OI Guacamole tonight.

[Mark Wagner]

If you come, bring chips.

Leaving soon.

Mark

[Mark Wagner]

Sunset at 17:11.  Pease try to arrive before dark.

[Francesco Meschia]

I’m unable to get there on time tonight, but I’m thinking of Sunday night – in case you want to repeat the outing.

Francesco

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[Christopher Kelly]

Looks like a darn good night.

I’m unable to get there in time (sunset) so I’m going to check another prospective site along Priest Valley Road.  Might not even take a telescope (!).  

My goal would otherwise to be able to regain the Merope Nebula …

Clears!!!

Chris

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[Rahul Sangole]

Pardon me,  but where is Gauc?

- Rahul

On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 16:00 Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:

You Guacos are making the right call. Route66 has worse weather prospects but I’m stuck here. The Central Valley allegedly will get fog which might make Guac darker 

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[Richard Navarrete]

Glaucophane Ridge. I’m not sure of the exact spot.

Richard

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

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[Akarsh Simha]

Guac is a CDSE / Caldark site which is a private group adjacent to TAC. Any TACo can join the private group. The group keeps tabs on and explores and shares various more primitive sites suitable for observing. You can apply to join here:

https://groups.google.com/g/caldark

The list is private, the sites it discussed and lists are private. My take on why this is useful / important is that our local sites have become flooded with less-serious seasonal astronomy enthusiasts who wake up only when there’s things like Perseids and are unaware of dark sky etiquette. A good example of this is that an original TAC-championed site Montebello routinely closes during the Perseids now.   Pinnacles has become extremely unfriendly to astronomers and perhaps the overuse is a factor. This is not to discourage people who want to go out from learning about and using these sites, it’s to keep them from showing up in a random Google or ChatGPT search like “what’s the best place to observe the Perseids from”

I encourage you to join Caldark so you can find the actual site for tonight’s OI.

Clear Skies

Akarsh

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[Rahul Sangole]

Thanks Akarsh

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- Rahul

[Jamie Dillon, DDK]

Akarsh was all - "Pinnacles has become extremely unfriendly to astronomers and perhaps the overuse is a factor."

Important to keep the current record straight. East Pinnacles is still fine and open for astronomy, as you can see at <https://observers.org/pinnacles-east/>

We make a serious point of keeping accurate updated info on our hilltop sites on our website <observers.org>

The west side of the Pinnacles isn't extremely unfriendly, it's just plain closed at night. And it had nothing to do with overuse. On a busy Saturday night there, you might have seen 15 telescopes.

"...our local sites have become flooded"

Hardly. Coe is a thrill when 7 or 8 people show up. There are 3 TACos I know of going to the Peak thru this next weekend. 2 of us at the SW lot on Saturday night.

[Francesco Meschia]

On Jan 16, 2026, at 20:48, Jamie Dillon, DDK <ngc1...@gmail.com> wrote:

"...our local sites have become flooded"

Hardly. Coe is a thrill when 7 or 8 people show up. There are 3 TACos I know of going to the Peak thru this next weekend. 2 of us at the SW lot on Saturday night.

I think Akarsh has a point there. During a regular new Moon weekend, yes you may find only a handful of people at any site. But during astronomical events that make it into the generalist media, just like he said, sites are indeed flooded. MidPen has to close down their preserves to astronomy during Perseids. On another occasion, I drove up to Monte Bello to see NEOWISE, and the entire Page Mill road was a parking lot. Again, I had a permit for Monte Bello for the aurora borealis of May 2014, and it was an absolute zoo. There was even a car that had fallen off the shoulder into the ravine and was only held up by tree branches. 

[Jamie Dillon, DDK]

Sure the Perseids and a naked-eye comet will bring out hordes of The Unwashed.

Just really want it to be clear for newcomers that our local sites are typically crowded. Far from it.

[Ted Hauter]

Way to tell it like it is.

On Fri, Jan 16, 2026, 9:15 PM Jamie Dillon, DDK <ngc1...@gmail.com> wrote:

Sure the Perseids and a naked-eye comet will bring out hordes of The Unwashed.

Just really want it to be clear for newcomers that our local sites are typically crowded. Far from it.

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[Akarsh Simha]

DDK, your note about Coe reminds me. I once forgot to dummy-lock the gate before dusk because we expected more people to trickle in. Needless to say, we had night-visitors who didn’t know anything about light etiquette. Nothing special on that night, no Perseids. Once a place becomes listed as “good for astronomy” in Google or AI results, this sort of thing is bound to happen.

Granted Coe is still awesome because a locked get is a great deterrent. So is the Peak.

On most new moon weekend nights, granted that these places are sparsely populated. I do like that we as TAC list the sites publicly with information on how to use them. I’m explaining why CDSE has the model of keeping sites private, not disqualifying TAC sites. I think having both models (a public listing and a private one) is useful.

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[Mark Wagner]

A few things.

Jamie, do you know if Pinnacles West now kicks you out when the gate locks?  In other words, if one simply plans to be there until reopen time the next day is it permitted?

Also, the differences between TAC and CDSE lists and requirements are purposeful:

When establishing TAC (30 years ago), it was intended for any and all Bay area observers, in a very open and public way.  Only observing etiquette (an archaic term?) was requested.  No club rules, officers, dues, etc..  Publicly readable list.

Establishing CDSE (5 years ago) was intended for CA astronomy dark sky enthusiasts (both wider and narrower than TAC), rules requested to not in a public arena mention places by actual name/location in order to protect places from "unwanted" publicity, for our use.  This included knowing who (real names) is joining that list.  List not publicly readable.

I was at "Guaco" last night.  Not a far drive, as dark as Pinnacles East or darker, superb horizons, "primitive". A CDSE site that I'd hate to see overly popularized.  Is it publicly known?  Yes, like almost all easy to get to places in CA.  But why help overly-popularize it on a public list?

Both lists seem to function well both separately and in jointly.

Mark

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[Peter Natscher]

The response I remember getting from a resident ranger at PinnWest last summer of the gate locking closed by 8pm was to evacuate all visitors before 8pm.  I did see a ranger driving around both parking lots to give notice to all visitors that they need to exit, but that says nothing about the visitors who might have been still hiking on a trail and upon returning to their vehicles later on ended up being locked inside the park. I would like to return to Pinn West during the daytime to meet up with a ranger and discus staying inside the park after gate lock up and exiting after gate opening at 7:30am doing astro activities. Or, perhaps a phone call to the PinnEast main office to discus with the park's management.

[Jamie Dillon, DDK]

Mark, for Pinnacles West, I honestly don't know what the rangers would say if they find one of us observing in the visitors lot, behind the locked gate. I've never stayed till morning. 

The message for stargazers was maybe implicit but certainly clear.

You got me to wonder, what about the people who do nighttime hiking there? That goes on all the time. No idea what happens when the gate doesn't open for them.

On the original topic here, how was the Ridge of Guacamole last night? What did you gawk at?

[Chris In Felton]

Sites on CDSE are all public, hopefully free, dark and hopefully under publicized.

The best use case I can offer is Laguna Mtn which was completely unknown.   Being a dry camp, there wasn’t much reason to go there … Very very dark, but limited in resources and easily over-run by members of the social media community.  It is free, but turns out there is a waterfall within an easy hike of the trailhead parking area.  Before 2010 one could go there on a new moon weekend and set up in  campsite #1 or #5 and enjoy uninterrupted observing.   

Forget it now; hence the CDSE site list after we identified TB and Guacamole Ridge.  (Not sure any more if CDSE came first - Mark gets full credit for that).

Clears

Chris in Felton

On Jan 16, 2026, at 8:48 PM, Jamie Dillon, DDK <ngc1...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Francesco Meschia]

On Jan 17, 2026, at 14:17, Jamie Dillon, DDK <ngc1...@gmail.com> wrote:

Mark, for Pinnacles West, I honestly don't know what the rangers would say if they find one of us observing in the visitors lot, behind the locked gate. I've never stayed till morning. 

I had actually asked if I could stay all night and get out once the gate re-opens. I was told that I would be found in violation of the park rules and be cited.

Francesco

[Mark Wagner]

Thanks Francesco,

Then I'd expect to find a new sign at PW gate stating one must vacate by XXPM, or be cited.

Anyone check this?

PW = PU?

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[Francesco Meschia]

Like this one? :(

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[Akarsh Simha]

Speaking of TB, I’ve never seen as many people at TB as I did today driving out; well it is the start of a long weekend. Anyway TB has tons of room I don’t think it’ll get overrun anytime soon simply because of how far it is. The wilderness alliance exec I met on Sunday at TB was saying it’s gotten popular amongst shooters. Technically hunting is legal there, not target shooting, but it’s difficult to police the difference.

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[Mark Wagner]

Jamie,

Guaco was like the perfect margarita.  Wet and tasty.  I had a great time.

Best views were high power highly detailed M82 and NGC 1491 (Fossil Footprint).  M82 is a prime example of why observing the M catalog is so rewarding.  After hunting aintno's it great to have eye-popping detail.  Same for the emission nebula, beautiful shape and details in an NPB.

On the wet side. It was in fact dripping.  And often every star under mag 8 had its own extended round nebula in the eyepiece.

This morning was chilly with thin red wispy horse tail clouds lit by sunrise. Probably up there late last night too.

And with the fun ride home through the back roads wilds, so worth the trip.

You should give it a try!