Renato Del Rosario and I went up to Lake Sonoma last night, and were
the only observers there. You folks who stayed home and indoors really
missed a magical night. Seeing was poor (Saturn was boiling, and I
couldn't consistently see the E star in the Trapezium) due to the wind,
but transparency was superb due to the pollen and dust being removed by
the rain.
Both of us had a very productive night hunting down Spring galaxies
like The Antennae in Corvus, following Markarian's Chain, etc. It's
great to see the globulars in Ophiuchus returning in the morning sky.
We took plenty of warm-up breaks in the van, because I didn't bring
gloves, and Renato didn't bring a hat. Of course our excuses were that
we were researching our star hops and targets ;-). We observed until
3:30, and didn't get home until 5 a.m. (my morning newspaper was
waiting in the driveway when I got home).
All-in-all, a terrific night - one that you shouldn't have missed.
Lake Sonoma isn't as light-polluted as I remembered. I got an SQM of
20.90, with the main skyglow to the southeast from Guerneville and
Santa Rosa.
Darrell Lee
-- Mark Wagner <mark.wagner@No-Spam> wrote:
Hi gang....
I decided to stay in last night. Downtown San Jose had clouds all day
and through the night, as far as I could tell.
Did anyone actually risk it and head up into the hills? How did it turn
out? I had thought of Coe, but the threat of significant wind combined
with wet ground were enough to make me stay in.
TAC's Golden State Star Party at Mount Lassen
July 11 - 14, 2007 http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org
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TAC's Golden State Star Party at Mount Lassen
July 11 - 14, 2007 http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org
Received on Sun Apr 15 13:54:16 2007