Forest Road 006 South of Vernon
Just wanted to give a quick update on our night at Forest Road 006 Observing Site 1 which is south of Vernon. First off using the Mesonet the temperature at the site stayed in the low 20's during our observing time from 6:00p.m. until 12:00a.m. Humidity never got above 42% (once at 45% for 15min). Pit n Pole started at 24 degrees and did a free fall to 3 degrees by 12:00a.m. Humidity started in the low 40% and ended up at 65% at 12:00a.m. Lakeside by comparison started at 31 degrees F at 6:00p.m. and went to 24 degrees F (so basically the same as Vernon) while the humidity levels started at 41% and went up to 70% by 12:00a.m. The Vernon site is about 65 miles from my home in Herriman, 22.1 miles farther out than Pit n Pole. It took an hour and a half to drive it because of the rough road after Pit n Pole on the Pony Express and the 6 mile dirt road drive out to the site in the National Forest. The site has a layer of grass and both Mat and I commented that we didn't need our mats to lay down at the site. I came home with no dust! I'll be doing a blog entry on the objects I observed and sketched but I got 13 new objects off the NGC in, mainly consisted of emission, reflection, open clusters and galaxies in Orion. I also saw the IC supernova remnant in Gemini. I then spent time looking at some eye candy. The site is dark, much darker than Pit n Pole (SQM reading of 21.4 at the Pit which is my best on record vs 21.8 at Lakeside vs 22.2/22.3 at this site). There is some slight lights to the north from Vernon but they are like the Freeway lights to the southwest at Lakeside and with the car or junipers blocking the path, they are of no impact. Seeing conditions were just fantastic starting at an Antoniadi II and moving to an Antoniadi I. At one point we watched Sirius be still and only had a very slight twinkle about every 3-5 seconds. We focused on deep sky stuff til the moon came up around 10:50p.m. and then spent an hour or so on open clusters. There was a lot of meteor activity and they were all large and very bright. One that I saw actually faded into orange. Finally, Mat was eating/drinking some tomato soup he had brought and we were talking when I heard a sound. I asked if that was Mat. Yep and we continued. The sound kept going on and it was a very interesting sound. Mat heard it and it kept coming. So I flashed a light down by the road and Mat had me shine it in one of the Juniper trees and a very large owl flew out. I guess the owl didn't like what we were doing and was letting us know. Wish I knew what type it was. After packing up and then looking at another possible site, Mat noticed that the clouds came flying in so as we left, it was a very good thing. Probably one of the best nights I've had in six months and we never needed the heaters or my dew equipment. I will say this, Pit n Pole is done for me. I'll drive another 30 minutes to have the darkness I had last night, and only one truck came up the forest road which is over 3/4 of a mile away and no one was out there shooting things up! It was one of the quietest places I've observed and very peaceful. Even the Milky Way was extremely visible with structure while we had white lights on to set up. Shut off the lights, WOW! -- Jay Eads
Here is my report on last nights stargazing near Vernon: WOW!, describes the observing session last night! Jay and I headed out to a site near Vernon Reservoir that he had scouted out a couple of weeks ago. It was a real good find and I appreciate Jay investing the time to locate that and other sites nearby. They will definitely be frequented again, I am sure. First, the site itself had many assets which I will contrast to Pit-N-Pole as it is a nearby site: More isolated (no drive-by's); warmer; less humid; less light intrusion (Tooele Depot); and darker skies. For those of you familiar with Lakeside, this site has little to no dust and was just as dark, maybe darker. The only downside in the comparison to either site, is that you have to drive on a dirt road for a couple of miles. My minivan handled the dirt road well and any car you don't mind getting dusty should work, unless it has the ground clearance of a Lamborghini, Ferrari or Corvette, etc. The conditions of the night sky were excellent. Apart from a bank of clouds low in the Northeast, the skies were clear and transparent (until we were driving home when it became mostly cloudy!). It was also a very steady night with very little twinkle going on. As an added bonus, it was not really very cold. I was actually too warm much of the night and had to unzip my jackets. My propane heater did not even get set up. There are lots of objects in the winter sky that I have not seen mainly because I have not been a frequent winter observer. While living in California's central valley, I found that fog prohibited most wintertime observing. Then in Albuquerque, I just wimped out most of the time in the winter. But the past few years here in Utah, I have toughened up, and started really enjoying the winter skies. I will say that I believe the winter sky has more to offer the stargazer than any other season. That's a debatable point, but the winter sky is "well-rounded"; there are lots of objects of all types (except for globulars). A few standout objects from last night were: - The Zodiacal Light early in the evening. It was stunning with brilliant Venus smack in the middle of the triangle of light. - Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359). - Globular cluster NGC 1851. Since it is at a declination of -40 degrees, I actually had to teeter my 16" dob up on an edge of it's ground board to get it to point that low; it was as close to hand-holding a 16" telescope as I care to get! - The Flame nebula was looking really good. So good, I was hopeful that I might see the Horsehead. But alas, by then, I was racing moonrise and do not have a Hydrogen-Beta filter, and it eluded me. One day I'll get it... I hope you all have such a great night of observation sometime this winter. Keep looking up! Mat -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jay Eads Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 11:06 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Forest Road 006 South of Vernon Just wanted to give a quick update on our night at Forest Road 006 Observing Site 1 which is south of Vernon. First off using the Mesonet the temperature at the site stayed in the low 20's during our observing time from 6:00p.m. until 12:00a.m. Humidity never got above 42% (once at 45% for 15min). Pit n Pole started at 24 degrees and did a free fall to 3 degrees by 12:00a.m. Humidity started in the low 40% and ended up at 65% at 12:00a.m. Lakeside by comparison started at 31 degrees F at 6:00p.m. and went to 24 degrees F (so basically the same as Vernon) while the humidity levels started at 41% and went up to 70% by 12:00a.m. The Vernon site is about 65 miles from my home in Herriman, 22.1 miles farther out than Pit n Pole. It took an hour and a half to drive it because of the rough road after Pit n Pole on the Pony Express and the 6 mile dirt road drive out to the site in the National Forest. The site has a layer of grass and both Mat and I commented that we didn't need our mats to lay down at the site. I came home with no dust! I'll be doing a blog entry on the objects I observed and sketched but I got 13 new objects off the NGC in, mainly consisted of emission, reflection, open clusters and galaxies in Orion. I also saw the IC supernova remnant in Gemini. I then spent time looking at some eye candy. The site is dark, much darker than Pit n Pole (SQM reading of 21.4 at the Pit which is my best on record vs 21.8 at Lakeside vs 22.2/22.3 at this site). There is some slight lights to the north from Vernon but they are like the Freeway lights to the southwest at Lakeside and with the car or junipers blocking the path, they are of no impact. Seeing conditions were just fantastic starting at an Antoniadi II and moving to an Antoniadi I. At one point we watched Sirius be still and only had a very slight twinkle about every 3-5 seconds. We focused on deep sky stuff til the moon came up around 10:50p.m. and then spent an hour or so on open clusters. There was a lot of meteor activity and they were all large and very bright. One that I saw actually faded into orange. Finally, Mat was eating/drinking some tomato soup he had brought and we were talking when I heard a sound. I asked if that was Mat. Yep and we continued. The sound kept going on and it was a very interesting sound. Mat heard it and it kept coming. So I flashed a light down by the road and Mat had me shine it in one of the Juniper trees and a very large owl flew out. I guess the owl didn't like what we were doing and was letting us know. Wish I knew what type it was. After packing up and then looking at another possible site, Mat noticed that the clouds came flying in so as we left, it was a very good thing. Probably one of the best nights I've had in six months and we never needed the heaters or my dew equipment. I will say this, Pit n Pole is done for me. I'll drive another 30 minutes to have the darkness I had last night, and only one truck came up the forest road which is over 3/4 of a mile away and no one was out there shooting things up! It was one of the quietest places I've observed and very peaceful. Even the Milky Way was extremely visible with structure while we had white lights on to set up. Shut off the lights, WOW! -- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message and any included attachments are from Siemens Medical Solutions and are intended only for the addressee(s). The information contained herein may include trade secrets or privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you received this message in error, or have reason to believe you are not authorized to receive it, please promptly delete this message and notify the sender by e-mail with a copy to Central.SecurityOffice.Healthcare@siemens.com Thank you
Great report, Mat! If these mild conditions are in place during new moon I might try it. What was the humidity like -- that is, did it cause any problems? Thanks, Joe ________________________________ From: "Hutchings, Mat (H USA)" <mat.hutchings@siemens.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 3:30 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Forest Road 006 South of Vernon Here is my report on last nights stargazing near Vernon: WOW!, describes the observing session last night! Jay and I headed out to a site near Vernon Reservoir that he had scouted out a couple of weeks ago. It was a real good find and I appreciate Jay investing the time to locate that and other sites nearby. They will definitely be frequented again, I am sure. First, the site itself had many assets which I will contrast to Pit-N-Pole as it is a nearby site: More isolated (no drive-by's); warmer; less humid; less light intrusion (Tooele Depot); and darker skies. For those of you familiar with Lakeside, this site has little to no dust and was just as dark, maybe darker. The only downside in the comparison to either site, is that you have to drive on a dirt road for a couple of miles. My minivan handled the dirt road well and any car you don't mind getting dusty should work, unless it has the ground clearance of a Lamborghini, Ferrari or Corvette, etc. The conditions of the night sky were excellent. Apart from a bank of clouds low in the Northeast, the skies were clear and transparent (until we were driving home when it became mostly cloudy!). It was also a very steady night with very little twinkle going on. As an added bonus, it was not really very cold. I was actually too warm much of the night and had to unzip my jackets. My propane heater did not even get set up. There are lots of objects in the winter sky that I have not seen mainly because I have not been a frequent winter observer. While living in California's central valley, I found that fog prohibited most wintertime observing. Then in Albuquerque, I just wimped out most of the time in the winter. But the past few years here in Utah, I have toughened up, and started really enjoying the winter skies. I will say that I believe the winter sky has more to offer the stargazer than any other season. That's a debatable point, but the winter sky is "well-rounded"; there are lots of objects of all types (except for globulars). A few standout objects from last night were: - The Zodiacal Light early in the evening. It was stunning with brilliant Venus smack in the middle of the triangle of light. - Thor's Helmet (NGC 2359). - Globular cluster NGC 1851. Since it is at a declination of -40 degrees, I actually had to teeter my 16" dob up on an edge of it's ground board to get it to point that low; it was as close to hand-holding a 16" telescope as I care to get! - The Flame nebula was looking really good. So good, I was hopeful that I might see the Horsehead. But alas, by then, I was racing moonrise and do not have a Hydrogen-Beta filter, and it eluded me. One day I'll get it... I hope you all have such a great night of observation sometime this winter. Keep looking up! Mat -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jay Eads Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 11:06 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Forest Road 006 South of Vernon Just wanted to give a quick update on our night at Forest Road 006 Observing Site 1 which is south of Vernon. First off using the Mesonet the temperature at the site stayed in the low 20's during our observing time from 6:00p.m. until 12:00a.m. Humidity never got above 42% (once at 45% for 15min). Pit n Pole started at 24 degrees and did a free fall to 3 degrees by 12:00a.m. Humidity started in the low 40% and ended up at 65% at 12:00a.m. Lakeside by comparison started at 31 degrees F at 6:00p.m. and went to 24 degrees F (so basically the same as Vernon) while the humidity levels started at 41% and went up to 70% by 12:00a.m. The Vernon site is about 65 miles from my home in Herriman, 22.1 miles farther out than Pit n Pole. It took an hour and a half to drive it because of the rough road after Pit n Pole on the Pony Express and the 6 mile dirt road drive out to the site in the National Forest. The site has a layer of grass and both Mat and I commented that we didn't need our mats to lay down at the site. I came home with no dust! I'll be doing a blog entry on the objects I observed and sketched but I got 13 new objects off the NGC in, mainly consisted of emission, reflection, open clusters and galaxies in Orion. I also saw the IC supernova remnant in Gemini. I then spent time looking at some eye candy. The site is dark, much darker than Pit n Pole (SQM reading of 21.4 at the Pit which is my best on record vs 21.8 at Lakeside vs 22.2/22.3 at this site). There is some slight lights to the north from Vernon but they are like the Freeway lights to the southwest at Lakeside and with the car or junipers blocking the path, they are of no impact. Seeing conditions were just fantastic starting at an Antoniadi II and moving to an Antoniadi I. At one point we watched Sirius be still and only had a very slight twinkle about every 3-5 seconds. We focused on deep sky stuff til the moon came up around 10:50p.m. and then spent an hour or so on open clusters. There was a lot of meteor activity and they were all large and very bright. One that I saw actually faded into orange. Finally, Mat was eating/drinking some tomato soup he had brought and we were talking when I heard a sound. I asked if that was Mat. Yep and we continued. The sound kept going on and it was a very interesting sound. Mat heard it and it kept coming. So I flashed a light down by the road and Mat had me shine it in one of the Juniper trees and a very large owl flew out. I guess the owl didn't like what we were doing and was letting us know. Wish I knew what type it was. After packing up and then looking at another possible site, Mat noticed that the clouds came flying in so as we left, it was a very good thing. Probably one of the best nights I've had in six months and we never needed the heaters or my dew equipment. I will say this, Pit n Pole is done for me. I'll drive another 30 minutes to have the darkness I had last night, and only one truck came up the forest road which is over 3/4 of a mile away and no one was out there shooting things up! It was one of the quietest places I've observed and very peaceful. Even the Milky Way was extremely visible with structure while we had white lights on to set up. Shut off the lights, WOW! -- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message and any included attachments are from Siemens Medical Solutions and are intended only for the addressee(s). The information contained herein may include trade secrets or privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you received this message in error, or have reason to believe you are not authorized to receive it, please promptly delete this message and notify the sender by e-mail with a copy to Central.SecurityOffice.Healthcare@siemens.com Thank you _______________________________________________ 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
Joe, please do join us next time, it would be great to have you observe with us! The humidity was a non issue, as there was no dew or frost accumulation on any of my gear. And that was a welcome change from the past two months! Mat -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 10:59 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Forest Road 006 South of Vernon Great report, Mat! If these mild conditions are in place during new moon I might try it. What was the humidity like -- that is, did it cause any problems? Thanks, Joe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message and any included attachments are from Siemens Medical Solutions and are intended only for the addressee(s). The information contained herein may include trade secrets or privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you received this message in error, or have reason to believe you are not authorized to receive it, please promptly delete this message and notify the sender by e-mail with a copy to Central.SecurityOffice.Healthcare@siemens.com Thank you
Mat and Jay remind me of myself, some 35 years ago. You GO, guys! On Jan 15, 2012 3:05 PM, "Hutchings, Mat (H USA)" <mat.hutchings@siemens.com> wrote:
Joe, please do join us next time, it would be great to have you observe with us! The humidity was a non issue, as there was no dew or frost accumulation on any of my gear. And that was a welcome change from the past two months!
Mat
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 10:59 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Forest Road 006 South of Vernon
Great report, Mat! If these mild conditions are in place during new moon I might try it. What was the humidity like -- that is, did it cause any problems? Thanks, Joe
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message and any included attachments are from Siemens Medical Solutions and are intended only for the addressee(s).
The information contained herein may include trade secrets or privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you received this message in error, or have reason to believe you are not authorized to receive it, please promptly delete this message and notify the sender by e-mail with a copy to Central.SecurityOffice.Healthcare@siemens.com
Thank you
_______________________________________________ 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
Thanks, Mat, I'd like to try it during the next new moon, if the weather cooperates. -- Joe ________________________________ From: "Hutchings, Mat (H USA)" <mat.hutchings@siemens.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 3:04 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Forest Road 006 South of Vernon Joe, please do join us next time, it would be great to have you observe with us! The humidity was a non issue, as there was no dew or frost accumulation on any of my gear. And that was a welcome change from the past two months! Mat -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 10:59 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Forest Road 006 South of Vernon Great report, Mat! If these mild conditions are in place during new moon I might try it. What was the humidity like -- that is, did it cause any problems? Thanks, Joe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This message and any included attachments are from Siemens Medical Solutions and are intended only for the addressee(s). The information contained herein may include trade secrets or privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you received this message in error, or have reason to believe you are not authorized to receive it, please promptly delete this message and notify the sender by e-mail with a copy to Central.SecurityOffice.Healthcare@siemens.com Thank you _______________________________________________ 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
Im definitely going, goning to see if I can make it out of work early to set up 2 scopes
Great report by you too, Jay! I'm envious of you fellows with the nerve to brave potentially freezing nights. Thanks -- Joe ________________________________ From: Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 9:06 AM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Forest Road 006 South of Vernon Just wanted to give a quick update on our night at Forest Road 006 Observing Site 1 which is south of Vernon. First off using the Mesonet the temperature at the site stayed in the low 20's during our observing time from 6:00p.m. until 12:00a.m. Humidity never got above 42% (once at 45% for 15min). Pit n Pole started at 24 degrees and did a free fall to 3 degrees by 12:00a.m. Humidity started in the low 40% and ended up at 65% at 12:00a.m. Lakeside by comparison started at 31 degrees F at 6:00p.m. and went to 24 degrees F (so basically the same as Vernon) while the humidity levels started at 41% and went up to 70% by 12:00a.m. The Vernon site is about 65 miles from my home in Herriman, 22.1 miles farther out than Pit n Pole. It took an hour and a half to drive it because of the rough road after Pit n Pole on the Pony Express and the 6 mile dirt road drive out to the site in the National Forest. The site has a layer of grass and both Mat and I commented that we didn't need our mats to lay down at the site. I came home with no dust! I'll be doing a blog entry on the objects I observed and sketched but I got 13 new objects off the NGC in, mainly consisted of emission, reflection, open clusters and galaxies in Orion. I also saw the IC supernova remnant in Gemini. I then spent time looking at some eye candy. The site is dark, much darker than Pit n Pole (SQM reading of 21.4 at the Pit which is my best on record vs 21.8 at Lakeside vs 22.2/22.3 at this site). There is some slight lights to the north from Vernon but they are like the Freeway lights to the southwest at Lakeside and with the car or junipers blocking the path, they are of no impact. Seeing conditions were just fantastic starting at an Antoniadi II and moving to an Antoniadi I. At one point we watched Sirius be still and only had a very slight twinkle about every 3-5 seconds. We focused on deep sky stuff til the moon came up around 10:50p.m. and then spent an hour or so on open clusters. There was a lot of meteor activity and they were all large and very bright. One that I saw actually faded into orange. Finally, Mat was eating/drinking some tomato soup he had brought and we were talking when I heard a sound. I asked if that was Mat. Yep and we continued. The sound kept going on and it was a very interesting sound. Mat heard it and it kept coming. So I flashed a light down by the road and Mat had me shine it in one of the Juniper trees and a very large owl flew out. I guess the owl didn't like what we were doing and was letting us know. Wish I knew what type it was. After packing up and then looking at another possible site, Mat noticed that the clouds came flying in so as we left, it was a very good thing. Probably one of the best nights I've had in six months and we never needed the heaters or my dew equipment. I will say this, Pit n Pole is done for me. I'll drive another 30 minutes to have the darkness I had last night, and only one truck came up the forest road which is over 3/4 of a mile away and no one was out there shooting things up! It was one of the quietest places I've observed and very peaceful. Even the Milky Way was extremely visible with structure while we had white lights on to set up. Shut off the lights, WOW! -- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ 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
How about directions?! On Sat, Jan 14, 2012 at 9:06 AM, Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> wrote:
Just wanted to give a quick update on our night at Forest Road 006 Observing Site 1 which is south of Vernon. First off using the Mesonet the temperature at the site stayed in the low 20's during our observing time from 6:00p.m. until 12:00a.m. Humidity never got above 42% (once at 45% for 15min). Pit n Pole started at 24 degrees and did a free fall to 3 degrees by 12:00a.m. Humidity started in the low 40% and ended up at 65% at 12:00a.m. Lakeside by comparison started at 31 degrees F at 6:00p.m. and went to 24 degrees F (so basically the same as Vernon) while the humidity levels started at 41% and went up to 70% by 12:00a.m.
The Vernon site is about 65 miles from my home in Herriman, 22.1 miles farther out than Pit n Pole. It took an hour and a half to drive it because of the rough road after Pit n Pole on the Pony Express and the 6 mile dirt road drive out to the site in the National Forest. The site has a layer of grass and both Mat and I commented that we didn't need our mats to lay down at the site. I came home with no dust! I'll be doing a blog entry on the objects I observed and sketched but I got 13 new objects off the NGC in, mainly consisted of emission, reflection, open clusters and galaxies in Orion. I also saw the IC supernova remnant in Gemini. I then spent time looking at some eye candy. The site is dark, much darker than Pit n Pole (SQM reading of 21.4 at the Pit which is my best on record vs 21.8 at Lakeside vs 22.2/22.3 at this site). There is some slight lights to the north from Vernon but they are like the Freeway lights to the southwest at Lakeside and with the car or junipers blocking the path, they are of no impact. Seeing conditions were just fantastic starting at an Antoniadi II and moving to an Antoniadi I. At one point we watched Sirius be still and only had a very slight twinkle about every 3-5 seconds. We focused on deep sky stuff til the moon came up around 10:50p.m. and then spent an hour or so on open clusters. There was a lot of meteor activity and they were all large and very bright. One that I saw actually faded into orange. Finally, Mat was eating/drinking some tomato soup he had brought and we were talking when I heard a sound. I asked if that was Mat. Yep and we continued. The sound kept going on and it was a very interesting sound. Mat heard it and it kept coming. So I flashed a light down by the road and Mat had me shine it in one of the Juniper trees and a very large owl flew out. I guess the owl didn't like what we were doing and was letting us know. Wish I knew what type it was. After packing up and then looking at another possible site, Mat noticed that the clouds came flying in so as we left, it was a very good thing. Probably one of the best nights I've had in six months and we never needed the heaters or my dew equipment.
I will say this, Pit n Pole is done for me. I'll drive another 30 minutes to have the darkness I had last night, and only one truck came up the forest road which is over 3/4 of a mile away and no one was out there shooting things up! It was one of the quietest places I've observed and very peaceful. Even the Milky Way was extremely visible with structure while we had white lights on to set up. Shut off the lights, WOW!
-- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ 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
participants (6)
-
Chuck Hards -
Hutchings, Mat (H USA) -
Jay Eads -
Joe Bauman -
Jorge Gutierrez -
Julie Clyde