I want to send out a very sincere Thank You to Tom and Edie for
hosting yesterday's star party! The weather wasn't optimal; in fact
it was downright odd, with humid air blowing through cooling
everything down to the 40's. What didn't cool quickly was dewed up by
9pm.

We did manage some good views starting before sunset of Venus;
Mercury, a rarity due to it's proximity to the sun; and Mars. The
light gathering ability of Tom and Edie's C14 was critical to finding
Mercury and Mars near the setting sun. I was able to find Mercury
with my XT8 but never Mars. Clouds formed relatively quickly so we
were left pointing towards sucker holes but were able to see quite a
few objects between our two telescopes.

There were a total of nine of us in attendance. That is, if you count
my two oldest boys, who were more interested in Edie's hot chocolate
than anything in the sky. Thank you Edie for the warm treats!

Tom showed us some of his astrophotography. He claims to have only
owned a computer for, I believe, three years, but he's certainly been
able to create wonderful digital images in the meantime.

Tom and Edie are regular attendees of Mt. Pinos during new moon
weekends. But they do visit their property here in Alpine Forest, for
it's solitude and night sky, frequently. I hope we can share the
views again sometime!

- Brandon

--- In GTAstronomyClub@yahoogroups.com, "wood1744" <bwood44@...> wrote:
>
> To follow-up my previous e-mail, the weather for Saturday looks great
> with highs in the 70's and sunshine. Please bring warm clothes as
> it'll likely be in the 50's not long after sundown at that elevation.
>
> Here's a link to a map to the Cohen property.
>
>
<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=35.124121,-118.495016&daddr=Gotthardt+Dr&\
hl=en&geocode=%3BFR0_FwId1EHv-A&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=14&sll=35.104532,-118.5\
22568&sspn=0.062284,0.096989&ie=UTF8&ll=35.092945,-118.530035&spn=0.062293,0.096\
989&t=h&z=14>
>
> (That's long so I hope it works!)
>
> Here's some directions that should help as well.
>
> 1) Head west out of town on SR 202
>
> 2) Turn left on Banducci Rd.
>
> 3) Follow Banducci past the entrance to Brite Lake where it turns left.
>
> 4) Stay on Banducci until you see the Alpine Forect entrance on the
> left. That's Alps Drive. Turn left on Alps Drive.
>
> 5) Shortly up that road, at the top of a hill, turn right on Mountain
> Climber Way.
>
> 6) Turn left on Matterhorn Drive. (Matterhorn Drive, to the left,
> remains paved at this point. Going forward or to the right is not
paved.)
>
> 7) Shortly thereafter, follow Matterhorn to the right and remain on
> the pavement. If you go straight you will be on William Tell Trail,
> the wrong way!
>
> 8) Stay on Matterhohn, passing Constance Way on the right and
> Matterhorn Court on the left. These signs are easy to miss. The next
> road is Gotthard on the left. Turn left on to Gotthard and you'll
> shortly see other cars. Anyone else up that far is there for the same
> star party! Please pull forward, turn around, and park on the left
> (North) side of the road so you can easily depart after dark.
>
> It's narrow and I'll try to help you park. If you'll be bringing a
> telescope, the Cohen's have a level area on their property on which
> you can setup your telescope. It's relatively small, especially since
> we'll have a few larger RV's up there. But there should be sufficient
> parking along Gotthard.
>
> The last 0.8 mile is dirt with light washboards but accessible by my
> low-ground-clearance sedan. It shouldn't be a problem for any
> vehicles but plan for at least 20 minutes from town. Once again, it
> should be a great location for astronomy in Tehachapi. I look forward
> to seeing you there!
>
> Brandon
>
>
> --- In GTAstronomyClub@yahoogroups.com, "wood1744" <bwood44@> wrote:
> >
> > The Greater Tehachapi Astronomy Club is having a public star party
> > this Saturday, September 20th. Tom and Edith Cohen have graciously
> > offered to host it on their undeveloped property high in Alpine
> > Forest. Their location is one of the better locations near Tehachapi
> > for observing the night sky. Their property is near 6,000ft elevation
> > and away from many of the lights in Tehachapi. It's also relatively
> > easily accessible; only about 20 minutes from downtown. I will follow
> > this e-mail with another describing how to get to their property.
> > Please plan on arriving before dark as the roads signs are hard to
> > see. Arriving at 6:00 pm would be a good time to catch the sunset and
> > watch the stars pop into view.
> >
> > The Cohen's will set up their Celestron 14" SCT for visual observation
> > and I will bring my 8" Dobsonian plus binoculars. If you plan to
> > attend, please reply so we have an idea of how many people to
> expect.
> >
> > We may also have Neill Hicks in attendance. He's composing a series
> > of articles on Tehachapi light pollution and he'd like to get our
> > perspective.
> >
> > Hope to see you there!
> > Brandon
> >
>