"New" first-rate observing site

by Lance Shaw

Just got back in from the Sonoma site...it's about an hour and twenty minute drive for me and closer than the Peak...

Took about twenty minutes to look around the park for a set up spot and hopefully the same the previous group used. I thought it was called Lone Rock, so it's the spot. It is colder here than the Peak and the wind can play havoc with high power observing. Gusts were most likely somewhere in the 10-15 mph range. I used my truck as a wind break. The seeing ranged from marginally good to poor. Snakes are over by the Porto-let, so_be_careful...saw two, both very small (less than a foot) but one was coiled and shakin' his tail, that's what caught my attention in the first place...I didn't know they had rattlesnakes in Sonoma. The ranger came by at about 9:45 and asked if I wanted the gate set up to look like the area was off limits...hey, that's nice. Said there was a group of astronomers up there a few days ago... there was no traffic to speak of after 10:30.

Bruce hit the magnitudes right on the nose. Using a dozen limiting mag charts from Bill A's web page, in areas all over the sky... near zenith and/or meridian, I consistantly registered 65-67. The lows, for say, the region of Corvus, was about 60-61. Leo, just before setting was also about 60. Centaurus A (ngc 5128?) rides above the south with the dust lane clearly visible at medium power (160x). I counted eight galaxies in the field of Abell 1565 (ngc4889, et al...) in Coma Berenices, but could only coax out three members of Stephens Quintet (as it rose just before I left). The Milky Way is prominent with all the star clouds and textures softly defined. The light dome to the southeast is a bit of a bother. I put it at about 25 degrees in height and 35-40 degrees in length...it did drown out the Galaxy.

Once Sagittarius cleared the dome, the Lagoon was awash in silky radiance and the Trifid showed clean dust lanes at low power. It stayed clear until about 2am and then some banks of clouds slowly worked their way across the sky from sw to north. I broke everything down and came home.

Good alternative site, Bruce! Thanks!