Naked-eye astronomy is more than just meteors.

[LenSatic]

For you meteor hunters out there in the boonies, there is other visible stuff buzzing around up there: satellites. The easiest to see is the International Space Station. It’s extremely bright and, with a good pair of binoculars, a “shape” can be discerned. It’s possible that you have already seen it and mistook it for an aircraft flying with its landing lights on; it crosses the sky at about the same perceived rate as an airliner.

Other interesting but more challenging objects are the Iridium Communication satellites. These satellites very in brightness and are only visible for a very short time, perhaps a minute or less, thus they are called Iridium Flares. There are apps out there for satellite tracking, which will help in your hunt. The best thing about sat-spotting is that they happen within a couple of hours of sunrise or sunset so no need to stay up late.

The app I’m currently using is the ISS Detector.

Iridium Satellite info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation

Happy hunting!

LS

[MrWizard]

Well I'm sure, Grifith was a great place, before LA had 12 million people

[SCVJeff]

Its amazing what they did mechanically almost 100 years ago up there. But the one that gets me walking away shaking my head is the light phasing room for the solar scopes. The tolerances in there are simply amazing.

[AstroRig57]

profdant139 wrote:
It's too depressing to go to Griffith Park to see the stars -- it requires a long struggle across the entire LA basin, and then when you get there, there are hordes of people and not enough parking, and then the sky is so light-polluted that you can't even see Polaris.

The night sky has been MIA from Griffith for many decades but the main attraction there is not really live viewing but other displays at the historical facility. I still enjoy visiting there, just not observing. My hat's off to the Los Angeles Astronomical Society for doing regular public star parties at the venue. There are wide and narrow band filters that can remove SOME of the light pollution frequencies, enabling viewing of some deep space objects, but it's still far from ideal.

The dome of light from the Los Angeles metro area has even rendered the Mt. Wilson Observatory mostly useless for anything but solar science and public viewing. Our astronomy club has booked a night of viewing on the 60" telescope every year for over a decade. The first time I went, on a moonless night, they opened the dome and I said, "When does it get dark?" The docent replied, "This is as good as it gets." Unfortunately, because of the light pollution at Mt. Wilson, viewing is far better through our 14" and 11" SCT's and 12" dobsonian from our home near Tehachapi.

Mt. Wilson has just completed modifications to the 100" Hooker Telescope to enable it for public viewing. We have a 1/2 night (Sunset till 0100) booked on the 100" in October ($2700 for up to 18 people), and I can't wait to see how it goes. The 100" is further from the rim so it should be a little more protected from the LA lights plus it has 40 more inches of aperture.

Still, the most exciting thing about being at Mt. Wilson is the historical equipment and knowing that you're walking in the footsteps of George Ellery Hale, Edwin Hubble, and other pioneering greats of astronomy.

[SCVJeff]

DAS26miles wrote:
Coming back to LA from Quartzsite, we spent a night in Joshua Tree. On the way out of the park we decided to go to the visitor center at the Oasis of Mara. Passed a solar observatory just outside the park but before the Oasis. Anyone been there? They were open for observations, but we were running so late, we had passed it up.
Boy it was so dark at Jumbo Rocks, you could see your feet. Stars were unbelievable.

used to tent camp at Jumbo Rocks as a teenie bopper. It's pretty dark out there, but Quartzsite is pretty good, at least off Plomosa.

Several years ago we ran across a guy with one of the largest reflectors I've seen.. At least 16" across. He spent all afternoon putting the entire system together, I have a picture of it somewhere . Turns out he was the producer of a Canadian PBS type astronomy show and said it was one of the clearest spots he'd been in cept for all the air traffic. That's the approach corridor to LAX..

[DAS26miles]

Coming back to LA from Quartzsite, we spent a night in Joshua Tree. On the way out of the park we decided to go to the visitor center at the Oasis of Mara. Passed a solar observatory just outside the park but before the Oasis. Anyone been there? They were open for observations, but we were running so late, we had passed it up.
Boy it was so dark at Jumbo Rocks, you could see your feet. Stars were unbelievable.

[LenSatic]

profdant139 wrote:
It's too depressing to go to Griffith Park to see the stars -- it requires a long struggle across the entire LA basin, and then when you get there, there are hordes of people and not enough parking, and then the sky is so light-polluted that you can't even see Polaris.

I wasn't encouraging you to go, just pointing out that there are far worse places than Benson, AZ. 😉

Since we never use commercial campgrounds, I don't know what a good price is, but theirs seem reasonable. It's far cheaper than a motel room and you have a free observatory every night! I could do that. Well, if I could stay awake past 10pm. 😄 Now if they had a solar telescope...

LS

[profdant139]

It's too depressing to go to Griffith Park to see the stars -- it requires a long struggle across the entire LA basin, and then when you get there, there are hordes of people and not enough parking, and then the sky is so light-polluted that you can't even see Polaris.

[LenSatic]

profdant139 wrote:
But speaking of Arizona and stars and RVs, I just stumbled across this:

Butterfield RV and Observatory

They have a 16 inch telescope on premises, and a nightly star show! Does anyone know if this is a worthwhile place to stay? On the map, it does not look particularly rural -- lots of brightly-lit shopping centers nearby.

Hmmm. Just up the road from us but I've never heard of it. The location isn't perfect but better than most. Have you looked through the 12" at the Griffith Observatory or gone to their star parties? That's about as far from perfect as you can get but still good enough for casual observing.

Looks like they have a wood shop and HAM shack, too.

LS

[profdant139]

But speaking of Arizona and stars and RVs, I just stumbled across this:

Butterfield RV and Observatory

They have a 16 inch telescope on premises, and a nightly star show! Does anyone know if this is a worthwhile place to stay? On the map, it does not look particularly rural -- lots of brightly-lit shopping centers nearby.

[profdant139]

Nope -- never been to Q. We try to go to places where there is no one else around, since we spend most of the year surrounded literally by 20 million folks.

[DAS26miles]

Great view of stars last night even here in La Posa West. We are going to move today either another BLM at the north end of Q or head over to Joshua Tree.
The DW wants to go back to Tyson Wells for a Cowboy hat before we head into town.
Profdant have you been here to Quartzsite?

[SCVJeff]

profdant139 wrote:
Jeff, where is Plomosa?

About 5 miles north of town. Its just past LaPosa North

[profdant139]

Jeff, where is Plomosa?

[SCVJeff]

Go get one of those recliner chairs and the binocs you be fine. Once you get acclimated you will see LOTS of satellites flying buy with the naked eye. Up here on Plomosa there are so many stars it's kind of distracting

[profdant139]

DAS, there are several "recipes" on the Internet for binocular mounts, including a ball mount on a monopod that looks like it would stop the jiggles. I hope you have better luck at Joshua Tree than we did -- we had three cloudy nights in a row, which is probably a record!