I include it in my public talk. By the time we returned to camp the sky was clearing rapidly. That first night was clear with passing clouds, and around 1 am it started raining so we gave up. Having used half the night with near-perfect conditions, we counted our blessings, covered up our telescopes, and went to bed. I did 2.8 hours of comet hunting that night.
Detail of the Cutting Pavilion, opened in 2010 and used extensively this season.
The second night brought some of the clearest conditions we’ve ever seen there. I completed 4.8 hours of comet searching while others worked on whatever they had planned. Bob Masterson continued his photographic program, and young Clara Scattolin enjoyed finding the objects that had made her “Star Trek observing” presentation so successful last year. Our third night was almost as good. This was VIP night, the evening featuring senior officials coming to the camp to enjoy the weather, discuss future plans, and meet the retreat participants. This night also was very clear. A full five hours of searching! This time I used three telescopes. I began with Minerva, my cherished 6-inch Newtonian reflector. Then I tried Athena, a 6-inch f/5 David H. Levy comet hunter Maksutov-Newtonian reflector that Explore Scientific had assembled with its usual care, and which has just received a rave review by Dennis DiCicco in Sky & Telescope. (You may see it at www.explorescientific.com. There was also a 16-inch Newtonian reflector presented to Peter Jedicke in 1994. That big telescope is named Herschel, but not for the famous astronomical family; instead it honors the football player Herschel Walker, whom I was seated next to on an American Airlines flight in 1995. Peter and Dianne Jedicke have been attending the retreat since 2005, and their enjoyment of it continues uninterrupted. That third night also marked the surprise visit of three members of the Montreal Centre-- Santiago Lopez, Bill Strople, and Constantine Papacosmas. Constantine is one of my oldest friends.
The next day was what we call the Interim day. As the first session people left, Bob Masterson drove me the considerable distance through the Adirondacks to Long Lake, where we enjoyed a sumptuous meal. We then proceeded to the Wild Center, a beautiful Adirondack Museum in nearby Tupper Lake, where I delivered my public lecture “Comets, Meteors, and More” to a mostly filled auditorium. The talk apparently went very well, partly because of my adding the story of how I was almost expelled from the Centre. This time I added the part about how, about ten years after the abortive attempt, I resumed my friendship with the person most responsible for my near-ouster, Miss Isabel K. Williamson. That friendship led to her receiving the RASC national Service award, and later the Centre’s Observatory was named for her. Finally, I ended with the Board meeting at which the infamous barograph was presented to me.
After the presentation there was a book signing that was quite successful. Several books were offered for sale, all of them in some way promoting the work of the National Sharing the Sky Foundation. Bob Masterson then drove me back to camp, where once again, even on this interim night, the sky was partially clear. However, I was not, so at 1 am Wendee and I called it a night and caught up on sleep.
Session 2 was as successful as session 1. Its first and third nights were completely clear, all over the sky, from dusk to dawn. During the first night I completed six hours of comet searching. The middle night was cloudy, with high cirrostratus clouds rendering the sky opaque and blocking any observing and offering us our one chance to enjoy a singalong with Dave Rosseter and Dave Cotterell on their guitars. Both singers specialized in folk music from the sixties, and we all enjoyed their excellent renditions of our favorite songs. During the final exquisite night, I did five more hours of searching.
The four labs, arranged in two buiuldings, taken this year at the retreat.
As fast as it began, our retreat came to an end on August 5. I drove Wendee to Montreal’s Trudeau airport, where she began her journey home. I stayed in Montreal for a few more days, visiting my Mom and presenting a lecture, .A Nightwatchman’s Journey: My Life as a Comet Hunter and Observer” to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada’s Montreal Centre. A lot has changed in 45 years; the Board now consists of friendly, enthusiastic people who are now excited about setting up the 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope that Sharing the Sky gave them.
I am now winging my way home to Tucson after a tense liftoff from Montreal in a departing thunderstorm. My thoughts are filled with thanks for the great success of our retreat, just ended, and hope for next year’s retreat which will take place from July !5-22, 2012. We do not expect weather as fine as we had this year, which provided almost desert-like clear conditions night after night. However, we do know that when the sky does clear at the Adirondack Astronomy Retreat, the result can be one of the best nights anywhere in the world.
Information for 2012
In fact, the 2012 dates are filling fast. Our second session, July 19-22, is already full. The first session, July 15-18, is about 75% full and is wait-listed. We are getting poipular! We hope that next year will be as successful as this one was.