On the road to KY

At 09:08 AM 7/18/2008, you wrote:
>Isn't it just like that? You find some swell guy and an observing
>buddy to boot... and then he has to leave for some stupid thing like a
>JOB.
>
>Why do jobs rule us like they do? They sure screw up an otherwise
>fine social life.
>
>Good luck to you. I hope you keep in contact with us from time to
>time. I sure would have liked to see you here at Plettstone.
>
>Michelle

Thanks, I was making a list of places I wanted to observe from and
Greg had indicated yours was one of the best.

Anyway here is an update. The movers got me out of my place last
Thursday and I headed to OR to visit my sister and do some camping
before heading east.

We were in the Roseburg area of OR, about 300 miles north of Adin. We
went up to the South Umpqua falls campground and had an ok night last
night. 300 miles made a big difference in the smoke. Mt Shasta was
not visible from Hwy 5 when I went past on the way north. OR though
was clear. This campground has an open area and is about 4500 feet.
The tree line covers an area about 15 degrees above the horizon, but
is otherwise clear.

This was my first adventure in setting up in a campground and doing
this on my own. First observation is that 300 miles more north made a
big difference in when it got dark. It was 11pm before we started to
see anything decent. We had a short viewing time before a nearly full
moon rose and the clouds from a thunder storm started to blow in from
the south. It was also a short night as I needed to start heading to
KY this morning at an early hour. Anyway I was able to show the
family the whirlpool galaxy by star hoping and M13 after configuring
Sky Commander. Everyone was impressed by Jupiter as well. M13 was
rather washed out and not much better than what Greg and I saw in
Alameda when he first showed me it. I couldn't power up on it and
there was not enough contrast due to the think clouds. I'm trying to
get my brother-in-law from down in San Diego to get more involved
with the Meade SCT that he bought about 10 years ago. We were planing
on trying to get to Aidn but both our jobs got in the way

Anyway, I'll drop a note once in awhile from KY. Turns out Louisville
is about the same Latitude (or is it longitude) of Williams just
north of Sacramento, so the view (and dark times) should be close to
what you have in the bay area.

I haven't found a group like TAC in KY, but there appears to be an
active Astronomical group in Louisville. Turns out they have a dark
site in Indiana about an hour out of town that they use for a dark
site - its located next to a corn field!

..dan
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Danny Vint

Specializing in Panoramic Images of California and the West
http://www.dvint.com

voice: 510-522-4703

When H.H. Bennett was asked why he preferred to be out
shooting landscapes rather than spending time in his portrait studio:

"It is easier to pose nature and less trouble to please."

http://www.portalwisconsin.org/bennett_feature.cfm

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