Daniel, I apologize! Conditions for once were suppose to be great there as it said on the Clear Sky Clock and I'm glad you had a good time. The helicopter thing has been going on now for about 2 months out there. Lakeside was excellent as well. A little humidity around 1:00p.m. but no papers were curled or wet so not too bad. Great night of observing Please call next time if your heading out, it would have been great to observe with you. On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 2:52 AM, daniel turner <outwest112@yahoo.com> wrote:
Jay:
I missed the last 5 posts on this thread because I was headed out to Pit and Pole. Company is always nice but, as you say, not absolutely necessary. I had the whole valley to myself except for a paracute plane the took off and landed at the Pony express monument about a mile away, and a curious barn owl that buzzed me several times in twilight. Oh and later an Apache helicopter circled me and landed at the monument only to take off and circle me and land back at the monument. I have never seen this activity before, I could make out the missle pods on the copter with my 10x50's even at nautical twilight. Other than that, it was just me and the horned larks.
Conditions were perfect, it cooled to 59F at midnight and no wind at all. Skies were clear as a bell.
I took your suggestion and tried to photograph the milkyway with my DSLR.
Photos and a fuller report later.
DT
--- On Mon, 7/12/10, Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Rush Valley Tonight To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Monday, July 12, 2010, 5:46 PM See you at Lakeside, leaving now.
On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 4:58 PM, Michael Vanopstall <opstall@math.utah.edu>wrote:
Jay --
At Rockport, for $10 a night you can take a spot at one of the campgrounds that has no flush toilets. I recommend the Twin Pines campgrounds. The camgrounds have better horizons, but Rockport can be loud and bright until midnight. When I just go out for observing, right after you pull into the park driveway, there is a spot off to the left that I assume is for walk-in fishermen. It says no overnight parking, but I don't think it is enforced if you are standing by your car. There are a number of parking spots/view areas along the road to Rockport, but technically, parking a car there gets you a fee. I think as long as you stand next to your car, you're OK.
If you pass Rockport and continue south, then turn east into the Weber Canyon, after a little while you reach a sign for the entrace to Smith and Morehouse campground. I set up right on the corner there a couple of times. It is bitter cold in the winter -- negative Fahrenheit, but in summer it's nicer. It is darker there than Rockport. It gets about 1 car per 2 hours traffic in the middle of the night.
---- Rev. Michael A. van Opstall Department of Mathematics, University of Utah Office: JWB 313 opstall@math.utah.edu
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-- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com
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-- Jay Eads