Re: [APML] Importance of Elevation?

[Richard Crisp <rdcrisp@earthlink.net>]

oregon

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Lodriguss <lists4@astropix.com>
Sent: Jun 9, 2005 1:08 PM
To: twade@bmi.net, Discussion of Film Astrophotography <astro-photo@seds.org>
Subject: Re: [APML] Importance of Elevation?



Well, I don't even know what state you are talking about since there is a 
Tower Mountain in Washington and one in Colorado, and one in Ontario and 
one in Arizona (ok, so I gave up looking in google), but if you put in the 
coordinates of the observing site you are interested in into 
Cleardarksky.com you can find out a whole lot about the darkness of various 
locations...

for example here is the page for Ritter Butte:

http://cleardarksky.com/lp/RttBttORlp.html

It doesn't get any darker than this...

Jerry





At 03:49 PM 6/9/2005, you wrote:
>I had the opportunity to test a new site, Tower Mountain, last night;
>
>unfortunately, the transparency was NOT very good (i.e. lots of thin 
>cirrus).  This
>
>site does show promise; however, I was surprised that it didn't seem quite 
>as dark
>
>as my normal site, Ritter Butte.
>
>
>
>Here are the statistics for each of my observing sites:
>
>
>
>Tower Mountain (elev. 6800 feet; lat. 45 03' 17", lon. 118 33' 47"):
>
>   Four small light domes:
>
>     Pendleton - 42 miles to the N
>
>     La Grande - 30 miles to the NE
>
>     Baker City - 44 miles to the SE
>
>     John Day - 48 miles to the S
>
>
>
>Ritter Butte (elev. 4200 feet; lat. 44 50' 01", lon. 119 04' 12"):
>
>   Two small light domes:
>
>     Pendleton - 58 miles to the NNE
>
>     John Day - 30 miles to the SE
>
>     La Grande (60 miles) and Baker City (63 miles) may be visible on a humid
>
>     night which is rare.
>
>
>
>All these sites have intervening mountains obscuring the cities (i.e. no city
>
>lights are actually visible).  For example, between Tower Mountain and 
>Baker City
>
>lie the Elkhorns which are about 8-9000 feet.  Between Ritter Butte/Tower 
>Mountain
>
>lie the Blues which are approximate 5-6000 feet.
>
>
>
>Population of each aforementioned city:
>
>     Pendleton - 16,500
>
>     La Grande - 12,000
>
>     Baker City - 9,800
>
>     John Day - 1,800
>
>
>
>Both sites are quite remote; however, Ritter Butte is more remote given 
>the above
>
>distances from the "larger" cities. Initially, I would have thought Tower 
>Mountain
>
>would have a darker sky given its much higher elevation (i.e. 2600 feet 
>higher);
>
>however, there may be too much light contamination from the four cities 
>for the
>
>higher elevation to counteract.  I'm still going to try it again under a more
>
>transparent sky.  From a landscape perspective, Tower Mountain has a 
>phenomenal
>
>view.  When I saw it I could not believe view.  The first word I thought 
>was WOW.
>
>
>
>If anyone has an opition on what should "theoretically" be the better site 
>please
>
>let me know.
>
>
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>
>
>Wade
>
>
>
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