Urban Observing

1.  11/28/2012   Weldon Spring Center Parking Lot St. Charles County, MO

I chose to view tonight and from this location because I thought it would be a worst-case scenario…full moon, parking lot lights, light pollution, high clouds building, and red Bortle sky.  It was bright enough that most constellations could not be fully seen.  Many of the "pointer" stars were invisible with naked eye.  There were fourteen bright lights of one kind or another within 1/4 mile.  The moon and the nearest parking lot light cast equally visible shadows at 180 degrees to the scope.  Orion was visible, but with effort--had to look for a while before it was recognized.  Cassiopeia was also possible.  Only the five brightest stars in Cygnus could be seen descending in the west.  It made the DSOs observed very difficult, but the double & variable were not too bad.  I need to find another place.

2.  12/1/2015  Eberwein Park, Chesterfield, MO

I looked for quite a while before I found this place.  I got permission to use this location from the Chesterfield Parks Department so I'll probably use it for the rest of my observations.  [NOTE: not!}  There are five streetlights in the area, a lighted barn, and a good glow in all directions.  At times I thought I saw stars that were actually reflections of these lights in the eyepiece.  Add Christmas lights on some houses across the street and it was really bright.  While observing a fire truck left the station 200 yards away, a car drove through the parking lot, and I got sniffed by a dog passing through...totally memorable.  Before starting I thought that using a 12" for Urban was a bit of a cheat...after tonight (and particularly M27) I'm glad I've got every inch of aperture.  One plus is that I'm only five minutes from my house even if I miss all three stoplights.   Observation:  Open clusters are going to be about one level below where they should be on the poor, medium, and rich scale. Observing at Eberwein doesn't change the central concentration or range of brightness.

3.  12/18/2015  Brommelsiek Park, St. Charles County, MO

There was a poorly attended Friday Night Open House out at the park tonight.  The predicted temperature was to be in the 30s with a bit of wind from the southwest.  It was the first really chilly night of the season.  Normally you can see the Milky Way from the park but with the first quarter Moon...nada and only 3 stars in Ursa Minor and poor seeing (4/10) while looking at the Moon.

4.  9/10/2016   Brommelsiek Park, St. Charles County, MO

After the ASEM picnic, a good number of us headed over to the Viewing Area at the park and set up to view.  The Moon was about 60% full and with the humidity from rain earlier in the day, did a pretty good job of lighting up the sky.  Temperatures were cool and dropping so dew was forming rapidly too.  Anything within 40 degrees of the Moon was particularly difficult.  M22 was about 20 degrees below the Moon and I had to tap the eyepiece (32mm) to make sure that M22 was even centered.  Difficult viewing conditions to say the least.

5.  9/18/2016   Home, Chesterfield, MO

Well, I actually observed from my driveway.  Earlier in the summer the city of Chesterfield told us that they were cutting down the two large ash trees in front of our house between the street and sidewalk.  They were stressed because of street work and with the emerald ash boarer in town, it was a good decision.  The trees came down last week and while it now looks naked in front of the house, I now have sky from the SE around through North to the SW.  The southern sky is blocked by my two-story house and 50-foot-tall sycamores along a creek so I can't see anything with an altitude less than 40 degrees in the south.  Some neighbors have trees in various locations out front that block the view in certain places but I can always move the mount.  Twelve object tonight before some thin clouds drifted in from the north which is exactly where I need to view.  I'll be viewing from home for most of the non-southerly object for the rest of the program.

6.  9/26/2016   Home, Chesterfield, MO  

OK, I'm going to try the driveway again.  I went out later (10:30 pm) and only one car went down the street during the hour that I was out.  The weather was good with no clouds and temperatures in the high 50s.  There was no moon out during the observing time and other than an early battery issue (not charged) all went well.

7.  2/18/2017   Home, Chesterfield, MO

The driveway again but with the leaves gone from trees I could count 15 bright lights within 50 yards of the house.  The weather was good for a change with no wind, and temperature in the 40s but really poor transparency (only 2 Ursa Minor stars). 

8.  3/3/2017    Brommelsiek Park, St. Charles County, MO

Out to the park tonight to finish off the things in the sky at a reasonable hour.  I picked the park because the moon was up and I needed an excuse to try out the club's somewhat new C14.  There were a few issues with the diagonal freezing in the visual back and some bent pins on my USB to Serial adapter (so no SkySafari).  Viewing wise it was bright out with only two stars in UMi visible.  Temperatures were in the low thirties headed for the twenties.  The wind was out of the SW at 10 mph.  I did my observations and headed home while I was still warm.

9.     5/7/2017  Brommelsiek Park, St. Charles County, one last night to finish.  I went out to Broemmelsiek to do a variable star run with my new Intel PC Stick.  A run takes about five hours with Sequence Generator Pro and if everything is working I just sit in my Zero Gravity recliner bored.  Around 11:30 PM I noticed that I could grab the last 14 objects on this program easily IF I was willing to fight the bright Moon, just 3 days before full.  The night was still with temperatures in the low 50s.