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ARCHIVE RESEND Re: (meteorobs) Meteors, Rain and Wrecks
Hi Mark,
>They are doing some repair work to it at the moment, removing trees, etc.
>but it should be completed soon. So I drove up there this morning. I
>couldn't tell about the skies but it looks pretty good. It is a Forest
>Service campground located right on the Atlantic Ocean. There are a couple
>trees that may block a small portion of the horizon, but the site looks
>useable. The best part though, is these sites have electrical hookups. So
>this will be an asset during those frigid 32o F South Carolina nights! ;)
>
>
>To Terry Richardson: this site should be ideal to power up your equipment. I
>will contact you about setting up a trip.
>
>-Mark Davis
Glad to see you may have a new observing site!
Here in Ottawa, we can count ourselves very lucky. Our new site 35km
south-east of my home is now all completed. I cant believe the amount
of work the farmer did for us. With his large CAT bulldozer, he worked
full days to evenly flatten a large area on his property. Now we can
accomodate more cars and equipement on top of the hill. We still have
to be careful as I noticed the new soil is still very dusty, almost
like in a desert. Its easy to get dirt inside the car. We expect the
ground to eventually become more intact. I like the concept of being on
top of a small hill. No animals or unwanted surprises from car headlights
can bother us. If a car is approaching, we got ample time to shield from
the lights. Power hookup is not too far. With a bit of work, we'll get
it right at our site! One observer is worried about occasionnal windy
conditions since we are elevated and fully wide open to the sky.
It is nice of the farmer letting us come on his property at anytime we
want. He joined us a few times and was suddenly awed by his own dark
skies. He works day and some nights doing volunteer police patrol but
never
thought about actually looking up at the stars. My limiting magnitude
did top off at 6.5 near zenith. But as I look further down, the LM drops
because of some distant city lights producing at least one small glowing
"dome" in every direction. There is very few local flood lights around.
The only ones visible are distant in the south and they appear like bright
stars, too dim to create problems. It is impossible to get "pitch black"
skies around that location. There is just too many small towns around us.
Fortunately, the whole area (for several km in the south) is sitting on
farmland. This means no development is possible for a long time.
. . . .
Pierre Martin . . * . * . .
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Ottawa Valley Observers Group . . . . . .
Visual meteor observer . . . . -* .
Ottawa, Ontario, CAN . . . . .
home: p.martin@cyberusdot ca / . . . .
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Graphic Designer . | .
National Aviation Museum | \
work: pmartin@nmstcdot ca * . \
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