[AZ-Observing] Re: Because I have nothing better to do at 3 inthe morning

>Matt, I haven't done a survey but do have some observations from my backyard
>in northwest Phoenix.  From a long time ago it was possible to see the Milky
>Way in Cygnus if you sat down for several minutes to avoid the street light
>two blocks away and get better dark adapted.  I haven't tried the dark
>adaption technique lately but the sky does seem brighter.
>
>A long time ago the only stars visible in the Little Dipper were Polaris and
>Kochab and is still true today.  That put's the limit for this area of sky at
>about 2.0 - and this is the darkest part of the sky.
>
>All of these observations were done between evening twilight and midnight.
>
>As far as doing a survey for Phoenix . . . the results can vary from hardly
>nothing to considerable depending on locations.
>
>Clear skies,
>aj
>
 From the west side of Phoenix where I am, I've built walls around two 
of my telescopes (6" refractor and 8" SCT). This blocks the stray 
street lights and neighbor beacons. Still the sky is usually pretty 
washed out. On a good night I can sometimes see 4.0 m stars, but 
usually only the brighter stars show. I cannot find M13 because I 
cannot see the stars of Hercules. In addition to the bright sky my 
eyes seem to have gotten less sensitive too. I reserve my 13.1" 
Dobson for the fun dark sky star parties.

I've resolved myself to limit my Phoenix observing to Planets, the 
Moon and the Sun, plus PEP observations of brighter stars. However, I 
have even a more annoying problem than the bright sky. I believe the 
new freeway (101 just west of me) is causing a ground vibration and 
my two story PEP telescope suffers from slight jarring from the 
freeway. Richard Lines told me of the problem he had at his Mayer 
observatory with his 20" doing PEP. I hope I can figure a way around 
this as I am planning an active campaign for epsilon Aurigae again 
over the next several years. If anyone has any thoughts about how I 
can dampen that vibration out, I'd be happy to hear about it.

Jeff
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                                           Jeff Hopkins
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