Thanks, Kim, I prefer written directions to maps anyway. What's the weather like there for Sunday and Monday mights, if you happen to know? I'm itching to do a two-nighter if I can find a good dry clear spot. Thanks, Joe --- On Thu, 8/5/10, Kim <kimharch@cut.net> wrote: From: Kim <kimharch@cut.net> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Skyline Drive To: "'Utah Astronomy'" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Thursday, August 5, 2010, 10:09 AM Joe (and others), I'm not going to have time to put together a map for the Skyline Drive site, but do this: Go to MapQuest and find map of Fairview, Utah (http://www.mapquest.com/maps?traffic=1&city=Fairview&state=UT). MapQuest will give you a little balloon with info on Fairview; turn that off. At toolbar on the top of the map turn off Traffic and select Aerial Map but leave the labels on. (The Aerial Map view is actually an aerial photo and will show terrain, vegetation and roads that don't show up on Google Maps or most paper maps.) Zoom in four clicks, then pan to the right (east) and follow SR31 until you see its intersection with SR264. Then pan down (due south) past two small lakes (called Fairview Lakes, but not labeled). SR31 will be headed southeast, but directly south of Fairview Lakes it makes a sort of shallow u-turn and briefly heads northeast before it then turns southeast again and continues in that direction toward Huntington Reservoir. Center the map on the bottom of that "u-turn" and zoom in two more clicks. The labels will now appear for Skyline Drive. You'll see where the southern part of Skyline Drive takes off, then somewhat east of that you'll see the junction for the northern part. Apparently the aerial photo was taken before the two snowmobiling parking areas were built, so they don't show up. Now pan north on Skyline Drive until you see an unlabeled road take off to the right (east). This is the road to the observing site, which is visible from Skyline Drive, about 1/4 mile off of the main road. If you zoom in all the way, you can even see three vehicles (probably trailers) parked on the "observing field." I misjudged a couple of distances in the directions I posted earlier. The distance between the junctions for the southern part of Skyline Drive and the northern part is probably only 1/2 mile or so. The distance on Skyline Drive from SR31 to the intersection with the dirt road is probably less than a mile. We (SLAS) used to observe at this site frequently, until Dave Bernson and Dave Bennett shared their discovery of the Wolf Creek Pass site with the club. Wolf Creek Pass is closer to SLC, by about 30 to 45 minutes, in terms of actual driving time. Skyline Drive has less light pollution to the west, since the sky glow from Utah Valley is actually north of the site. During the July 3, 1989 Saturn occultation of 28 Sgr I had the best views of Saturn of my life from this site. I also witnessed one of the best auroral displays that I've ever seen from here. A couple of weeks ago I posted a short report about seeing the zodiacal band from horizon to horizon from this site. It was truly spectacular. In all respects, i.e. darkness, seeing, transparency, this site compares favorably with Wolf Creek Pass. Kim _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com