[AZ-Observing] The long, strange trip of AJ and Steve
- From: "Steve Coe" <stevecoe@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 May 2007 21:58:07 -0700
Well;
It all started at Cherry Road. AJ, David and I drove up on Friday and =
had a
mediocre night. Matt showed up and set up for a few hours and he and =
David
had to return to the city for family considerations. We had some nice =
views
of Jupiter and Saturn with Matt's 11 inch and the bino-viewer. AJ and I =
did
some double stars and a few objects in Serpens for his article in the
newsletter. We both went to sleep around 2 AM.
The next morning the clouds coming down off the Rim convinced us that we
were not going to get a better night on Saturday and so we packed up and
left the Cherry site to the army of ants that live there.
We drove into Prescott and had a great meal in the air conditioning at =
the
Chili's and made plans. We drove on through Prescott and down the =
beautiful
drive among the pine trees in Prescott National forest. There is no =
camping
except in designated areas and all of them are surrounded by tall trees, =
not
a good spot for viewing the sky. We drove on down the hill and drove =
past
an old observing site near the little town of Hillside, it was =
interesting
to realize that we used to climb a steep road to get to the top of that
hill.
No other observing sites seemed to show themselves and so we decided to =
get
away from the clouds building along the Rim and make it on down to the
desert. After a gas stop in Yarnell, we descended to the desert floor =
and
drove to the site off of Eagle Eye road about 70 miles from central =
Phoenix.
We set up, got a great view of the crescent Moon near Venus and took a =
nap.
We awakened to see the Moon about ready to set and saw a few clouds off =
to
the east.
So, we decided to take on some objects in Draco and we observed in that
constellation for several hours. By now the clouds we coming in thicker =
and
we were running out of energy. So, we took a quick look at Jupiter, =
enjoyed
the bands and some nice detail in the festoons and called it a night.
I don't know the exact number, but we must have driven 200 miles all
totaled. It does seem worth it, but I do hope that we have better luck =
with
the clouds next New Moon for a trip to Five Mile Meadow. We shall see.
Clear Skies to us all;
Steve Coe
=20
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please
send personal replies to the author, not the list.
Other related posts:
- » [AZ-Observing] The long, strange trip of AJ and Steve
