by Jeff Crilly
I'm surprised that we haven't heard from any of the TAC crowd that headed up to Henry Coe this past Saturday night. Can anyone give a brief report on conditions, number of observers, how late folks stayed, etc.? I'd be interested to compare the conditions at Coe Saturday night with what I experienced at Coyote Lake the same night.
By golly, I thought I had! Guess not.. thanks for the reminder.
I got there late afternoon, but well before sunset.
The wind was ok.. a bit breezy -- I had concerns.
James had a bottle of two-buck chuck that we sampled (I had about a dimes worth).
A big drawback was that three horse trailers and pickups were parked all along the *east edge* of the lot... a huge disappointment since this is where I had planned to setup to observe in the east. There was also a van parked on the edge of the southeast corner. These vehicles stayed all night (and someone commented they were there the previous night).
I suppose these folks parked there to be nice to the daytime sunset observers that want to use the west side of the lot.
Anyhow I setup next to the van on the south edge, and far enough away from the tree.
Number of observers: about 12 or so?
The conditions were dry and warm.. no need for the boots, and I just used a light jacket. The wind was consistent -- I was setup behind the truck and got good blockage. (It would have been nice to setup next to one of the horse trailers, but there just wasnt the room.)
The sky was, well, not super. The east was ok. (The peak was (I beleive) darker on sunday night.) But it was usable.
Most folks packed it in in the wee hours of the morning. I left just after sunrise (I think the clock said 6:30am).
Oh.. we had one interesting event... a car came up the road and shined a bright light into the lot. Then it proceeded up to the park. Then it came back and pulled into the lot, full lights blaring. Someone approached the car and... it turned out to be police. The police said that someone, (get this) "a neighbor" - reported alot of suspicous vehicles and activity in the area. (Musta been Turley with the green laser.)
It was a good night.
jeff
P.s. Oh.. I got a few images that night that came out ok (but work is still needed)....
M17 - The Swan... (four versions with different levels of processing)
http://fototime.com/inv/820A6BCEE8C48E9
M13...small...
http://fototime.com/747CD7EF0BA8861/standard.jpg
big...
http://fototime.com/747CD7EF0BA8861/orig.jpg
