by Jane Smith
| Observer | Jane Smith |
|---|---|
| Location | Blue Canyon |
| Date | September 18, 2004 |
| Scope | 18" dob |
Yes boys and girls, optimism pays off! Despite nasty weather reports, Marsha Robinson and I headed for Blue Canyon last night. We found two other brave souls setup when we arrived at 6:45pm, Bob and Robin, both members of SVAS. The sky looked pretty dismal as first, and by dark it wasn't much better. However, we didn't expect the observing window to open until around 10-10:30pm, so we busied ourselves by hopping from patch to patch of clear sky or by doing paperwork. Then suddenly, as if God had grabbed a squeegee, the sky opened. With the exception of a few clouds at the horizon, we had 360 degrees of clear sky, exactly as forecast. It lasted about 2 hours. At 1pm the "window" slammed shut... one minute there was clear sky, the next it was soup. Astounding how fast it can go from totally clear to absolute muck.
For those who like stats:
| Cloud Cover | 9/10, clouds at the horizon |
|---|---|
| Transparency | 6/10 |
| Seeing | 7/10 |
| Temperature | 38-40 C (chilly) |
| Dew | moderate to heavy around midnight. |
| Surprise | A brand new porta-potty, no doubt placed for the SVAS star party, cancelled due to weather. TP wasn't even open. |
I spent most of my time on the Eye Candy List, still working in CAM, DRA, CAS, PER, but took some time for old favorites, M13, M57 (no central star seen), M51, NGC 7789 (OC extraordinaire in CAS). I even tried to find Hickson 55 in Drago. LOL! Transparency was noticeably poor all evening, but it was still a good night for brighter objects.
Clear skies, Jane
Posted on tac-sac Sep 19, 2004 12:51:44 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Jan 11, 2005 21:11:03 PT