[AZ-Observing] Thank you Sentinel observers....

Well,  let me just start by saying "Thank You" to all who've posted reports 
from this weekend at Sentinel.  It has been "healing" living vicariously 
through all of your reports.

This was my 4th month attempting to get to exceedingly dark skies to end in 
failure.  And wouldn't you know it...just to twist the knife in a little deeper 
- the weather was as perfect as you could expect it to be.

Back at the SAC meeting on January 9th, I boldly made my contribution Steve 
Coe's "Can" can knowing that it would cement my commitment to observing at 
Sentinel in January after a less than productive attempt in December with 
Steve, Matt and a couple of others.  Dreams of a 2-nighter under pristine skies 
danced in my head each night as I drifted off to sleep.

So at 4pm Tuesday - a client from Las Vegas called and said essentially ... 
"You know that thing you told us not to do back in October?  
Yea...umm....well....we did it.  Can you help??".  So it was off to Las Vegas 
on 5 minutes notice for work.  No problem I thought...I'll be back home by 
Thursday and head out to Sentinel like I planned.

Nope...Thursday night, I kept hope alive by saying "Well, there's always 
Saturday!!".  I felt like a Cubs fan always saying "Wait til next year...".  
Anyhow, I digress.  At Midnight on Friday...I resigned myself to the fact that 
Saturday wasn't happening either.  "Wait til next month..." I told myself.  
I've been telling myself this since October.

Long story longer...I finally left Las Vegas at 1am on Saturday/Sunday to be 
greeted by nearly perfect weather as I drove across the desert toward home in 
Goodyear.  Somewhere between Wikieup and Wickenburg I pulled off to the side of 
the rode, and shut off the headlights for some impromptu roadside astronomy.  I 
sat for perhaps 10 minutes just staring at Jupiter in Leo through the opened 
sunroof at 3am.  While I'm sure it looked positively kooky to any onlooking 
coyotes - the view was captivating as any I've had since moving to Arizona 8 
years ago.  

I didn't have any charts with me to test...but limiting magnitude was easily 
6.5 as I'd never seen so many individual stars with the naked eye in Leo..not 
even close.  I actually drove for the next 90 minutes afterward with the 
sunroof still open so I could steal quick peeks at Jupiter as I drove.

Transparency was excellent.  After passing through Wickenburg I noticed the 
crescent moon less than 5 degrees above the horizon rising over the lights of 
Phoenix.  I enjoyed this view of the reddened moon as it rose into the sky 
above Phoenix for the rest of my drive home.

I'm disappointed that I missed such a prime opportunity this month.  A big 
thank you to those of you who have let me live vicariously through your reports 
about the weekend.  God-willing, I'll be at Sentinel next month and put an end 
to the photon-drought that my eyes and scope are currently suffering.

Mike


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