OR: Warner mountains, Off S Warner Rd east of Patterson Campground [18", 2 nights]
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Akarsh Simha
Jul 13, 2019, 3:41:58 AM7/13/19
to The Astronomy Connection (TAC)
Hello TACos:
Here’s the observing report some of you have been waiting for. Jimi Lowrey and I went observing for two nights (nights of July 3 and July 4) in the Warner Mountains with my Obsession 18” f/4.5 (on an equatorial platform). Our elevation must have been around 8000 feet and the location was a few miles down the dirt road (S. Warner Rd.) towards the Surprise Valley from the Patterson campground.
tl;dr: We had exceptional night sky darkness and made some deep observations, including one of a depth that is generally unexpected from an 18-inch telescope. [See the end of the report]
Getting there:
From Likely, CA one drives to 18 miles of paved road to “Blue Lake”. Cell service is gone within a mile of departing Likely. From the fork to Blue Lake, about 8 miles of driving on dirt road, past Patterson Mill Meadow and Patterson Campground, got us to our camping ground in an open meadow. The east end of the meadow has a fork off to Bear Camp Road. We were on the west side of the meadow, up a two-track road. In my low-clearance German sedan, the dirt road was a somewhat smoother ride than a typical Bay Area freeway, and one of the best dirt roads I’ve driven on. There was some washboarding on the curves. Driving out east from our camping area towards Surprise Valley (Nevada), the dirt road has steep, badly washboardy switchbacks, which need careful, patient negotiation in a sedan. I recommend heading back towards Likely, especially if towing.
Location:
The only major drawback of our observing site was our low elevation compared to our local surroundings — my low-clearance car could not drive most of the final two-track road that climbed from a valley into a higher local elevation due to several minefields of rocks. This could be a reason for us to see higher-than-expected humidity conditions, considering that we were right across the road from a marshy valley. The mosquito population made GSSP feel like heaven — my skin is yet to recover from the bites. DEET was a life-saver.
The developed campgrounds have significant tree cover and are not very useful for observing. Thus, any location one may pick for observing will necessarily have no cell service, no water, no toilets, no electricity, whereby preparedness is of paramount importance, and going in groups is helpful. A search for a place that has lower humidity, higher local elevation, fewer mosquitoes and a better flat, vegetation-free area to set up a telescope is desirable.
Night Sky:
Now for the important part. All the hardships of this location -- the 8 miles of dirt road, the lack of amenities and cell service, the mosquitoes -- are all quickly forgiven when one looks up at the night sky. Consecutively for two nights, I witnessed what was comparable to the darkest night skies I’ve ever seen. Despite the summer Milky Way and Jupiter being high up in the sky, the surroundings were dark. Jimi was unable to see his dark shoes. We were barely able to see any structure in the foliage that surrounded us. Jimi could not see me sitting at my laptop about 10ft from the telescope where he was standing. With minimal effort, I was able to see a 6.9mag Star. M92 was a naked eye object. If we had an SQM, I would expect it to read _at least_ 21.9, probably closer to 22.0. It reminded me of that amazing night at Texas Star Party this year where multiple SQMs read 22+.
The structure in the Milky Way was strong and well-defined. We observed “three bright lanes” of the summer Milky Way near Sagittarius and Scorpius — the two that one normally observes, and an additional loop of faint light starting from near Dschubba and looping around towards Ophiuchus.
Despite the mountainous terrain, seeing was steady for the most part.
Conditions — Night 1: (July 3–4)
Jimi and I were both really tired, having left GSSP with extreme sleep deprivation. We did not last long. We looked at some eye candy for an hour or two. After this duration, we observed the formation of frost everywhere (secondary and primary were spared, but Telrad and eyepieces weren't) and a slight brightening in the night sky and decided to quit. It also was extremely cold for a mid-summer night, reaching 32 F by midnight.
Jeff, when you read the observing report for this night, rest assured this is the real Jimi Lowrey looking at Messier objects! — now you know why. We still did not look at Jupiter.
Conditions — Night 2: (July 4–5)
The conditions were consistently exceptional. There was some evening dew/frost formation, but this stopped about 30 minutes after dark. Jimi and I started at about 10:30PM and went on to 2AM. We had to quit at 2AM in order to be in proper condition to drive out the next day.
Observing — Night 1:
1. M 51:
The view was astounding for an 18”. I have never seen so much halo around M51. The contrast of the spiral arms was incredible. I have never noticed a well-marked right-angle brightening in one of the spiral arms before in an 18”, and here it stood out naturally. Unfortunately, Jimi and I were too tired to remember to look for the “E”.
2. M 57:
The central star was not too hard averted, unfiltered.
3. M 101:
Was bursting with HII regions and spotted well-defined spiral arms.
4. Bird’s head galaxy in Lyra (NGC 6745):
Both Jimi and I had several pops of the “worm” (PGC 200361), a 16.9 mag galaxy that is causing tidal distortion of the main galaxy. The worm lies after a small "dark gap" from the end of the visible portion of the tidal tail.
This is pretty much all I remember from night 1, since I didn’t take systematic logs.
Observing — Night 2:
1. NGC 6275 [Part of Jimi's project of observing NGC contributions by Lewis Swift]
All we were able to see of this barred ring galaxy was a bright region stacked on top of a faint halo below it.
2. Blue Raquetball:
Distorted inner halo, elongated elliptically.
Faint, irregular outer halo.
Some sensation of a stellaring in the center.
3. NGC 6365 [Arp 30, Lewis Swift]:
Although this looks like an overlap, SIMBAD claims this is an interacting pair and the redshifts seem to be similar.
At 100x (20mm Pentax XW), NGC 6365A (14.3mag) is pretty faint
At 205x (10mm Delos), I had several pops of NGC 6365B (15.7mag). NGC 6365A is a fairly uniform circular glow.
At 290x (7mm Nagler), One can sense that the core of NGC 6365B is separated from NGC 6365A
So overall, we extracted most of the features in this object as seen on the POSS plate.
4. NGC 6542 (Lewis Swift):
Slightly asymmetric edge-on, tapered on one side and fluffier on the other.
5. NGC 5866 (M 102):
Very beautiful! Can sense the dust lane.
6. NGC 7332 and NGC 7339:
Pair of edge-on galaxies, one much brighter than the other. Brighter one has a very well-defined core.
7. HCG 86:
This compact group has 4 members, all four of which we could observe. The faint edge-one PGC 63749 (B=15.85) was the hardest.
And now for my highlight observation of the nights:
8. Corona Borealis Cluster
Mark Wagner coined the term "Lumpy Darkness" to describe a typical view of this galaxy cluster in an 18" or similarly-sized scope. This has generally been my experience -- at Texas Star Party one year, I was able to identify 6 galaxies with great difficulty in this cluster. Steve Gottlieb reports observation of 6 galaxies with a 17.5". Alvin Huey has identified 20+ galaxies with a 22" from the Lassen parking lot.
We observed this cluster after culmination, at about 60 degree altitude (airmass ~1.1). Under these conditions, Jimi and I had no trouble seeing the cluster -- it might be better described as "Lumpy Brightness"! There were galaxies popping in-and-out of view as is typical in larger aperture scopes, but the 4 brightest galaxies could be held intermittently for longer durations with averted vision (est. 70~80% holding if one tried to). Using a correctly-oriented POSS I image from MegaStar as reference, Jimi counted 10 galaxies and I too identified 10 (± 2) galaxies [I admit some error into the observation, because as anyone who has tried to ID galaxies in this cluster knows, it's extremely hard to keep track of all the galaxies popping in and out of view]. I initially thought I had 12, but two of the objects I thought were galaxies turned out to be stars. Translating from my rough sketch of the position of various galaxy cores, here is a list of galaxies identified:
The central brightest 4 galaxies:
PGC 54888, PGC 54883: The cD galaxies of the cluster. It was easy to see them as one blob, but it took some extra effort to resolve them into two cores. (Sloan puts these at V ~ 15.9, 15.7)
PGC 54876 (V ~ 15.5)
PGC 54884 (V ~ 16.2)
The rest:
PGC 54869 and SDSS J152218.16+274259.0: I did not resolve this pair, but the combined light from the pair was seen as an elongated glow.
PGC 54867 (V ~ 16.3)
PGC 54870 (V ~ 16.0)
PGC 54875 (V ~ 16.0)
PGC 1815633 (V ~ 16.9). The visual mag of this makes me wonder if I was seeing the combined light from the tight grouping.
PGC 54891 (V ~ 15.7): Possibly seeing the combined light from the neighboring edge-on and this galaxy.
Double star:
PGC 1816284: Turns out this is a tight double-star, per the SDSS imagery. SIMBAD has it marked as a galaxy, and it also has a LEDA designation!
Conclusions:
Typically, we note that night-sky quality varies from night-to-night and really good nights are generally rare. Having two consecutive great nights at this location makes me wonder if we were seeing the "average" night-sky for this location and not the best that it has to offer. In any case, this location is exceptional, and I would love to keep going back.
Clear Skies,
Akarsh
Here’s the observing report some of you have been waiting for. Jimi Lowrey and I went observing for two nights (nights of July 3 and July 4) in the Warner Mountains with my Obsession 18” f/4.5 (on an equatorial platform). Our elevation must have been around 8000 feet and the location was a few miles down the dirt road (S. Warner Rd.) towards the Surprise Valley from the Patterson campground.
tl;dr: We had exceptional night sky darkness and made some deep observations, including one of a depth that is generally unexpected from an 18-inch telescope. [See the end of the report]
Getting there:
From Likely, CA one drives to 18 miles of paved road to “Blue Lake”. Cell service is gone within a mile of departing Likely. From the fork to Blue Lake, about 8 miles of driving on dirt road, past Patterson Mill Meadow and Patterson Campground, got us to our camping ground in an open meadow. The east end of the meadow has a fork off to Bear Camp Road. We were on the west side of the meadow, up a two-track road. In my low-clearance German sedan, the dirt road was a somewhat smoother ride than a typical Bay Area freeway, and one of the best dirt roads I’ve driven on. There was some washboarding on the curves. Driving out east from our camping area towards Surprise Valley (Nevada), the dirt road has steep, badly washboardy switchbacks, which need careful, patient negotiation in a sedan. I recommend heading back towards Likely, especially if towing.
Location:
The only major drawback of our observing site was our low elevation compared to our local surroundings — my low-clearance car could not drive most of the final two-track road that climbed from a valley into a higher local elevation due to several minefields of rocks. This could be a reason for us to see higher-than-expected humidity conditions, considering that we were right across the road from a marshy valley. The mosquito population made GSSP feel like heaven — my skin is yet to recover from the bites. DEET was a life-saver.
The developed campgrounds have significant tree cover and are not very useful for observing. Thus, any location one may pick for observing will necessarily have no cell service, no water, no toilets, no electricity, whereby preparedness is of paramount importance, and going in groups is helpful. A search for a place that has lower humidity, higher local elevation, fewer mosquitoes and a better flat, vegetation-free area to set up a telescope is desirable.
Night Sky:
Now for the important part. All the hardships of this location -- the 8 miles of dirt road, the lack of amenities and cell service, the mosquitoes -- are all quickly forgiven when one looks up at the night sky. Consecutively for two nights, I witnessed what was comparable to the darkest night skies I’ve ever seen. Despite the summer Milky Way and Jupiter being high up in the sky, the surroundings were dark. Jimi was unable to see his dark shoes. We were barely able to see any structure in the foliage that surrounded us. Jimi could not see me sitting at my laptop about 10ft from the telescope where he was standing. With minimal effort, I was able to see a 6.9mag Star. M92 was a naked eye object. If we had an SQM, I would expect it to read _at least_ 21.9, probably closer to 22.0. It reminded me of that amazing night at Texas Star Party this year where multiple SQMs read 22+.
The structure in the Milky Way was strong and well-defined. We observed “three bright lanes” of the summer Milky Way near Sagittarius and Scorpius — the two that one normally observes, and an additional loop of faint light starting from near Dschubba and looping around towards Ophiuchus.
Despite the mountainous terrain, seeing was steady for the most part.
Conditions — Night 1: (July 3–4)
Jimi and I were both really tired, having left GSSP with extreme sleep deprivation. We did not last long. We looked at some eye candy for an hour or two. After this duration, we observed the formation of frost everywhere (secondary and primary were spared, but Telrad and eyepieces weren't) and a slight brightening in the night sky and decided to quit. It also was extremely cold for a mid-summer night, reaching 32 F by midnight.
Jeff, when you read the observing report for this night, rest assured this is the real Jimi Lowrey looking at Messier objects! — now you know why. We still did not look at Jupiter.
Conditions — Night 2: (July 4–5)
The conditions were consistently exceptional. There was some evening dew/frost formation, but this stopped about 30 minutes after dark. Jimi and I started at about 10:30PM and went on to 2AM. We had to quit at 2AM in order to be in proper condition to drive out the next day.
Observing — Night 1:
1. M 51:
The view was astounding for an 18”. I have never seen so much halo around M51. The contrast of the spiral arms was incredible. I have never noticed a well-marked right-angle brightening in one of the spiral arms before in an 18”, and here it stood out naturally. Unfortunately, Jimi and I were too tired to remember to look for the “E”.
2. M 57:
The central star was not too hard averted, unfiltered.
3. M 101:
Was bursting with HII regions and spotted well-defined spiral arms.
4. Bird’s head galaxy in Lyra (NGC 6745):
Both Jimi and I had several pops of the “worm” (PGC 200361), a 16.9 mag galaxy that is causing tidal distortion of the main galaxy. The worm lies after a small "dark gap" from the end of the visible portion of the tidal tail.
This is pretty much all I remember from night 1, since I didn’t take systematic logs.
Observing — Night 2:
1. NGC 6275 [Part of Jimi's project of observing NGC contributions by Lewis Swift]
All we were able to see of this barred ring galaxy was a bright region stacked on top of a faint halo below it.
2. Blue Raquetball:
Distorted inner halo, elongated elliptically.
Faint, irregular outer halo.
Some sensation of a stellaring in the center.
3. NGC 6365 [Arp 30, Lewis Swift]:
Although this looks like an overlap, SIMBAD claims this is an interacting pair and the redshifts seem to be similar.
At 100x (20mm Pentax XW), NGC 6365A (14.3mag) is pretty faint
At 205x (10mm Delos), I had several pops of NGC 6365B (15.7mag). NGC 6365A is a fairly uniform circular glow.
At 290x (7mm Nagler), One can sense that the core of NGC 6365B is separated from NGC 6365A
So overall, we extracted most of the features in this object as seen on the POSS plate.
4. NGC 6542 (Lewis Swift):
Slightly asymmetric edge-on, tapered on one side and fluffier on the other.
5. NGC 5866 (M 102):
Very beautiful! Can sense the dust lane.
6. NGC 7332 and NGC 7339:
Pair of edge-on galaxies, one much brighter than the other. Brighter one has a very well-defined core.
7. HCG 86:
This compact group has 4 members, all four of which we could observe. The faint edge-one PGC 63749 (B=15.85) was the hardest.
And now for my highlight observation of the nights:
8. Corona Borealis Cluster
Mark Wagner coined the term "Lumpy Darkness" to describe a typical view of this galaxy cluster in an 18" or similarly-sized scope. This has generally been my experience -- at Texas Star Party one year, I was able to identify 6 galaxies with great difficulty in this cluster. Steve Gottlieb reports observation of 6 galaxies with a 17.5". Alvin Huey has identified 20+ galaxies with a 22" from the Lassen parking lot.
We observed this cluster after culmination, at about 60 degree altitude (airmass ~1.1). Under these conditions, Jimi and I had no trouble seeing the cluster -- it might be better described as "Lumpy Brightness"! There were galaxies popping in-and-out of view as is typical in larger aperture scopes, but the 4 brightest galaxies could be held intermittently for longer durations with averted vision (est. 70~80% holding if one tried to). Using a correctly-oriented POSS I image from MegaStar as reference, Jimi counted 10 galaxies and I too identified 10 (± 2) galaxies [I admit some error into the observation, because as anyone who has tried to ID galaxies in this cluster knows, it's extremely hard to keep track of all the galaxies popping in and out of view]. I initially thought I had 12, but two of the objects I thought were galaxies turned out to be stars. Translating from my rough sketch of the position of various galaxy cores, here is a list of galaxies identified:
The central brightest 4 galaxies:
PGC 54888, PGC 54883: The cD galaxies of the cluster. It was easy to see them as one blob, but it took some extra effort to resolve them into two cores. (Sloan puts these at V ~ 15.9, 15.7)
PGC 54876 (V ~ 15.5)
PGC 54884 (V ~ 16.2)
The rest:
PGC 54869 and SDSS J152218.16+274259.0: I did not resolve this pair, but the combined light from the pair was seen as an elongated glow.
PGC 54867 (V ~ 16.3)
PGC 54870 (V ~ 16.0)
PGC 54875 (V ~ 16.0)
PGC 1815633 (V ~ 16.9). The visual mag of this makes me wonder if I was seeing the combined light from the tight grouping.
PGC 54891 (V ~ 15.7): Possibly seeing the combined light from the neighboring edge-on and this galaxy.
Double star:
PGC 1816284: Turns out this is a tight double-star, per the SDSS imagery. SIMBAD has it marked as a galaxy, and it also has a LEDA designation!
Conclusions:
Typically, we note that night-sky quality varies from night-to-night and really good nights are generally rare. Having two consecutive great nights at this location makes me wonder if we were seeing the "average" night-sky for this location and not the best that it has to offer. In any case, this location is exceptional, and I would love to keep going back.
Clear Skies,
Akarsh
Lumpy Darkness
Jul 13, 2019, 10:18:48 AM7/13/19
to The Astronomy Connection (TAC)
Nice report, Arkash.
Sounds like a fun, and rather adventurous trip. Not sure I'd want to try taking my Honda Fit there. I liked seeing that this is up toward Blue Lake, I've looked at that location on a map before, wondering if the lake itself might be a good spot. Probably to popular a destination in summer. The mosquito comments are reminiscent of Lassen's Devastated Area, where half a dozen or more at a time would be sitting on our eyebrows waiting their turn (sort of) for a tasty spots to land.
The Summer Milky Way is awesome from a good dark site. I've seen it as you describe from Bumpass Hell parking lot at Lassen, many times. The bulge out into Ophiuchus is visible also from areas close to
The Pinnacles out along Panoche Road, and down along highway 25 and areas in the back country from there toward Coalinga. I've attached a nice sketch by Jeremy Perez showing his impression from Anderson Mesa, Az.
Glad you and Jimi had such a great couple of nights.
Steve Gottlieb
Jul 13, 2019, 2:36:59 PM7/13/19
to sf-ba...@googlegroups.com
I’m glad you and Jimi finally had a chance to view in the Warners — Jimi has been talking about going there since we first checked out the site you observed from. Not much you can do about the mosquitoes, but at least they didn’t bother you at night.
Here are my notes on the NGC 6365 pair (Arp 30) in both my 24” and former 17.5"
24" (7/20/17): at 322x and 375x; NGC 6365A appeared fairly faint, fairly small, round, 40" diameter, broad concentration but no definite core or nucleus. This face-on spiral forms an overlapping pair (Arp 30) with NGC 6365B, a low surface brightness edge-on at the northwest edge. The companion appeared extremely faint, very small, elongated ~2:1 SSW-NNE, ~20"x10", extremely low surface brightness. The pair is situated ~1.5' WSW of a mag 10 star that interferes somewhat with viewing. A mag 14/15 double star lies 1' NNE.
17.5" (7/16/88): this is a double galaxy (Arp 30) with a separation of 30" oriented NNW-SSE with the brighter component at the SSE end. NGC 6365A is very faint, small, weak concentration, very diffuse. Bracketed by two mag 14 stars off the SW and NE ends. NGC 6365B is attached at the NW end of NGC 6365A and appears extremely faint, small, very elongated SW-NE [1.1x0.2], requires averted vision.
…and HCG 86D with my 18”
18" (8/3/05): small and faintest in the HCG 86 quartet. At 225x appeared extremely faint and small, round, just 6" diameter. Appears as a fuzzy mag 15 star. The surface brightness is moderate but because the galaxy is so small it was not seen initially as I took notes on the main trio. Once noticed, though, this galaxy was not too difficult to see with averted vision. Squeezed between HCG 86B and a wide pair of mag 12/14 stars. Along with HCG 86A all of these objects are collinear!
Congratulations on catching that dim galaxy off the north edge of NGC 6745 — it requires averted vision to glimpse in my 24-inch — and of course the 10 or more galaxies in the Corona Borealis cluster!!
Steve
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Akarsh Simha
Jul 13, 2019, 3:10:57 PM7/13/19
to Steve Gottlieb, The Astronomy Connection (TAC)
Thank you, Steve, for sharing your amazing logs! I wish that someday I learn to capture my observations in such detail.
I have never had views like this through my 18" -- so it's either the fact that I'm used to the old coatings, or the sky conditions, or both (I think it's both). The skies reminded me very much of the amazing night we had at Jimi's this TSP.
Regards
Akarsh
Akarsh Simha
Jul 13, 2019, 11:54:42 PM7/13/19
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On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 7:18 AM Lumpy Darkness <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:
Nice report, Arkash.Sounds like a fun, and rather adventurous trip. Not sure I'd want to try taking my Honda Fit there. I liked seeing that this is up toward Blue Lake, I've looked at that location on a map before, wondering if the lake itself might be a good spot. Probably to popular a destination in summer. The mosquito comments are reminiscent of Lassen's Devastated Area, where half a dozen or more at a time would be sitting on our eyebrows waiting their turn (sort of) for a tasty spots to land.The Summer Milky Way is awesome from a good dark site. I've seen it as you describe from Bumpass Hell parking lot at Lassen, many times. The bulge out into Ophiuchus is visible also from areas close toThe Pinnacles out along Panoche Road, and down along highway 25 and areas in the back country from there toward Coalinga. I've attached a nice sketch by Jeremy Perez showing his impression from Anderson Mesa, Az.
I have been to this parking lot during day — can’t wait to check it out at night after all the things I’ve heard. I’ve actually never looked for this bulge until this time. I got to also check out the Pinnacles some time given that I’ve never been to this NP and it’s so close to where we are. Maybe the end of the month if I can swing it!
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TAC's upcoming 2019 star parties: CalStar September 25-28. See "Visit this group" link below.
TAC now hosts the NGC-IC Project at: ngcicproject.observers.org/
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John Pierce
Jul 14, 2019, 12:15:09 AM7/14/19
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On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 8:54 PM Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 7:18 AM Lumpy Darkness <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:The Summer Milky Way is awesome from a good dark site. I've seen it as you describe from Bumpass Hell parking lot at Lassen, many times. The bulge out into Ophiuchus is visible also from areas close toThe Pinnacles out along Panoche Road, and down along highway 25 and areas in the back country from there toward Coalinga. I've attached a nice sketch by Jeremy Perez showing his impression from Anderson Mesa, Az.I have been to this parking lot during day — can’t wait to check it out at night after all the things I’ve heard. I’ve actually never looked for this bulge until this time. I got to also check out the Pinnacles some time given that I’ve never been to this NP and it’s so close to where we are. Maybe the end of the month if I can swing it!
I prefer the west pinnacles, accessed from soledad on US101. you have to get there by 8 or so, as the gate automatically locks for inbound traffic after taht (you can leave any time). its a national park, so you eithe rneed to pay the fee at the iron ranger, or have a annual (or golden) pass.
good horizons, quite dark. theresa minor current gotcha that there's some stupid bright motion sensor flood lights on the visitors center, they have two sensors, we've been known to bring some aluminum foil, and some string, use a ladder to reach the seconds, make a 'hat' of aluminum foil that covers them, then the last person out uses the string to take the 'hat' off before leaving. the bathroom is open all night, it too has a stupid bright light motion sensor light inside, I've switched that light off by using a small thin screwdriver to flip the toggle-less toggle switch (one of [*] these type switches), and flipped it back on before leaving.
-john r pierce
recycling used bits in santa cruz
Lumpy Darkness
Jul 14, 2019, 12:26:32 AM7/14/19
to The Astronomy Connection (TAC)
John,
The motion detector only goes off when someone moves to change eyepieces. OK, not really.
Is there a campground at that area? If not, what is the purpose of a motion detector in an area that closes at dark or 8?
Isn't there another parking lot on that side away from the problem?
John Pierce
Jul 14, 2019, 12:36:58 AM7/14/19
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On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 9:26 PM Lumpy Darkness <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:
John,The motion detector only goes off when someone moves to change eyepieces. OK, not really.Is there a campground at that area? If not, what is the purpose of a motion detector in an area that closes at dark or 8?Isn't there another parking lot on that side away from the problem?
there's the trailhead parking lot at the end of the road on the west side but it is deep in a canyon with lousy horizons, it too has a rest room with an insanely bright motion sensor driven light. here...
there *is* a 3rd lot off on a spur between the two, but I think it too has poor horizons, its an overflow trailhead parking area. When I've asked about it, the reply was discouraging, so I've never checked it out at night, thats here,
we generally have been setting up in the big lot by the main visitors contact station, here.
this has excellent south and southwest horizons, and pretty good the rest of the way around. the light dome from soledad and salinas is minimal on a clear dry night (it can be a bit worse on nights with mediocre transparency)
I'll probably be scheduling another SCAC saturday evening there next month on our monthly TBD night.
Akarsh Simha
Jul 14, 2019, 12:39:27 AM7/14/19
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This is unfortunate. Some national parks have transitioned to using red lights both in their visitor centers and outside (maybe even inside) their restrooms. Two examples that come to mind are the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the Alpine Visitor Center of Rocky Mtn Natl Park, IIRC. I vaguely remember a ranger guided tour mentioning the red lighting at one of the parks, but this might not be correct. Big Bend and Great Basin take pride in their dark skies, something that is obvious to anyone who visits their visitor centers. It would be great if there was some way of petitioning Pinnacles to follow the example set by these other parks, especially given the “Half the Park is After Dark” campaign.
Regards
Akarsh
On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 9:26 PM Lumpy Darkness <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:
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TAC now hosts the NGC-IC Project at: ngcicproject.observers.org/
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