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Yes I know I missed the Star-B-Que. But my daughter's high school drill team was camping and I went to provide an evening of star watching. First of all I was down at lake level at a place called Spanish Flat (western shore of lake). This was not my idea of a good place but with a group of 20 people with no transportation there was little choice. I did drive by the Wragg Canyon road on 128, thinking that a little altitude maybe be nice.
My western skies were pretty much blocked by mountains. I could see Venus until about 9:30. My other views were pretty good maybe 5-10 degree loss. But I was at lake level, and I didn't expect much more. The skies to the south were actually better than the skies to the east (over the lake) and the northern skies were DARK. I sort of expected more light pollution from Vacaville and Fairfeild (south) than Sacramento (east). But the eastern skies were much less darker for some reason. Aquarius rose out of the eastern light pollution and muck about 11:00-12:00. Perhaps the campfires and lake were also causing this problem. All in all the sight was not a disappointment I would say on par with Fremont Peak. Note, Wragg canyon maybe better and probably is.
Now for the group of my daughters friends and a park rnger from time to time I did sort of the typical stuff:
Interesting note, I was able to see the veil without a filter (showed it both was as a comparrision). So the skies must have been pretty dark.
That was about it for the group, as they had a pretty exhausting day and it was nearing 12:00.
I continued with looking for Bernard Dark Nebula's and planetaries in Aquila. No reason I just happened to have my scope pointed at this constellation. I looked up the constellation in the The Night Sky, Spring and Summer. This was interesting to try without much success. The little star maps in this book make finding the planetaries a tough job for me. I do have a laptop and The Sky Level 4, but did not bring it (battery wasn't charged). The dark nebulas were also a little tough for me. But these things are tough to pick out. I am only guesing if I did see any of them so. Later, Sunday I realized the rating system in the book. I think next time working stuff with higher ratings, and maybe I won't be a frustrated. Anyway it was fun being able to identify all the star fields. All I could think of here was what I wouldn't give for more aperture.
Well after an hour of frustration it was 1:00 I noticed Perseus was up and noticed M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) so a quick visit. I noticed also M32 and M110. M31 is just too much, I just cant get over the size of this thing. A 28mm eyepiece and it still went off the edge! It just gave me thought to wonder what creatures were looking back at me from that galaxy, after all the Milky Way must also look pretty good from there.
When Aquarius rose to about 35 degrees I tried to split zeta Aquarius with my 80mm F/8 Fluorite Orion/Vixen Refractor. Even with the unsteady skies I was successfull! I have tried this once or twice before with my 200mm Reflector, and was never sucessfull. This scope has been really nice to work with and can gice some really good views.
Anyway the stability of the sky was terrible. When Jupiter and Saturn came up around 2:00 they were a mess. I have had better seeing in my backyard for veiwing them. The Cassinni division was just barely visible at times (I thought) if at all. Stayed on these 2 giant gas planets until 3:30 trying to squeeze out a detail here and there when I just had to catch a few z's. Even though the stability was terrible it was nice to see these guys again, and they were getting better as they rose.
On second thought maybe the skies were better than I first thought. The boaters and campfires made me a little irritated at times. The weather was hot into the 100's during the day. And there seemed like a lot of dust was in the air which concerned me. A 2 hour leisurely drive from the south bay. Considering all this, I could be convinced to go here again without too much arm twisting. Only I would never try the drive home the same night, like I do at the peak or Pacheco.
My daughter said the girls talked about the stuff they saw on the way home. And 1 or 2 of them may be joining my daugther and myself on a Fremont peak night. So I guess I didn't too bad showing off the stars.