Mount Evans

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Bruce G
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Mount Evans

Post by Bruce G »

The weather was not all that cooperative and wildfires in California added a lot of haze to the skies. But I was in Colorado specifically to put a telescope on the top of Mount Evans (4350 meters/14,265 feet). Forecasts showed that Monday was going be the best and a hotel close to the mountain was selected for Sunday.

I did a small impromptu solar outreach on Sunday near St. Mary's glacier to help check out the gear before going up the hill.
Solar outreach.jpg
Solar outreach.jpg (289.73 KiB) Viewed 1494 times
Monday morning we headed up mountain. Despite having been driving through the mountains of Colorado for the previous week, there were switchbacks on the road that had me slowing down to less than 10 kph/5 mph. Portions of the road were in bad shape from frost heaves and subsidence and that slowed things as well, but we finally made it to the top at about noon (11:00 solar time). Despite the rigors of getting there and the fact that it was Monday, the small parking at the top was packed. All of the gear, including a portable power supply for the telescope mount, the camera and the computer had to lugged from a good distance away. All the gear laying all over the place attracted a lot of attention and another impromptu solar outreach (including a couple of the park rangers) took place as I prepared the telescope. And, of course, I had to spend a little time doing the climb of the last little bit to the top of the mountain. It was almost 3:00 (daylight time) by the time I made my first image. Alas, the smoke from the wildfires was moving in heavily.

But the atmospheric disturbance was minimal - at least compared to what I am used to seeing at my home elevation of 190 meters/625 feet. While I was letting others look through the telescope, the view was excellent, but the smoke started to substantially decrease contrast. The surface wind was a different story. I normally simply flip a black cloth over my head to let me see the computer screen better, but it was almost impossible to keep the cloth in place. I used a weighted focus cloth, usually employed for my view camera, and clamped it down to my small table which at least kept it from blowing away. But it was still a struggle to control the telescope and camera settings. Much of the image blurring came from the wind buffeting the OTA. I had carried two 25 lb bags of lead shot with me, which helped, but clearly wind is one of the major factors at high altitude.

Here's what I got:

Full disk:
Full disc.jpg
Full disc.jpg (288.42 KiB) Viewed 1434 times
Lunt LS80THa single stack
ZWO ASI174MM

And our little active region:
SunspotSS.jpg
SunspotSS.jpg (248.72 KiB) Viewed 1434 times
Lunt LS80THa single stack
5x TeleVue Powermate
ZWO ASI174MM

It was work to acquire images. I had originally intended to do some night time imaging as well, but between the wind and smoke conditions - plus the idea of driving down the mountain switchbacks in total darkness - I decided against it. By the time I got back to the hotel, I felt as though I had been physically beaten up. The skin on my hands was white and it looked as though I had aged 20 years. Although I had protected myself from the Sun, I hadn't thought about the wind and my cheeks and nose are still windburned.

Not fantastic images, despite the good seeing. The next time I will be better prepared. Ya gotta start somewhere.

Bruce G
Last edited by Bruce G on Wed Aug 22, 2018 2:29 pm, edited 5 times in total.


Bruce G
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Re: Mount Evans

Post by Bruce G »

The Meyer-Womble Observatory, seen from the peak of Mount Evans
You can see the haze from the fires in the background
Meyer Womble Observatory1.jpg
Meyer Womble Observatory1.jpg (2.9 MiB) Viewed 1490 times


Some of the locals, hanging out on the observation platform
The Locals1.jpg
The Locals1.jpg (952.07 KiB) Viewed 1478 times
Last edited by Bruce G on Wed Aug 22, 2018 1:22 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: Mount Evans

Post by Carbon60 »

A tough assignment, Bruce. Now THAT'S dedication!

Stu.


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Re: Mount Evans

Post by robert »

Lovely scenic shots but the solar images are broken links for me? Is it fixable? I would love to see them
Robert


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Re: Mount Evans

Post by Montana »

Oh Bruce, the only images that are tif images are the ones I can't see. Can you put the solar images into JPEG as well so we can see them?

The views and story are fantastic, I am itching to see the solar pics ;)

Alexandra


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Re: Mount Evans

Post by ffellah »

I love the whole thing you did, Bruce ! Solar outreach plus climbing a tall mountain ? Awesome !! Great photos of the premises and the local goats...

Now I look forward to seeing the actual images of the sun in .jpeg format

Bravo ! Franco :D


Bruce G
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Re: Mount Evans

Post by Bruce G »

Oops! Sorry about that folks. I do my processing in lossless tiff, and failed to convert before posting.
I replaced the tif files with jpg. Hopefully you can see them now

Thanks to all for the kudos. It was indeed more difficult than I had imagined - and I thought that I had planned carefully. Oxygen turned out not to be a problem. We had oxygen with us, but didn't use it much. We spent the first week here in the 7000 - 10000 foot range (2000 - 3000 meters) just sight-seeing, and I think that helped a lot. I would get short of breath carrying things around and with other exertion, but never suffered even a headache beyond that. I still would carry oxygen with me on a future attempt though. And clearly, better preparation for the wind is in order.

I was disappointed not to see the night sky from the mountain top. The new TEC APO140 will have to wait for the dark sky park back in Michigan (since it's an APO, I promised it that its first light would be a night sky, not a single wavelength of light). The great thing about Mount Evans is that you are at the top of the mountain, with full visibility in all directions. Most other roads go through mountain passes, which frequently results in significant obstructions for much of the sky. The TEC might one other shot. Tonight we will stop on the plains just a bit east of Denver as we begin the trip home. It won't be a mountain top, but a 5000 foot altitude in a rural setting is still better than 600 feet in the back yard of a city lot at home.

Bruce G
Last edited by Bruce G on Wed Aug 22, 2018 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: Mount Evans

Post by MapleRidge »

Hi Bruce...

Great shots, all the landscapes, critters, outreach and solar shots...well done :bow

We went to Rock Mountain National Park in CO prior the eclipse last year, but I didn't take any time to set up any sort of solar equip while in the mountains...I think the rest of the family would have mutinied :lol:

Brian


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Re: Mount Evans

Post by Montana »

Thanks for the solar pics Bruce :) you are making me want to book a holiday in the Alps next year :)

Alexandra


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