FreeLists / az-observing / [AZ-Observing] Re: Cherry Rd. Thursday night

[jack.jones@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Do you have a bug report to give us? Like how many insects/sq. cm. were
there at sunset? I'll take heat, wind or cold before bugs. It's so wonderful
that amateur astronomers are performing a great public service to be the
guinea pigs for West Nile Virus arrival in AZ. Or more correctly, we're the
caged canaries. I wonder what's the best non-DEET mosquito repellent, if
there is such a thing?

Jack



Hello everybody,

I spent last night up at Cherry Rd, seeing was variable early on
with periods of excellent stability between 1 am and sunrise. The
two observing highlights for me were:

Uranus, 222x, 120mm refractor, 1:30 am: a perfect little "pale blue
dot" exhibiting a crispness I have never seen--the image was utterly
still for minutes at a time. I would guess both seeing and 
transparency to be at 7-8 during this period.

M 31, 96x, 10in f5 reflector, 2:00-3 am: multiple dust lanes evident,
looking more "photographic" in visible detail than usual. If we knew
where to look, I am sure we could have logged an M 31 globular or
two . . .

High afternoon clouds dissipated soon after sunset. Here's hoping that
the same thing happens tonight and tomorrow night! 

I am planning for Saturday night myself.

Matt
--
This message is from the AZ-Observing mailing list.  See this message's
header if you want info about unsubscribing or the list's archive.

This is a discussion list.  Please send personal inquiries directly to
the message author.  In other words, do not use "reply" for personal
messages.  Thanks.