Posts Made By: Fred Lusk

Tyler…

That's a REALLY big mirror. What's the aperature?

Fred

Tom…

I suggest he use all that money to buy us bigger and/or better new telescopes.

Fred

Dennis…

I like your site, and the animation is excellent. I haven't even seen the comet due to persistent clouds here in Central CA. Actually, it was clear a couple of days ago, but by the time I got home from work it had clouded up again.

Fred

Paul…

I have two programs: JupSat95 (Windows) and Dan Burton's GalSat53 (DOS, but runs on a Windows machine).

Here's the link to JupSat95: http://indigo.ie/~gnugent/JupSat95/

Here's the link to GalSat53: http://www.cox-internet.com/ast305/dansoftware.html

Fred

P.S. I forgot…there's also a nice little program for the HP-49/HP-49 series calculators called JMOON 2.0. You can get it at the hpcalc.org site: http://www.hpcalc.org/hp48/science/astronomy/

#809…thanks for the link

Craig…

I haven't observed along Hwy 395 yet, but I can give you some ideas. I'm with Central Valley Astronomers in Fresno and some of my club friends have observed at Mono Lake (exactly where I do not know, but they says it's very dark) and at Grandview Campground in the White Mountains, below the Bristlecone Pine forests ( http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=11&n=4132529&e=394643&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25 ).

Myself, I have observed from the big main parking lot at the Mt Rose Ski area along NV Hwy 431 between Reno and Lake Tahoe ( http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=11&n=4357327&e=251298&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25 ). This site is at 8200' elevation. It's pretty dark and the light dome from Reno to the north is not too objectionable. Except for a "tall" southern horizon, a big light on one of the buildings, and a little distraction from the nearby highway, it's a good site. I simply used my Jeep to shield my scope from the light and the highway and had a good time.

The two TopoZone URLs will show the Grandview Campgound and Mt Rose sites at a high zoom (1:50000 using the 1:24000 USGS quads). You can back out your zoom and/or map scale to get a more regional view.

Last, you should check Phil Harrington's "Dark Sky Directory": http://www.philharrington.net/dssd.htm

I hope this helps.

Fred
www.cvafresno.org

David…

I read this morning that the magnitude was upgraded to 8.7. WOW! Fortunately, the hypocenter was deeper than the previous quake, so the maximum tsunami was only about 18 inches.

Right now, I am watching a program on PBS about Krakatoa. Give me California over Indonesia any day.

Fred

P.S. Are you going to make it to Hensley for our April star party? We've put in an order for clear skies.

Vincent…

Awesome "Cheshire" Moon.

Fred

Floyd…

Very nice. Where did you take the photo? It looks a bit like Hwy 58 going to Tehachapi, but the background mountains don't look quite right to me. Then again, except for the scenic I-5 corridor (well, scenic two weeks a year), I haven't visited the kern County hills and mountains for about three years.

Fred

Christopher…

Fantastic!!! If you stare at it just right, Jupiter seems to rotate just a bit.

Fred