FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Mormon Mountain Star Stare Saturday

[Tom Polakis <polakis@xxxxxxx>]

Due to uncertain weather conditions, a dissapointing turnout of about 10
people was at the star party last night.  At dusk, there were clouds of all
sorts in every direction.  Most significant was a large anvil to the east
that was sure to spread over the site, which it did in the next hour.

Not long after twilight, pieces of the sky became usable with murky
transparency and good seeing.  By 10 p.m., most of the sky was clear, but
with patchy, pitch-black cumulus silhouetted against the rising Milky Way.
The seeing stayed very good, enabling me to use 375x routinely on globulars
and planetaries with my 13-inch.  After another bout with clouds, it
cleared for good after midnight.  By my 1:30 a.m. bedtime, transparency was
nearly at Arizona standards for May.

Dew was a problem all night, requiring some precautions.  This was still
not the relentless back-East dew, but it was annoying enough.

Bill didn't adequately describe the size of the observing site.  If you
took all of the scopes and people at the Oregon, Table Mountain, Texas, and
Nebraska Star Parties and put them in the meadow, there would be room for
another thousand scopes.  We left the meadow alone, however, opting to
observe near our vehicles with a loss of only a small bit of northern
horizon.  Even this parking area would comfortably fit 100 scopes.

I thank Bill Ferris for all of his effort in finding a great observing
site.  If he does it again next year, I hope he gets at least as good
response, and clouds stay where they belong in May.

And here's a road observation: Forest Road 78 east out of Newman Park looks
a lot smoother on paper than it really is.

Tom

---

Tom Polakis
Tempe, AZ
Arizona Sky Pages
http://www.psiaz.com/polakis/
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please 
send personal replies to the author, not the list.