by Paul LeFevre
Friday, May 26th I made my first astronomy outing in the San Diego area, heading down to Mt. Laguna in the mountains just east of San Diego. From my work site in Mira Mesa, it was only a 1.5 hour drive, even with Friday-before-Memorial-Day traffic, with the last 45 minutes of the drive a wonderful cruise up well-kept mountain roads with little or no traffic.
The site I wound up in may or may not be a regular astronomy area -- it was inside the official park boundaries, but there were no other astronomers there all night, and it was fairly small. Being new to the area, I may not have been in what was a known spot -- but it worked out well for me. The site was a grassy knoll bordered by trees on three sides, with an open space that fell off into a small valley to the South. The trees encroached only about 2-5 degrees up from the horizon, giving good views of each horizon with no obstructions at all to the South. There are a few small mountain ranges between this site and any San Diego city lights, so I had high hopes for some good, dark skies...I was not disppointed.
Using the chart that Mark had posted, I counted 33 stars on my first attempt, and 37 on my second (for Bob C. -- I used my glasses doing the counts, being astigmatic as you are, but don't use my glasses when observing!). That put the limiting mag somewhere between 6.6 and 6.7, though there was just a tiny touch of haze in the air. There was about 5-10 degrees of pretty faint skyglow to the West from San Diego, though it was not very intrusive at all, reminding me a lot of the Santa Rosa glow from Lake Sonoma. The site is at approximately 4200 feet, and the transparency was good at 9:00 PM and improved by 2:00 AM considerably.
I spent an enjoyable night trying out my new 10" LX200 and new laptop computer -- what a pair. With a new copy of SkyMap Pro loaded, and a cable from laptop to computer, I was able to locate targets on the laptop, and then send the telescope directly there with a click of the mouse. I visited some old Messier friends, spent some time galaxy hopping in Coma Bernices, and at times let the "sky tour" mode of the LX200 show me what was in the area. I was easily viewing galaxies of mag 12 and slightly fainter -- not bad with a 10" large-obstruction scope. I'm looking forward to getting the 12.5" dob out to this site and checking it out.
The only thing missing was the good company I'm used to on TAC. Don't get me wrong, I had a very enjoyable night out...but it gets a bit lonely in an open field all by yourself! I finally packed up around 4:00 AM, and made it home to Escondido by 5:45 -- a much shorter drive than I was used to in the Bay Area!
Sunday it was off to London, where I spent a busy week doing business. Just for grins, I did the limiting mag test from Hyde Park (near my hotel) on the one clear night we had -- had a very hard time seeing Alpha Corona B., let alone the fainter of the three "triangle" stars. That puts the limiting mag between 0.2 and 2.3 -- obviously, London is not the place for an astronomy outing! Work kept me from getting to any of the historical sites I wanted to visit, but I'll be back there in September for another week, and I'll be sure to build in time to visit some places next trip.
It's good to be home, and I'll probably head out again tonight to Mt. Laguna, or possibly to Palomar Mountain (closer to my home, only about a 30-minute drive) and see what it's like up there. Seems there are some good observing sites down here...just wish there were some TACos to help me fill them up :)