I really need to move to someplace darker

All I can say is, "SIGH".

I had to go up to the California Central Valley this week, Lemoore to
be exact (if any of you are trying to find it on a map, find Frenso
and go a bit south). I took my star charts and binoculars but left
the Telescope at home.

I wish I could have brought it with me. I went out two nights and
just drove a few miles out of town and then off on dirt roads that
line the fields (this is a big agricultural area). Very dark, Easily
found clusters, and even resolved a few stars in some of them, that
are just hazy hints from San Diego. The Orion Nebula glowed like a
neon light. It was beautiful.

So, I decided I had to stop by OPT and buy something on the way home.
I got the brand new 2" William Optics Dielectric Star Diagonal and
ordered a Televue 35mm Pantropic (they didn't have one in stock). Of
course, the fog had come in.

Jon - Does that offer to let me borrow that Focal Length Reducer still
stand?

Edward Smith wrote:
All I can say is, "SIGH".

I had to go up to the California Central Valley this week, Lemoore to
be exact (if any of you are trying to find it on a map, find Frenso
and go a bit south). I took my star charts and binoculars but left
the Telescope at home.

I wish I could have brought it with me. I went out two nights and
just drove a few miles out of town and then off on dirt roads that
line the fields (this is a big agricultural area). Very dark, Easily
found clusters, and even resolved a few stars in some of them, that
are just hazy hints from San Diego. The Orion Nebula glowed like a
neon light. It was beautiful.

My experience is that much darker skies lie much closer to your own
home. I consider the central valley to be pretty light polluted in that
area! Try Mount Laguna sometime or Borrego. It's only an hour or so
out of town...

Clear skies,
Greg


--
Greg Crinklaw
Astronomical Software Developer
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, USA (33N, 106W, 2700m)

SkyTools Software for the Observer:
http://www.skyhound.com/cs.html

Skyhound Observing Pages:
http://www.skyhound.com/sh/skyhound.html

To reply remove spleen

My experience is that much darker skies lie much closer to your own
home. I consider the central valley to be pretty light polluted in that
area! Try Mount Laguna sometime or Borrego. It's only an hour or so
out of town...

You are right in that there are dark (or at least "much darker")
places closer. My real gripe/whine was that it was so much darker up
in the Central Valley than by my home that, if I lived up there, I
could enjoy the skies more.

Of course, they have the winter fog...

it's pretty depressing how light pollution can dim (pun intended) your
enthusiasm for astronomy...my test for enthusiasm is whether I'm awed by the
night sky before the magic of optics.

sean nolan

Jon - Does that offer to let me borrow that Focal Length Reducer still
stand?

Sure, no problem.

Regarding your trip to the central Valley...

While I enjoy observing from my back yard, a trip to the mountains is the big
treat.

Dark Skies are readily available here in San Diego with only a moderate drive.
Its about 50 minutes from my house in Clairemont to the Sunrise Highway and its
pretty dark up there. Often too, when the coast is socked in, the mountains
are clear and the marine layver helps shroud light pollution from the city.

I am not exactly sure where you are but Ramona is substantially darker than the
coastal areas. Of course one can travel over to the Anza-Borrego desert and
get some nice dark skies, OPT I think has a club that sets up in Little Blair
Valley which is on S2.

Three hours puts one over on 78 in the desert past Glamis and things can get
pretty dark out there.

I suggest driving around and looking for a convenient spot that has
substantially darker skies than your backyard. Its surprising how local
conditions vary.

Jon

"Jon Isaacs" wrote in message
...

I suggest driving around and looking for a convenient spot that has
substantially darker skies than your backyard. Its surprising how local
conditions vary.

One may only need go a couple of miles.

I used to live a half mile from a prison, in a more heavily populated area,
and surrounded on pretty much all sides by some small local industries,
churches, local government, police and fire services, and the night time
lighting they all deemed necessary for their empty parking lots. Now I live
2 and a half miles farther north.

While ZLM is not really much different, and which is defined by the
overwhelming amount of light at the border of eastern and middle
Massachusetts, the area where the ZLM applies, is _much_ larger, simply by
removing the very nearby local light sources.

Stephen Paul
Shirley, MA

"Edward Smith" wrote in message
...
I wish I could have brought it with me. I went out two nights and
just drove a few miles out of town and then off on dirt roads that
line the fields (this is a big agricultural area). Very dark, Easily
found clusters, and even resolved a few stars in some of them, that
are just hazy hints from San Diego. The Orion Nebula glowed like a
neon light. It was beautiful.

So, I decided I had to stop by OPT and buy something on the way home.
I got the brand new 2" William Optics Dielectric Star Diagonal and
ordered a Televue 35mm Pantropic (they didn't have one in stock).

It sounds like seeing the dark is expensive! You might not be able to afford
living out there.

;-)

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/
Lunar Picture of the Day http://www.lpod.org/
************************************

Tell me about it,
I haven't seen the Milky Way in 5 years.
Orion

"Edward Smith" wrote in message
...
All I can say is, "SIGH".

I had to go up to the California Central Valley this week, Lemoore to
be exact (if any of you are trying to find it on a map, find Frenso
and go a bit south). I took my star charts and binoculars but left
the Telescope at home.

I wish I could have brought it with me. I went out two nights and
just drove a few miles out of town and then off on dirt roads that
line the fields (this is a big agricultural area). Very dark, Easily
found clusters, and even resolved a few stars in some of them, that
are just hazy hints from San Diego. The Orion Nebula glowed like a
neon light. It was beautiful.

So, I decided I had to stop by OPT and buy something on the way home.
I got the brand new 2" William Optics Dielectric Star Diagonal and
ordered a Televue 35mm Pantropic (they didn't have one in stock). Of
course, the fog had come in.

Jon - Does that offer to let me borrow that Focal Length Reducer still
stand?


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You could not be more correct. These basic luxeries will soon be unafordable
to all but the very rich. Institutions wont even "qualify to compete" !
jerry




CLT wrote:

"Edward Smith" wrote in message
...
I wish I could have brought it with me. I went out two nights and
just drove a few miles out of town and then off on dirt roads that
line the fields (this is a big agricultural area). Very dark, Easily
found clusters, and even resolved a few stars in some of them, that
are just hazy hints from San Diego. The Orion Nebula glowed like a
neon light. It was beautiful.

So, I decided I had to stop by OPT and buy something on the way home.
I got the brand new 2" William Optics Dielectric Star Diagonal and
ordered a Televue 35mm Pantropic (they didn't have one in stock).

It sounds like seeing the dark is expensive! You might not be able to afford
living out there.

;-)

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/
Lunar Picture of the Day http://www.lpod.org/
************************************