I've never been to the site in question but did set up a scope at Old Stone Face on the NW side of the Cricket Mountains to observe one of the comets a few years ago. The skies are good, stars down to the horizon, zodiacal light and winter milky way very obvious. There is a plant&mine(?) on the east side of the mountains that has 'security' lighting that might be visible from the proposed site. But it's over one hundred miles to the west with no towns bigger than Baker NV. Since we were on the west side of the hills I can't comment on the eastern skies, any lights that way would be coming from the I15 corridor. Quoting Siegfried:
There are two distinct purposes for the sites being dicussed. SPOC was never intended to be a dark sky site. It was always intended to be a compromise between the quality of the sky and convenience to the public.
Has anyone acually been out to the site in question with a telescope, or been out to look at the physical facilities?
I agree the best form of organization for this is a private property owners association outside of SLAS. That kind of venture wouldn't need SLAS's OK or funds. Getting SLAS monies involved is sort of like getting the government involved.
Siegfried
Quoting Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com>:
Just for the record:
It is probably not a good idea to discuss SLAS fund allocations in this forum, before the idea has been taken to the general membership and reveiwed by club executives. Especially considering the history of the Dark Sky site issue.
The club is committed to the SPOC site for the forseeable future and should act according to that committment. Tooele & Stansbury residents will have to decide where they stand on the issue of ecconomic growth and the light pollution it brings, and how they as residents will act on that stance. It is pretty clear that the skies out there will be deteriorating rapidly in the next few years if development contiunues at current levels.
I am not so sure that a club-sponsored dark site is the best idea; a privately-owned co-op may be a better solution. Share owners could of course bring guests and there could be scheduled "club nights" just to be inclusive, but most members will not be regular users of a remote site.
Many things need to be discussed by the involved parties before any property is purchased or leased.
Our immediate concern as SLAS members really should be the completion of the SPOC facility this year, refractor house included. Many people have given a lot of time, money, materials, blood, sweat, and tears to this and it will soon be time to enjoy it, for as long as the sky stays reasonably dark. Discussion of a dark-sky site should be ressurected in SLAS, and private individuals can pursue a site independantly for now, but we have to finish what we started first.
I like to play Devil's Advocate, but I'm not in a hurry to change things just for the sake of change. I do like to know where I'm going, however, and have reasonable expectations of what I'll find when I get there.
Another 6 cents worth.
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