Hi All,
Well I'm back from my vacation in Baja Mexico, my Wife and I drove from Ontario Canada with my 18" SM in a box I had built for the back of our truck. Saw some awesome scenery especially when we got off the interstate in the 4 corners area of Utah to see arches national park...gorgeous!!
We stayed in an area near San Perdro Martir national park in northern Baja (about 4 hours drive south of San Diego) this area is very unvisited by most tourists and only gets 300 visitors a year. Its quite spectacular and unlike what one would think of as typical Mexico desert terrain, its more like what one would see around Flagstaff with high alpine forests. We stayed at a guest ranch in the foothills (2500')which was very nice, but the bummer was that I was in a deep valley so the seeing was never that good, plus it was impractical to move it anywhere on a moutaintop since the terrain was so rugged. It would have been perfect in the high meadows near the national observatory an hour up into the park but I'd need a popup trailer to camp out there... next time! Consequently I did'nt get any good images of the moon and Jupiter but the deep sky observing after the moon set was better than what I've experienced at the Texas star party, my stay there had every day and night totally cloud free. Baja has to be one of the best places in the N hemisphere for astronomy, its even clearer there than the American SW. We took a tour up to the 2.12 meter scope at the peak which was just over 9000', the observatory manager gave us a breathtaking view from the catwalk of the 84 inch scope, I attached the view which is to the NE one can just make out the sea of Cortez 35KM away to the west, it was a bit hazy that day but the guide said that on a good day one can see both the Pacific to the west and the cortez to the east, I am not good with heights so my Wife said I was a bit pale going around the catwalk with the huge dropoff 8O . Plans are underway to build a 6 meter scope as well as a 30m scope! Its the best location for astronomy in the N hemisphere after Monau Kea because of its subarcsecond seeing, the dark skies and relatively close to the large telescope labs in the US.
I had my new Lumenera 075M camera with me that I got from Paolo the day before leaving, it was learn as you go, plus I never imaged with a laptop before so I was'nt used to the crappy uncontrasty image they give. I captured a bunch of videos but too brightly, I certainly like using a good CRT monitor better, maybe the next lunar 1st quarter I'll get some good 1st light images!
good to be back, wow lots of stuff to catch up on!!
I think I just want to sell our farm, retire early, move to Baja and build an observatory , maybe start an astronomy B&B any takers to come and visit? 8) My Wifes actually not against the idea! Theres the biggest hurdle won already
cheers
Mike Wirths
