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(meteorobs) Limiting mag at Kitt Peak
Lew wrote;
>KPNO only had a limiting magnitude of 6.2, Pete?! That's d*mn sad...
>
>Are they much affected by nearby light pollution, or what is it?
Yes, I used to observe there back in the late 70's and had not been up
there again until this year. I was surprised to see the glow fom nearby
Tucson to reach nearly 30 degrees up from the horizon, despite the laws
restricting new lighting installations that have been in place for two
decades! (back in 1979 you could not see any glow from the city in the
sky) The other surprise is that Phoenix (90 miles to the north) is also
putting some glow in the northern horizon where they have no lighting
ordinances. The clarity (transparency) was far better though than I
typically get at my No. Virginia site, but for the night when it was mag
6.2 the overall sky conditions were not one of the best at KPNO. They get
variable seeing and transparency from day to day just like everyone else.
Pete Gural
pgural@trg1.saic.com