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Hi ASN members! I just returned from a week in the Napa/Sonoma Valleys of California. Here, the temperate weather, plentiful water, and rich soil produce the more complex (that knowledge cost me $15 and an hour for the tour) varieties of wine. It also is an area where the 'seeing' is very good due to laminar flow off the Pacific ocean.
I had searched for a camping spot in this area because the hotels were full in the last weeks of July, and by accident, I came upon the Sugarloaf regional state park, located just southeast of Santa Rosa. Here there is the Robert Ferguson Observatory, and a full service (read hot showers) public campground. I arrived to find a very well maintained campground and large observatory facility (it was closed to the public when I was there). The surrounds were full of beautiful trees, grasses, and the deer were everywhere. I estimate the temperature during the evening is about 65 degrees.
Anyways, now to the exciting part: I setup my portable mount, DSLR, and 45mm lens, waiting for nightfall. I was not dissapointed; I estimate the darkness to be around what would encounter in Washoe Valley, or even better. I anticipated a long night of photographing M81/M82, The N. American Nebula, and for the first time, the colorful region around Antares. Soon, I was polar aligning my mount, and tried to aim at Polaris. It was 8:30pm. Hmm, I thought, maybe I'll take another look in 1/2 hour because the stars were not too bright in the finder scope. I rested and tried again at 9pm. I looked straight up, and, yes, the stars were blazing, however, looking at Polaris and around the horizon, I cold not make them out. I tried once more to align the mount, but suddenly it hit me that there was nothing wrong with my equipment. What was wrong was: Coastal Fog. It had sneaked in like a thief in the night, starting at the horizon and slowly moving up to the zenith. This almost completely unpredictable phenomenon occurs half the nights in those areas which are not above the cloud layer (Tim and I had gone to the Lick Observatory a couple of years ago, and that place WAS above the cloud layer).
So, there you have it........ a promising night that just didn't happen. I felt like once again the old axiom of astronomers occurred: you get a shiny new piece of equipment all ready to go, and the clouds always seem to roll in. I'm still waiting for them to invent the new 'cloud filter'.
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