Good morning Star Tours Team,
I'd like to start a discussion about the upcoming Lumi event and especially
about the Walk Thru a few of us did last night at DBG. We found some great
spots to put scopes in both locations and I'd like to get everyone's input,
and get questions answered.
I wish to thank Susan for taking us around the Walk Thru, and I'd like to
thank William, Sam, Rick, Roger and Don for participating in the Walk Thru.
The input from everyone was greatly appreciated.
Here's a review of what we did... and what was discussed and discovered.
The plan is to have 2 scopes up on Space Mountain.
We have room up there for 3 scopes (3 areas) and we also may have a
Presenter up there, for cloudy nights.
What Susan and I were thinking is that, because the DBG map will have PAS
listed on Space Mountain every night, the two presenters may not be set up
near each other when it is 2 presenters due to super cloudy night. Susan
thinks her boss is going to opt to have one presenter on Space Mountain and
one Presenter along the Native American Trail now being named PPSD which
stands Plants, People, Sonoran Desert, and the actual trail name is Plants
& People of the Sonoran Desert Loop Trail.
So, with that info, let's talk about the areas we scouted out last night.
What I'd like
First Space Mountain* (SM)*: Some of you remember Space Mountain and some
of you prefer that location. So, when you ask to be placed on Space
Mountain, you might want to designate your preference of location as well.
Those of you who don't pick a location, will get what's left. However,
larger scopes get the larger areas to set up.
So our 3 areas on Space Mountain will be:
1) Top of the Hill which can accommodate any scope and has a view from
North East to North and a little over head to the West.
2) Overlook, which on the DBG Map is labeled Mountain Vista Telescopes and
this location can see almost all the way around, except where the mountain
is, which is the Top of the Hill direction, to the South. I loved this
location for catching the rising objects. And we can see to the West over
the top of the Ramada building/structure, to catch a few setting objects.
3) At the Ramada, which is limited to mostly NW, and around N to East. It
can't get anything to the South and some of West is blocked by the Ramada.
Bruce and Don liked this location and took objects in Cassiopeia, such as
ET, M103, Perseus DC, and I think Andromeda Galaxy but the light pollution
is an issue.
One thing to keep in mind with this location is that there is sometimes a
very lit up ball game and/or carnival happening to the NE of Space Mountain
that can be annoying to the eyes when showing fainter objects.
And we have the newly named area of *PPSD* (formerly NAT and I will change
this on our chart soon).
In this area we came up with a location for the Presenter as well as 2
really nice locations for scopes. And one of those locations could have 2
scopes set up if we desire it however, I'm thinking of keeping the scopes
separate.
1) The Fork in the Road: which is at the entrance area of the PPSD trail.
This location would be awesome for traffic coming into this path and then
stopping to talk to one of the Presenters. Doesn't have electricity but
Susan said they can work around that. Susan and I agree a volunteer would
need to be stationed with this presenter at this location to field the
questions about DBG, so that the Presenter can stick to their topic for the
night.
2) The Agave Pit: This location is able to see all directions, however,
West has some trees, but they must have gotten trimmed recently as they
weren't as tall and in the way. I could see Jupiter from where we were, and
depending on where you set up your scope, you can see more to the West if
needed. And East from this location has always been my favorite direction
because you can catch just about anything rising. There's a hill to the
South and North has a Ramada in the way but you can see the North star over
it if needed. The first couple times you set up there in November, we will
have to experiment on the best location to put your scope. Just stay out of
the "roadway" of the carts getting through. This is a dusty area but I
dont' recall it being as dusty as the Wildflower area. In fact, doing
events at the Agave Pit, I never came home dusty, unlike Wildflower Loop
last year. It is also not that level in this area, so you'd have to leave
your scope, if you have a scope that requires that adjustment. W and S are
semi blocked for about 15-20 degrees by a small hill right next to where
you are set up, and trees.
3: Saguaro Power Box (SPB): Very open, had room for 2 scopes, and we might
utilize this once in a while (the 2 scope option) for variety. It is also
very level ground and not that dusty. This is a great spot.
4: Presenter Location 2 in this area: Has a Ramada to hang lights on, like
the Ramada up on Space Mountain. This is the preferred location for the
Presenter along this trail.
I would like input on everything mentioned here, and thoughts shared among
those who attended last night, and questions from anyone planning to attend
the Lumi events.
The email I sent to Susan about the locations, their GPS locations, the
names we chose for the areas, etc, are all in this forum thread. Please
read it and if any changes occur, review it before the actual event starts.
Thanks to all for their input. I will also copy this email into the forum
threads for future reference, in case we do this event, this way again,
next year. All the research has been done.
Everyone have a spectacular weekend!
Terri, Event Manager
--
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Terri Phoenix Astronomical Society <http://www.pasaz.org/> Event Manager
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