Stargazing near Oakley and Brentwood - Rookie with an 8" Dobsonian

[Kane Armstrong]

Hey guys,

I've been pretty absent from this group ever since I joined about a year or two ago. Finding more time on my hands, so I started taking my reflector and 15x70 celestron binoculars out for some stary nights. 

Anyways, I wanted to visit a friend and attempt to view the perseid meteor shower with my equipment. He lives in Brentwood, I don't really know the area well, and he's not really a stargazer. I just throught I would throw a message out to ask if anyone knew of somewhere close to his area where I could drive into and do a quick setup? Not sure if this is the right place to be asking questions like this.. hope it is.

Thanks!

[Akarsh Simha]

Hey Kane

Welcome to posting on TAC. Such questions are fine as far as I know — they are much more welcomed than our famous off-topic threads.

For a meteor shower, the best instrument is your eyes. Put a nice pad or mattress on a horizontal surface, lie down and watch. The unfortunate thing is that the moon is full, which will limit the number of meteors you can see substantially.

The most famous spot near Brentwood would be Mt Diablo, but other TACos that live in the area would know better than me.

One of the best ways to learn stuff is to hang out with other astronomy enthusiasts, so in other words, watch for the OIs. I think most OIs these days hover around Lake Sonoma, Pinnacles, or places in the South Bay. You may have better luck joining the Eastbay Astronomical Society or whatever it is called.

Regards

Akarsh

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[Tony Hurtado - Comcast]

I've always wanted to check out Los Vaqueros Reservoir. Not sure what night time access is like though. 

https://goo.gl/maps/TM5sqHGSYfDm95Cy6

-Tony

On Aug 13, 2022, at 1:31 PM, Akarsh Simha <akars...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Alex]

If no locals get online here soon I'd check with these folks: http://www.mdas.net/ (no aff. just saw their event https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=89773).

By the way, the 8" might serve well for this shower's conditions :) No, seriously: place it on S-E from the observing mat head to block the Moon shine.

-Alex

[Rich Gregor]

I've volunteered several times w/ MDAS at their public star parties on Diablo. One thing to be aware of is

that the park closes both it's north and south gates abt a half-hour after sunset, and access out is only thru

the north gate, as part of a caravan with other MDAS observers (who can unlock the gate). So unless you're part of their organized event you'd probably be better off camping up there if you're dead set on observing from the peak 

 

I live in the south bay, so can't really recommend other spots out near Brentwood. For the OP (Kane), whereabouts are you located? There's the East Bay group, already mentioned, the San Jose Astronomical Assoc (I volunteer there as well); also the Tri-Valley group. I'll second Pinnacles, if you're willing to make the drive.

 

But as others have posted, that pesky moon is going to get in the way of seeing many of the dimmer things. My advice would be to try and find a darker spot - park, open field, etc - get an easy chair or lawn chair, dress warm, and just use your eyes. Best time would be around midnight .... but I haven't really noticed any reports, good or bad, of how active this particular iteration of the shower is.

 

And yes, this is the right place to ask!

 

Clear skies!

Rich

[Matt Tarlach]

Hello Kane! I'm in Walnut Creek, and a member of MDAS. This reply might be a little late for this year's Perseids, though as Akarsh already said the Full Moon washed out much of the shower this year. Looking to the future ...

The MDAS events on Mt Diablo are great for beginners and a lot of fun. Getting out the gate after hours is really no problem. Two things to keep in mind: to bring a scope on Public Nights you need to be registered with the park as a volunteer, which involves doing some paperwork and attending an orientation. MDAS facilitates this but it requires jumping through some hoops. "Society Nights," usually held on the Saturday before the Public Night, are for members only, and I don't think you need to do that extra paperwork. But, even at the summit Mt. Diablo just isn't that dark. Better than a backyard in Brentwood, and you would see more meteors. But not what I'd call a "dark site."

Los Vaqueros reservoir used to host star parties years ago but AFAIK that hasn't happened in a long time. When I drove out there last year asking about night-time access I didn't get a warm reception. It's also at low altitude, and there's been a lot of development to the east and south over the past decades. If it's very close to home it might be worth investigating how to get permission, but...

From Oakley/Brentwood I would look south, to the Tri-Valley Stargazers based in Livermore. Google Maps tells me it's only ~45 minutes from Oakley to their close-in observing site near Lake Del Valle. I'd bet that's a shorter driving time for you than it is to the summit of Diablo. Access at Del Valle is easier (if you're a club member) and observing conditions aren't that different. TVS also has a better, darker site further south in the Diablo Range, probably about a 1.5 hour drive for you.

I would also look east, toward the Stockton Astronomical Society. I haven't observed with them in years but recall it was a friendly group, and they use some sites up in the foothills and the Sierra that are really dark. If you pick the right time of day to cross the valley to minimize traffic, it's not too bad of a drive.

https://www.trivalleystargazers.org/index.shtml

http://www.stocktonastro.org/

One very good site I know that's open to the public - no club memberships required - is the Shot Rock Vista Point off of 88. GPS: 38.624646206163774, -120.19574173479671

I hope to get up there later this month, and will post my plans in case you (or anyone else) cares to join.

---

Matt Tarlach

Walnut Creek

[Kane Armstrong]

Unfortunately, we couldn't find a place that was considerably dark, but we did make it over to this vacant gravel playground parking lot by Sycamore Grove Park, Livermore. 

Not a lot we saw clearly, but still faintly made out M31 and M13. Saturn and Jupiter were bright and easy to find. We also saw a couple of meteors zip by around the Northern Horizon. Can't say I was disappointed with the outcome since I knew in a sense where I was going. This was just a weekend visit to a friend that I rarely see, so it was easy to call it a successful night regarless of the outcome. 

Just to respond to some of the comments about where I am operating out of,  I thought I would let you all know that I'm a San Jose State University graduate with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and have lived in the south bay since 2013. I'm currently located in Mountain View, so my easiest drive when I'm feeling a little spacey is the Los Altos foothills and stops along Page Mill Road. 

After my mom bought me my first telescope a few years ago, a Celestron Powerseeker 127 eq, I knew I wanted to make this a serious hobby. I made some attempts to get more involved in the past, but just never found the time to sacrifice my nights. Things are a little different now, so I thought I would go at it again. Would be nice to get to a point where I have my own startracker and DSLR to shoot some quality photos of deep sky objects then continue from there.

Really appreciate all of the input guys. Sorry for the late reply on this. It's great that there's a community of people so close to home that enjoys doing this stuff. 

Sorry if this message sounds a little dull btw. I'm on the top floor of an apartment that has no A/C, so I have to manage with the two fans that I have blowing in my face. lol

Thanks again for all of the information!

[Jeff Gortatowsky]

Is the Powerseeker a bird jones thing? Because that is not gonna help the original poster.

--------------------------------------- 

Jeff Gortatowsky - California

Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a telescope, which is about the same thing!"

"Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings." Think about it.

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[Kane Armstrong]

I am the original poster, Jeff. 😅

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 15, 2022, at 10:41 PM, Jeff Gortatowsky <jeff.gor...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[John Pierce]

On Mon, Aug 15, 2022 at 10:41 PM Jeff Gortatowsky <jeff.gor...@gmail.com> wrote:

Is the Powerseeker a bird jones thing? Because that is not gonna help the original poster.

pretty sure that's a straight 5" f/8 newtonian.   its probably got a spherical primary, cuz at f/8, the difference between a sphere and a parabola isn't enough to measure. 

[Kane Armstrong]

Sorry Jeff, I had no idea what a bird jones was. 

It totally is... I just realized. haha

[John Pierce]

On Tue, Aug 16, 2022 at 1:06 PM Kane Armstrong <kanearm...@gmail.com> wrote:

Sorry Jeff, I had no idea what a bird jones was. 

a BJ has an extra lens permanently installed in the bottom of hte focuser tube

and I just realized, this scope has a 1000ml focal length, but the OTA is only 500mm or so long, that means it *is* a B-J, as that corrector lens acts as a sort of barlow. 

drawbacks of the bird-jones design include, they are difficult to collimate properly, and they have poor optical performance resulting in mushy images.

[Jeff Gortatowsky]

Then I must have gotten mixed up in the replies/thread. 

Anyway a 127EQ is a tough row to hoe. 

It's a Bird Jones thing... but as long as you had fun! That's what counts!

--------------------------------------- 

Jeff Gortatowsky - California

Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a telescope, which is about the same thing!"

"Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings." Think about it.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/C4A6EC6C-9B04-4E29-BD02-81B591C1995B%40gmail.com.

[Kane Armstrong]

No worries at all man. 

Yeah I mean it wasn’t anything special really, just two boys hanging out. Was a good time overall. 

I actually brought my 8” Orion Skyquest out with me though… What’s funny is that I tried to pull that 127 apart to clean the mirrors and ran into some problems. Turns out the screws that keep the primary in place have a nut on the inside that’s basically impossible to work with. Was only successful with the disassembly, so the parts just sit on a shelf in my closet. 

Clearly had no clue what I was getting myself into. I doubt I’ll ever use it again.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 17, 2022, at 2:50 PM, Jeff Gortatowsky <jeff.gor...@gmail.com> wrote:



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