April 1, 2010: Arizona mountains (living in AZ but still a TACo)

Greg LaFlamme

NOAA was calling for 30% chance of snow tonight but thankfully, it never came. Instead I was treated to a very nice sky with no clouds. Seeing was average but transparency was super transparent:-) Temps were in the mid 30's. Planning for a short night, I wore my pajamas under my Northface gear. I stayed nice and toasty. I was only going to look around for an hour or so but three hours went by quickly. I looked at lots of eye candy. The bright Messier galaxies were showing loads of detail and nearby UGC/MCG's were shining like little beacons. M104 was a heart-stopper! Building my own observatory is still a year or so away, so I'm using my 7x16' enclosed cargo trailer as an observatory shed for the time being. I have to say, it's working extremely well for the purpose. It has an 8' drop down ramp, sort of like a toy hauler. I only have to roll my 22" scope about ten feet, check collimation, then observe. It's truly a pleasure to have a setup like this and I'm wondering now if I really need anything more. Most of the time I'll observe right from my property but by using the trailer instead of a proper structure, I could just hitch it up, secure the contents, then pull my observatory to a site with a lower Southern horizon... hmmm. I have some very local light pollution issues to deal with but that shouldn't be a problem. My neighbors are reasonable folks and their lights are more from habbit than necessity. I'll approach then with tender love and care... and maybe a pie;-)

GML