At 06:17 PM 2/28/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>In a message dated 2/28/02 1:16:31 PM Pacific Standard Time,
>psantangeli@No-Spam writes:
>
>
>>And I disagree with you 100%... But that's the nature of TAC right?
>>Nobody agrees on anything but the beauty of the sky, and that's why it
>>works, it's why we don't have rules, and it's why we spend time together.
>>Vive la difference!
>
>
>That's for sure! :-)
>
>Well, for me, a couple of times of year when I travel for 4 or 5 hours,
>pack a ton of gear, reserve 3 or 4 days away from my family, and spend the
>money on gas, food, and entrance fees, it would be nice to be able to
>enjoy a full night of observing/imaging without worrying about stray
>flashlights, trunk lights, and people constantly leaving the observing
>area. I realize there's no way around this at in town star parties, and I
>can deal with it without stress. Heck, sometimes I have to leave early
>from a local star party.
>
>I would think other folks would also want to maximize their time and
>energy when on the extended or distant star parties without the
>distraction of white lights and extra noisy people. Guess I'm in the minority.
>
>Richard
This is exactly why Hales and I used to make such a big deal out of the
sacred Mendocino spot...we didn't want to invite morons up who would turn
on lights, scream at the
kids at 7 in the morning, or drive home at 11:30. I would suggest Richard
that you take some time to find a nice dark spot for your own use and don't
tell anyone about it. I might be able to find the directions for the
"sacred spot" and could send them to you. It was dark up there, with very
good seeing and being in national forest you could leave equipment setup
for quite some time. And I could shoot photos all night long without
having to worry about some selfish puke screwing it up for me.
If I were still in CA and spent the time and effort to make a trek to a
dark sky location only to have some inconsiderate idiot ruin my 90 minute
astrophoto, I would be more than a little
pissed about it. At the "big" star parties they have very strict rules
(that are enforced) about lights. Why should one idiot be allowed to ruin
it for everyone else? People spend a considerable amount of time, effort,
and money to get out of the city lights...people should not be allowed to
ruin it for them.
Mike J. Shade: mshade@No-Spam
Sonoita Hills Observatory, Sonoita Arizona
See work done at the observatory: http://c3po.cochise.cc.az.us/astro
under the "photographs and images" panel on the left of the screen.
"I like the dark, it's cheap." E. B. Scrooge www.darksky.org "I'm a
member, are you?"