[AZ-Observing] Sentinel Report
- From: Andrew Cooper <acooper@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: AZ-Observing <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2005 06:30:31 -0700
The sky started a little rough, with high cirrus and contrails scarring
the blue in the glow of sunset. The thin crescent Moon and Venus were
gorgeous among the bright gold wisps. Shortly after dark these
annoyances quickly cleared leaving a clean sky. Seeing was soft all
night, transparency was decent, but poor at low altitude as views into
Fornax or lower demonstrated.
I counted over 20 vehicles a little before sunset, but a least 10 more
rolled in at sunset or just after. After a few hours there was a steady
rate of departure as the cold night took its toll.
I spent some time over at Steve Dillinger's scope, a handmade 20" f/4.
Steve is from Colorado, but will be spending this winter in our area.
He was giving us a hard time about 'real' cold weather observing as we
complained about temperatures merely in the 30's and getting chilled.
I spent the first half of the night touring old friends and a couple new
objects, but was basically killing time waiting for H400 objects to
rise. After midnight the objects I needed had risen high enough to
appreciate properly and I started to work, cleaning out Pyx, Lyn and Pup
of a few remaining H400 objects as well as chewing on western UMa a
little. It looks like I have 28 objects left, almost all in UMa, the
end is in sight! Joe suggested I start the HII after this, but I might
not, that really gets into the dim galaxies! I have a few other things
to work on before that sort of pain.
Late in the night Canopus rose and began it's pass over the hill to the
south. I know many guys call the little cinder cone South Mountain. To
me it is Canopus Hill as I enjoy watching Canopus rise and swing just
over it each time I come to Sentinel.
Around 0300 the breeze had become a steady cold biting wind and I
finally packed it up and pulled out. I had already had around nine
hours of good observing so I can call it a success. I wasn't the last,
there were at least two observers still going when I pulled out.
I did get many of the shallow sky objects, including a couple comets
when all was said and done. And while I did leave the site before
Jupiter rise, it did lead me home, rising above Tucson as I drove.
Andrew
Andrew Cooper
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http://www.siowl.com
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