At 2:24 PM -0800 1-15-06, Richard Tenney wrote:
Brett,
Hope the weather cooperates with you -- you should really enjoy the sky down in Moab.
Thanks a bunch, Richard-- I really appreciate it. Yeah, I'll be there for 5 days, so there should be *some* really clear nights I hope.. too bad Moab Observatory doesn't sponsor cleardarksky-- otherwise we'd be able to see one of these fantastically useful reports which are available to cleardarksky sponsors (here's an example from Ogden, who is a sponsor): http://cleardarksky.com/clmt/c/OgdnUTct.html ... looks like Ogden is clearest in the summer... hmm I hope Moab is different. From weather.com's climate data, it looks like Ogden does have more seasonal variation than Moab, at least with respect to water actually *falling* out of the sky: http://www.weather.com/activities/other/other/weather/climo-monthly-graph.ht... http://www.weather.com/activities/other/other/weather/climo-monthly-graph.ht... water sitting up in the sky blocking our view might be a different story, but the two are usually correlated...
I've CC'd the list here in case anyone is planning to be down that way to join you (...anyone...?)
thanks. I'll probably bring my 6" f/12 Mak, which screams on the planets...
As to the Gegenschein, yes, I saw it quite spectacularly last spring in fact less than an hour's drive from my home out in the West Desert.
Fantastic. That, a total solar, and the deep southern stuff are the main fugitives on my most-wanted list.
Interesting photo of Venus. What equiptment were you using?
6" Dob with no tracking, handheld digital camera afocally, lots of video-game-playing experience in my past... I'll attach it again so the rest of the group can see it... it's a pretty small file, please excuse the attachment if you dial up. Clear skies, Brett
