Well I have wanted to sketch these for a while and I spent about 4 hours last night in the cold of Utah's West Desert doing just that. I needed to get out. This will be corny but my wife and I watch British Mystery Shows and I just finished George Gently and then yesterday Vera. I am a fan of both shows as is my wife. However, with the end of Vera, I felt a reminder of how rapidly time here goes by. That show lasted 14 years; I was 46 when it started. Soon to be 60 it really hit me hard how much my life, while I should say lifestyle can change over the next 14 years. I loaded up the minimal items I needed, my 17.5 dob, my eyepieces, dew heater, battery to run the dew heater, and after layering up, headed out.
That drive made me really think where I want to be in the next year, the next five years and the next 15 years (granted, if I make it that long). I've lost over 140 lbs over 5 years and I swim for an hour six days a week. I want my health to remain as healthy as it can over the next 15 years. I will lose another 20-25 lbs which will help but I also face some really hard facts. I have kidney disease, diagnosed 7 years ago and though I seem to be stable at stage 3b, I have to be careful now about the stress I add to my life so, the food I eat, the lifestyle I maintain to hopefully remain at that stage for the rest of my life. That is an unknown.
I've reached the point with my wife, that come May of 2025 we will be debt free. The only debt we will carry is the mortgage so we have a tax deduction. We'll keep the money we need to pay off our home if needed, but for now we want the tax deductions that come with it. Financially we'll be okay but we are starting to adjust our life to living on our projected retirement amount. That way we are prepared in the next 5-7 years for me, 8-10 years for my wife, to be retired and hopefully enjoy our retirement. Anyway, I am squirreling I guess. Bottom line, I realized yesterday just how mortal I am and how important it is to maximize each day I have for I do not know how many I actually do have left!
So it was cold where I observed, but the sky cleared out and the stars and winter Milky Way showed in all their glory! I had a pack of coyotes for awhile yipping and howling nearby and I enjoyed their distant sounds that evening. There is a peace in the West Desert here during the winter that is unique from any other season. There are far less people out there, this night I was the only one. There is a stillness that penetrates the soul, and reconnects me with the universe of which I am just a small part of. After all my thoughts of being mortal, observing reinforced this principal as what I was observing had existed long before me, and will continue to exit long after me. However, I am a part of this universe, I have been made from the very elements it has created and as with all things created in this universe, I will evolve, grow older, fade away and eventually die and I am okay with that. I suddenly felt a closeness to my wife and my adult children and grand children, remembering how important they and friends are in my life. In the end, it is people in our lives, our family, our friends, those who are a part of our circle. Our interaction with them and our interconnections are what matter most. Funny how a solitary hobby reinforces that to me isn't it?
Here is what the road out and location looked like:
Looking back east toward the Sheeprocks
After all this contemplation, I decided it was time to go to work and do what I came to do. I moved the scope to Auriga and using the 22mm Nagler T4 easily found each target. I went to them in order, M36, M37 and M38. I sketched them and made notes using the 10mm, 14mm & 20mm Pentax XW; the 22mm Nagler and the 26mm Nagler. I also had my Paracorr II in the Moonlite focuser. Then after coming home I uploaded them into Here is a digitalized version of the work. I took my sketch, uploaded them into GIMP and then rounded the stars and added some soft glow to recapture what I saw in the eyepiece. I am very happy with the result.
1. Messier 36
