[AZ-Observing] Quickie Observing at Sun Valley Pkwy
- From: "Jones, Jack (AZ75)" <jack.jones@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: 'S az-observing' <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 14:46:58 -0700
Taking A.J. Crayon up on his dare to go observing with an imminent Moon
coming up well before midnight, I forced myself to load the truck for a 2
hour max observing session at the Sun Valley Parkway site just W of White
Tanks Mtn. and was glad I did. It is only 40 miles from my N. Phoenix house
and is a good acceptable close-in site for a quick jaunt. Table Mesa is only
30 miles away, but the S horizon is obliterated. The penalty with the Sun
Valley site is you have to deal with Bell Rd... A.J. says he skirts Bell by
taking T-Bird out to 99th and then Bell.
Showing up for the Quickie was Jennifer Keller with her 10" Meade, A.J. with
his new 14.5" platform Dob, Marshall Dailey with a 5" Mak and Sharon Vaughan
with her convertible. Her great idea was to just lie back on the cushy front
seats with binoculars and have at it. "And so Drive-Inn star parties were
born." Mary Keller was also observing away using a 10" Dob, and drew and
logged three new objects for her list: Zeta Ursae Majoris, M13, and Mars.
Saving you some research, Zeta Urs is actually Mizar and Alcor, bu that's
what her "Bright Objects" flip-cards called it.
The eastern sky is destroyed here, but it is quite dark to the S and W, with
6 mag stars visible, due to White tanks blocking some of the Phoenix Blaze
(apologies to the volleyball team). Using my f/5 14.5" Eq Newt, I was able
to log Herschel 400 object NGC 6118, a 12th-mag elongated multi-arm spiral
in Serpens. Quite dark overhead, M13 was searched for the elusive three dark
lanes it harbors but to no avail. It takes the right combination of power,
aperture and conditions to discern them. I even caught 11th-mag NGC 4027 and
ringtail galaxy 4038 as smudges very low to the SW horizon in western
Corvus. Now that had to be a dark sky! I was kicking myself that I hadn't
observed them earlier in the evening when they were higher up, and didn't
log them as viewed this time. I'll get them this weekend!
Jack Jones
President -SAC
Spicastar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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