[APML] Sands of Sahara - Transparancy

[Michael Gartland <mgartlan@iconn.net>]

Hi all....finally back after a 2 weeks journey thru the lower Middle
East and Persian Gulf region.

I did not got a chance to do any astro work, observing or photo, but
what I did do is take some visual observations from various very dark
sites out in the desert and on the Gulf coast of S.A. and Bahrain. I can
say that indeed the transparacy is lousy, even on the darkest skies, the
sky had a muted look, and the stars were hidden. This was in places
where city light domes were very obvious in the distance, and not
affecting the local site. We are talking about the deep dark flat desert
here.

With a thumbnail check I would say the best equivalent dark skies were
mag. 5.3 or 5.5, soley due to the transparancy. We are talking over 200
clicks from the nearest population of any kind here. The seeing seemed
excellent, but the transparancy from the particulate matter in the air
killed the viewing.

Just thought I would throw this in as a follow-on to the thread from
several weeks ago regarding the Sahara and desert skies.

--
Have a Nice Day!
m

Email:   mgartlan@iconn.net

Astro Web Site:   http://members.iconn.net/mgartlan/Index.html



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