FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Eagle Eye Survey Site....

[Thad Robosson <starstarcracker@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Everyone,

Last nite, Matt Luttinen, Paul Lind, and myself made our way to the new 
Eagle Eye site.
The directions were spot on, the only thing I would add is that the turn 
off for the dirt
road is about 1/10 of a mile North of mile marker 10, NOT the road just 
a few yards
before the marker.  (No, we did not learn the hard way.)  The road is a 
bit tough
to spot, and might be very difficult at nite.  The white survey stake is 
right
where Steve left it, and is fairly easy to spot on the West side of the 
dirt road.
As Steve posted, the road while rocky, is passable to low riding cars, 
but I'd
caution one to be slow and careful if you do have one of the short 
clearance
vehicles....

The observing was good, but not quite great.  This is no fault of the 
site; it
seems that some moisture snuck in and mucked up the transparency somewhat,
but not to the ruination of the evening.  I managed to get the 5 
Herschels in
Hydra, and a few in LeoMinor.  Paul and Matt both did some in LMi, so AJ
should have a few observations for his "Last Call". 

The site itself appears to be on a ridge, or at least a bit higher than 
most of the
immediate area, so cold air drainage will probably not be an issue here.
Low elevation objects are not for this site, there are the Harquahala's 
to the
WNW, a small hill to the N, and  a couple of jagged hills to the South.  
This didn't
prevent us from viewing Omega Cent., but it was at it's highest at the time.

Steve's estimate of 10~12 cars is very optimistic however.  We concluded 
that
you could "comfortably" get 6 cars and scopes in there if everyone 
cooperated
and waited until everyone showed up so you could arrange it a bit.  We 
didn't
check out the spot to the North, but there was a small open area South of
the spot that could get maybe 3 cars into it. 

No horizon lights at all.  Not even from headlights.  Only the dim glow from
Phx that we estimate to be approximately equal to Cherry Road.

The scenery is gorgeous!  This is what an Easterner would think of when you
say Arizona.  The recent rains have probably helped this, but the cacti 
are numerous
and the scrub is green.  Not baren like the Sentinel site.

Conclusion.....A very nice site, bound to be quite dark when the 
transparency is good.
A bit small for a star party, but for all that we've used Eagle Eye, I 
doubt that this
would be a problem.  A definate Thumbs Up to Steve for finding yet 
another usable
site......

Thad
 
PS, Rick, I'll get you the GPS coordinates once I get unpacked.....

--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please 
send personal replies to the author, not the list.