[sac-forum] Re: Flatiron and vicinity
- From: "Steve Coe" <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 12:35:22 -0700
Tom;
Thanks for the possible site. I will try and get out there for a look in
next month or so. I also want to try out the site on the Old Hwy. 87. Sure
glad gas is cheap;-)
Steve Coe
-----Original Message-----
From: sac-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:sac-forum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Tom Polakis
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 11:51 AM
To: sac-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [sac-forum] Re: Flatiron and vicinity
The light dome should be anywhere but south. North is the most preferable,
since even the southernmost circumpolar objects that are interesting reach
an altitude of 60 degrees if you wait for the right season. Many people
observe with their vehicles to the north of the scope for that reason.
Unfortunately, traveling south means driving through all of Phoenix. Ditto
for east, and we've dismissed going north.
A site further south of Buckeye Hills on 85 is probably not realistic. If
you get 5 miles south of the highly illuminated prison, you are now only 10
miles north of Gila Bend, whose light dome is not insignificant.
That leaves us with I-10 west of Rte. 85. Steve probably knows this area as
well as anybody. I was looking on Google Earth, and wondered about a spot a
couple miles south of I-10. It's near Indian School Rd. about midway
between 431st and 475th Avenue. Indian School does a small northern jog
around the northern end of some low hills where a dirt road goes south. It
looks like the hills might shield Phoenix and direct lights from Palo Verde,
12 miles to the ESE.
The one problem might be that power substation (I think that's what it is),
which is extremely bright, and only 5 miles to the west (33 28 32N, 113 06
48W). The potential observing site is at 33 29 11N, 113 01 53W. As for the
Phoenix dome, it is 55 miles away from it, which is slightly better than
Flat Iron's 45 miles.
I think you could reach this site from the I-10/I-17 stack in about one
hour. It is about 50 miles west of there to the exit, and 5 more miles on
Indian School, followed by less than a mile south on the dirt road. Just
need to drive out there to it to check it out!
Tom
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