Dan, Welcome and congrats and a big so-sorry about the truck and the deer. The darn things are adorable but do wreak havoc with automobiles (my sister-in-law is a quadraplegic because of a car accident involving deer). Wolf creek is probably the best "local" spot for dark-sky observing; I hope to make it up there this weekend (either Friday or Saturday, whichever day my wife complains the least about). I'm looking forward to seeing your new scope; welcome to the TeleKit club! I too have a 16-inch Telekit (4 years old now) and I love it. "> do you all just bushwhack it across the sagebrush
out into the meadows along the ridge?"
Basically, yes! -Rich --- Dan Cimbora <dcimbora@earthlink.net> wrote:
Hi all,
Just joined the mailing list. I recently completed a 16" Telekit, my first scope after being out of astronomy for some time. For my first dark-sky trip with the new scope, last weekend I went up to Duchesne Ridge/Wolf Creek summit, following the various online directions to the observing fields. Found the area with no problem but I arrived at dusk and didn't have much time to scout around, and wasn't sure exactly where to set up - I expected to find spurs off the main dirt road, but found none. Did I miss them, or do you all just bushwhack it across the sagebrush out into the meadows along the ridge?
I was really pleased with how dark the skies are up there. I had half a dozen "Holy Crap" moments - the 16" is by far the biggest scope I've ever used, and most of my prior observing has been from pretty light-polluted skies. The Veil nebula and M8 looked better than photos!!! The only downside to the trip was that on my way home at 2 a.m. I hit a deer between Kamas and Park City, and my truck's in the shop with $3000 in repairs. Had to wake a neighbor up to come get me, since my wife was home with our 3-month old daughter. Bad end to a great evening!
I'm toying with the idea of going up tomorrow (Weds p.m.) for observing and some Perseids. Anyone else planning on being there? I'd love some company.
-Dan in SLC
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