The CAS StarFest 2012

The Chesmont Astronomical Society held StarFest 2012 at the Hopewell Furnace National Historical Site near Reading, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, August 12th. It was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed due to weather.

http://www.chesmontastro.org/node/8199

http://www.nps.gov/hofu/index.htm

http://www.tricountyrecord.com/article/ ... 120809912/

The conditions weren't too great early that night but eventually the skies cleared. The turnout was fairly good - several hundred visitors and many CAS members - considering that it was a Sunday evening. Before observing began, I enjoyed hearing Dr. John Wood talk once again.

We were treated to a number of late Perseid meteors.

The images that one CAS member's new color MallinCam and 18" f/4.5 Obsession produced of DSOs such as M8, M17, NGC 7331, M57, and M27 were pretty impressive.

I showed the public Omicron Cygni, V Aquilae, M11, Beta Cygni (Albireo), IC 4665, and M13 through my 80mm f/5 Orion ShortTube achromatic refractor and 10" f/4.7 Sky-Watcher Collapsible Dob and looked at M13 through a 16" f/10 Meade SCT, M27 through a 152mm f/6.5 Explore Scientific achromat, and M57 through a 25" f/4 Obsession Dob.

CAS members were allowed to stay at the Hopewell Furnace site after midnight but heavy dew drove most of us away not long afterwards.

An article that appeared in the Reading Eagle (Josh Wright's Obsession is a 25", not a 20") can be seen at http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=408447

I've posted some photographs that I took at http://www.chesmontastro.org/node/7919

There are more photos at http://www.chesmontastro.org/node/8326

Dave Mitsky