Black Rock Desert 18-20 Sept 2009

Carter Scholz

Some friends of mine regularly travel to camp in the Black Rock Desert in the autumn, and this year we decided to join them. It meant that I missed CalStar, but in compensation I had three good nights in an extraordinary place with remarkable skies. The first night my average SQM reading was 21.64, the second night was 21.73, and my last reading at 1:30 am on night 3 was an incredible 21.84. (Not believing it, I took several successive readings, pointing NNW, and not one was below 21.81.) On the better two nights I could see a 7.0 star in Ursa Minor rather easily with slightly averted vision, sometimes held direct. On night 2 a few passing clouds were dead black against the skyglow. WLM in Cetus, which I have tried for unsuccessfully several times from Lake Sonoma with my 12.5", was not very hard here. The gegenschein was plainly visible centered about 5 degrees SW of the Pisces circlet. Background sky outside the Milky Way took on a granular, veined appearance that I have seen only a few times before, from the High Sierra.

There is a small light dome from Reno 80 miles to the SSW that rises about ten degrees, or maybe fifteen when the air is dusty. Gerlach's light dome is visible but insignificant, and a mining operation on the east side of the playa that leaves lights on all night is annoying but not compromising. The playa dust is very fine and tenacious, but it didn't get into my optics. We camped at the edge of the playa far from the "roads" (which are mostly just convergences of random tracks across caked dry mud) and the surface there was cracked and friable, but not dusty. Vehicles on these "roads" kick up large roostertails of visible dust, but the local dust was worse at Shingletown. The first night, when the daytime winds had been highest, there was extinction from airborne dust up to ten degrees or so; on the other two nights stars were visible right to the horizon -- Capella breaking the horizon was a remarkable sight; at first I took it for a plane. One surprising problem I h ad was repositioning my observing chair; after a while, the two ground bars broke up the surface enough that I began to sink several inches into the ground when I sat down.

The remoteness (6 hours from Berkeley) and absence of infrastructure (no paved roads, bring your own water) make it an iffy recommendation for astronomy. If it's too dry and windy, you can be in a dust whiteout. Even on a mild day, dust devils were visible all across the playa. If it rains, the playa dirt turns quickly to mud and your car can be trapped until it dries out. Even dry, the playa is treacherous and I'm told even four wheel drives can get stuck in places where the surface is loose. I was glad to be escorted by people with experience.

During the days we drove across the playa to various hot springs, visited a rocketeers' gathering -- very cool, with a star party vibe -- and checked out the remains of Burning Man from a couple of weeks previous.

18 Sep 09.  First couple of hours spent showing Mark & Jane eye candy.  Warm.  Some extinction from dust below 10 degrees.  Reno light dome to 15 degrees.  I tried Mark on 7331 and companions, but he found 7331 itself very dim, and the companions invisible.  This is interesting, because his eyes are at least as good as mine and 10 years younger; he simply has no eyepiece experience.   Went on to targets from Luginbuhl & Skiff:
PK064+05.1: PN Cyg, revisited, no different in appearance than at Lake Sonoma
IC1311:  OC Cyg
6996:  23-30 stars well resolved over bg; II3r
Cr 428:  OC Cyg; 25 stars near uniform brightness, scattered; III1r
7063:  OC Cyg; 12 stars resolved; III1p
7248:  G Lac; elong NW suddenly brighter near-stellar core, hint of spiral
7250:  G Lac; faint even glow elogated, averted vis, glow from nearby star interferes
7242:  G Lac; occasionally visible as slender diffuse glow
7240:  G Lac; in same field
7315:  G Peg; milky blotch, round, brighter core
7457:  G Peg; bright, direct vis, appears spiral, brt core, star involved
7625:  G Peg; moderately bright, diffuse, slightly brighter core; nearby star interferes; an Arp, but no sign of irregularity
7673:  G Peg; fairly bright, roundish, 50%
7677:  G Peg; in same field, averted vis, in line with pair of faint stars
7678:  G Peg; faint, amorphous, low SB, in the middle of a small isosceles tri of stars
7741:  G Peg; very low SB, averted vis, elong core, star nearby

19 Sep 09.  Clouds during the day, windy, finally calming around astronomical twilight, clear, cooler.  Much less dust in the air.  SQM 21.73, 21.76.
6158:  G Her; in AGC 2199; DNS last night; averted vis, v faint, just detected
UGC 10473:  G Her; 10-20% avert, small oval patch
6923:  G Mic; almost direct vis, diffuse core, large halo, star involved.  Elongation not apparent.
6925:  G Mic; faint, diffuse, low SB, elongated 3:1 NS.
6958:  G Mic; mod faint, round
IC 5105:  G Mic; just detected; very low in sky
7135:  G PsA; just detected; very faint, very tough
7361:  G PsA; vague blur elongated NS
7300:  G Aqr; averted vis; elong NS 2:1, faint, little brightening at core, in center of rhombus of 4 mag 12 stars
7392:  G Aqr; mod brt, direct vis, brt elong core 2:1 EW
7418:  G Gru; did not see last night; v faint, large, dim halo, some stellaring at core, v low SB, <10% averted
7421:  G Gru; <10% averted; just detected
IC 1459: G Gru; brt, direct vis, oval glow, even
IC 5264: G Gru; faint slash, 10% averted
7410:  G Gru; DNS last night, big, mod brt, direct vis, 5:1 elong brightening core
357:  G Cet; spiral, direct vis
MCG-01-03-085: G Cet, just detected, very low SB, stellar core
273, 274, 275:  G Cet; nice group; 274 & 275 very close round cores, 273 elong 12' N
337: G Cet; large, mod brt, elong. pretty even glow, irreg not seen
151:  G Cet; easy direct, brt core, extensive halo, star involved
309:  G Cet; pretty large, diffuse glow, no detail seen
255:  G Cet; diffuse glow
178:  G Cet; dim oval, brighter core
210:  G Cet; spiral, suddenly brighter core, extensive halo, star involved
175: G Cet; spiral, brighter core

20 Sep 09.  SQM 21.71, 21.73, 21.76, 21.81, 21.84.  7.0 mag star seen easily in UMi.  Very much colder than forecast.  Quit at 0130, chilled.  About 40 degrees then, went down to 34 by dawn.  Gegenschein observed centered 5 degrees SW of Pisces circlet.  A particularly nice set of targets in a galaxy-rich area of sky, including the Pegasus I cluster; more often than not a few galaxies were visible in the same field.
7769: G Peg; oval smudge
7771: G Peg; in same field, slightly fainter, elong 3:1 EW, faint star nearby, no involved
7770: G Peg; same field, 30% averted
1: G Peg; 90% direct, small, very slightly elongated
2: G Peg; in same field, very faint slash roughly parallel (EW) to near side of nearby right triangle of faint stars
16: G Peg; small, direct vis, elong 2:1, elliptical, stellar core
23: G Peg; mod brt, elong, apparent separation at core is really a stellar core with field star involved, extensive halo, hint of spiral structure
26: G Peg; in same field, 20% avert, two nearby dim stars confuse at first
214: G And; direct vis, diffuse, elong, centered in 10' x 16' rhombus of near equal brightness stars
7469: G Peg; brighter elong core and halo, direct vis
IC 5283: G Peg; in same field, like a dim echo, similar elong and orientation, <10% avert
7581: G Psc; brt, 4:1 elong, star off E tip
7537: G Psc; in same field, avert, much dimmer, smaller, similar in elong, tilted slightly in orientation to 7581
7679: G Psc; near-stellar
7682: G Psc; in same field, avert 20%, small, elong
7716: G Psc; small oval, stellar core, comes and goes with seeing
---- Pegasus I cluster: -------
IC 5309: G Peg; small, near-stellar
7611: G Peg; nearby; elong, direct vis, nearby star interferes, stellar core, avert shows elong
7617: G Peg; faint, detected
7619: G Peg; mod brt round smudge
7626: G Peg; nearly identical to 7619 and about 10' W
7623: G Peg; mod brt
7615: G Peg; diffuse halo, small, faint, distinctly non-stellar
7612: G Peg
7631: G Peg
7634: G Peg; nearby; stellar core and star closely involved; resembles double star with slight halo
-------------------------------
7648: G Peg; v. dim, diffuse, stellar core
7674: G Peg; direct vis; 7674A=MCG+01-59-081 not seen
7675: G Peg; companion, avert
7743: G Peg; direct vis, suddenly brter core, hint of spiral struct
7742: G Peg; mod brt, round, core falls off evenly to halo, elliptical
7778, 7779: G Psc; pair of very similar ellipticals 3' apart EW, 7778 slightly brighter
7782: G Psc; in same field, mod brt elong spiral
7785: G Psc; 2:1 elong, brter core
128, 125, 126: G Psc; group of five (127, 130 not seen), 127 the brightest, elong NS, 125 and 126 avert
95: G Psc; diffuse, round, gradually brter core, hint of spiral struct
Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte: G Cet; faint elliptical glow NS, resting in a curve of 5 stars; best seen at low power (75x)