[AZ-Observing] Weekend Observing
- From: Jeff Hopkins <phxjeff@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2005 19:53:24 -0700
What a fantastic weekend in the mountains.
I spent it at my cabin on Spruce Mountain just south of Prescott, AZ.
The sky Saturday was a deep blue during the day. Something about the
altitude (near 7,500 feet) makes the sky look very different from the
Phoenix sky (at least most of the time).
When the sun final set, and darkness fell, it looked like an early
sunrise. The moon was exceptionally bright. The moonlight was
brighter than I have ever seen it up there and it as not even a full
moon. I started looking with my LX90 8" . Other than Jupiter the moon
was really the only thing to be seen of value. Several of my favorite
dark night objects could not be seen. I finally found omega Centauri,
but even at low power in the telescope it was a very faint ghost and
one needed averted vision to even see a hint of it.
The moon offered some spectacular view, however. The areas I looked
at along the terminator looked like areas I have never seen before
and I have been observing the moon for many decades. Some of the
outside of the craters were brightly illuminated, but their interiors
were just illuminated at the high points giving a view most
interesting. One crater looked like there was a giant alien spaceship
in it. Under higher power a very interesting arrangement of peaks
could be seen.Sadly I did not bring my CCD camera so no pictures.
What a shame as I think I could have gotten some very interesting
ones. The clarity at that altitude was remarkable. I hated to come
back to the density of the Phoenix area.
Jeff
--
Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html
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Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
7812 West Clayton Drive
Phoenix, Arizona 85033-2439 U.S.A.
www.hposoft.com
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