Astronomical Expectations

Winter!

Winter = cold.

It gets extremely cold sitting in the dark, not moving. Especially at altitude in a breeze. Bring the warmest clothes you have, gloves, scarves, sleeping bags.

The Equipment

My primary scope is the 17.5" dob

If we're heading east (dark) I generally bring other gear for playing with, including binoculars and other goodies. Maybe an additional 8" scope.

See the equipment page for details.

What to Expect

This page is to help you set your expectations for a night of stargazing. I'm going to set some low expectations, this way the real thing will exceed your expectations (isn't that the key to so much?).

The Caveats

First: it's a slow, lazy hobby.

It's part of the reason I like it, one can't be in a hurry. Prepare to be bored (before, between and after the "wows").

Expect to be cold.

Bring warmer clothes than you think you need. It's not a very mobile sport. Sitting in the night, especially at good star sites which tend to be at higher altitudes, for long periods of time, makes it seem much colder than you'd ever expect. You never regret having brought that heavy jacket.

Don't expect the Hubble Telescope.

The Moon and Planets are pretty awesome through the scope and are usually adequately seen without having to drive very far east. The drive out east to Tierra del Sol (the San Diego Astronomy Association site) is for the deep sky objects (also known as the "faint fuzzies."). You've seen stunning photos. Through the eyepiece they are one color: grey. If you were to look at a small cirrus cloud reflecting moonlight, that's what a nebula looks like (nebula is the Latin word for cloud; first look confirms the appropriateness). The difference is that they are permanent in the same position and shape for millennia and are trillions of miles away. But still very cool to see. Galaxies look like smudges with various degree of structure. The Whirlpool Galaxy is the only galaxy I've seen with clearly defined spiral arms (from a dark site like Tierra del Sol). The first time I saw that I felt like I had lived!. The amazing thing is that those smudges have 100 billion stars!
This page has some reasonable representations of what you could see.

Expect it to take up your whole night (observe until midnight).

Do not plan something after observing other than going to bed. If you have an early morning the next day and you need a long sleep, you might have a conflict, which will put you in a hurry, and you'll not enjoy yourself.

Things can go wrong.

While not tragic, sometimes the seeing is bad for any number of reasons. Clouds happen even in San Diego. Equipment/Operator Issues (Jeff, while improving, still has a bad night with the equipment (if it's anything like his steak-cooking, the more people the worse the performance).
Occasionally you get "Dewed Out". Clouds. Gotta go home then.
Sometimes the seeing is so good that we stay out late. Generally this is not a problem, but if there's a van of people having a good time and you're bored and tired, you might have to go take a nap in the warming hut or something (I am only including this note in case something cool is going on that may not happen again for a long time (certain shadow transits, comets, etc.)).

Star Parties

If we go to Tierra Del Sol on a Public Star Party Night, we'll try to get there before dusk. Headlights are bad things around telescopes. There is some etiquette I'll post. If we're alone somewhere lights aren't a big issue.

Tierra Del Sol

The San Diego Astronomy Association has a very nice dark sky site, way east of the San Diego lights and at 3800 feet. Every time I've been there the Milky Way by naked eye alone is worth the drive. There are restrooms and a "warming hut." Oh, and a monster 22-inch diameter scope that someone will let you look through on Public Star Party nights). The negative is that it 60 miles east of San Diego past Campo (7 miles south of the Little Acorn casino). So: long drive out, long drive back.

Bring food/drink. Food/drink are available at the I-8 Exit, which is 8 miles from the site.

Directions to Tierra Del Sol and other San Diego Astronomy Association resources

If we're heading to a Public Star Party here are some Public Star Party Tips

Jeff Specifics

It takes Jeff about half an hour upon arriving to set up the scope.

In addition to the big scope, Jeff will almost always have binoculars and a smaller scope, so that while he is fighting with the equipment you can look at the sky. The sky out east is pretty dark, I find it worth the drive to see the sky there without even having to break out any equipment. Unless you have no sense of wonder this is a cool way to spend time.

If you will be the sole victim of Jeff's attention, there will be enough eye-to-the-eyepiece time that you probably won't be very bored. With more people you have less eyepiece time, but more social time. Generally eyepiece time is not a problem. On Public Star Party nights at Terra del Sol there is plenty to do and see.

Weather Forecasts

How will the Weather, Cloud Cover and Seeing be? Here's where we check:

Clear Sky Chart: San Diego

Clear Sky Chart: Tierra Del Sol

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