Miscellaneous

New neighbors, a chainsaw, and light everywhe

My new neighbors have decided that most everynight presents them with an
opportunity to stand in their backyard while the lady drinks and smokes,
not ten feet from where I put the telescope up in my yard, yet separated by
an almost 6' high wood fence. At this corner of their house is a garage-
access backdoor with two floodlights (equipped with motion detectors)
directly above it. A couple of nights a week, she is joined by a few of
her friends and their kids and/or husbands and on more than one occasion, I
have heard the words "Jack Horkheimer," and "International Star Registry"
floating over the fence and into my ears. Invariably, some unseen mouth on
the other side of the fence will let it be known that the eyes above it
frequently take in the Discovery Channel and Nova. Hmmm, I wonder. . .are
they bringing this up for me to overhear or is it directed only at the
small gathering at hand. I can be seen through the little 1/4" spaces
between the wood slats which constitute the fence. They know I am there.

It seems that the sensitivity of the motion detectors on these floodlights
varies. When there is no one out in their yard and the only movement is
mine, sometimes that motion is picked up and the lights go on and at other
times there seems to be certain zones where I can move and not trigger the
lights. Anyway, I always keep my head down and generally avoid viewing
objects towards the zenith.

The neighbors directly behind me, on the other side of the street and
perhaps 150' south, have an unshielded streetlight directly in front of
their home. Until about ten days ago, this presented no problem to me
since there was a heavily foliaged tree on their property between me and
the streetlight. Then I came home from work one day and found that big
beautiful tree (it has to have been at least 100 years old) lying in pieces
on the ground. Clearly, productive observing was history from my property.
I had to find another spot that while, not perfect, was good enough and
nearby.


Mt. Pilchuck, Blue Mountain, and Lake Cassidy:

I do like the Mt. Pilchuck location I use occasionally but it is an hour to
get up there and is very isolated. Even though I have yet to be bothered,
I still cringe when the sound of an approaching vehicle is heard in the
distance. In the last month, near a campsite named "Verlot" at the bottom
of the mountain, two sets of human remains were found and if I remember
correctly, an autopsy revealed foul play was involved. Also, in the town
of Granite Falls, maybe 14 miles from Mt. Pilchuck, a sailor from a naval
installation on Puget Sound went for a hike and never came back. I don't
think I will be going to Mt. Pilchuck alone again.

A friend told me of a great observing site at the top of Blue Mountain
outside of the small town named "Startup." With time on my hands (on
vacation now), I got out my Washington Atlas & Gazatteer and located the
site. I was ill-prepared for just how steep and rugged the "Blue Mountain
Main Line" is. This is the last leg (maybe 3/4 of a mile) of the trip to
the pinnacle. The very low clearance of my '94 Chevy Cavalier almost
brought me to a stop a couple of times. Additionally, the road was so
steep at this point that it just about overwhelmed the little family
sedan's engine. I found myself thinking, "Oh my God, what will I do if I
get stuck and can't even back out?" But. . .I made it to the top. Great
view. The wind could be heard whipping through the mountains surrounding
me. And, even though it was not really dark (maybe 9:15 p.m.), I could
tell it would offer some terrific dark sky. But wait. What's this??
Shotgun shells all over the ground at my feet. I have seen the movie
"Deliverance," so easing back down the "Blue Mountain Main Line," I
realized I would not be going to observe from that location without
four-wheel drive and a friend.

Only about three miles to the north of Lake Stevens (where I live) is a
much smaller and far less developed lake. . .Lake Cassidy. I drove up
there a few days ago and checked it out. With no streetlights in view, few
houses and none really nearby, a great panorama the sky, and a smooth
dirt/gravel slope which is a boat launch and where I would also put the
telescope, the spot seemed the answer to my dreams. So, I went there a
couple of nights ago. As I was setting things up, guess what? Night
fishermen decided to arrive and fish without a boat. . .from the boat
launch. Right in front of me. With their car's headlights on to provide
the illumination they felt they needed. I waited them out. They left
before 11:00 p.m. By midnight, I had finished a starhopping jaunt to
NGC7331 and neighboring Stephen's Quintet, as well as NGC185. I couldn't
reel in 185's neighbor, NGC147. None of my bait worked. Not any focal
length EP, or eyepatch over the unobserving eyeball, or tapping the tube. .
..I just couldn't catch this prize. So I went back again the next night -
last night - to try again.

This time the spot was populated upon my arrival with a man and his wife
and child -- all sitting in chairs located in the back of ther pickup truck
-- all fishing. They didn't have the truck's headlights on. No. They had
a Coleman Lantern blazing away sitting up the roof of the truck. The man
came over to me and turned out to quite nice. He asked if the light
bothered me. I told him there were things I could observe which would not
be affected by the light. While we were chatting about the safety of
places to observe from, he told me that this wasn't the safest spot in the
world. . .several of his friends had their locked vehicles vandalized in
broad daylight as they (the vehicles) sat unattended in a parking area just
across the road. Still, it seems to me that the spot is relatively secure
for me. I think that a person who vandalizes cars seeks out an uninhabited
location. The Lake Cassidy spot is where I will be doing my business from
now on.


PUSH-TO to the RES-CUE:

In the face of that Coleman Lantern last night, I had to try for brighter
objects. Neptune was up. I would try for that, yet it was located just
over the southern horizon and right over that darn lantern which washed out
my view of the stars in a zone of maybe 5 to 8 degrees extending in all
directions from the Coleman product. My dobsonian is equipped with
Magellan 1 digital setting circles, so I quickly did a two-star horizontal
alignment using Enif and Deneb. The accuracy was 99 out of 100. . .good
enough for me. Next came the real test of my Magellan 1. To locate
planets, one must enter the day's date. The circles have a default date
setting (which one changes to the present date) of "01/01/96." I wondered
if Meade had made these digital setting circles Y2K (remember that term?)
compliant. Entering 8/05/05, I was about to find out. Next I punched up
"Neptune" and pushed the scope to the prescribed location which was JUST
over the Coleman Lantern. Peering through the eyepiece, I was rewarded by
small, beautiful blueish, orb. . .Neptune! It was almost centered directly
in the FOV. Not bad considering the move to it from the alignment position
was a considerable chunk of sky away.



--
Martin R. Howell
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://members.isp.com/universeofama...nomy%40isp.com

Martin R. Howell wrote:


New neighbors, a chainsaw, and light everywhe

My new neighbors have decided that most everynight presents them with an
opportunity to stand in their backyard while the lady drinks and smokes,
not ten feet from where I put the telescope up in my yard, yet separated by

Stories about annoying doofuses snipped

I feel for you with the new neighbors and the cut down tree. Maybe the
folks with the motion detectors will turn out nice, but I wouldn't count
on it. And I also feel yer pain re. the lack of safe observing spots out
in the local boonies. I never thought about it much till I got married
and started breeding, but it seems more important now somehow that I
don't go and get myself disappeared.

I haven't tried this, but maybe you could find a kind rancher who
wouldn't mind you parking on his land some nights. Worth a shot.

Try not to murder your neighbors-

Chris

Wow! I marvel frequently at the trials and tribulations of so many of my
fellow Astronomy lovers. I read of temperatures so cold that ice forms on
the lens.
Distances so great that it takes hours of driving and lugging to find a
so-so observing area. I for one feel blessed that I don't have to go
through all of that.
Oh, I do have my problems. We searched for several years to find our
perfect house in a perfect area. One acre with wooded land on three sides
and an Oak tree farm on the fourth. No street lights, dead end so no
traffic. Only 5 or 6 houses with quiet old timers and NO dogs!
That was 10 years ago. Now we have a horse breeding farm on the 5 acres in
the back but there are trees blocking their lights. The lot on one side was
cleared and there is a nice house going up but all their activity area such
as the pool are on the other side away from me. He is a police detective
who promised to take good care of us! The tree farm was sold to a
landscaper who was nice enough to put shields on his outside lights. Across
the street a new house is under construction but luckily they chose to
position it at the far end away from my property. I bought a 10' x 12' Pvc
yard shed from Home Depot and turned it into a slide off roof observatory.
Works great and has room for two or three scopes. Helps to keep the
mosquitos away and blocks the wind on those cold (60deg.) fort lauderdale
nights!
The moral of my story is, you need to move Martin! They are obviously
ganging up on you because you are obviously an Alien trying to contact your
home Planet! (I remember one guy that was reported to the police for having
a missle in his yard. They thought he was a terrorist!)
George Duke
Davie, FL
"Martin R. Howell" wrote in message
.. .



New neighbors, a chainsaw, and light everywhe

My new neighbors have decided that most everynight presents them with an
opportunity to stand in their backyard while the lady drinks and smokes,
not ten feet from where I put the telescope up in my yard, yet separated
by
an almost 6' high wood fence. At this corner of their house is a garage-
access backdoor with two floodlights (equipped with motion detectors)
directly above it. A couple of nights a week, she is joined by a few of
her friends and their kids and/or husbands and on more than one occasion,
I
have heard the words "Jack Horkheimer," and "International Star Registry"
floating over the fence and into my ears. Invariably, some unseen mouth
on
the other side of the fence will let it be known that the eyes above it
frequently take in the Discovery Channel and Nova. Hmmm, I wonder. . .are
they bringing this up for me to overhear or is it directed only at the
small gathering at hand. I can be seen through the little 1/4" spaces
between the wood slats which constitute the fence. They know I am there.

It seems that the sensitivity of the motion detectors on these floodlights
varies. When there is no one out in their yard and the only movement is
mine, sometimes that motion is picked up and the lights go on and at other
times there seems to be certain zones where I can move and not trigger the
lights. Anyway, I always keep my head down and generally avoid viewing
objects towards the zenith.

The neighbors directly behind me, on the other side of the street and
perhaps 150' south, have an unshielded streetlight directly in front of
their home. Until about ten days ago, this presented no problem to me
since there was a heavily foliaged tree on their property between me and
the streetlight. Then I came home from work one day and found that big
beautiful tree (it has to have been at least 100 years old) lying in
pieces
on the ground. Clearly, productive observing was history from my
property.
I had to find another spot that while, not perfect, was good enough and
nearby.


Mt. Pilchuck, Blue Mountain, and Lake Cassidy:

I do like the Mt. Pilchuck location I use occasionally but it is an hour
to
get up there and is very isolated. Even though I have yet to be bothered,
I still cringe when the sound of an approaching vehicle is heard in the
distance. In the last month, near a campsite named "Verlot" at the bottom
of the mountain, two sets of human remains were found and if I remember
correctly, an autopsy revealed foul play was involved. Also, in the town
of Granite Falls, maybe 14 miles from Mt. Pilchuck, a sailor from a naval
installation on Puget Sound went for a hike and never came back. I don't
think I will be going to Mt. Pilchuck alone again.

A friend told me of a great observing site at the top of Blue Mountain
outside of the small town named "Startup." With time on my hands (on
vacation now), I got out my Washington Atlas & Gazatteer and located the
site. I was ill-prepared for just how steep and rugged the "Blue Mountain
Main Line" is. This is the last leg (maybe 3/4 of a mile) of the trip to
the pinnacle. The very low clearance of my '94 Chevy Cavalier almost
brought me to a stop a couple of times. Additionally, the road was so
steep at this point that it just about overwhelmed the little family
sedan's engine. I found myself thinking, "Oh my God, what will I do if I
get stuck and can't even back out?" But. . .I made it to the top. Great
view. The wind could be heard whipping through the mountains surrounding
me. And, even though it was not really dark (maybe 9:15 p.m.), I could
tell it would offer some terrific dark sky. But wait. What's this??
Shotgun shells all over the ground at my feet. I have seen the movie
"Deliverance," so easing back down the "Blue Mountain Main Line," I
realized I would not be going to observe from that location without
four-wheel drive and a friend.

Only about three miles to the north of Lake Stevens (where I live) is a
much smaller and far less developed lake. . .Lake Cassidy. I drove up
there a few days ago and checked it out. With no streetlights in view,
few
houses and none really nearby, a great panorama the sky, and a smooth
dirt/gravel slope which is a boat launch and where I would also put the
telescope, the spot seemed the answer to my dreams. So, I went there a
couple of nights ago. As I was setting things up, guess what? Night
fishermen decided to arrive and fish without a boat. . .from the boat
launch. Right in front of me. With their car's headlights on to provide
the illumination they felt they needed. I waited them out. They left
before 11:00 p.m. By midnight, I had finished a starhopping jaunt to
NGC7331 and neighboring Stephen's Quintet, as well as NGC185. I couldn't
reel in 185's neighbor, NGC147. None of my bait worked. Not any focal
length EP, or eyepatch over the unobserving eyeball, or tapping the tube.
..
.I just couldn't catch this prize. So I went back again the next night -
last night - to try again.

This time the spot was populated upon my arrival with a man and his wife
and child -- all sitting in chairs located in the back of ther pickup
truck
-- all fishing. They didn't have the truck's headlights on. No. They
had
a Coleman Lantern blazing away sitting up the roof of the truck. The man
came over to me and turned out to quite nice. He asked if the light
bothered me. I told him there were things I could observe which would not
be affected by the light. While we were chatting about the safety of
places to observe from, he told me that this wasn't the safest spot in the
world. . .several of his friends had their locked vehicles vandalized in
broad daylight as they (the vehicles) sat unattended in a parking area
just
across the road. Still, it seems to me that the spot is relatively secure
for me. I think that a person who vandalizes cars seeks out an
uninhabited
location. The Lake Cassidy spot is where I will be doing my business from
now on.


PUSH-TO to the RES-CUE:

In the face of that Coleman Lantern last night, I had to try for brighter
objects. Neptune was up. I would try for that, yet it was located just
over the southern horizon and right over that darn lantern which washed
out
my view of the stars in a zone of maybe 5 to 8 degrees extending in all
directions from the Coleman product. My dobsonian is equipped with
Magellan 1 digital setting circles, so I quickly did a two-star horizontal
alignment using Enif and Deneb. The accuracy was 99 out of 100. . .good
enough for me. Next came the real test of my Magellan 1. To locate
planets, one must enter the day's date. The circles have a default date
setting (which one changes to the present date) of "01/01/96." I wondered
if Meade had made these digital setting circles Y2K (remember that term?)
compliant. Entering 8/05/05, I was about to find out. Next I punched up
"Neptune" and pushed the scope to the prescribed location which was JUST
over the Coleman Lantern. Peering through the eyepiece, I was rewarded by
small, beautiful blueish, orb. . .Neptune! It was almost centered
directly
in the FOV. Not bad considering the move to it from the alignment
position
was a considerable chunk of sky away.



--
Martin R. Howell
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://members.isp.com/universeofama...nomy%40isp.com

Martin R. Howell wrote:


New neighbors, a chainsaw, and light everywhe

My new neighbors have decided that most everynight presents them with an
opportunity to stand in their backyard while the lady drinks and smokes,
not ten feet from where I put the telescope up in my yard, yet separated by
an almost 6' high wood fence. At this corner of their house is a garage-
access backdoor with two floodlights (equipped with motion detectors)
directly above it. A couple of nights a week, she is joined by a few of
her friends and their kids and/or husbands and on more than one occasion, I
have heard the words "Jack Horkheimer," and "International Star Registry"
floating over the fence and into my ears. Invariably, some unseen mouth on
the other side of the fence will let it be known that the eyes above it
frequently take in the Discovery Channel and Nova. Hmmm, I wonder. . .are
they bringing this up for me to overhear or is it directed only at the
small gathering at hand. I can be seen through the little 1/4" spaces
between the wood slats which constitute the fence. They know I am there.

It seems that the sensitivity of the motion detectors on these floodlights
varies. When there is no one out in their yard and the only movement is
mine, sometimes that motion is picked up and the lights go on and at other
times there seems to be certain zones where I can move and not trigger the
lights. Anyway, I always keep my head down and generally avoid viewing
objects towards the zenith.

The neighbors directly behind me, on the other side of the street and
perhaps 150' south, have an unshielded streetlight directly in front of
their home. Until about ten days ago, this presented no problem to me
since there was a heavily foliaged tree on their property between me and
the streetlight. Then I came home from work one day and found that big
beautiful tree (it has to have been at least 100 years old) lying in pieces
on the ground. Clearly, productive observing was history from my property.
I had to find another spot that while, not perfect, was good enough and
nearby.
Martin: Life has handed you a lemon, so why not make lemonade? You're
going to have to live with the neighbors during the daytime also, and
there may be more issues besides astronomy. Why not invite them over for
a night or two of observing? It sounds like they're dropping hints
already. It'll get things off to a good start, and give you the
opportunity to explain the value of sensible lighting. Their movement
will trigger the yard lights and provide a graphic illustration.

As for the tree betwen you and the streetlight, I'm doubly offended,
since I'm a woodworker as well as an astronomer.
Bob Schmall

"Martin R. Howell" wrote in message
.. .



New neighbors, a chainsaw, and light everywhe


Good luck with the neighbors..eh. Too bad our neighbors to the south are a
lot like the ones
you lament about.

Martin, I could be wrong, but I do believe it is you they are referring
to as "Jack Horkenheimer".

Thqy probably think you're a big joke, and honestly, the majority of
people out there probably think a person is odd/weird who stands at a
telescope eyepiece in utter silence in the middle of the night, while
other people they figure are doing more "Normal Things", like tipping a
few cans of Bud Lite, hitting up on a few Doobs, etc etc.

Oh sure they're spying on you through the cracks. They know you're back
there, so they have to perhaps be a little more "extra careful" what
they say outloud, and what activities they partake in (see above).

Unfortunately, tens of thousands of us put up with pretty much the same
more, or less.

I had just wonderful nieghbors here myself not long ago, but fortunately
they moved. I'm just praying I don't get more of the same here anytime
soon.

How about "Tampoline Basketball" around the clock. That was their kids
favorite game. Didn't matter of it was 105 out, the hotter, the better.
From 10am till 11:30pm every day.

Thier little "Basketball Court" wasn't 20 feet from my bedroom. Every
time I'd hear the ball start to bouce, I'd usually start singing a few
bars of Cheech+Chong's "Basketball Jones".

How about coming, and going all hours of the night, and pulling up in
their driveway with a 500 watt car audio system blasting out that do-rag
**** playing Boom-Boom-Boom at 1:30am in the morning. Loud enough that
my ****ing bed is literally vibrating.

A continuous clean up of their nasty garbage scattered all over the
alley every day next to my driveway, as they must've been freaking
"Helen Keller", and couldn't find the Garbage Can.

It all eventually came to a head when their kids decided to vandalize my
property. That was when I unfortunately had to revert back to my earlier
Chicago youth, and told them one more ****ing time, and someone's gonna
be makin a trip to the hospital.

As another poster suggested, I would Not invite them over for any
viewing of any sort, especially if you have quite expensive equipment.
While those neighbors of mine lived across the way, I was always
reluctant to let them see any of my valuable extra-curricular
possessions for fear of theft when I wasn't home.

If they maybe perhaps approach you in the future in a respectable way,
and show a sincere interest in viewng with you, then "maybe" I'd
consider inviting them, otherwise don't try forcing, or suggesting
"your" religion upon them.

Sorry to perhaps give off a sense of paranoia, but there are all kinds
in this world, don't never be so sure that you think you 'know' your
neighbors. Mark

Sorry to perhaps give off a sense of paranoia, but there are all kinds
in this world, don't never be so sure that you think you 'know' your
neighbors. Mark



HA..'In Canada" my neebors are just fine with me and my telescope. Tonight
was great. I showed our CT visiting friend
the wonders of binary stars with no interfering lights at all under Mag 5.5
skies from the backyard. The Cygnus was flying high.

Pretty much anything goes where I live.... lights, squirrels, possums, cats
and people.

People are the most interesting while I'm out at the scope. Last year, a
couple a football field or so away made love so loudly that I could hear
them in the wintertime with their windows closed. Now that's some loving!
There is a couple with three grown boys right behind me. They have a hot
tub in the backyard about 50 feet or so away from where I observe. The only
thing separating me from them is a fence row of bushes. I have heard quite
a lot of rumbling around when the boys bring the girls by late at night.
The fact is that they know I'm out there, as I sometimes startle the new
girls if I move about the yard, but they keep right on fu**ing. I guess
after I told them I didn't care what went on, they took it literally.

We have a bunch of wild cats roaming about the neighborhood all night long.
As with the people, they are often heard, sometimes in large numbers, either
fighting or mating. They don't quite know what to make of me when I'm
observing. They sort of stop and stare, probably wishing to themselves that
I would just go inside. Not a chance and sometimes I will hiss at them.

During the Mars opposition of '03, when I was out observing nearly every
clear night that summer, I often heard some rustling in the bushes, usually
between 1-2 AM. For a long time, I thought it was the neighbor's dog until
one night the rustling got very close to me. It seemed to come through the
fence and was about 5 feet or so away from where I was sitting. So, I
switched the light from the red night vision setting back to white and
shined the light toward the bushes. To my surprise, "mom" possum was
starting back at me, complete with her young. She froze while the light was
on her and I realized no harm was intended, so I turned it off. For the
rest of the summer, "mom" would regularly go through the bushes around the
same time and had no problems getting quite close to me. Pretty brave
possum!

Of course, most of us have lights, and I too have my fair share. The
biggest problem was going to be some neighbor's flood lights, positioned not
towards the ground but higher up into the air. At the time, I wasn't sure
whether or not the glare basically enveloping my backyard was going to be a
detriment to Mars observing. Since I hardly ever saw these particular
neighbors outside, I sent them a polite letter asking them to turn their
spotlights toward the ground. Within 3 days they did and I was overjoyed.
Of course, as I found out later, whether extra light is around or not
doesn't effect planetary observation, unless the light is shining directly
into the scope. However, since the general lighting around town has
increased significantly over the last 15 years, my DSO days are over. Where
I could see the milky way 15 years ago quite well, I can just barely make it
out these days. Sad when light pollution slowly takes over.

Well, that's my story. I've never had to move to a remote observing
location for any reason and hope I never have to. However, if things
continue to decline, I may be forced to one of these days.

Dan Garrett

"Martin R. Howell" wrote in message
.. .



New neighbors, a chainsaw, and light everywhe

My new neighbors have decided that most everynight presents them with an
opportunity to stand in their backyard while the lady drinks and smokes,
not ten feet from where I put the telescope up in my yard, yet separated
by
an almost 6' high wood fence. At this corner of their house is a garage-
access backdoor with two floodlights (equipped with motion detectors)
directly above it. A couple of nights a week, she is joined by a few of
her friends and their kids and/or husbands and on more than one occasion,
I
have heard the words "Jack Horkheimer," and "International Star Registry"
floating over the fence and into my ears. Invariably, some unseen mouth
on
the other side of the fence will let it be known that the eyes above it
frequently take in the Discovery Channel and Nova. Hmmm, I wonder. . .are
they bringing this up for me to overhear or is it directed only at the
small gathering at hand. I can be seen through the little 1/4" spaces
between the wood slats which constitute the fence. They know I am there.

It seems that the sensitivity of the motion detectors on these floodlights
varies. When there is no one out in their yard and the only movement is
mine, sometimes that motion is picked up and the lights go on and at other
times there seems to be certain zones where I can move and not trigger the
lights. Anyway, I always keep my head down and generally avoid viewing
objects towards the zenith.

The neighbors directly behind me, on the other side of the street and
perhaps 150' south, have an unshielded streetlight directly in front of
their home. Until about ten days ago, this presented no problem to me
since there was a heavily foliaged tree on their property between me and
the streetlight. Then I came home from work one day and found that big
beautiful tree (it has to have been at least 100 years old) lying in
pieces
on the ground. Clearly, productive observing was history from my
property.
I had to find another spot that while, not perfect, was good enough and
nearby.


Mt. Pilchuck, Blue Mountain, and Lake Cassidy:

I do like the Mt. Pilchuck location I use occasionally but it is an hour
to
get up there and is very isolated. Even though I have yet to be bothered,
I still cringe when the sound of an approaching vehicle is heard in the
distance. In the last month, near a campsite named "Verlot" at the bottom
of the mountain, two sets of human remains were found and if I remember
correctly, an autopsy revealed foul play was involved. Also, in the town
of Granite Falls, maybe 14 miles from Mt. Pilchuck, a sailor from a naval
installation on Puget Sound went for a hike and never came back. I don't
think I will be going to Mt. Pilchuck alone again.

A friend told me of a great observing site at the top of Blue Mountain
outside of the small town named "Startup." With time on my hands (on
vacation now), I got out my Washington Atlas & Gazatteer and located the
site. I was ill-prepared for just how steep and rugged the "Blue Mountain
Main Line" is. This is the last leg (maybe 3/4 of a mile) of the trip to
the pinnacle. The very low clearance of my '94 Chevy Cavalier almost
brought me to a stop a couple of times. Additionally, the road was so
steep at this point that it just about overwhelmed the little family
sedan's engine. I found myself thinking, "Oh my God, what will I do if I
get stuck and can't even back out?" But. . .I made it to the top. Great
view. The wind could be heard whipping through the mountains surrounding
me. And, even though it was not really dark (maybe 9:15 p.m.), I could
tell it would offer some terrific dark sky. But wait. What's this??
Shotgun shells all over the ground at my feet. I have seen the movie
"Deliverance," so easing back down the "Blue Mountain Main Line," I
realized I would not be going to observe from that location without
four-wheel drive and a friend.

Only about three miles to the north of Lake Stevens (where I live) is a
much smaller and far less developed lake. . .Lake Cassidy. I drove up
there a few days ago and checked it out. With no streetlights in view,
few
houses and none really nearby, a great panorama the sky, and a smooth
dirt/gravel slope which is a boat launch and where I would also put the
telescope, the spot seemed the answer to my dreams. So, I went there a
couple of nights ago. As I was setting things up, guess what? Night
fishermen decided to arrive and fish without a boat. . .from the boat
launch. Right in front of me. With their car's headlights on to provide
the illumination they felt they needed. I waited them out. They left
before 11:00 p.m. By midnight, I had finished a starhopping jaunt to
NGC7331 and neighboring Stephen's Quintet, as well as NGC185. I couldn't
reel in 185's neighbor, NGC147. None of my bait worked. Not any focal
length EP, or eyepatch over the unobserving eyeball, or tapping the tube.
..
.I just couldn't catch this prize. So I went back again the next night -
last night - to try again.

This time the spot was populated upon my arrival with a man and his wife
and child -- all sitting in chairs located in the back of ther pickup
truck
-- all fishing. They didn't have the truck's headlights on. No. They
had
a Coleman Lantern blazing away sitting up the roof of the truck. The man
came over to me and turned out to quite nice. He asked if the light
bothered me. I told him there were things I could observe which would not
be affected by the light. While we were chatting about the safety of
places to observe from, he told me that this wasn't the safest spot in the
world. . .several of his friends had their locked vehicles vandalized in
broad daylight as they (the vehicles) sat unattended in a parking area
just
across the road. Still, it seems to me that the spot is relatively secure
for me. I think that a person who vandalizes cars seeks out an
uninhabited
location. The Lake Cassidy spot is where I will be doing my business from
now on.


PUSH-TO to the RES-CUE:

In the face of that Coleman Lantern last night, I had to try for brighter
objects. Neptune was up. I would try for that, yet it was located just
over the southern horizon and right over that darn lantern which washed
out
my view of the stars in a zone of maybe 5 to 8 degrees extending in all
directions from the Coleman product. My dobsonian is equipped with
Magellan 1 digital setting circles, so I quickly did a two-star horizontal
alignment using Enif and Deneb. The accuracy was 99 out of 100. . .good
enough for me. Next came the real test of my Magellan 1. To locate
planets, one must enter the day's date. The circles have a default date
setting (which one changes to the present date) of "01/01/96." I wondered
if Meade had made these digital setting circles Y2K (remember that term?)
compliant. Entering 8/05/05, I was about to find out. Next I punched up
"Neptune" and pushed the scope to the prescribed location which was JUST
over the Coleman Lantern. Peering through the eyepiece, I was rewarded by
small, beautiful blueish, orb. . .Neptune! It was almost centered
directly
in the FOV. Not bad considering the move to it from the alignment
position
was a considerable chunk of sky away.



--
Martin R. Howell
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://members.isp.com/universeofama...nomy%40isp.com

Civilisation! Get a mean dog!



"Martin R. Howell" wrote:

New neighbors, a chainsaw, and light everywhe

My new neighbors have decided that most everynight presents them with an
opportunity to stand in their backyard while the lady drinks and smokes,
not ten feet from where I put the telescope up in my yard, yet separated by
an almost 6' high wood fence. At this corner of their house is a garage-
access backdoor with two floodlights (equipped with motion detectors)
directly above it. A couple of nights a week, she is joined by a few of
her friends and their kids and/or husbands and on more than one occasion, I
have heard the words "Jack Horkheimer," and "International Star Registry"
floating over the fence and into my ears. Invariably, some unseen mouth on
the other side of the fence will let it be known that the eyes above it
frequently take in the Discovery Channel and Nova. Hmmm, I wonder. . .are
they bringing this up for me to overhear or is it directed only at the
small gathering at hand. I can be seen through the little 1/4" spaces
between the wood slats which constitute the fence. They know I am there.

It seems that the sensitivity of the motion detectors on these floodlights
varies. When there is no one out in their yard and the only movement is
mine, sometimes that motion is picked up and the lights go on and at other
times there seems to be certain zones where I can move and not trigger the
lights. Anyway, I always keep my head down and generally avoid viewing
objects towards the zenith.

The neighbors directly behind me, on the other side of the street and
perhaps 150' south, have an unshielded streetlight directly in front of
their home. Until about ten days ago, this presented no problem to me
since there was a heavily foliaged tree on their property between me and
the streetlight. Then I came home from work one day and found that big
beautiful tree (it has to have been at least 100 years old) lying in pieces
on the ground. Clearly, productive observing was history from my property.
I had to find another spot that while, not perfect, was good enough and
nearby.

Mt. Pilchuck, Blue Mountain, and Lake Cassidy:

I do like the Mt. Pilchuck location I use occasionally but it is an hour to
get up there and is very isolated. Even though I have yet to be bothered,
I still cringe when the sound of an approaching vehicle is heard in the
distance. In the last month, near a campsite named "Verlot" at the bottom
of the mountain, two sets of human remains were found and if I remember
correctly, an autopsy revealed foul play was involved. Also, in the town
of Granite Falls, maybe 14 miles from Mt. Pilchuck, a sailor from a naval
installation on Puget Sound went for a hike and never came back. I don't
think I will be going to Mt. Pilchuck alone again.

A friend told me of a great observing site at the top of Blue Mountain
outside of the small town named "Startup." With time on my hands (on
vacation now), I got out my Washington Atlas & Gazatteer and located the
site. I was ill-prepared for just how steep and rugged the "Blue Mountain
Main Line" is. This is the last leg (maybe 3/4 of a mile) of the trip to
the pinnacle. The very low clearance of my '94 Chevy Cavalier almost
brought me to a stop a couple of times. Additionally, the road was so
steep at this point that it just about overwhelmed the little family
sedan's engine. I found myself thinking, "Oh my God, what will I do if I
get stuck and can't even back out?" But. . .I made it to the top. Great
view. The wind could be heard whipping through the mountains surrounding
me. And, even though it was not really dark (maybe 9:15 p.m.), I could
tell it would offer some terrific dark sky. But wait. What's this??
Shotgun shells all over the ground at my feet. I have seen the movie
"Deliverance," so easing back down the "Blue Mountain Main Line," I
realized I would not be going to observe from that location without
four-wheel drive and a friend.

Only about three miles to the north of Lake Stevens (where I live) is a
much smaller and far less developed lake. . .Lake Cassidy. I drove up
there a few days ago and checked it out. With no streetlights in view, few
houses and none really nearby, a great panorama the sky, and a smooth
dirt/gravel slope which is a boat launch and where I would also put the
telescope, the spot seemed the answer to my dreams. So, I went there a
couple of nights ago. As I was setting things up, guess what? Night
fishermen decided to arrive and fish without a boat. . .from the boat
launch. Right in front of me. With their car's headlights on to provide
the illumination they felt they needed. I waited them out. They left
before 11:00 p.m. By midnight, I had finished a starhopping jaunt to
NGC7331 and neighboring Stephen's Quintet, as well as NGC185. I couldn't
reel in 185's neighbor, NGC147. None of my bait worked. Not any focal
length EP, or eyepatch over the unobserving eyeball, or tapping the tube. .
.I just couldn't catch this prize. So I went back again the next night -
last night - to try again.

This time the spot was populated upon my arrival with a man and his wife
and child -- all sitting in chairs located in the back of ther pickup truck
-- all fishing. They didn't have the truck's headlights on. No. They had
a Coleman Lantern blazing away sitting up the roof of the truck. The man
came over to me and turned out to quite nice. He asked if the light
bothered me. I told him there were things I could observe which would not
be affected by the light. While we were chatting about the safety of
places to observe from, he told me that this wasn't the safest spot in the
world. . .several of his friends had their locked vehicles vandalized in
broad daylight as they (the vehicles) sat unattended in a parking area just
across the road. Still, it seems to me that the spot is relatively secure
for me. I think that a person who vandalizes cars seeks out an uninhabited
location. The Lake Cassidy spot is where I will be doing my business from
now on.

PUSH-TO to the RES-CUE:

In the face of that Coleman Lantern last night, I had to try for brighter
objects. Neptune was up. I would try for that, yet it was located just
over the southern horizon and right over that darn lantern which washed out
my view of the stars in a zone of maybe 5 to 8 degrees extending in all
directions from the Coleman product. My dobsonian is equipped with
Magellan 1 digital setting circles, so I quickly did a two-star horizontal
alignment using Enif and Deneb. The accuracy was 99 out of 100. . .good
enough for me. Next came the real test of my Magellan 1. To locate
planets, one must enter the day's date. The circles have a default date
setting (which one changes to the present date) of "01/01/96." I wondered
if Meade had made these digital setting circles Y2K (remember that term?)
compliant. Entering 8/05/05, I was about to find out. Next I punched up
"Neptune" and pushed the scope to the prescribed location which was JUST
over the Coleman Lantern. Peering through the eyepiece, I was rewarded by
small, beautiful blueish, orb. . .Neptune! It was almost centered directly
in the FOV. Not bad considering the move to it from the alignment position
was a considerable chunk of sky away.

--
Martin R. Howell
"Photographs From the Universe of Amateur Astronomy"
http://members.isp.com/universeofama...nomy%40isp.com