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

["Paul Lind" <pulind@xxxxxxxxx>]

Paul,
Then are you not staying at Hovatter Norte for the Geminids on Thursday 
night?
Paul

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "L Knauth" <Knauth@xxxxxxx>
To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 8:26 PM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Geminids


> An advantage to your "nap until moonset" approach is possibly that the sky 
> tends to get a lot better several hours after sunset.  At Hovatter Norte, 
> we often note even on the clearest nights that everything below about 30 
> degrees is decidedly less black than above after twilight and that this 
> gradually descends down to the horizon as the evening progresses.  By 
> midnight, it can be really black all the way down if we aren't looking 
> toward any kind of city.  My own prejudice is that this is the skyglow 
> generated by UV blasting the upper atmosphere all day.  Toward midnight, 
> ions lifted to higher energy states have pretty much cascaded down to 
> lower states and quit giving off light.  Anyone know if this is a 
> reasonable explanation?  I haven't looked into the official version of 
> whether you can see skyglow. The observation is certainly not something we 
> are imagining.
> BTW: If the predicted clearing trend continues, I am doing a one-nighter 
> at Hovatter Norte Wednesday night.
>
> Paul Knauth
>

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