On Saturday, Nov. 15, a group of intrepid observers gathered near Animas, New Mexico, to celebrate first light of a new large telescope, a 30-inch f/3.3 instrument nicknamed the “Lockwood Monster.” This wonderful instrument was created and built by Mike Lockwood, the brilliant owner and operator of Lockwood Custom Optics. The sky at Animas is extremely dark — an increasingly difficult commodity to come across in this modern world — and the site of the star party was the domain of Mars NM — The Off-World Experience.
A group assembled for this star party and we were fortunate to have very clear skies until late in the evening. The 30-inch scope did not disappoint. The mirror is flawless and the assembly of eyepieces perfect for a big deep-sky telescope. Saturn with its currently near edge-on rings looked pretty spectacular. But with deep-sky fans on hand, we went after a long who’s-who list of clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.
In the west, we briefly visited the direction of the center of the galaxy, although it was already sinking pretty low. Somewhat higher up in the sky, we treasured Cygnus and Lyra and Aquila, checking out the North America Nebula, the Veil Nebula, the Dumbbell Nebula, and the Ring Nebula. We surveyed the entirety of stellar evolution, from the nebulous gas clouds forming new generations of stars to the endpoints, the planetary nebulae that represent the fate of our own Sun some 5 billion years off.
Needless to say, a 30-inch scope under a really dark sky is a pretty mind-blowing experience. The views were breathtaking, and often we felt as though we were looking at the live photons that are typically captured in photographs, but without the color, the objects mostly painted in pastel grays and greens.
The clusters were impressive, too, and we checked out a variety of galaxies, moving down to survey the Sculptor Group with NGC 253, NGC 247, NGC 300, and others. On we went over to the other side of the sky, with constellations rising, and we explored the Crab Nebula, nebulae in Cassiopeia like NGC 281, and a group of open and globular clusters for good measure.
Late in the evening we attached an image intensifier to the scope and, with its hydrogen-alpha sensitivity, explored more rounds of emission nebulae, which show up incredibly well. The Orion Nebula appeared to be a live version of one of Etienne Trouvelot’s sketches from the 1870s. One of the “holy grail” objects in deep-sky observing is the Horsehead Nebula, the famous dark nebula backlit by a dim strip of emission nebulosity, IC 434, in Orion. We aimed and there it was — right in our faces, with incredible detail, a true horse-head shape.
I heartily encourage you to get involved with this group, which is growing and bringing experiences of science and visual observing in a dark sky into a new appreciation. The organization is led by Pam Price, a visual artist who is celebrated for among other accomplishments her creation of film-related projects and theme park marvels like The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.
This was just “first light” for the 30-inch Lockwood Monster. The group also has Clyde Tombaugh’s 16-inch and 18-inch scopes, veterans of the past that were carefully used by Pluto’s discoverer in days past. Many more exciting things are to come.
For more on Mars NM — The Off-World Experience, see their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577788078044.
