Just a short observing report, more on the conditions than what was seen.
| Date/Time | 3/4 Sep 2000 20:30 PDT - 0300 PDT |
|---|---|
| Location | Lake Sonoma CA |
| Telescopes | NexStar 5 8" Dobsonian |
| Seeing | 8/10 transparency 7/10 steadiness |
| Limiting Mag | 6+ |
| Temp/Humid | 54º 85% |
| Other Observers present | Bob Czerwinski Marsha Robinson |
After a low pressure system moved through the SF bay area, the skies were clear an reasonably steady by the second night, but there was an intermittent wind that would periodically blow through the site, ruffling my tarp, and shaking the Dob. It was also quite dark, particularly after 11 PM when the moon set. No dew, even by 3 AM, despite humidity that you could feel in my note paper, and it stayed clear and cloudless all night. Seeing was sometimes unsteady, particularly near the horizon, more so than usual. The two sites we use at LS have good horizons, and we often have good seeing all the way down.
Bob C, and Marsha made it out to the Lake, we set up at the Grey Pine Flat, instead of the usual Lone Rock Flat, as that had a group of equestrians camping out. Grey Pine has good eastern exposure, but the light from Healdsburg is more evident to the south. We had a few cars go by, early in the evening, and one curious turnaround, but other than that it was quite uneventful.
I'll let Marsha relate the experience of being in Yountville during the earthquake...
Special thanks to Bob for showing me Stephans Quintet, and the galaxy cluster around NGC-7331, after seeing it in his 14.5" Starmaster (that's one nice scope :-), I was able to find it in my 8, and see with averted vision the same trapezoidal shaped cluster. Tres Cool.
I packed it in at around 3 AM, happy, tired and wanting to come back.