FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Cherry

[Jeff Hopkins <phxjeff@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Somehow it seems like a no brainer to me. Cherry road area is likely 
to be affected by the fires, low desert areas, e.g., Sentinel are 
going to be blazingly hot. It now looks like I-17 will be open all 
weekend.

Come on up to the Deep Impact Star Party in Dewey. You might even 
bring a light jacket for the cool evening. According to Stan the 
fires are well away and pretty much out of sight and the smoke is 
headed way east so it should not be a problem. For those who have not 
been to Stan's place, it's over 5,000 feet elevation and has very 
dark skies. It's at the end of a road so there will be little if any 
traffic.

Anyone wishing to do astro imaging would do well there. That's in 
addition to visual observing. I remember the last star party a couple 
years ago (I think it was a Summer Solstice party). Looking to the 
south low on the horizon omega Centauri just about knocked my socks 
off. It was even easy in binoculars.

Stan has viewed the comet from his place recently and it looks like 
it will be visible until well after midnight before setting. This 
means it should be well placed, even if low, for the impact.

While some claim to have seen M51 from the Phoenix area, I have yet 
to succeed. This is another easy object from Stan's place and with 
the new supernova in it, it should be an exciting view.

Stan has lots of area and at the last party several people brought tents.

If you need directions or have questions, contact Stan.

stan_gorodenski@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jeff

At 09:49 -0700 7/2/05, Andrew Goodwin wrote:
>     This morning I received and e-mail from Wes Edens. after reading
>this it would seem that Sentinel would be the best choice for viewing
>the comet. Any other ideas?
>
>AG
>
>   Wes wrote:
>
>On the trip to Flag and back, I could see Cherry Road is not a good
>option.  Heavy smoke on the southern horizon to 15-20 degrees, and then
>haze above that.  Things didn't improve noticeably until just out of
>Flagstaff.  I ran into Dave Frederickson at Lowell Observatory and he
>agreed that Cherry can be ruled out.  Besides, it's probably dry as a
>tinderbox.  We saw the firefighters finishing up a fire that broke out
>today near Carefree.
>We saw lots of helicopters, lots of smoke, and we saw the line of flames
>on the hills near Black Canyon City this evening.  I've never seen
>anything like it.
>Wes

-- 
Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html

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